WEAK AUDIO INPUTS TRACKS VS DRUM PROGRAMS  CHANNEL MIXER

I use my MPC LIVE primarily with a korg analog synth & ik uno analog drum so I like to run my machines thru the AIR FX library. I couldn’t help noticing that the audio track level is noticeably lower than my drum/clip programs out in the master out.

Even when I have the
Rec gain almost all the way up
I check via sampler to make sure I am not in the red.
Channel mixer  Audio track just below max

I end up having to lower the drum/clip program in the channel mixer to get a decent master out mix thru my PA. I bought my MPC LIVE used from guitar center, is my unit faulty or is that a common issue ?

I doubt it's a problem... but you might be comparing apples and oranges...

Are there FX on your drum programs/clips? How much harmonic/different frequencies are on each track?

I dunno... but the way I'd try and think about it is to think about your favorite break, and how "loud" each component is, how it is mixed, etc... you're likely to see kicks peak the most, while high hats are going to be super tiny. Kicks tend to be pretty low harmonic content and require far more of your headroom to sound loud, while the high hats have a lot of high frequency content and don't require as much of your headroom.

Given this... if you chop said drum break, and normalize each chop, you're going to find very little difference for your kicks, but suddenly your hats will be *much* louder, and is probably not what you want.

Anyways... I may be way off the mark for what you're describing... but it may be in this space.