Board to Soundcard issues

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RideTheCrash

RideTheCrash

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Board to Soundcard issues (new idea....)

I've posted about this kind of situation in the past, but here is another view:

Setup: Mixer individual channel insert out (used as a direct out) via a snake to a Delta 1010lt. As you know, the first two inputs on the Delta have XLR ins. And no, I will not plug the mic cables directly to the soundcard.

Anyway, the snake was 1/4" to RCA. To connect the RCA to the female XLR for the soundcard I was using a few connectors, which were bulky and problematic. Of course, doing it this way also gave me problems where the levels were not the same as the other 6 channels, regardless of jumper settings. I found a way around that though.

One of the RCAs busted by been shoved behind my computer with these huge connectors, and they weren't very good anyway, so I decided to do something different. I will assume I cannot just chop off the RCA and attach female XLRs because I would need a third wire to connect the XLR right?

Shortly after I bought this mixer, I was also given a type of snake by the guy who sold it to me (though, not directly, so I never found out what he used it for) and I made a thread about it long, long ago when I got it. It appears to be a homemade snake with 3 female XLRs to 3 male 1/4"'s. Why there is 3 and not 2 is beyond me.

I tried using this snake for channels 1 and 2 in the past, but I can't remember if it really worked or not. The snake is good in that it has a 1/4 to a XLR, like the first two channels on the Delta require, but it has the third cable, which gets in the way. Today when I tried running some things through a direct box into channel one or two (my mics are still being borrowed) I got a large amount of hiss/hum. I ended up shutting all the channels and mains on my board off. Still got the hiss and hum when record was rolling. The other 6 channels were fine the whole time.

When I did get a signal, it was static-y and awful. I'm not sure if I have to play with the jumper settings, or whether the third cable being unused is attracting the hum, or whether the cable just sucks now. I can't even plug the 1/4 into a guitar and the XLR into a mic input, to hear it through the speakers (just as a test setup for the cable) because I need a longer cable to reach my receiver (my setup is all over the map right now).

Any ideas?
 
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Okay, I have a better idea, and maybe someone would be rather willing to tackle this instead of my long stretched out problem above.

How about I make my own snake? I have minimal soldering experience, but I could have some help. If I made my own, it would be 8 cables in all, that go 1/4" to RCA, but two of them would go 1/4" to XLR, for the first two Delta inputs. Also, since I use insert outs on my mixer, and having to plug them in one click is rather annoying to do, I could wire the ends to be like a direct out cable, the little ones Hosa makes. I asked about making them in the past here, so I assume whatever was told to me (I'll look it up) could apply to making a snake.

Problem is, I don't even know where to start...
 
Making your own snake sounds like a pain for what you're wanting to do. Why not just one snake, then get equal length XLR to 1/4 and tube them together or just cable tie them together with the snake? So you MAY have an extra cable or two that you aren't using, that's no biggie is it?

I know they also make Insert snakes, couldn't you get one of those plugged all the way in on teh board and just use the output to go into your soundcard? or if there is nothing on the input side of the insert will it not work all the way plugged in? Regardless, an extra cable here, extra cable there that isn't being used wouldn't be enough to make me want to just make my own custom snake.
 
Well the half click thing on this board is a pain in the ass, because they can get very touchy, and some jacks have the cables stick out a bit more than others. I dunno. The snakes I'm using are very cheap with molded ends, similiar to the Hosa stuff.

I mentioned in my first post that I have this 3 cable 1/4 to XLR cable, but it's giving me trouble and I'm not sure if it's the cable or not yet, I don't really a good way of testing it at the moment. Really, I don't even care about binding the cables into one big one either. Not to mention one RCA already busted. I'd like to be able to repair a broken wire if it happens.

I found some links on here of places that sell connectors and wires. Seems like a pain in the ass, I know, but so is my current setup. A huge pain in the ass.
 
Sounds like you just need to spend a few bucks and get some decent quality cables. Then rethink your setup to be more cable friendly, keep the cables out of the floor, and arrange a setup that you don't have to constantly run and rerun cables.


You say your soundcard has 2 XLR ins? Doesn't it have 1/4 or RCA ins that you can use for those two channels as well?
 
