Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

I'm working with the xl-7 and ableton live. I've programmed a few
sequences on the xl-7 and I want to record each tracks separately into
a live clip for further processing.
yesterday I started to do this task and I have a simple question about it:
do you prefer recording the xl-7  throught the digital outputs or the
analog ones? and why?
then, if you use digital, which bitrate is best (16 or 24)? I've
noticed that the volume of digital output is usually quite low, is it
normal?

thanks

davide