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machdisk · 20th August 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quetz ➡️

Thank you!

I put the cable soldering off for a day so I could put some sound through it last night and check stability etc.
So first of all it's stable, everything works as it should straight away which is expected but still nice to confirm!

The first thing I noticed was this is the first interface of the three I've had with my K702s that can drive them properly.
That headphone amp is LOUD, as promised!
Also, I love having my reference on the DAW 2 switch. It's super nice to be able to just flick to the reference track at any time without having to select the track and mess around with muting.

I have a question for the guys about routing (there was bound to be one)!
My setup routing is quite esoteric (to me?), so this might give some insight into the unit's functionality anyway.
I want to confirm this will all work as intended before I set the switches and rack it!

Scenario:
I've got a curious 500 module (the HRK single module stereo one) that uses its rack input connector as the second channel output.
I've also got two 500 series double-width mono comps which use their right hand rack I/O for SC connections (which I don't use).
Then I've got an MDX2100 and two EQP-KTs.

I want to prioritise the R8 rack I/O connections on unused 500 slots for A/D whenever possible.
Because the HRK is effectively single slot out to two slots in, I lose the option to have all outboard come in as stereo.
So I elected to put the MDX completely on the 2626 (wordclocked) I/O.
Next two 2626 outs go to the EQPs.
Next two to the HRK.

The HRK is in slot 1, set to Analogue, [500 disabled].
It has a germanium saturation colour and tube distortion colour on each channel. It's outputs go to R8 inputs 7&8 set to analogue [disabled].
554s in slots 2-5, with 2&4 (the actual comps) set to USB [enabled] and the EQPs returning on 3&5 set to analogue [disabled].

Ok. Now after Elliot encouraged me not to distrust inserts, I've got the following:
Two 1 pole cables with a TS on one end and an XLRm on the other, with pin 2 shorted to pin 3, shield normal.

This gives me 2 send-only inserts, which will tap slots 7&8 (the HRK 'colour bus').
These will run into the comp 2&4 inputs.
I'm doing this because the 554s can bypass just the compression, which gives me the option to add transformer colour, 30KHz lift etc after the saturation and distortion.

When I want the colour bus to go through the 554s, I can simply turn 7&8 down and flick the input switches on slots 2&4 to analogue, correct?
Then I can add the 554 tone, print, switch back to USB and turn 7&8 up again when done (the level will be reset for each different source anyway).

Having the 7&8 signal coming in constantly to 2&4 like that isn't an issue is it? I don't see why it should be but thought I'd check.
If that's fine then I'll tap the EQP returns in the same way and send them to the MDX sidechain which has key listen, so that would be pretty cool.

That leaves slot 6 free for a Cranborne 500 preamp

Edit: one more thing..
If I have my turntable preamp outs coming in on the DAW2 jacks, can.I switch to DAW2 when the computer is off and use it as a phono input?

Thanks!

Hi Quetz! Few questions there. I'm going to try and answer them in reverse order.

First, yes you can use the daw 2 Aux inputs with the USB disconnected no problem.

Secondly having signal coming in constantly into the analog inputs for 2 and 4 when it's switched out is not a problem (they are disconnected from the module input with a relay).

Thirdly regarding your routing setup. All the switching should work if I'm reading your post correctly but I do see a couple issue using the inserts the way you describe with a cable wired
as described. The inserts are between the module backplane output and the internal routing to the mix bus (and the ADC and direct out xlr, it all comes from this post insert point). This means that when you insert your mono to xlr cable you will break the routing to the mixbus so you'll see no signal to the adc/mixbus on channels 7/8.

To make it work as you envision you can either take the outputs from the ch7/8 xlr outs to the 2/4 xlr inputs or you can wire up a TRS to xlr cable. On the TRS end you would connect the tip and ring together and the run the tip to the xlr pin 2 and then short xlr pin 1 and 3 to ground which should also connect to the jack sleeve. That allows the channel output of 7 and 8 to reach the mix bus and adc while also acting as an unbalanced output. Then you can connect it to the ch2/4 inputs like you described.

Also an important note. While the unusual HRK module using the input as a second output will work OK when the slot is set to analog input I do caution you to be extremely careful not to accidentally switch that channel to USB input with that module in the slot as you will be connecting the DAC output directly to the module output which is about the worst possible thing you can do to any output stage and which could well result in damage to the module and possibly even the DAC output.