What i meant saying i plug guitar straight in OT is that i have to set volume and in C to max, put full in the mixer and still need for some compressor…
That’s why i really need to re-read this thread and find a proper setup, starting by setting the mixer at 0 i think.
I am speaking about an electric guitar without preamp, it is not exactly a « hot signal » 
@Blasted_pingin I was responding more generally to the topic…
if your signal is low… then you wont have an issue with clipping, more likely noise
your best bet is to use a preamp, so the signal is hotter when it comes in, giving better SNR.
apart from that, turn up mixer inab gain to max (+63, so you get max gain on codec),
from there on, its all digital gain so you can turn up amp/vol and add an fx with gain.
the main ‘issue’ you’ll have is if you are recording the direct inputs on a recorder, only mixer gain will have any effect…
if this is not enough, you have the choice of…
a) re-sampling a thru track, instead of recording direct
b) using AED to gain the audio
c) using gain on flex track when you play it back
choose whichever works best.
the OT is a flexible beast, often there is not one ‘right’ way, rather a number of different ways which have different pros/cons or workflows, and you can choose which works best for you.
Yeah for electric guitar or other high impedance sources you generally want to use either a DI box or pre-amp, even a fx unit or pedal as long as it has line level outputs (most do).
Sorry I had doubts afterwards wether it was directed to me or not 
I usually do that, with A compressor as well ob the Flex.
Still the best would be a preamp, more clean and direct. Shit in, shit out
I’ve had the best results (subjectively of course) by putting the OT in the Aux Bus of my mixer and guitar or viola into one of the mic inputs of the mixer. That way I have gain control on both the mic input side and the aux level side.
Preamp so. Better than nothing!
Imho, without preamp, straight in Ot, a passive mic instruments seems really weak without the compressor, having massive gain.
I have yet to try compressor on viola. I tried it on electric violin after seeing a video by violinist Trevor Dick in which he claimed it (Diamond Compressor pedal) made his violin sound a little fatter. I could certainly hear the change when he switched it off and on.
As such, I played several live shows with viola plugged straight into my Mackie mic input, using only the mic preamp, and the Aux Send Level knob to manage viola level into OT. No compressor. I am not a preamp expert or anything but the Mackie mic preamps sound much better to me than the mic preamp on my MOTU 828 MkII - but then again, my buddy warned me those preamps sound pretty bad. 
Actually, my favorite viola tone during that time was viola into Fryette SAS tube distortion pedal, then into Mackie. I had the SAS set to boost level, not introduce distortion. So I guess you could argue the tube inside the SAS was introducing compression.
On two ends of the pedal price spectrum, I’ve had great luck using the JHS Colorbox as an instrument preamp for the OT, and also nearly as good luck using the line-level out on a Digitech Bad Monkey.
For guitar I use a HX Stomp, had also really good results / big palette of sounds for the price with an Harley Benton American Tone.
Hi all,
OT workflow question here. After many years of learning the OT I have learned the real trick is to conform your workflow exactly to it’s system architecture.
One of the things that continues to baffle me is why it will gain all sound recorded via inputs +12 in the sample edit page?
It confuses me because often I match input volume to the other sounds in the OT using the thru machine amp page or by simply turning down the other tracks until everything is balanced.
As such the boost of 12 on the recording throws the balance out, leading me to believe I am missing some kind of workflow the OT is trying to show me.
edit
Mod thanks for directing this into this thread! Amazing info…
Did this materialize?
Diving into my new OTmkII. The gain staging and controls are puzzling me. Ran into that THRU machine clipping when mixing it with recorder content played via a FLEX, which is much louder. Working through this thread atm…
[edit] I think I got all my answers in the diagram here: Signal flow/gain staging diagram for Octatrack MKII [/edit]
Damn. That was a heavy evening read! 
Thanks so much to everyone for their input in this.
Got a load of good info to try and implement tomorrow.
Thank you!
And I just realised I’d bookmarked this thread last year 
5 octatracks will do that to you…
I didn’t watch it but I thought it would interest you.
Thanks mate. I’ll be honest and say I struggle watching this guy. I’m 5 mins in and it’s confirmed lol. Much appreciated though
You lasted that long? Impressive. Ive never got past 3 minutes of that particular youtuber.
Give me the manual, a cup of tea and Im good.
Not my cup of tea too but you know…
THB, he sums up what a PITA OT gainstaging is