When Syncing my POs and running audio/sync through the PO-14 Sub, the PO-14 seems to reduce drastically the volume of the PO-12, which gets barely hearable even with Full Volume.
(po12 -> po14 - > speaker)
Furthermore, I noticed fluctuations of Volume of the Rhythm when routing through PO-14 Sub.
However, this won’t occur the other way around.
(po14 - > po12 -> speaker)
So I assume the PO-14 drastically lowers the Volume of POs behind it in a chain and induces fluctuations of Volume.
Changing batteries doesn’t help. I’m even using original cables.
Did you notice similar effects on your PO14?
Or does that mean I got a defective Unit?
Every help would be much appreciated!
Hello, the PO-12 sends audio at a very loud volume, you should be clearly hearing it and shouldn’t set it to the max level compared to the PO-14. Did you try different cables ? Also, on Pocket Operators there’s a kind of compression when reaching a high level on the inputs, so the volume fluctuations can happen (especially from a PO-12 into the PO-14). I am usually setting the volume of my PO-12 to 9 or 10 when going to the PO-14.
Thx for your answer!
So it is sufficient for you to set Po12 volume to 9-10 and then route it through po sub?
That would lead to a nearly unhearable rhythm when playing the po 14
Yes it is for hearing it, but i always connect the PO-12 at the end because i want it to be a bit louder in the mix, and because when connected to the PO-14 (or any other) like it happens for you the volume compression starts from level 9 (on the Rythm) and it can’t get loud enough.
I see, so that also happens when routing the rhythm through other POs?
Since my speaker amplified bass sounds, the effect was even potentiated I think…
Thanks for sharing. the oldest PO I own is a po14 and also quiet compared to the others. I had thought it had degraded with use over time Gain staging with the pocket operators can be funky for sure. I have often been tempted to get some splitter cables to split the sync signal from the audio and a dude mixer or something similar to route each po audio to it’s own channel.
Play around with both the ordering of the POs in the chain, and the levels of them.
Sometimes setting one to a lower volume setting will give a louder overall output; there’s a kinda fickle compression they do, where it seems like the behavior distinctly changes at some thresholds. (so a louder volume setting might trip the threshold and make it clamp the output lower)
Also try pausing for a sec to let the algorithm reset. Or start playing and raise the volume during playback. Anecdotally, all these sorts of variations can have effects on the final balance.
The PO-2x series also has a different compression algorithm than the original PO-1x devices, but I think those firmware updates were eventually ported back to the series 1 units. So the behavior of the inputs will vary not just on which model it is, but perhaps on when you bought it.
I think I get most consistency with a v1 firmware PO-12 (lack of factory reset is the easiest way to check) last. my PO-20 seems most finicky. (I also have a PO-24)
tl;dr, try any variations in configuration you can think of. The input compression stages often work in unintuitive ways.
Thx for your help. So this seems to be a widespread issue and not a single defective units.
Now I also found out, when using headphones, the PO rhythm IS indeed hearable but low volume when routing through the sub.
I used a Bluetooth Speaker which amplified the bassfrequencies, so I’m pretty sure this made the problem even worse and the rhythm barely hearable.
All in all, I’m very happy that teenage engineering at least has a solution to chain the POs.
Far better than Korg, who didn’t implement such an option for the Volcas and instead selling an additional mixer.
