connections noob question...

ive searched around for a specific answer, but i'm just getting more confused.

this is my setup right now:

Two 1200s connected to a Stanton Sk-2f mixer

master outs from Stanton going into the Record In of my MPC1K (1/4 cables)

MPC headphone output connected to rca input of my Pioneer receiver (Y-cable)

my 2 questions:

1. is there a more appropriate way to connect my mpc to the receiver?

2. What would be the ideal way to connect my SP-404 to the MPC? I want to be
able to send signal back and forth between the two with the least amount of loss in sound quality


from there I want to connect the line out of the SP-404 to the line-in of my laptop and record the final result into Soundforge.. (i do not have an interface)


hope i made sense, and please excuse my ignorance..

thanks in advance.

skript wrote:ive searched around for a specific answer, but i'm just getting more confused.

this is my setup right now:

Two 1200s connected to a Stanton Sk-2f mixer

master outs from Stanton going into the Record In of my MPC1K (1/4 cables)

MPC headphone output connected to rca input of my Pioneer receiver (Y-cable)

my 2 questions:

1. is there a more appropriate way to connect my mpc to the receiver?

Yes, there is an appropriate way to connect your gear....do away with the Y cable usage and add a small format multi-channel mixer to your setup. Then you'll have all the neccessary connections to work with and you won't be boggled down with .

EASY!

MPC headphone output connected to rca input of my Pioneer receiver (Y-cable)
1. is there a more appropriate way to connect my mpc to the receiver?

main outs of mpc into Pioneer receiver.

2. What would be the ideal way to connect my SP-404 to the MPC? I want to be
able to send signal back and forth between the two with the least amount of loss in sound quality

mpc individual outs to sp404. sp 404 outs to line in on your mixer.

on the mpc, set input thru on.

i think that should work.

from there I want to connect the line out of the SP-404 to the line-in of my laptop and record the final result into Soundforge.. (i do not have an interface)

take the booth outs on the mixer and send that to the line in on your computer.
as your sp404 s already connected to the mixer, i think that should work.

dabmeister wrote:add a small format firewire/ USB multi-channel mixer or audio interface to your setup.

Corrected.

Something like this...

clint246clint wrote:

dabmeister wrote:add a small format firewire/ USB multi-channel mixer or audio interface to your setup.

Corrected.

Something like this...

Thank you for the correction sir. BTW Clint, is that your mixercase in the pic?

thanks for the help everyone... i ended up taking dabmeister's advice...

I got lucky and came across some money from work that they owed me..

so picked up this:

skript wrote:I got lucky and came across some money from work that they owed me..

No more fronts!

got one more question for anyone that can help out..

is it a bad idea to use my mixer's aux send into the line in of my sp-404?
and then use the 404's line out-to the return on the mixer?

Aux send output(balanced 1/4")------> Line in(unbalanced rca)
Line out(unbalanced rca)--------------->Aux return(balanced 1/4")

i've read that sending balanced signal to unbalanced input is okay

but it's not okay to send an unbalanced signal into a balanced input

I want to use the sp to apply fx on mpc tracks, which are being sent to 4 channels on the mixer

thanks again

^ I don't know alot about unbalanced into balanced, but watch out with your cabling setup your really close to creating a nasty feedback loop.

i still don't grasp feedback loops and ground loops(i read on it, its just not clicking)...so if you have any advice
on how i should connect the gear, let me know...the last thing i need is to destroy my equipment..

another issue i'm worried about is connecting the rca line out of the 404 into the 1/4" return...because i would be using a y-cable.

I heard that it's not safe(because of something related to impedance) to mix the output of two signals(rca L-R) into one single input (1/4'')

if that's the case...what if I sent the line-out into two separate mono channels on the mixer?? is that a plausible solution?

thanks again...

A good example of a feedback loop is imagine using an echo on a sound source let's say a radio. You plug the radio into the echo, now imagine plugging the output of the echo back into itself. You would just keep echoing the echo infinitely and it would get louder and louder until at some point shredding your speakers. That's a feedback loop, the audio would just keep going back around and around, now even if you didn't use the echo it would still shred your speakers because it's output would be added to itself over and over again the echo was just a good tool to explain it.

Ground loops in short, are just unwanted electricity which can add humming or noise kind of like when you touch the end of an audio cable and you hear that "fzffzzztztz".

Now for your question about the Y cable, you never want to sum or add with those cables because summing the left and right channels using a y cable will give you phase issues. To be simple the two sides (Left & Right) will start canceling eachother out or acting funny due to the channels being added together, so I would just plug in only one side and go MONO or a use a different cable. Y cables will never and should never take the place of a hardware mixer (big or small).

And finally, using your y cable to go into the mixer on two seprate channels should work fine.