Gain staging tricks for FX

Elektron Gear Analog Rytm
#1

Im not totally clear on the gain staging on the AR Mk2. It seems that depending on which volume levels are up or down eg. master track volume, source level (synth, vs sample) amp envelope volume , master FX Volume, the level at the FX sends to Reverb, or Delay seems to be stronger or weaker.

it seems my reverb is particularly low volume. is there a trick to getting the volumes more consistent on track sends? or a definitive level control to control track level for general overall solid mixing so that FX levels are comparable to each other when sending from each track to the FX sends?

hope that was clear.

#2

crap I just figured it out. I had the distortion setting for the reverb set to post Master FX… all these little details. still getting used to this thing. lol well hopefully this helps other people as well if they read this.

Still have the question about gain staging for setting levels in general though. where do you all do it? AMP envelope? or master track level? or at the SOURCE directly?

#3

When it comes to the oscillator-model in the AR, I’m starting not with the amp but with the tracklevel

1 Like
#4

I usually set every track’s volume to 100 and it’s amp-section to 110. Then I level the individual track’s gain only via the level-parameter on the synth- and/or sample-pages.
This works great for me.
I learned this way of gain-staging messing around with Elektron’s 909 Divine Pack. I really like the crispness and punch of it and tried to replicate how that sound is achieved, focusing on gain and compression. So these days I like to dig into soundpacks, presets and stuff. Maybe that’s nothing you do as a experienced user but as a newbie this way I can learn a lot of techniques and get inspired :slight_smile:

2 Likes