Hi,
Just got a mixer for my Elektron gear (Korg 16). Has 4 stereo & 8 mono. I don’t understand the Rytm Mk2 single track outputs. I understand mono & stereo, but wouldn’t I lose a major component of reverb and echo? Or do I use a TS with a splitter & pan 2 inputs for left & right? I just don’t want to open my mixer and/or send back for something with more stereo.
Or is it just best to stereo out of the analog and stereo in to the mixer; controlling the tracks on the Rytm? I just don’t get why the mono outs would be a feature ~ effect pedals?
Hope my question makes sense. If I can provide anything needed, please let me know.
(P.s. if I should look at more stereo inputs than 4, anyone have a good mixer rec to get if trying to hook up multiple machines in stereo?) I enjoy analog.
If you use master out in mono for Rytm you lose panning, but the reverb and delay still work. If you use individual track outs, you lose all effects.
I initially output my Rytm in stereo, until I realized I wasn’t personally losing anything by sending it out in mono. I prefer to apply effects in Octatrack, or via effects pedals on the mixer. Like you mentioned, this would be the benefit of the individual outs.
This is the kind of thing you just learn and adjust based on personal preference. Not sure what other gear you have, but your current mixer sounds capable.
As per previous comment, the Rytm’s reverb and delay are send FX (not insert FX), so each track does not have its own reverb and delay. They all get mixed into one ‘bus’ (at the level you set for each track’s delay/reverb send) and then FX gets applied to that.
So the individual outputs will never include the FX, and therefore stereo isn’t very useful to have on those (you will loose panning though).
Basically, the individual outs are normally used
if you want to record each track into a DAW or other multi-track recorder, and then apply FX and do mixing in the DAW
or, send individual tracks through a mixer and route to external fx. It’s not all or nothing though, you can tap one or two individual tracks (because you want to route only them through specific external FX) while getting the rest of the mix (including Rytm’s FX) from main out.
Sorry if I’m over explaining, but this initially confused me as well.
Edit: reading your question again, I’m not sure if I correctly understood what you asked. But to add to my answer for the second option above - you could use stereo from main out to stereo channel on your mixer, and whichever individual outs you decide to use, mono out to mono channel(s) on your mixer.
Thanks for the response. I guess it is more that my Elektron gear seems to come in very low when routed to each other. I am extremely confused, as I want to plug in my digitakt, Syntakt, alpha base, re303, re909, s2400 and maybe my Mpc. I know that is a lot, but I am confused on the stereo vs non? Or do I put the filter and effects on through the mixer?
I just haven’t used a mixer, so I am used to controlling via direct. I get that I probably won’t run all of those pieces at once, but I’m just not wanting to buy one with too low of stereo inputs. Or am I going to be utilizing mono at some point?
Thanks, I have alphabase, Rytm, digitakt, re303, re909, s2400, Mpc. I get I probably will never use (or want to use) all of that. I’m just wondering if 4 is ok or if I should bump up to 8.
It’s up to you. There is no “should” to command you. You need to decide what you want to achieve sound-wise and then to think about what technique and hardware best support it. Or you need to decide how you like to work and build around that.
I like small set-ups and aim to avoid using a mixer because my Elektron gear all has (limited) internal mixers. I sometimes take single individual out from my Rytm, either to send a bassline through its own distortion, or to send a drum into the sidechain of my compressor. I sometimes also take one individual out from my Analog Four.
The Rytm’s individual outs are mono (and the Four’s are stereo), so I have to make decisions (and concessions) about how I mix those back in. I can use the inputs of the Analog Four as mono mixer channels with panning, and the inputs of the Rytm as a single stereo bus channel. If I need to get more complicated, I have to bring out the Octatrack or get a mixer.
If you want consistent, flexible control over the most sound signal, you’ll need a bigger mixer. If, like me, you want a small set-up, the limits are interesting and you have to make choices up front, but that can streamline your process and avoid distractions.
If you find the output of one device too low for the mix on another, and you don’t have an external mixer, then you have to get creative. Turn down or filter/eq some tracks on the receiving device, for example. Most people complain that everything else sounds too quiet when mixing into a Rytm’s inputs. I leave my Analog Four at full volume when I do this, and have to turn down some tracks in the Rytm. I’ve read that Eurorack outputs much louder, and that the Rytm works well with such a signal.
I sometimes daydream about a large, single setup with all my gear. I’d need loads of mono channels and more stereo ones than is easy to find. And a larger room.
You can individually assign the audio outs to 8 mono jacks, removing them from the main output, and then plug the master in a spare stereo channel like an aux return, for all the effects done within the machine.
Unfortunately there is a frequently encountered bug that in some instances then pushes the kick out of the master, doing so extra loudly. In my case MT/HT come thundering through meaning I can’t have the effects on their own stereo track while everything else is mono’d through a desk.