Sound quality suffers when I have multiple tracks.

When I have a sequence that has 6 tracks. I've noticed the sound quality starts to suffer on the latter tracks. For instance, I have the beat and bass line programed, then I try to add a synth sound. The synth sound sounds gritty and distorted. I have no idea why. Anybody else have this happening?

sounds strange. have you tried sending each track to individual outputs to see if there is a difference? i know with some computer DAWs there can be some "muddyness" at the stereo out summing when there are a lot of tracks, but still not full on distortion like you mention. is there any chance that the sounds that you say are losing quality or distorting are actually being sent to some effect and you don't realize it?

here's a couple of thoughts, the more educated heads on this forum can then correct me afterwards

It could be that the beat, bass and synth have so much of the same frequencies, that the overlapping parts become unclear and muddy..

other reason could be that (I'm not sure of this one) as you gradually put in parts that are near to 0db level, they kinda add up and cause digital distortion.. does it work this way?

kluster wrote:other reason could be that (I'm not sure of this one) as you gradually put in parts that are near to 0db level, they kinda add up and cause digital distortion.. does it work this way?

that was my first thought too. it's why a pad's volume defaults to 70 instead of 100 - to allow for headroom later on.

the master volume might be up at 0 or -6 too. a lot of times i keep it around -12 unless i want stuff to sound really grungy.