These would be used between a transducer and a drum module. Is one better than the other? I’d assume that balanced is better, but I have no facts to back that up.
Speaking of transducers, does anybody have any tips on making some Radio Shack drum triggers? I’ve got a decent set of triggers, but I need to strip the insulation. This is due to the fact that a 6" long heavily insulated cable tends to not want to be held by an adhesive when doubled over on itself.
Oh, and it has to be as durable as possible too. I just hijacked my own OP.
Unbalanced cables consist of a signal-carrying conductor and a ground wire. They are fine for shorter runs. Unbalanced cables consist of two signal-carrying conductors, 180[sup]o[/sup] out of phase from each other, and a third ground conductor. Any external noise induces a voltage in the two signal wires in phase with each other, and is thus rejected by the front end of audio equipment. This is called common-mode rejection. If your equipment is not designed to accept balanced connectors (usually three-conductor phone plugs or XLR-3 connectors) the you’d need to use a balun (balanced to unbalanced) transformer to connect balanced cables. Balanced cables are best over long cable runs, or in electrically noisy environments.
I knew you’d have an answer as far as my electrical questions went. The module I’m using is an Alesis DM5, if this helps, please instruct me. I have the manual, but I’m a drummer, so I know not about the resistance, and various other factors that are included with such an undertaking.
Any instruction (befitting a 4 year old) would be appreciated, since I’m a babe in the woods here.
I can say and spell the various forces that are involved here, but I’m ignorant as to their meaning. Impedence. Resistance. Signal strength. Threshold.
The perfect end result would be a 1/4" snake linking 5 or 6 transducers to a drum module that is 5 or 6 feet away. I’d hate to pay handsomly for simple technology that is available for less.
I can make sounds happen with the proper equipment, but I know little about how to make it the way I want it to sound. This is not a software question, but rather a question about how I should route it through the amps and PA. Maybe I should read a book. Thanks anyway.
You probably guessed I’d meant to type “balanced” instead of “unbalanced” there. Which means it’s time for bed! I’ll get to your followup questions tomorrow morning.
I’ll leave the pedal and effects box hookups to those with more experience. In general, they usually get connected together with 1/4" coaxial phone cables (which are unbalanced). These are fine for short runs, say, under 15 or 20 feet. Adjusting them to get whatever sound you’re looking to attain is beyond my experience, however. I’ve had some experience with parametric EQs, and a few other effects pedal boxes, but you’re better off asking one of our more experienced musician types.
As for your drum module, there isn’t enough information on the linked spec sheet to tell if it uses balanced or unbalalnced cables. On high-end audio equipment, XLR-3 connectors are the standard for balanced connections. If the unit doesn’t have this type of connector, it’s probably designed to work with unbalanced coaxial connections. Balanced cables are normally reserved for very low-level signals (like microphone-level signals) which are more susceptible to induced noise than higher-level signals like line-level. This is why you normally see them on high-end PA microphone inputs. If you need to use it for a very long run, and you find your equipment is picking up ambient electrical noise, you can connect your equipment with balanced cables, using balun transformers at the device inputs. Common balun configurations are XLR-3 to 1/4" phone (like this one) and vice versa. These contain a transformer which essentially passes the wanted signal, but “bucks out” (rejects) and common mode noise, and can also match impedance if necessary.
I’m guessing by “drum trigger”, you’re referring to some sort of pedal or other switch which triggers your drum module? If this is the case, almost any sort of wire will do. A switch just opens and closes a circuit, and isn’t susceptible to external electrical noise. If the pedal switch is operating a high-impedance digital input, it could be suspectible to false triggering from strong external signals, however. In this case, something like twisted-pair telephone wiring will help reject external common-mode signals.