Duplicate mono signal

Elektron Gear
#1

Hello,

I was hoping I could get a little help with a problem I’m probably over complicating.

I apologise about the essay but here goes,
So, for context…

I’m moving more and more into creating a hardware only techno/house live production setup.

I have a digitakt acting as the brains of my operation syncing everything together.
Drumbrute impact for drums.
Tb03 for acid lines
Bass station for well, Bass lol
And usually use the digitakt for sampling of records.

I also have recently added several cool guitar fx pedals that get used.

One thing I miss most from software is being able to create that rumble in the low end by using delays etc. feeding off the kick for the “Techno Rumble” using sidechain etc.

I do have delay and reverb pedals but at ​the moment I can’t really achieve it as I don’t have a sidechain compressor.
I’ve narrowed it down to two potential compressors which which have sidechain
capabilities, one which I will purchase soon

​I know this might seem like overkill but my day job involves working at a computer all day so to avoid a screen as much as possible is the goal.

Anyway, in order to achieve what i picture in my head. I would need to run the output from my kick on the drumbrute which is a mono 3.5mm output and duplicate this into 3 mono TRS 1/4 jack signals…

  1. feeding the “rumble chain” (reverb>delay>filter)
  2. trigger for the sidechain input
  3. the kick channel itself

The Problem:
​So far I Haven’t been able to find any splitter cables online capable of doing this.

Is this something that Is even possible to do?
Or am I going to have to create some daisy chained Y splitter into another Y splitter madness.

Also from an audio engineering sense. Would this cause issues with the audio coming from the kick source?

By duplicating the output so many times does this cause any problems?

Sorry to post in here but I couldn’t find anything online and I hoped the people in here a bit smarter than me could maybe help me

Many thanks for reading and making it this far :slight_smile:
Thankyou for your help

#2

You’ll probably want to buffer the split signal somehow if you’re splitting it three ways. You can try it passively with cables but I suspect you’ll run into issues, the dbi output signal (or any other for that matter) is only so “hot”. It depends on what level your effects/ compressor need at their input stages compared to whatever reduction might be caused by passive splitting. Sometimes it’s fine.
Do you have a mixer? Or a patchbay? Most mixers have some type of multing outs (fx sends, inserts, direct outs, aux busses, etc) and almost all patchbays have the ability to make at least one multiple per channel. The patchbay method is passive but you don’t need y cables, plus they can do all sorts of awesome routing tricks.

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#3

This splitter should do the trick.

Takes one signal and splits it into three without loss of signal.

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#4

@d4ydream
This would solve the issue completely.
It’s a bit pricey BUT would be the perfect answer to my problem.

Thank you for much for recommending this.

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#5

I dont currently have an outboard mixer or patchbay. Mixer is on the list as potential future purchase but I don’t really have the space to accommodate one at the moment.
The smaller splitter box suggested by d4 probably would suit me better at the moment due to the smaller form factor.

Thankyou very much for helping @blurrghost

#6

Haha. I tend to be a bit mixer-centric in my thinking/ use.
That box looks good. They make top notch stuff for sure and those iso-transformers they’re using are fantastic. Expensive but you’re paying for quality components. One thing to consider is that that box gives you xlr outputs so you might need an adapter (or xlr to 1/4” cable) on one or more of your cables depending on the input jacks of your other devices. Not a big deal but something to note.

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#7

Agreed. I too love that rumble kick and have often thought about how I could achieve it in hardware.

I have a TR-8S and an FMR RNC Compressor. With multiple outs and the ability to change the outputs to triggers, I can side key the RNC and use a second track on the TR8S to output a kick into the compressor. I don’t have my Strymons anymore to do this though. And it would be would $1600 for a rumble kick (2x $650 for Strymons and $300 for RNC).

You could also do some pre-production in your DAW and export a few rumble loops with various “colors” and delays and use a track on the DT as your rumble bass. I’m sure there’s more than enough parameters to EQ/modulate a rumble loop on the DT. Would give you a lot more flexibility on how to bring that sound into hardware.

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#8

Yeah, I have sampled some stuff into the digitakt and used it that way… only nuance is that it doesn’t time stretch, it pitches samples.
So if I change tempo with a new project this has created artefacts - which in some cases are actually very nice for the sound I’m after, - not so much in others haha.

Other factor is it’s taking up a sample slot (how many samples do you need I hear u ask)
Well, I sometimes use the DT sorta like an MPC and chop samples that way so having 8 samples is needed unless I start Parameter locking stuff which can be a pain in the ass for workflow.

As the rumble is such a distinct and defining part of the sound I want to achieve. I really want to nail this and have a dedicated routed setup to achieve it quickly and easily.

I wish I had the money for just 1 Styromon! Haha let alone 2!

It’s nice to discuss this with two like minded people like yourselves :slight_smile:

Well we’re speaking, do you have any recommendations for Low Pass Filter’s similar in size to guitar pedals?

I need something that can go as low as at least 20-30hz.
Don’t really need it to go higher than mid range 500hz ish as it’s main purpose is for filtering the rumble.
The grand daddy of them all is a Moogerfooger in my opinion but that’s probably a bit out of my price range at the moment.

Any suggestions welcome :slight_smile:

#9

Just try chaining y splitters. I d be surprised if there d be any audible loss.

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