OT and headroom: question about playback volume

I’m just concerned with a very basic issue/question: When using normalized drum samples on several drum tracks, can VOL>=0 be used for any or several of the tracks without distorting the sound or should all volumes in the amp page be set to VOL<0?

I know that quite some threads exist about headroom topics. For instance, I remember secretmusic saying, that the kick should have it’s own channel on a mixer (talking about the MD) in order to have more space, sicjik writing about distortions of sine waves when recorded with too much gain, etc etc, but I don’t find an answer to that question which might be simple for technical experts.

Other settings I’m currently using: master gain +63, all track levels maxed out (to be controlled via external faders), so we’re talking mainly about the VOL parameter. Currently, I have VOL=0 on the kick, VOL=-12 on snare/toms, VOL=-24/-32 on hihats, and maybe about the master gain, because I’m not sure if +63 is such a good idea.

EDIT: shortened the post.

Any thoughts?

hey MK7, i think it is not such a good idea. I use a master channel and a compressor on it. with settings to make it a limiter and play around with attack and decay. I tend to leave some space for the channels volume. i usually have them around 100 and again it depends on what type of music you make. For drums try to have the kick and snare and hihats on a separate channels. And don’t put the main volume of OT all the way up. The sound really gets smashed. Some kind of slightly distorted compression happens. Try to have some headroom on channels and main out. And the best way you will achieve what you like is by using your ears. Try listening to the OT at low volumes on speakers and leave the setup on OT as you have it. You will notice the difference when there is no headroom on OT.

cheers

ok, thx Lemajik!

and when you have A4 or MD routed into the OT via True machine…made sure you increase the volume of the incoming signal.

This will level the volume of the true machine with the internal OT tracks.

…but doing this with careful…
because i notice a bit-huge change in sound when it comes inside OT.
So keep your eye on the yellow input led…it could introduces some distortions at some spectrum amplitudes. Remember that you can always boost sample gain (if you sample).
Otherwise, if using a THRU machine, be aware that the VOL control in Playback page acts more like the GAIN input and can heavily distort your fed source. I would rely more on the VOL knob in Amp page.

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I don’t use through machines, just pickup with the pre-listening parameter in the second recording page set to 127.
Do you have “best practice” values of the VOL knob? around zero or negative?

I always set VOL at zero or below. The only exception is for when you want on-purpose clipping and filter overdrive.

Hello and happy new year to all :slight_smile:

The topic of gain - staging in Elektron gear is always a cloudy one, as there is no precise metering on any of their machines.

I personally try to rely on my ears above anything else. If sounds are distorting, I will turn them down with the Vol parameter, as I always leave the Level slider all the way up.

Trust your ears, and also, leave some headroom in the OT, as having 8 normalized tracks playing together can very easily overdrive the internal mixer and completely flatten your sound. They have some kind of compression / limiting going on, which is easy to observe when you record the OT into a DAW and start increasing the Master volume beyond reasonable levels.

Hope this helps :slight_smile:
Cheers !

i noticed the compression after one year owning an OT.

today i pushed hardly a kick and a long static sound started to behave like if it was sidechained

Thx for the additional comments! Gonna try them out soon.