How to hook up a Lexicon Alpha + Mixer correctly ??

papusnance

New member
Hi guys

So I borrowed this peavy mixer and hooking it up to my interface was a problem.
so , take a look at my interface's ass:

http://www.sector-audio.com/imagenes/productos/galeria/lexicon/alpha-/alpha--4.jpg

now, if your looking at her ass. You can see she has two a-holes called "Line in" (1 and 2)
in the Manual they call these inputs stereo line inputs..stereo

"Stereo Line Inputs for keyboards, drum machines or analog output of a CD/MP3 Player. Rf-filtered TRS active-balanced inputs accept either balanced or un-balanced signals."

So if they are stereo i guessed the following would work:
To go from the "Tape out " of the mixer with an RCA male to stereo 1/8 male cable , and put a 1/4 stereo adapter to it. so it would go into either of this inputs and the signal would be recorded stereo

snapshot3k.jpg

By papush at 2012-05-07

snapshot7ag.jpg

By papush at 2012-05-18

But it didn't work, the signal was recorded in mono... changed the jack into the other input, still didn't work . I tested the mixer with headphones, its stereo functionality was working perfectly. Tested the cable , everything was in good condition.
Then i tried pluging an ipod ("or analog output of a CD/MP3 Player.") to these line inputs , and it still came on mono , you could hardly hear the voice but the keyboards sounded super clear and on top of everything... stuff like this. and no stereo details

is lexicon lying about the stereo inputs?

So the next thing i did was the following:

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By papush at 2012-05-18
snapshot5en.jpg

By papush at 2012-05-18

As you can see , i recorded from the main out. sending the left and right signals with two different cables. each one of the cables were plugged into one the line inputs.

Then i panned the signals of each channel (in my DAW) to left and right... it seems like a pretty unusual procedure in my opinion. Well, it did work... but im not sure about recording from the main out of a mixer, is it a diferent type of signal than the "tape out" signal ?
And I had to manually adjust the gain of each channel (L & R) so they would sound even... I prefer to leave that to the natural audio chain you would use in a normal situation (tape out to the RCA input of the interface, with an RCA cable ...and thats it)

What do you recommend? are my stereo line inputs not working as they should?, is lexicon lying ?
 
They're not really lying, and they are working. You're just misunderstanding their use of "stereo". The pair of ins constitute "stereo" when used together. One for left and one for right. Not left and right in each 1/4" jack. The way you did it there at the end is how it's supposed to work if you want stereo like that.

And the input and output of each jack on the mixer and your interface may be different - if your line ins accept +4 signals (which I'm sure they do since you said they use balanced TRS jacks), use the lineouts on the mixer (which I assume are +4 and also balanced - verify in it's manual) and run 1/4" TRS cables from each - that'll give you the best connection.

HTH
 
There are several ways to connect stereo signal from one device to another. In the case of the mixer and interface (aside from the headphone outputs) it is done on two separate connectors. One reason is that you can connect two different mono devices using separate cables. Another reason is that the connections are balanced which uses three conductors (hot, cold and shield) for each channel and you can't get balanced stereo down a TRS connector. The best option would be two TRS-TRS (or XLRF-TRS) cables, but a pair of unbalanced guitar type cables would be fine if you don't notice too much hum or buzz. TRS connectors are the same as headphone plugs but they carry mono balanced signal instead of stereo unbalanced signal.
 
You did it right the second time. The 'tape outs' could also be sent - left to line in 1 and right to line in 2 - these are not stereo inputs on our Alpha, they are mono! The manual is wrong if it calls them stereo. TRS balanced is mono - 3 conductors, + - and ground; TRS stereo is L R and common.
The tape outs bypass the master section of the mixer, so if you had effects on the masters, or wanted to adjust left vs-right volumes, you would do this by using the main outputs.

Looks like 3 of us answered at the same time!
 
Ok thanks !!

so i did it right, i guess i'll just have to put each gain knob (from each channel) exactly in the same position for the signals to come as equal as posible

Well and how about this:

using an RCA cable from the tape out section, and putting a 1/4 mono adapter to each rca jack of the other side, and then plugging them in the line ins

is the main out still a better option? better quality or something like that ?

mjbphotos, thanks I didn't know about that bypass thing in the tape out !
 
I just looked at the manual which says the tape output is +4. That's a little surprising but not that big a deal. The only real difference between the tape and main outputs is the contour switch, main fader and the balanced connection. If you don't have a buzz/hum problem with unbalanced connection then the balanced signal isn't really needed. Still, it's not a bad idea to go balanced when possible. Do whatever is convenient and doesn't let noise into the signal.
 
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