busing to additional channels to use eqs? polarity?

[promesis]

does any one have any experience or opinions about this busing scheme?

1. i have a mackie 32/8 board and a alesis HD24.
one thing i dislike on this board is the simple eq section.
it only has 1 fully parametric band and one semi-parametric sweep.

if i needed to notch out a narrow freq in a couple of places i'm kinda out of luck since all that is left in that channel is the wider q semi-parametric.

would it be whacky and cause 'phase' (polarity) or latency problems with the signal if i patched a balanced cable from the direct outs of that channel into the line inputs of an open channel on the board .. the first 'parent' channel would not have the LR bus switch engaged but its eq'd signal is passed to the 'child' channel with additional eq [or inserts, compression, effects for that matter] applied there?

in short: could i push a signal around a mackie board like this without a lot of garbage, signal degradation or polarity issues? in theory it seems to be able to add some functionality and usefulness to this board's limitations. i have experimented with this and things seem to be working - i am curious as to whether this is used often or if there are some pitfalls or other arcana that others may be aware of..


2. another thing that i dislike about the board is the lack of 'phase' [polarity] switching.

what can i do to correct any track's polarity problems if discovered after tracking or on someone else's tracked material?
would i have to make "out of phase" adapters connecting the multi-track outs and the board's 'tape returns' on those channels?

thanks for any and all advice..

 

[bigtoe]

"patching" out of a direct out would work fine. the inserts/direct outs are unbalanced if i remember correctly. i do not remember if the direct out is pre or post eq. if it's pre - you'd need to keep both channels engaged to use both eqs.

yep - you can make a bunch of phase reverse cables to stick inline from the hd24...just swap pin 2 and pin 3. the can be very small/ short.

Mike

 

[promesis]

Thanks Mike.

Yep, you're right, the direct outs are all TS unbalanced.. so just unbalanced cables will be used. These outs are also post insert, fader, eg and mute. so as long as i will not be introducing any "phase" or degradation issues patching additional channels into the signal - then this seems like a viable resolution to double the channel's eq capability.