After This Past Release, Noticed 1/4" inputs hotter in gain - DLR32

[takis]

Guys,

I updated the firmware, then I noticed that the 1/4 inputs which I only hooup keyboards too needed to be hotter to get the similar levels.  I noticed this because I play the keyboards and do the sound in the band.  Did anyone else notice this?  I am going to hookup the DL32R with my keys in the garage some time this week to validate again.

Also, I tried hooking up a quarter inch to my Mackie laptop to play music and the 1/4 input did not work.  Do not know.. it could of been the cable mono to steroe setup.  But again I tried this after the upgrade.

After I hookup everything in the garage this week, I will place the updated post.

Taki

[Michael Welter]

I haven't upgraded to 3.1 yet, as I have a big show coming up next week, and I want to wait until after that. But I'm curious, do you run your keys through a DI box, or just plug the 1/4" cable right into the DL?

[takis]

I run them both ways...  In other words, from one keyboard (korg M3) I use the DI box, and from the other keyboard arranger, I use two output mono with no DI boxes...

[sam.spoons]

The line input will have different gain to the XLR, that's expected as the jack input bypasses the mic preamp. A DI box reduces the level of it's jack input to "mic level" usually around -30dB but this is not standardised. The levels of keyboards vary considerably too so you can see there's no reason why the line inputs should not be different.

For the output from your laptop did you use a TRS to mini TRS cable? If so that would not work. The jack inputs on the DL32R are balanced but the output from the laptop is unbalanced stereo.

[takis]

Sam.. thanks for teh response...

For the laptop issue, the cable was a stereo 1/8" to mono 1/4".  When I mean stereo, I mean that there are c rings on that side and mono means one ring.  So it sounds what you explained I did.  Now, to resolve, do I just get a mono to mono sleeve for each side, or a 2 ring to 2 ring balanced sleeves on each side?

As for the 1/4 inputs more gain issue, I understand they run slightly hotter, but I saw more noise in the digital view meters on the Mackie Fader software between software updates.  Then to accomodate for the higher noise, I had to add more gain/trim to the channels which then the channel was leaking much noise when at a certain volume when no one was playing.  This never happened before.  And it happened on all keyboard channels that used the 1/4" input. 

I am not playing this weekend and it seems like nice weather.  So, I will check back after I setup everythign in the gaage.

Thanks for your input.

Taki

[sam.spoons]

You need a ⅛ TRS to two ¼ TS jacks to run the laptop and use two channels. The reason I asked the question was that many people try to plug a TRS stereo (i.e. tip = L+, ring = R+ & sleeve = common -) into a single TRS balanced input (tip = signal +ve, ring = signal -ve & sleeve = ground) and wonder why they can hear nothing or a very weak signal with no bass. I'm sure you were not making that mistake though.

[Wynnd]

Standard 1/4" insert cable works perfectly.  Single TRS to two TS ends.  Most PA guys already have a few of them.  I used one for the headphone out to my IEMs.  Worked perfectly.  (OK, the 1/4" plug is too big for laptops or airplay.  I have one that's 1/8" to two XLRs for that.  Leave it plugged into the Airport Express normally)

[sam.spoons]

Yup 

[takis]

Somehting like this???

[sam.spoons]

Yes, that'll do the job 

[takis]

A quick update on this issue of the inputs being a little hotter for my keyboards using the 1/4" inputs.  Well, I did not get a chacne to hook things up in the garage the past week, but the band played this past weekend Sat/Sun and all levels when the instruments were not playing were reading normal.  In other words, there was jsut the slight bouncing of the signal at low dB levels as expected.  Do not knowwh it happened, but it was a hall that we first time played in and it could of been a pwer issue... but I do place everythign through expensive power conditionning equipment...

Overall, everything worked very well this weekend. 

As for the steroe to two monos, I did not get a chance to try that out yet...

[Professor]

My Kurweil has balanced TRS outs.  The Mackie has balanced ins.  You get a 3 db boost if you use a balanced cable to connect.  My other keyboards are not balanced but seem hot enough to work.  We use the DL 32. 

[sam.spoons]

It depends if the Kursweil is servo balanced or impedance balanced (if you're losing 3dB using unbalanced TS-TS cables it sounds like its servo balanced), most modern kit is impedance balanced (the DL1608 aux outputs are impedance balanced) and using a TS-TS cable causes no loss of signal. A servo/symetrical/transformer balanced output will lose 3dB if connected in this manner. It may be possible to use a special cable under some circumstances but a loss of 3dB is not usually worth worrying about.