Biggest common workflow mistakes?

[Mistercharlie]

I just spent two days with my 2nd Octatrack getting this set up. There are some great threads on here about Octatrack gain staging etc.

Signal flow/gain staging diagram for Octatrack MKII

Is there a signal flow or block diagram for the Octatrack MKII? I found lots of text but no diagrams, so here’s my attempt trying to visualise the level & volume controls if it’s any use. The lines show possible connections; they’re not all active at the same time. Am new to the machine so just feeling my way here

and

Gain aGain

Ah, i think i have discovered that there’s been a bit of a prior misunderstanding, possibly on my part and it’s been perpetuated … I tried Setting the Gain to 0 on the mixer to see how far i could push the DE, it could go way beyond the 1/4 scale captures you’d see if the inputs were categorically being lowered by -12dB … but not far enough, the VCA seemed to level off after about 7>8 and it was maybe 2/3rds or more full-scale on the OT and the shape was good/clean (red inputs) So i stacked up…

(In the end I have +20 on the input gain in the Mixer page, +10 on the cue out (so resampled cues match the level of whatever they’re recording), and that’s it. This is using a Mackie 1202 VLZ4’s ALT 3+4 outs)

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@lesstalkmoredisco

I always just use the Track + Rec3 button (for recording the internal source on Rec3)

I have Quick Record enabled so I only have to tap the REC buttons. But my main point was that accidentally-armed record trigs can be a disaster.