Thank you both for you're responses. I did read the sid manual hastily when looking for an answer, but still wasn't clear. After a while it felt like I was spinning in a vacuum so I thought I'd reach out on the forum.
The sammich does make a tone on boot. What alarmed me initially was when I'd use any of the poly patches the leds would flash asymmetrically, from the left side to the right, and when the right side was lit no sound would emit from the box. When I dove into the menu this was alleviated when I selected the mono option in sid submenu.
I will read the wiki and manuals a bit more thoroughly, but there's a ton of information and it can be daunting and hard to navigate/comprehend.
Again, thank you both a TON for the responses. Hopefully as I become more informed I can help another struggling noob in the future.
:-)