Newbie Here and Aux Out Question

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dptone5

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Hello everyone,

New to home recording and the forum. Record mostly guitar instrumentals, some vocals, acoustic and bass. Use old Marshalls, an LP, PRS, Strat and Taylor.

Have an SM-57 and recently purchased an ART VLA compressor, an ART Tube Pre-Amp and a Rode NT1-A.

My recorder is a Korg D1600 Mkii. For tracks previously recorded that I want to compress, the manual says to use the AUX OUT. It is an unbalanced 1/4" phone jack. I would assume this is mono only. However, the example in the manual states that you run out of the single AUX OUT and can bring it back into two inputs using the SubIn, 3 and 4 for example.

This is unclear to me. I ran individual mono tracks to the compressor using a 1/4" unbalanced cable last night and it worked great. It appears that I can run multiple tracks to the AUX OUT. Is it possible to run a stereo drum track mix out using a single unbalanced 1/4" cable to two XLR inputs to the compressor?

Thanks and any help would be much appreciated!!

DP
 
I would guess that AUX out is stereo, but I don't know for sure.
If it's stereo then the menus should discriminate between aux 1 and aux 2.

Plug some headphones in to the aux jack and play around to find out for sure.

If it's not stereo, perhaps the manual was just anticipating the use of stereo effects when it mentioned subin3+4? (reverbs, delays etc).
 
The send is mono - The return is stereo.
 
Massive Master has it. I don't know of any Aux sends that are stereo. However, returns often ARE stereo because certain effects units (reverbs for example) give a stereo output from a mono source. If you think about it, this makes sense--picture a solo singer standing in the middle of a stage (mono source) but the reverb on his voice will be stereo because it's bouncing off lots of walls.

A compressor would normally be mono though...just use one leg of the return or (if you have the spare inputs, use a fader channel. With the send on a pre fade aux, it can be useful to mix between the uncompressed source and compressed return.
 
And not to add to any confusion, but you generally wouldn't use an aux send for compression (except in certain very specific situations and I'm assuming this isn't one of them). You would assign all the drum tracks to a stereo group and insert a compressor across that group --

(EDIT) Okay, I see Bobbsy sort of eluded to this parallel situation...
 
Yeah...guess I wasn't clear. If I just want the signal limited or evened out I'd never use an aux for a compressor. However, it can be an interesting effect to mix between compressed and uncompressed versions. For live use, I believe Dave Rat's blog once had some entries on this technique.
 
Thanks guys! You are correct. The AUX OUT is unbalanced and I learned the intent was to take a track and add stereo FX. I actually used it to compress a previously recorded acoustic track and it worked great. Is there a better way to add an external compressor to a mono track after it has been recorded other than the AUX OUT? I don't see any other alternatives in the KORG manual.

I really appreciate the help!

DP
 
Insert send and return. Massive has it right. Use Aux for "outputs" that you can bring back into your desk as mono or stereo (2 return). Sometimes you can use an aux send as a feed for a cue mix or monitor mix in live situations. I love a desk that has 8 sends. I think I just re-quoted.. Massive has it right. Smiley. On a side note, I wish/believe that all DAW, Desks etc gave the user a fine diagram of the signal flow. It is pretty standard but for new users that is truly helpful. I had it beaten into my head long ago but flow is often glossed over in manuals.
 
Steenamaroo said:
I would guess that AUX out is stereo, but I don't know for sure.
If it's stereo then the menus should discriminate between aux 1 and aux 2.

Plug some headphones in to the aux jack and play around to find out for sure.

If it's not stereo, perhaps the manual was just anticipating the use of stereo effects when it mentioned subin3+4? (reverbs, delays etc).
Click to expand...

Lol, you think an aux send has a headphone pre built into it. That simply won't work bro... or shouldn't. Line level cannot power headphones directly....
 
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