Unbalanced muso seeks therapy and advice

[comradec]

I'm trying to solve a problem involving unbalanced connections in my home studio and I'd like to know if there are any products or techniques that could help me achieve this.

I own various synthesizers and a sampler that have unbalanced 1/4" phone jack outputs. They are all connected to a mixer (Behringer Xenyx 1832FX), which is connected to a multitrack recorder (Tascam 2488). The mixer and the multitrack have jack inputs that can accommodate either balanced or unbalanced plugs.

I have been advised that using balanced connectors could help minimise the electrical hum often present in unbalanced systems. However, as they use unbalanced jacks, I assume that balanced connectors would not be suitable for plugging in at the source end of the system, i.e. the synths/sampler.

Are there any products available that would enable me to convert 1/4" unbalanced phone jack outputs to 1/4" balanced phone jack inputs?

I know there are products around that convert to XLR, but that's no good for my mixer or multitrack, as they don't have sufficient XLR input jacks to make this practical.

[Kiwiburger]

Don't confuse a type of connector with a type of cable or wiring method.

A balanced cable requires at least three wires - and therefore requires a connector with three conductors. Whether you use XLR or 1/4" TRS is not important - both get used for balanced cables.

The XLR is the prefered connector, but sometimes for space or economy reasons the 1/4" TRS jacks get used. Simply buy or make a cable that terminates with whatever connector you need at each end.


In your case, you need a DI box, or boxes, to get as many channels as you need. The Radial range has several options - I would choose the passive ones myself. A JDI Duplex for example.