Connecting a stereo synth to a mono pedal and ending in stereo pedals/heat

[Fin25]

@tendingtropic

at first I thought an easy solution would be a stereo cable (L/R) to mono cable (jack, so an Y cable). that way I thought you’d ‘sum’ L&R into one mono.

Such cables may well exist, but what’s the point when you can just sum it to mono internally using the pan settings and the L output?

@tendingtropic

connecting the headphone output to the mono pedal

You’ll only get one side of the signal, as the mono input will only be able to hear the TS (Tip/Sleeve) part of the TRS (Tip/Ring/Sleeve) jack, the TRS being what makes the headphone jack stereo (or balanced, but that’s another conversation).

[tendingtropic]

thanks for the help.

Luckily its very easy to pan all the voices to one side on the perfourmer.

might be a bit more tricky on other synths, but doable ofcourse

[InTheAM]

You can absolutely use the correct kind of Y cable but as stated hard panning essentially does the same thing.

[tendingtropic]

thanks but If I understand correctly (trying to learn fast here) even a ‘right’ y cable might lead to phase issues if a balanced input is expected.

[phaelam]

@chiasticon

stereo imaging is great, especially if you have lots going on and need to make space for it all in the mix.

Stereo is/can be used to take all your mono sources and move them around the ‘stage’ in your stereo mix. The more stereo sources you have, the more competition for space you create.

note: after about 20 years of trying to mix, I’m only just starting to figure that out

[blurrghost]

If you have a mixer, and depending on it’s architecture, you might be able to run two parallel fx loops. If so, good odds you can do one in stereo and one in mono and re-sum via input channels.

[InTheAM]

That could absolutely be true, that’s above my pay grade unfortunately. I know I have run a a stereo synth into a mono pedal like that, not sure if the pedal wanted a balanced input or not, it never sounded bad enough to stop me : )

[chiasticon]

@phaelam

Stereo is/can be used to take all your mono sources and move them around the ‘stage’ in your stereo mix. The more stereo sources you have, the more competition for space you create.

true. I was mainly referring to the first part.

[esq]

You could always get two Shallow Waters…

[rouge]

Exactly, I have two Shallow Water for this reason. It’s an expensive solution, but I’m always happy to support creative small businesses if possible.

[PofM]

@tendingtropic

but at first I thought an easy solution would be a stereo cable (L/R) to mono cable (jack, so an Y cable). that way I thought you’d ‘sum’ L&R into one mono.

You can damage gear this way. A splitter cable is for splitting, not joining. You can’t use them to sum (not correctly anyway).

The outputs are low impedance and the inputs are high impedance. Connecting two outputs to one input can cause current from the outputs to go “backwards” to the other output, because that’s the path of least resistance.

To sum two stereo signals to mono you either needs something designed for that (e.g. a mixer) or a summing cable which has resistors in to stop the outputs acting as inputs.

Edit: thanks to @llatsni for the link in this comment:

Sum a Stereo Signal with Cable to go into Mono Input of OT

If you’re handy with a soldering iron you can make a summing cable, you only need a few resistors. This one is for a balanced input, but gives you an idea of what’s needed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNcakSLTOvs The Rane article he references is here: https://www.ranecommercial.com/kb_article.php?article=2106

And this is the one where I first learnt about it (which links to the Rane one):
http://silentsky.net/wordpress/archives/624

[PofM]

Some mixers (e.g. Mackie) only have mono FX sends anyway, even though the return is stereo.

[blurrghost]

True, though I’ve done this with mackies by using the alt 3/4 assignable outs as stereo sends on the 1202 and 1402. The larger models often gain multi bus functions which give even more flexibility.

[tendingtropic]

haha yeah, I don’t really find this feasible, but good you support your local haha

[tendingtropic]

thanks for the info! I realise it seemed like a too easy solution, too good to be true

[Azzarole]

@PofM

You can damage gear this way. A splitter cable is for splitting, not joining. You can’t use them to sum (not correctly anyway).

Wanna try something but am a bit afraid of damaging anything, so wanna ask here first.

I currently have a chase bliss brothers connected to OT headphone out with a mono cable. I pan hard right on OT headphone settings, works great. Now I wanna hook up GenLoss MK II to OT headphone out in the future. So I would choose to connect either Brothers or Gen Loss, depending on situation. The easiest solution would be if I could always have the stereo cable running into Gen Loss MK II on OT headphone out. Then set OT headphone out mix to center when using Gen Loss and hard right when using Brothers. Is there a danger of breaking Brothers with the stereo cable?

[PofM]

No

[Azzarole]

You mean no danger to the mono pedal ?

[PofM]

Yes

The TS mono input will only have two pins, Tip and Sleeve. That will only connect to the Tip and Sleeve of the TRS stereo cable. The other stereo channel on the Ring will be ignored.

[Azzarole]

Thanks, that’s great to hear!