Abstract: A system for printing with ink droplets each having a known quantity of ink which system has a hydraulic portion including a main ink supply, a supplemental ink supply and a recirculating droplet generating print head and an electronic portion which includes a character generator for electrically characterizing each of the droplets so that they are directed either to a print target or to a dump and a monitoring means for identifying the droplets assigned to strike the print target and controls in the hydraulic portion for permitting a metered additional quantity of ink, depending on the number of print target directed droplets counted, to flow from the supplemental ink supply to the main ink supply, thus, allowing use of a standard ink formulation in the supplemental ink supply.