Hey guys, when using my Octatrack as a processor for external gear, I tend to find that the input is quite lacking, and that whatever I input sounds significantly quieter than it does on the output of the external devices themselves. Am I being a noob or is the external input sort of quiet?
I.E. , For my live sets I have been processing my EMX live through the octatrack, but for the sound to be loud enough I have to throw a compressor on the track thats processing and crank the gain.
Are you using DIR mixer page or Thru machines?
If DIR mixer, use channel gain controls.
If Thru machines, set Thru level max, Thru vol max. That should be unity.
I have an EMX, they are loud as fuck, you shouldn’t have any problems at all getting gain. infact you should find yourself having to turn the electribe down.
From fiddling about using the crossfader for checking unity on a recorded and live feed, I think the actual settings just require you to set the vol parameter to max on the thru machine.
Thru machine settings:
Input source page AB or CD: 0,
Amp page Vol: +64 (or 63, I can’t remember the maximum)
Track level: 127 (108 default is -3db I think)
Mixer:
Input gain 0 (default settings)
Master track:
Track Level: 127
This should make sure cross-fading between a recorded loop from AB/CD source and a thru audio feed are the same level. You will get a small phase interaction at the midpoint when sliding between the two but that’s just physics 
.
Note: The VOL on the Amp page attenuates by 12db iirc, so bumping it up doesn’t add digital gain whereas increasing the gain in the mixer source does add digital gain. This may change the tone slightly. If it’s still quiet after bumping the VOL, take a look at the mixer page next to add some more gain. Obviously the compressor gain is fucking nutty on the OT, but that would probably be last to add if it’s still too quiet and you’re not wanting to compress anything as you’ll lose an effects slot.
You can also boost the output of the OT by holding func and turning the level parameter to increase the volume of the master output.
i generally have input AB / CD etc at max… what’s your reason here? it’s not the mixer gain stage
I did a bunch of testing to get seamless changes switching between a recorded loop, and the input from a thru machine.
I think the input vol on the playback page adds digital gain of 12db when set to max before it’s then attenuated by the amp vol by -12db, changing the tonal characteristics of the recording. Simply setting the amp so it doesn’t attenuate and setting it to max seemed to work better for me, the transition between a flex recording and the thru machine was seamless, where I could hear a difference between the AB input vol, even though it was subtle. I found it was more likely to clip, where as if your signal wasn’t clipping on the way in, it wouldn’t clip on the way out by modifying the AMP.