Yes I know about those cables, but they aren't worth 80 bucks for the 8 channels I will be using. You can solder the wires around to make the exact same kind of direct out cable, but I'd only do it if I was making my own.

The Delta 1010LT has two XLR inputs on the first 2 channels, and the rest are female RCA. My cables are off and the floor and are fine, but this one probably somehow got crushed when moving my computer, or it was just a piece of crap in the first place.

These snakes I found at a local music store, I don't have Guitar Centers where I live, etc, so finding a good quality snake is difficult. Besides, I would still have the same problem of trying to make the RCA end connect to a XLR. It would be convienent to have one with what I specified, instead of trying to use like 2-3 connectors which are bulky and crappy. Not to mention one of the RCA jacks already broke.
 
You should be able to find XLR to 1/4 or XLR to RCA in any male/female combo, so you don't have to use multiple adapters.
 
Yes, I have come across those, but where I live, there is nothing like that.

Plus, the second RCA broke off, so it is useless anyway, unless I found a new jack and soldered it on.
 
And riddle me this...

A Test:

My 8 channel snake is plugged into the soundcard, but not the board. The snake is only plugged into channels 3-8 though. The first two channels have *another* snake (the one with the three 1/4 > XLR). If I hit record, with the mixer not even on, I get a nice hum track from the first two inputs. The rest of the channels (3-8) are silent.
 
Yeah, did some testing, and getting more frustrated...

The three 1/4 > XLR snake I have seems to work fine. I did a test with it. I swear my Delta has to be messed up. The first two inputs have always acted funny. I changed the jumper settings and either it's way too loud with hum, or way too quiet with hum. Both are very distorted. Now, it worked fine with the series of connectors I used to use, but it doesn't seem to like this snake.
 
That could very well be, what happens if you plug a mic straing into the XLR on the card? Have you tried reinstalling your M-Audio drivers? Do you have the latest driver update? I was having a problem on playback with my Delta 410. I had all 8 outs running to my board, channel 4 was low and muffled during playback and I was pretty miffed about it. I tried every cable I could find, I checked the channel on the board with another track (the board was fine) the cable was fine, so I had it narrowed down to the breakout cable or the card itsself. I got on M-audios support site and they gave me a list of steps to take, the first one being uninstall the m-audio software and the card then reinsert the card and reinstall the software. I started with that and it worked immedaitly after that. Try contacting M-Audio support via email or their web based support option (it's similar to a forum but it's private) it may take them a day or so to get back to you but they seemed very helpful.
 
I believe plugging straight into the card works, I've done it in the past. I reinstalled the software and all that stuff recently, because one of my channels died for no reason, and reinstalling it fixed it. I've e-mailed M-Audio in the past with similiar problems but they said to call them instead, the second time I never heard back I believe. Thing is, I'd like to run them all into my mixer (the cables) and running it directly to the card would prove difficult (lack of cable slack). But the resinstalling/putting the card back in, sounds fine. The only thing I hate is pulling out the computer, disconnecting everything, fiddling around, putting it all back and repeating the steps. It's so time consuming!

Anyway, is it possible to chop the RCAs off and solder on XLR connectors? Would I be lacking a wire? It takes me a bit of reading and reminding how all the wiring works...I'll assume it can, seeing that I have a 1/4" to XLR, and RCA is similiar to 1/4". Because if it was possible, it would go that route for sure.
 
I'm not all that familiar with the inner worksings of XLR so I'm affraid I can't say either way. I know that wiring up an adapter is usually nothing major so I'm sure you can do it with little problems.
 
I'm doing some searching and I found this:

"Pin 2 > RCA tip
Pin 3> RCA shield (ground)
Pin 1> unconnected at the TV end. (Cut it back a ways for working)"

Some guy was trying to do an XLR out to male RCAs for a TV in his church. So I assume if I chopped off the male RCA ends on two cables in my snake, I would be presented with two wires.

I would strip the covering back a bit to get at the wires, take the wire that was on the RCA tip and wire it to pin 2, and take the wire that was on the RCA shield and wire that to pin 3. Pin 1 would have nothing. Sound feasible people?
 
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