I’m interested in one of these guys but all this talk about balanced/unbalanced has me confused. Is there a difference between a trs cable and a balanced cable? How would I connect this thing to my Oto Bebe Cherie?
anyone?
Hi ! TRS = balanced. Bébé Chérie can handle balanced input, so you have either the choice to follow previous advice (using a Y splitter cable to connect it unbalanced) or to use a cable as I mentioned (2 TRS to 1 TRS) OR even to buy a small passiv mixer like the myVolts MickXer 5-Way Passive Mixer to have only one TRS output to plug in the Bébé chérie 
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TRS to dual-TRS can be handy. For exemple, I’ve the DF Audio patchbay, you can only plug TRS on it. So I use this cable to plug both my Implexus output to one DF Audio input ^^
This is a horrible idea. In all likelihood, the cable is acting like a splitter. That is, the tip of the single end is connected to the tip of both the dual ends, the ring to both the rings, and the sleeve to both the sleeves. Let’s catalogue the confusion this causes:
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Electrically, this is equivalent of running a cable out of one output and into the other. As already established, the implexus is picky about how its outs are treated. This is probably not something they considered.
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The balanced stereo signal from the implexus is getting merged by the cable into balanced mono.
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This summed mono signal is now twice as hot as it should be, likely clipping or distorting.
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All of which is completely pointless because if you actually wanted a balanced mono signal, all you’d have to do is plug a plain ol’ normal TRS cable from the left out of the implexus to your patch bay. Thus avoiding all of the above concerns.
That cable is cursed. I’d honestly get rid of it.
Edit: Also, what particular DF Audio patch bay are you using. Because it looks like most of them are expecting stereo or insert, not balanced.
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Oh ok thank you very much ! I’ll dump this cable. But in my case, what about using passive mixer like the one I mentioned (MyVolts) that take trs and send trs to my patchbay ? (doing that to avoid using 2 slots on my patchbay)
That takes a bunch of TRS connections and sums them into a single TRS just like the cursed cable. So if you plug each of the implexus’s balanced outs into the MyVolts’s inputs, you’d have a balanced mono signal on the outputs. Kind of a waste because you could get the same without the mixer by just using the left channel of the implexus as noted above.
And it’d still be balanced mono whereas the DF Audio stuff is probably most useful with unbalanced stereo.
If you want unbalanced TRS stereo out of the implexus, you could use the headphones out*. Alternately, use two Y adaptors, and plug the “black”/“tip” side of each into one of the TS ends of a breakout cable. You now have unbalanced stereo on the TRS side of the breakout. That can go direct to your DF audio thing. Or, if you want to sum it with other instruments, into the MyVolts. The result will then be the stereo signal of the implexus plus whatever else you plug in there.
/* there are different impedances involved with the headphone out vs the balanced outputs. But for the gear you’ve mentioned, I don’t think it’d be a problem.
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It’s a shame they went with balanced. It’s really put me off what is otherwise a really great sounding synth.
To be clear, the problem isn’t with balanced. It’s the Implexus’s fiddly implementation of balanced that compels them to warn us not to use TS jacks in the manual.
Balanced in general is fine. All Elektrons have balanced outs, I think, for example. But the way those are designed you can use TS cables with them if you don’t care, so it’s not an issue. You never need to think about it.
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If I used the implexus’ headphone out in to my Bebe Cherie, would that be an issue?
Usually, the answer is, “See what the manual says.” The Bebe manual is unusually sparse, so the real answer is “Ask OTO support what they think.”
If I were to make some guesses, it looks like the Bebe inputs expect stereo TRS (when the channel is set to stereo mode). That’s what comes out of the Implexus headphone out. So on that score, at least, you’re good.
Next is the gain staging problem. The headphone out comes after an amplifier, and mixers are not usually expecting amplified signal. So depending on the headphone volume knob on the Implexus, it could be very easy to overload the Bebe, most likely resulting in distortion. But maybe also deafening volume, blown speakers, etc? Depends on how the Bebe is wired. If you try this, start with the headphone volume down.
Then there’s the impedance mismatch. Line out is high voltage, low current. Headphone out is low voltage high current. Feeding loudspeakers with low voltage could result in hiss, frequency response rolloff, or a generally distorted sound. But the Bebe is a powered mixer, not a speaker load. I wouldn’t expect it be a problem — but again, not a lot of details available, so ¯\(ツ)/¯. Back to “Ask OTO support.”
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@DaveMech is the implexus still a part of your setup?
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It’s still part of the studio setup yeah. Not (yet) of a live performance rig, but that might change in the future,
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Just received mine, connected to a Jellymix with balanced cables aside a DT2, DN2, Redshift 6 and Fourm. Only played some drone and I’m amazed so far. This machine is a delight for rhythmic experimentation and sonic textures. I’ll try to sequence it with OXI MK2 and see how it fits with my setup.
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For those of you who have had this beautiful box for at least a month now, what’s the verdict?
- How has this machine been incorporated into your set up?
- Are you sampling it much? Or recording straight into your DAW?
- Are you considering replacing anything in your set up given it’s THAT good?
- Is it playing nice with other gear by standing out or sitting well in the mix?
Give us your post-honeymoon take :).
Arps. Arps, arps, arps, arps, and arps. Some leads.
It’s my only complex box, so I thought I’d be using it more for “texture” type stuff, but cheap ROMplers and an expensive Steampipe have kind of filled that space for me.
I don’t really see the benefit of sampling. You can do, of course, but so much of what I love about the box how easy it is to get interesting movement. That obviously gets flattened with sampling. But I’m not a big sample guy anyway, so I’m probably missing a trick or three.
I had a small modular rig that this replaced for me. The best way I have of describing the Implexus, actually, is “Someone better than me at modular came up with a killer setup that they were using all the time and hard-wired it into a box”. Again, grain of salt as I am very much not a modular guy.
No complaints. Having complex oscillators, I find it easier to get spicy in the top end without overloading the mids. There’s obviously the filter to tame that if you like. And besides, how that complements your mixes is very mix-dependent.
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I was considering the Implexus. I really love the styling and the high build quality. I think the synth concept is good too.
But then Buchla presented the Ziggy.
It has roughly the same synth concept as the Implexus but has patch memories and a number of other interesting control features plus digital effects.
It’s not as good looking and probably not as well built but I think it looks rather nice and it does have wooden endcheeks and metal top/chassis.
So now I’m fairly certain that I will get the Ziggy instead.
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This is precisely why it’s interesting to me. I’m reluctant to bite the modular bullet, but a lot of the music I dig seems to have been made with modular synthesis.
Thanks for the thorough description. Really appreciate it.
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Pulled the trigger on the Implexus Dark that just got restocked at Thomman.
It was this, or the Cascadia or Syntrx. Being a Sequential stan, the knob-per-function UX was an easy decision.
Thanks for your PoV @jemmons!
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You’re gonna be stoked! I replaced my Cascadia with the Implexus. I just didn’t find myself utilizing the patch points enough and I can just get to sounds and start cooking way faster on the Implexus. The only thing I kinda miss is the midi control.
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