I guess the title tells you it all but ill give off an example too see if anyone has any idea.
Im going from output of my DFAM,M32 or any other synth I have and going into the Line input on my compressor. Im switching the channel to LINE and taking the output of my compressor into my desk. There’s never any signal really (it’s very low) and then theres lots of noise.
My compressor is the Drawmer 1960, picked up 2nd hand but the guy assured me it was all working and tested before, who knows… you cant trust everyone. Maybe im just doing something wrong though, does anyone have any idea as to why this is happening? It’s not happening if I take the output and put into the instrument input on the Compressor…
Yeah so the 1/4 jack from the output of my synths to XLR inputs on the 1960, then XLR output from 1960 to 1/4 line input on my desk. Does that make sense? Sorry, should have mentioned the cabling. Hopefully theres some sort of solution.
might be a dumb question, but you didn´t get the tubes sent to you separately, right?
sometimes people remove tubes from devices for shipping.
I guess you would´ve noticed that, though.
Has the device warmed up enough before you tested it?
Turn it on and let it sit for 5-10mins, tubes often do not pass any signal if they´re cold, depending on how they´re used in the circuit…
If none of that applies, try this:
-keep the connections as you have them (XLR in, XLR out)
-both channels to “Line” input
-stereo LINK on
-both “CUT” (Hipass) to OFF
-both Thresholds to “infinite” (all the way to the left) - this should effectively bypass the compressor as it will never reach the threshold
-basically this means that attack/release settings should not make any difference…
-set the GAIN knob (the one on the right side of the device) of both channels to “0” (this is the make-up gain)
in THEORY (!) you should hear the exact same signal now passing through the device as if you had connected the synths straight to your mixer.
All of this is from pictures of the Front Panel, since I do not own a Drawmer 1960 myself.
It also looks like there are bypass switches all the way on the right (labelled “output” there is a switch that can be set to bypass).
Obviously, IF that is indeed a true bypass - that should just let your signal through or the device is indeed broken
Nice one man, thanks for taking the time out with a detailed reply. Ill be sure to try this out when im back home, ill report back. Thanks again!
The tubes are still there, i’ve took it to a local engineer to have a look over and asked him if he could test the noise issue out, he tested it and said it was gone. As soon as I got home and tried it the noise was back, im using pretty good cables and using isolated power supplys to power it.
To me it’s just very strange that when I use the ‘instrument’ input theres no issues… Could it be something to do with having to pre-amp the signal before it goes in? hmmmm…
If you´re using that front-panel input, try flipping the “low/high” switch to switch the input impedance.
Also, how are you going out of your synth - your Mother32, right?
Are you using the modular level (“VCA”) output, or the line output on the back?
I´m guessing you might simply have the threshold put way too low and it is just compressing the ever living hell out your signal.
Or the other way round and you´re not getting enough signal into the compressor in the first place, and then you have way too much make-up gain (which would sort of explain the noise).
You are probably using a jack-to-XLR adapter cable, right?!
there is a chance that your cable is wired “wrong” for the Drawmer - there is a pin-out diagram below the XLR inputs.
Make sure that your adapter cable has the “hot”, “cold” and “screen” signals on the same positions as the Drawmer expects.
Also, if your synth’s output is MONO aka unbalanced (edit to clarify: meaning a TS=tip/sleeve cable, as opposed to TRS=tip/ring/sleeve), that might be another potential source for errors - XLR is meant for balanced signals, but there are some “adapter” cables that have a mono jack plug (again: TS jack) wired to an XLR plug… if that is wired differently than the Drawmer expects, that also would explain why can use it via the Jack input on the front, but not via the XLRs on the back.
Try a different cable or maybe use a DI box so you can go in to that mono/unbalanced and come out with a XLR-to-XLR cable that hopefully has the same pinout as the Drawmer (should be industry standard, really).
haha you da man! Best info i’ve recieved yet. Yeah I mean ‘AUX’, it’s designed for instruments so I guess thats why I call it that. Im currently using the Line output on the back but I do hope to be able to use the VCA output… not sure if the VCA would be too hot for it? What do you think? I use the VCA output on the ‘AUX’ input.
The threshold is at ‘0’ and theres very little signal and lots of noise. What you’re saying about the make-up gain makes sense, i do have to crank it up to hear anything but then it’s counter productive becuase all this noise comes after…
Do you know where I can pick up the cables you’re meaning or the adapters becuase Im not really sure what you are meaning there?
RE/the cables , I´ll try to explain what the problem might be here:
by coincidence, I just saw a thread on another forum recently that the mother32´s back output automatically switches to a special dual-mono “headphone” mode when he detects a TRS cable (aka “stereo cable”, like any regular headphone jack) and thus outputs the synths’ mono signal TWICE, once on every channel.
this is so you will hear the synths output on both sides of your headphones and not just on the left ear!
this could potentially be the source of your problem, since “dual mono” is different from “balanced” audio (which is what your XLR inputs would expect) in that balanced audio also carries the signal twice - but PHASE INVERTED for noise cancellation
so, the problem might be:
mother32 outputs dual mono on both channels of the TRS plug
xlr expects balanced (phase-inverted) audio on one side of the TRS plug
so that MIGHT mean that your compressor actually cancels out the phase of your mother32 (since that is how noise reduction via balanced signals works), that would explain the absolutely low signal!
if that is indeed the case, you should do the following:
get a “TS-to-XLR” adapter, meaning a “MONO” (=TS) 1/4inch plug connected to a XLR plug on the other side.
ideally, this alone would solve your problem, but it MIGHT (!) introduce grounding issues that usually mean a “humming” (50/60 Hz depening on your mains power) in the audio.
OR get a DI box - this will convert the mono TS signal correctly to a balanced (XLR) audio output.
this should not result in any mains hum either.
Nice one man, really appreciate the help. Do you think if I got a dual channel PRE and fed my instruments into that and then into the Drawmer it would work? I was thinking of getting the Focusrite ISA2. I mean obviously before I spend im going to try the cables, it may just be a cheap fix! Thanks again
well a preamp will probably not magically make your problem go away, so you should definitely try to fix that by using the right cables (IF that is the issue!) first.
synths generally should be outputting line level (or in case of modular, even higher), so a preamp is not NECESSARY - but it can add some color to your sound, so why not.
I would pay attention to use a preamp with adjustable output volume so you don´t end up boosting your levels too much for your compressor to handle.
I myself am using preamps with DI / Instrument inputs to work as DI-boxes = unbalanced-to-balanced converters.
The ISA2 seems to have those, but I am not sure if the “trim” would work as an output attenuator.
Might not be an issue though, but as I said - I would fix your original issue first before adding on any more equipment
