semi urgent - gig tomorrow and issues with audio 4/audio routing/and cables
Long story short
went to do sound check, borrowed audio 4 from friend to use instead of my audio 2 since i have to plug straight into amp (no mixer)
amp has 2 ins (one for left and one for right)(can choose between xlr and trs)
audio 4 has 2 rca outs..and 1 out for headphone
how do i set everything up so that sound comes out right?
the main issue I am having is that of the 2 outs (A and B), one has to be set as the monitor. in theory that goes to the audio in for monitor on a mixer, and there i plug in my headphones. but in this situation i have no mixer (only gear in my sig (audio 4 instead of 2 in this case)). So I need to use the headphone out in the audio 4. How do i set it up so that both A and B outs in the soundcard are all master?
I tried it so that I use adapters that pretty much connect one out in the soundcard to my headphone, but using the other one as a master only allws me to use one side (left or right) on the amp
well u just have to set your output to internal and in your outputroutung you can choose which channel you want to use for monitor and cue. and yes you have to plugin your headphones straight into the audio interface
no no no my mixing is always internal since i use a vci. What i need to know is how do i set it up so that i can use the headphone jack and at the same time use both channels as master outs instead of just 1.
ah right…sorry. well the thing is, that the amp only has 2 ins which would be your master out from the audio interface. i guess there is now way to get an aditional in for your monitor. so you´ll be forced spinning with your headphones as cue and the master as master/monitor…
well there are a lot of splitter/adapter on the market but none of those will give you the possibilty to turn the a/b ins from the amp into 2 a/b ins. don´t know if this was understandable
In internal mode the master out is both channels mate. Set the master out to channel 1 & 2 on the audio 4 and plug this into the amp. Set monitor to 3 & 4 and you can use the jack on the aidio 4 to monitor with.
Now if you still wanted to mix internally but with an external mixer you would plug 1 & 2, 3 & 4 into the mixer, press cue on the mixer and keep the fader down. ( then you plug your phones into the mixer for a ‘professional’ look )
i know in internal the master out is both channels. my issue is splitting that into left and a right form the rca out. i have an rca to trs cable, that only allows me to plug it into one of the 2 ins on the amp. that is my main problem
If the amp has TRS and XLR inputs, one for left and one for right, then those are both balanced inputs. Both the audio 2 & 4 have unbalance outputs.
Now if the amp has TS and XLR inputs, then the TS is unbalanced, and the XLR is balanced. If this is the case then you can use something like this…
And you can just hook one up to each rca on your main out, and plug them into the amp.
Now if that’s not the case and the inputs are TRS & XLR. Then you’ll need a Direct Interface Box (DI box) adapter, to convert the unbalanced signal to a balanced one.
Since you’re using 2 channels (L&R) i would recommend something like this…
Then you’ll still need the rca-to-ts adapters above, and you’ll need 2 xlr cables to connect the box to the amp. Set the attenuator to 0db, the mode to 2-Ch, the ground to Lift, and you’ll need a 9v battery turned on.
This box converts 2 unbalanced inputs into 2 balanced.
Since you said the amp has XLR & TRS, this really makes me wonder. Not many amps have both, since they are both balanced, and TRS is usually used for a stereo unbalance signal in amps. I’m thinking that the amp has XRS & TS. Which means you’ll only need the RCA-to-1/4"TS adapters.
On this forum, i’ve found it’s pretty common for people to confuse TRS and TS since the inputs look very similar. The difference is the number of wires in each cable. You can see in these connectors…
A TS cable is used for one thing, to send a unbalanced mono signal.
Now a TRS has posible 2 uses, to send an unbalanced stereo signal, or to send a balanced mono signal.
That could be from plugging a TRS cable into a TS input. The input could have been touching the ring and sleeve at the same time, which would cause all kinds of weird side effects.
)
just realized that i never used internal mode. need to school myself on this one