Help with wiring insert cables?

[museic]

Hi I posted this over at gearsluts, but haven't gotten any responses, so I thought I'd post it over here and maybe someone would chime in...

Could someone please give me a hand on how to properly wire up a 1/4" TRS --> (2x) XLR Y Insert Cable? Basically this cable:

Mogami 1/4" to XLR Split Insert Cable

I've been trying to do this from various posts of people but nobody has explained it well enough for me to get it.

I'm trying to build insert cables to connect my new ARt Pro VLA II to my Toft ATB 16...

The toft is Tip Send, Ring Return, Sleeve Earth.
The Comp is:
Input: pin 2 hot, pin 3 cold, pin 1 ground
Output: pin 2 hot, pin 3 cold, pin 1 ground

I have some Mogami 3106 Dual Channel Audio Cable, which I thought was going to solve my wiring problems, but I still can't figure it out.

Heres what I did.

TRS end...

twisted both ground wires (as this is multi channel cable) together and soldered to sleeve. Blue wire on send to tip. Clear wire on return to Ring. Leaving the other clear and blue wire on the send and return unused.

XLR Input...

Blue send to pin 2, ground on pin 1, clear unconnected

XLR Output...

Clear return to pin 2, ground to pin 1, blue unconnected


If someone could give me a hand here, I'll make a little tutorial with pics as I can't find one anywhere on the web for this!

Thanks!

 

[Beck]

If I were you I’d use the ¼” jacks on the Pro VLA II. You can use standard unbalanced ¼” plugs in the balanced jacks on the Pro VLA. Then it’s a simple matter of wiring the tip of the send/return plug to the tip of the standard ¼” plug you’ll use for input on the Pro VLA and wiring the ring of the send/return plug to the tip of the standard ¼” plug used for the output of the Pro VLA. The Earth (Ground) is common to both.

I’m not sure what the nominal insert level is on the Toft. It’s often -10 dB even on consoles with +4 dB in/out. But since the Pro VLA has a switch for -10 or +4 you can experiment.

 

[dgatwood]

Agreed about using the 1/4" jacks. That way you can use off-the-shelf cables pretty easily. Just buy a 1/4" stereo to dual RCA female cable (or adapter block), a stereo RCA cable, and a couple of RCA to 1/4" adapters for the other end.

Either way, it sounds like you wired it up right, but it's hard to tell from your description. I probably would have used consistently one single color from each of two pairs so that you don't have to think about which pair you used the blue wire on and which one you used the clear wire on. My guess is that you got them backwards on the 1/4" stereo end.