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why do i lose gain when i use a balanced patch cord from my rack synth to my patchbay? if i use an unbalanced patch cable in replace of the balanced patch cable i dont have to use the gain knob on my mixers line input. if i use the balanced patch cable i have to crank the gain and then i hear a buzzing noise.i thought that i should be using balanced patch cables rite?

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Boswell Fri, 03/16/2007 - 16:58

To make a balanced cable work, the gear at both ends has to be designed to work with a balanced connection. That doesn't necessarily mean it have to be balanced itself, but that the designer has thought about what happens when using both balanced and unbalanced connections.

A sufficient explanation for your effect is that the output socket on the Motif (you don't say whether it's TRS jack or XLR) has only the hot pin and ground connected, leaving the cold pin floating. You could re-wire the plug or buy an adaptor that will ground the cold pin, but is there actually a great need to use a balanced connection here if there are no problems with the unbalanced one?

Boswell Sun, 03/18/2007 - 08:20

No, in your case it clearly does matter. I'm suggesting you stick with the unbalanced cable since that seems to work, unless you have an overriding reason to use balanced, in which case you will have to crack the problem of gain loss. This may involve opening up the synth and inspecting the output jacks. Without that, it could be that the only way of making a balanced cable work is to unbalance it.

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