Is it safe to connect modular gear straight to OT?

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I’m getting access to a modular setup, and planning to do some sampling from it on my OT.

But I recently heard that the signal coming from various modular setups can be extremely hot, up to 20V, while normal sound signal is capping at 2V I believe.

So I’m just curious if I’m putting my OT in any danger by connecting a modular straight to the inputs?

Should I add some safety circuit to the equation? My guess is that it’s not the voltage that could damage my equipment, but rather the current or the power, so would a regular circuit breaker work in this case?

#2

I don’t understand what you mean? If you have a Line Out module in your modular system, you can control the levels going out.

It would be no different when connecting to an external dedicated Audio Interface or to the Line IN of the OT / Digitakt / Digitone / etc.

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#3

MK2 has better inputs and can take a beating.

Ive run a small modular into my octa mk2 without a problem. But I had a VCA which I controlled the levels with. So if it doesn’t have a line out or headphone out, make sure that you have a VCA as the line out, so that you can control the amp levels.

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#4

I’m on the old MK1 :slight_smile: Thanks for the tip on the VCA.

#5

I’m no expert on modular systems, just getting access to a friends one. And this is just information that I’m getting from him, that the levels can potentially go up to 20V.

I’ll check with him on the concept of a line-out module.

#6

You don’t necessarily need a line out module. An attenuator will do in most situations.

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#7

Yeah, anything that can be used to turn the volume down. VCA, dedicated output module, even a passive attenuator. The handy thing is that the OT has the level meters, so you know if you’re blasting the inputs or not.

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#8

Yeah I guess I can see it from the meters. But am I in any danger of frying the inputs? Just wondering what would be the voltage limit that these inputs can take.

#9

Without any detailed information available what kind of protection is built in, no one can tell for sure. So the only valid answer is: it is not safe to connect blindly any modular voltage level to the inputs.

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#10

Good policy. I’ll go by that. :+1:

#11

Ive noticed modules in Eurorack output wildly different levels - so ‘it depends’
using attenuation is fine, the thing to watch out for is you might do something on the modular which gets an unexpected massive rise in gain e.g resonance, or feedback.

that all said… I recently bought a couple of Ladik modules to handle line level IO, they around €50, and 4hp… great for the OT to get audio signals going both ways.

#12

I should be safer with a couple of those. Thanks for the hint.

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