Best way to add audio inputs to the DT

Gino · August 13, 2020, 3:04pm

Hi everyone,

I’m curious about routing the audio of multiple devices to the main L&R inputs of the DT.

I tried using 2 of these, and found that I lose some sound quality:

Amazon.com: Hosa YPP-111 1/4" TS to Dual 1/4" TSF Y Cable: Musical Instruments

Hosa Y Cable, Mono 1/4" TS Male to Dual 1/4" TS Mono Female This cable is designed to duplicate a mono signal. Connector(s): 1/4 in TS to Dual 1/4 in TSF Similar Products to Consider Hosa YPP117 1/4 inch TRS to Dual 1/4 inch TS Y Cable - 6 Inch Backed by Hosa's Limited Lifetime Warranty, this quality 'Y' cable features precision-molded terminations, braided shields, and heavy-duty insulation. Hosa CMP153 Y Cable 1/8 Inch TRS to Dual 1/4 Inch TS Cable - 3 Foot The Hosa CMP153 splits a Stereo Minijack signal into Left and Right quarter-inch connections. Hosa CMP159 Stereo Breakout, 3.5 mm TRS to Dual 1/4 in TS, 10-Feet This cable is designed to connect an audio device with a mini stereo phone output to pro audio gear with unbalanced phone inputs.

I started looking at mixers like this one, as I need something as small as possible:

Looking for ideas, and advice if anyone has done something similar.

Best regards,

Gino

Slim · August 13, 2020, 3:21pm

I heard good things about the RJM mini mixer.

there’s one for sale from a nauts!

spikysimon · August 13, 2020, 3:36pm

I sometimes use use a Bastl Dude for submixing prior to the inputs of my A4. Pros:

It’s absolutely tiny, has 5 channels
Cheap!
Battery powered
Has mute buttons
You can crank the gain to add nice overdrive/saturation, sound great

Cons:

Doesn’t come with a PSU, and the PSU I bought for it makes it noisy, so I stick with batteries
Only 3.5mm inputs (which helps keep it small I guess)

Gino · August 13, 2020, 3:51pm

Interesting… How long to the batteries last?

spikysimon · August 13, 2020, 3:56pm

Hmm, I’m not sure, really. It doesn’t eat batteries and I haven’t found that I need to change them so frequently it’s annoying, but I have been through some sets (with the caveat that I only really use it occasionally). It’s a shame I haven’t found a non-noisy PSU for it, maybe I should have tried asking Bastl.

Ricky Tinez did a video about it, which is why I bought it in the first place:

og_tea_boi · August 13, 2020, 4:59pm

I’m not sure Hosa are really the best cables. The Eurorack cables are got from them are great, but the Audio one, hmmm, not so great, I switched it with some Van Damme cable and much better. Not in some twinkly esoteric way, the sampling via the Hosa just sounded shit.

Never buy a cheap stereo sub mixer/monitor controller. It’s a common problem that the L/R channels won’t be even at every stage, on cheap ones. I can dig up the video that goes into great deal explaining this if you want.

jawnmo · August 14, 2020, 2:59am

I’d recommend finding a mixer that has an aux out. I’m using a yamaha MG12, which might be a little bigger than you want, but my setup works really well for what you’re talking about.

For my setup, I have all my instruments (synths, record player, guitar, drum machines) coming into the inputs on the mixer. I use the aux output to send the signal from any of those instruments to the Digitakt, where I can record and sample the instruments right away. I can even send audio from the Digitakt through the mixer, add EQ, and send it back into the Digitakt to sample it again. I have a TRS->Double TS cable coming out of the aux output on the mixer and feeding into the Digitakt, and then the Digitakt outputs go to a separate input channel on the mixer.