A method for detecting fluorochromes in a flow cytometer, including: receiving a sample including particles each tagged with at least one of a first fluorochrome and a second fluorochrome, in which the first and second fluorochromes having distinct spillover coefficients; detecting the particles, including detecting the first and second fluorochromes with a first detector and a second detector; forming a data set for detected particles based on the detection of the first and second fluorochromes; characterizing a detected spillover coefficient for each detected fluorochrome from the data set; and sorting the detected particles into predicted fluorochrome populations based on the detected spillover coefficients. A system for detecting fluorochromes in a flow cytometer, including a flow cell, a fixed gain detection system, and a processor that generates a detected spillover coefficient for each detected particle and sorts the detected particle into predicted fluorochrome populations based on the detected spillover coefficient.