I read in another thread that instead of a preamp, you could plug in your passive source (mic) and put a compressor on the 1st effect, crank up the gain, and still get decent signal through.
Now, for the more tech savvy people – what are the downsides of doing this? I connected my Fender Rhodes to the OT input, gave it a lot of gain, and got lots of signal going through. But I have no idea about impedance, Hi-Z and all that stuff.
Can anybody chime in with some knowledge on using the OT as a “preamp”?
maybe it´s easier just to get the manual
of a simple mixing desk and learn that.
thats very basic and important if someone wants to create music tracks.
so not really a answer from me, but I´d say
no, i would not call the OT a real preamp, because some
basic features are lacking. it´s made for line signals i think.
but if you can get any sound, that sounds good to you
everything is ok.
When I first got my Octatrack, I did try to use my viola plugged directly into it. In the MIXER page there is a Gain setting that could be used to boost the input signal - essentially this is a preamp.
However, the max Gain setting is only 12 dB. My viola has a piezo bridge pickup which puts out a weak signal - too weak for the Octatrack MIXER section to be of use as a preamp. So now I use an external mixer (Mackie in my case) with one of the built-in mic preamps as my viola preamp. With an external mixer, I have much, much easier control of the Octatrack’s output level, which is very, very nice to have in live performance. You CAN adjust the OT’s output levels inside the OT itself, but you have to dive into menus - MUCH faster to just reach for the level knob on the external mixer.
If you are getting the signal that you need from your Rhodes, then you probably don’t need to use a preamp between it and the Octatrack.
If you are not a guitarist or other string player, you need not worry about Hi-Z - it’s just a fancy way of describing electric guitars with passive pickups. Active pickups are used with preamps built into the guitar.