In the manual it’s specified that OTmk1 has balanced outs but I always thought they were mono outs, I need to know for a patchbay on the case I’m making, Would it be problematic to use all mono 1/4 sockets like so?
Outputs are impedance balanced, not balanced.
Don’t know about impedance balanced outputs, I just understood it can be used with balanced or unbalanced. Specialists ? 
They are balanced mono outputs on the OTMK1.
It will not be problematic to use all mono unbalanced connections on the patchbay. You will merely lose the benefits of a balanced signal (possibly negligible).
It’s written impedance balanced in specs, not balanced. Cable length really matters if you use unbalanced cables.
Specialists ?
https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/q-how-impedance-balancing-audio-different-normal-balancing
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Thanks guys, I’ve ordered mono jacks for now. I don’t take my gear out of the studio currently, when that changes I’ll just desolder half the jacks and switch them for stereo. I’m having trouble finding stereo sockets that’’ll be delivered quickly anyway. Mono jacks seem to be much more common, presumably for guitar stuff
Hiya Elektronauts!
First post. I reached out to Elektron but have not heard back. Sorry to revive this dead horse of a thread but now the the Octatrack MKii saying balanced out and ins, does it really matter what cable you use? I have been having an issue with the Octatrack’s sound. I made the same sequence with the same samples on my Akai Force and Octatrack MKii and ran them into the same mixer, did some good gain staging with the OT and the OT sounds muffled a bit compared to the force. The volumes levels match on the meter but the force is for sure sounding much clearer and louder. So, i am wondering if i should order some balanced TRS cables for the OT, my Heat and Digitakt instead. I am not sure what impedance balanced means so not sure if that will have an effect but it seems from what I have read it can have an effect. Anyone since this thread was started have any new experiences with this?
Definitely try balanced cables if you have access - can’t hurt to do an A-B comparison. Other things I’d maybe point you to when looking to address this muffled-ness would be to compare when using 24-bit sampling if you weren’t already and to remove the default fx on your track. The standard filter and many others have been documented to affect audio, even at initialised settings.
Thanks for the reply. I got a set of TRS and did an AB and it does indeed sound clearer. You have other good points as well. The template I created for my OT actually has time stretch and effects turned off by default. and yes, i do 24 bit. I am going to go ahead an get TRS for my Elektron boxes that accept it and see how it goes. Thanks again
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