Hi, folks!
I have just got a brand new OT MK2 and have one thing that bothering me a lot — Is hearing sound when the Octatrack MKII headphones volume knob is at zero normal?
I mean there is no any noises/crackles and etc. Concern is about when patter is playing and headphones volume attenuator is at zero position.
Hi, perhaps you need to check the cue level?
Keep in mind the headphones have a different gain control to the main outs…they are controllable separately
Basically so you can listen/audition whilst the main outs are silent
Iirc it’s Fn+Enc Vs Enc
Yeah, thanks! I did it — CUE on all tracks are at zero too.
So this issue is normal for the device? I always thought that if something is on zero level there shouldn’t be sound at all.
Tell me, when you go just a little bit above zero volume, does it go silent or very quiet? It’s unlikely on a new machine, but some volume at the bottom of the rotation with the headphone volume at zero, but then very quiet or silent when you creep up above that level could indicate a bad/defective potentiometer.
Depending on the device you might have some bleed yeah. Sent my Digitone 2 for this, and they sent it back with a little less bleed, but still no perfect silence at 0.
I complained again and they said “A bit of leakage is always expected, as an analog potentiometer, such as this one, does never completely close on the signal.”.
So there’s that.
Never had that on my Syntakt, Digitone, AKMKII, ARMKII, which volume pots are probably the same. But what do I know.
The volume knob is a potentiometer and I’m pretty sure it’s just the volume control for the output you have set in the mixer menu. So mixer menu let’s you crossfade between main and cue outs and control the levels and the headphones knob is sort of the last stage volume control for that. I might be wrong on that…haven’t really used it that much…
So might indeed be related to the analog circuit not closing 100% as already mentioned.
Thing is that I can hear demo track sound in headphones even if attenuator at zero position — I mean completely. There is no any ability to move knob to the left.
When I move knob clokwise sound became louder and on 1/5 of attenuator it become very loud.
If volume can be very loud, could be that the impedance of your headphones is a bit low. If it was higher you’d have a safer volume when high, and you wouldn’t hear the audio leak as much on 0 position. So it’s a combination of things, too. But definitely your pot leaks audio and it’s considered normal.
How loud is the output with the knob at zero? If it’s bleeding through, it should just be barely audible, just a little bleed through.
I checked balance between headphones and cue outputs — it was in a middle. I changed position to headphones only and nothing happened. Still the same leaks.
Exactly like you described — barely audible.
I’m conflating with the Tonverk which previously worked this way … the OT has dual mode for its level encoder whereby it acts as a main volume in alt mode, so the octatrack headphone pot should be isolated and predictable i.e. off through to maximum as mentioned above
That balance sets the balance of main and cue outs through the headphones. In the middle you’ll hear an equal mix of what’s going through main and cue, on the left is only main and on the right only cue. It’s not the balance between headphones and cue…
But barely audible checks out. Sounds like it’s bleeding through.
Hm… I have Beyerdynamics DT 700 pro X with 48 Ohms impedance. Maybe problem is really hidden here, guys?
Louder headphones would make the bleed more noticable indeed.
Well yeah 48 Ohms is a bit low. I’ve got a bunch of DT-770/880 and you’d hear it less with 250 ohms or 600 ohms. I hear the bleed a lot with my Sony WH-1000XM2 (14 ohms when using the cable), a little less with a DT-770 80ohms, and it’s mostly inaudible with a DT-770 250 ohms.
It’s not just a problem of headphones, the analog mixer is also controlling the output of the L/R channels on the back of the device, where the bleed is also audible (but manageable with proper gain staging).
The key takeaway is that you have to live with it ! If you intended to use the volume pot of the device for a fade out, don’t. Use a mixer.
Also, at zero level leaks are louder in my left ear and after a little volume increase sound became balanced. So source of the «problem» the same — analog device?
Absolutely, same issue on my Digitone 2. Volume is a little louder in one of the ears then becomes balanced when I push it a bit (very soon).