#Using a midi patchbay how to

ALL things being EQUAL, unbalanced is a superior sounding format. #1 - Balanced is not necessarily better than unbalanced.

Matt - first, you've got a couple of preconceived misconceptions. Can I use TRS cables for everything by default, just to simplify the cabling (so that I'm not always switching out TRS and TS cables) on both balanced and unbalanced connections, or do I need to use TS on the unbalanced connections?Īlso, will I need to switch my audio interface sends & returns to -10 whenever I send things out of the computer that are passing through at least one piece of unbalanced outboard gear?Īny help would be greatly appreciated.

#Using a midi patchbay how to

My concern is that I'd obviously like to keep things balanced for the sake of signal integrity, especially keeping the sends and returns from the audio interface at +4 when I'm sending pre-recorded tracks out from my DAW for outboard signal processing.īut now I'm wondering how to hook all of this up. So as you can see, there's a mixture of balanced and unbalanced gear here.

Various outboard gear: compressors, reverb units, delays, etc.

8 inputs & outputs to/from a Tascam 38 reel-to-reel (these are all 1/4->RCA, RCA->1/4 connections, so they're all unbalanced).

Inserts from my console (planning to run these with TRS Y-splitter cable to the back of one of the patchbays).

Returns (inputs) to my audio interface (again, +4/-10).

Sends (outputs) from my audio interface (which are switchable as +4/-10).Here's a rundown of what'll be going into and out of the patchbays, in order to clarfiy a bit: I've gotten two balanced patchbays, but now I'm not sure if I should be using TRS cables for all of the connections I'll be making. I have a good bit of gear, and I've finally made the leap and bought a couple of patchbays to make connecting gear easier in my control room. I've been reading these forums for a while-thank you everyone for all of the great info-but this is my first post.