Interest check Separate outs mod

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#121

BurrBrown

#122

I confirm on burr brown, those are really great !

#123

+1 million

#124

If this gets the go ahead it will be the thing that opens the door to me getting an A4.

#125

+11111111111111

#126

So maybe the outs are buffered already? THe analog Keys have independent outputs, does anyone have a photo for the inside to see if is just a connection to this missing header in the A4?

#127

You can use the pins directly as outputs, just make sure you don’t do anything dumb that would cause current to flow back in.

After some probing, I will not even bother with a board and just wire up jacks directly to the pins. The tricky part now will be drilling the case nicely. But that’s up to each modder :wink:

2 Likes
#128

And just tap GND from anywhere on the board?

#129

Yeah, there’s a few places where GND is marked.

To anyone who wants to do this mod:

As relatively simple as this mod is, it’s an expensive piece of gear with things you can mess up that the average hobbyist/DIYer can not fix - attempt at your own risk! Neither I nor Elektron will support you. All the info needed is in this thread. If you can’t figure it out, you probably shouldn’t be doing the mod!

#130

I love this idea of escaping 9 wires through the vent and getting a wooden extension with the separate outs !
Brilliant !
:smiley:

#131

But for the crazy ones, please post pics of your mod!

(And for the coroner’s report, include the exact time and date you fried your A4.)

#132

+1

#133

+2

#134

It won’t be that exciting - just 4 holes drilled in the case!

Seriously, in terms of mods this is about as easy as it gets. You don’t even have to modify any circuits and the soldering is minimal. The trickiest part will be drilling the case nicely.

All you have to do is solder a header to the holes in the (many) pictures above and run a ribbon cable from that to the jacks, wherever you decide to place them. Personally, I will probably use 4x 3.5mm TRS jacks between the USB and power jacks. There’s not enough room (as far as I can manage) for 1/4" jacks – there is a large header that would block the jack body and there’s not enough vertical height to mount the jacks above the header.

1 Like
#135

As I see it, this mod could be

  • adding a modular-like plate on the left side of A4 with 4 female stereo 3,5 mm mini-jacks
  • optional : fix this plate on some wood, with some room for the jacks and room for the wire to go through the air vent (I love this solution because one doesn’t have to drill the case)
  • wiring all the ground of the mini-jacks input to the same GND-marked place.
  • for each mini-jack, wiring the ring to the right point and the tip to the left point of one of the couple of holes in the “HELLO” picture bellow
  • optional : add for each of the holes a buffer to protect A4 from bad wiring on the external side.

My questions :

  • am I correct when I state ring=right / left=tit on a stereo jack ?
  • how do you determine right from left on the couple of holes ? Try & error ?
  • what happens if a stupid mono mini-jack is plugged in the stereo entry we just wired ?
  • am I overlooking something ?

hello.jpg1000×752 316 KB

1 Like
#136

Freudian slip there :wink:

Yeah, I just remember red=ring=right

#137

Nah, that was intended ^^
I like to call it tit :kiss:
Even if it’s a he.
:wink:

1 Like
#138

the non-ring goes to ground ! so you only get left=tip

#139

pan a loud square signal (or any) to either side and use your voltmeter :thup:
they’ll be in a column for each pan position

1 Like
#140

OK, so let me rephrase my question :
could short-circuit the right channel to GND while inserting a mono jack in the stereo input damage anything ?

(thx pal for the answers btw :wink: )