Connecting SP-404 to a mixer?

[bastion]

hi everyone,

finally got to grips with my 404 (found a working flash card etc) but ran into problems today when using it in a live situation.

we're currently running a vocal microphone and two guitars through a small mixer (tapco mix100 - http://www.tapcoworld.com/scripts/showi ... 00_Top.jpg)

we ideally want to run the sp404 through this too, so we can have full control over our levels onstage.


have been using a phono to 1/4inch jack cable with the 404, which has worked fine at home into my presonus audio interface but encountered problems when putting the sampler through a mono input on a channel in the tapco mixer. the samples seem muffled and some drum hits seem to have some kind of reverb/delay on them.

the samples sound fine through the headphone out on the sampler, but sound wrong through headphones from the mixer.

i'm not sure whether this is a lead issue (i would think not because it works with my interface), a problem with the mixer itself, or whether a DI box is needed between the sampler and the mixer?

Any help would be much appreciated!

[Jim Y]

Odd. Are you using a stereo phono lead from the 404 with a stereo TRS 1/4" jack? That would explain what you hear at the mixer, especially if the mixers mono input is balanced (it looks like it is) - you will hear the difference between the 404's left & right channels instead of the sum. You would be better off using a stereo phono cable with 2x 1/4" jacks. If your 404 sounds are all mono, you might get away with unplugging one of the phono plugs from the 404 (probably the left).

Ideally, you want a different stereo cable (2 phono's to 2 separate 1/4") or 2 mono cables. A DI box is definitely not needed unless you get ground hum problems.

Jim

[bastion]

Hi Jim, thanks for your reply!

I'm using a phono to 3.5mm jack, with a 3.5 to 1/4 inch adaptor. Like I said it works fine going straight into speakers via audio interface.

I've also since experimented and found it works fine with the audio interface placed between the sampler and mixer (with two jack leads into line inputs).

Wondering if a DI box would do the same job the interface is doing in this instance (problem with using an interface live is that it's bus powered only), or whether a phono to double 1/4 inch jack may solve the problem entirely?

Thanks!

[cartesia]

Is it stereo though or mono? there are 3.5mm/.25" stereo and 3.5mm/.25" mono jacks and plugs..

If you can tell us both what the cable is and what the mixer takes, that would be a big help.

you will see on the plug metal separated by little rubber/plastic sections.. there will be 2 metal sections for mono, 3 for stereo or mono balanced..


it may be stereo phase issues...

are your samples stereo or mono? if they are stereo, try resampling it to mono (hit resample then turn off the stereo button) - if its a stereo phase issue the new mono version of the sample should sound like the output thru the mixer.. all wrong.

Could also be to do with the mixer/PA setup too

[Jim Y]

I'm pretty certain that bastion has the wrong cable for use with the mixer. A balanced mono input uses the same 3 contact jack as stereo, but works differently and you'll only hear the difference between the left and right channels and not a mix of left and right using a single stereo jack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_audio

You can plug a 2 contact mono jack into a balanced mono input without any problem and the mixers inputs are labelled balanced/unbalanced to show it can take either.
You can plug a stereo jack into an unbalanced mono input, but you'll only get the Right channel.
But if you plug a stereo jack into a balanced mono socket you get the problem described.

In fact, if the input you use on the presonus is an unbalanced mono input, then you've only been hearing the right channel of the 404 all along!

All you need is the right cable - 2 phono/rca plugs at one end and 2 mono 1/4" jacks at the other.

Jim

[BabyblueXx]

I’m running into my mixer with dual RCA to dual TS and there’s a lot of noise. Should I use dial rca to dual TRS out of my sp instead ?