If you can afford them, get a pair of Bogner Harlow pedals to run stereo. @Prints got me hip to this magic little box. You’ll get dynamic control but with the benefit of harmonic saturation. They can accept line levels just fine.
If you’re not familiar, the Bogner Harlow pedal has a Rupert Neve Designs transformer in it for natural transformer saturation/compression. My wife got it for me for Christmas. I’m in love with its sound. The way the transformer saturates the low end. I had been running experiments on it all weekend.
It has a transformer gain knob, a one knob compressor, and a tilt EQ knob. They’re all very usable, especially in combination. It is, technically, a “boost/compressor” knob.
I’ve been focusing on the different levels of saturation you get just based on how hot of an input you send it, regardless of the gain knob position. This transformer saturation has a natural compression to it. The one knob compressor tightens up the attack and adds in a heavier ratio compression.
So I ran the same loop through the Harlow, in mono. No compression or tilt EQ, just saturation only. First phrase is *no Harlow/Dry. Second is -10dB at input. Third is -6dB at input. Last is 0dB at input (all out of the MOTU).
All 4 phrases are “peak” level matched , and then played back in series.
All you hear is the natural compression of Neve transformer saturation.
I think it’s great for the Octatrack. Adds some “oomph!” and keeps peaks in check.
A little outside the box but who cares, if it works? I’m working on getting a second one for stereo use.