Help with OT recording samples quietly

Hello. I’m about a week into using my Octatrack and everything is going fairly well (all things considered), except for a small annoyance with recording samples- everything I’m recording is very quiet.

Right now, I’m running the Main Outs of the OT into my Focusrite 2i4 interface, and also running the RCA outs 1/2 from the 2i4 back into Inputs A B of the OT (so I can practice sampling from my computer).

Record Setup 1 is:
INAB: A B
INCD: -
RLEN: MAX
TRIG: ONE2
SRC3: -
LOOP: ON

Record Setup 2 is everything off.

On the Mixer page, MAIN, DIR, and GAIN are all maxed out. Everything else is at 0.

I’m getting a good level coming in, as the A — B lights are blinking a bright green to slight red most of the time. But when I sample into T1, the sample I play back is quite a bit quieter than what I’m listening to. I then have to either crank up the input gains on my Focusrite quite a bit, and/or increase the sample’s Amp volume. Doing so is a bit of an annoyance to setup for each sample. On top of that, if I load up a sample from the card, it is usually way too loud for where I have adjusted the interface’s inputs, and it then clips.

Is there something I’m missing in regards to gain staging for sampling through the OT, or is this something I just have to deal with?

Also, is there a better way I should setup my outs and inputs? I notice I get some bad feedback at times, especially with Pickup machines. Is that because I’m running the output and inputs through the same channels?

Here’s all my gain/volume settings for live sampling. I don’t usually use pre recorded normalized samples though and when I do I need to lower amp vol or the gain setting in the attributes a bit. These settings make the signal coming out of the outputs the same level as the signal appearing at the inputs.

https://www.elektronauts.com/search?expanded=true&q=gain%20%23elektron-gear%3Aoctatrack

lots of chat on this and most OT topics

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Try level 127
Level 108 = - 3db
Level 127 = 0 db

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Thank you, I’ll give this a shot.

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Which level should I set to 127? I have Main and DIR and the track volume all at 127 too.

Track level.
I wouldn’t set MAIN to max, it also increases Main recording.

GAIN maxed? Anyway incoming level seems too low.

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Good advice has been given already, but you should also check the waveform in the audio editor, and preview it by holding Func + Yes. If the waveform looks good, and the preview sounds loud enough, you might have accidentally moved the “Hold” parameter of the amp envelope. Such things happen …

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Hello!

I’m bumping this topic up after reading through a lot of the threads on this forum regarding gain on the OT. I did not really find anything describing my problem, but I think this thread suits it best.

I have recently started to have a problem with recording that I can’t quite understand. When I record in a buffer, the recorded volume is super quiet. And I mean “noise floor level” quiet.

I am not talking about playback volume but really the sample’s volume. The Audio Editor shows a straight line, and I need to zoom almost all the way in to see the signal. Of course, Normalizing brings it way up, but the noise also comes up too. The issue happens regardless of the record source, whether from the inputs or from Thru machines.

I know for sure that the incoming signal is not too quiet though. Listening to the audio through Thru machines or DIR Input works fine, at a perfectly fine volume. I have tried the Noise Gate trick to measure where it is, and it is around -18dB. The input LEDs (on my MkI) are orange, sometimes a bit red, and bringing it higher creates noticeable clipping.

I am assuming this is me setting something up wrong, but I have no idea what at this point :frowning: any idea is welcome!

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Check the AB/CD GAIN parameter on the mixer page which is used to attenuate or gain the audio signal coming from inputs AB/CD. I guess it is set quite too low.

It’s set to +0dB. Turning it up even a bit makes it clip really hard, really fast.

How are you recording to the buffers? Directly from AB / CD (on rec setup page 1) or via a certain track or Main? If it’s the former, have you raised AB or CD on rec setup 2?

image

I tried recording from IN AB or IN CD directly, but also tried recording from a Thru Machine directly or from the last neighbor track in a chain.

To my understanding of the manual, the AB and CD settings on Recording Setup page 2 are used to change the monitoring level of Pickup Machines and do nothing to the recording. I tried it just to be sure, and can confirm that it doesn’t impact the (extremely low) volume of my recording.

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You’re right! Hmm, it’s a tough one. There’s got to be a setting that is affecting the recording. Try to go back through the entire recording chain and look at each setting (maybe list them all here so the OT experts can spot something?). Keep DIR out of the equation too, as I’ve found that can mask where the problem lies.

Sure, here are some photos of various menus.

As you can see, this PO is plugged into IN C and D

Here is a completely neutral mixer page

The Amp menu, with +0 on volume, and 127 on the LVL knob

The memory menu, showing that I want to sample and playback in 24bit, with dynamic recorders

The sample in the Audio Editor, zoomed all the way out

Zooming almost all the way in shows that there is in fact something that was picked up

The recording attributes page with its default +12dB value

A short video showing that the OT does indeed receive a signal, which is close to clipping

Hopefully this can help someone help me :S I really have no idea what I am doing wrong here :thinking:

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Bizarre. I assume you’ve tried a new project just in case the current one is behaving weirdly? Also, is the PO volume on max? It better to have a loud source and then turn down the input gain on the Mixer page within the OT. But then you said, when using DIR or a Thru machine, it sounds fine :thinking:

Yes, those photos were taken on a new project just to be sure. PO is set to max volume as well :frowning:

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How about the cable? Unbalanced cables can be quiet on some gear.

I have tested 3 different cables and saw no differences. As I said, the weird part is that DIR input and Thru Machines prove the incoming signal is strong enough, I can hear it just fine. Only the track recorder records it too low.

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Hey! Reviving this topic as this issue still happens here… but only on input C-D.

Is it possible that my input C-D are broken and record too quietly, while AB don’t? Is that a thing?

It is especially weird to me since I can hear with THRU machines and DIR Input. It’s only the recording that is too quiet to the point of being unusable.

I still take any advice or help anyone could share! :slight_smile: