okk...maybe im doing something wrong here but whenever i use the wah effect the volume of the whole track drops. can somebody school me?

try using it on individual samples, I think you can turn it on and off with grab to make it sound like a wah pedal, you can fiddle with the knobs too.

i think its always guna do that
if i anticipate using that effect i'll usually put all samples at 100(volume) then turn it up when i add that effect

The wah wah effect is a low pass filter. Could be that your sample has loads of high end that the wah wah was cutting off making it seem like its quiter

Also if you're in record mode it the knob Furthest to the right will effect gain I believe