Wiring for Multiple Recorders (bal and unbal)

A

ADATlove

New member
I'm rewiring my patchbays for use with a new mixer and some new outboard gear but I'm a little confused about how I should deal with my multiple tape machines. The problem is that I have a pair of ADATs via theh elco connectors (+4 balanced) as well as an Otari MX-5050 8-track, which is unbalanced. What should I do in terms of switching between the two units? I guess there's always the option of ditching the elco and starting new with the -10 unbalanced 1/4" jacks instead, so all of my machines would be running unbalanced.

What do you think?

[By the way, the mixer is a Tascam M-320b so the 4 buss outs and the stereo outs are switchable between balanced and unbalanced but everything else is unbalanced. Doesn't that post a problem if I was running balanced outs of the busses into my balanced recorder's first 4 tracks but unbalanced direct outs into tracks 5-8?]
 
I want to choose between the two recorders for now, probably won't be syncing anytime soon but maybe eventually.
 
I'm still not quite getting what you are wanting to do.

Are you using the preamps from your board into your recorders?
Do you have some preamps?

I strictly use my 320 for monitoring and mixing. Decent outboard pre's are typically far better for tracking.

As far as recording using either the Adats or the 5050, I'd just hardwire what I would be using at the time and bypass the patchbays, especially for going balanced.

I use a Fostex 80 with my M320 board. I also have some Roland VSR-880's. I typically just hook up what I am currently using to the 320 with a rca to 1/4" TS snake (or two), although sometimes I run the VSR's into my VS-2480 using Rbus cables. It just depends on the project.
 
actaully, your Otari 8 track is Unbalanced, BUT it's still +4 db. Weird, I know. So basically, the ins and outs have 1 conductor and a ground. Usually with XLR the hot signal is passed through the 2nd pin, but this machine is before the 1990's transition where pin 2 was standardized. On the Otari MX5050 MKIII 8 track1/2, it's pin 3 hot. And pin 1 is ground, and once I actaully broke into my machine, and pin 2 is connected to something, most likely just ground. So if you are hooking the recorder up to something that is 1/4" TS, then there is no problem. Do you know how to solder and all that?
 
Hey anti, it's me Scott we went through all this a couple months ago with the rewiring for Otari's pin 3 hot deal. What I am trying to do is have everything plugged into my patchbays so I can just change the patches depending on which recorder I want to use. It definitely helps that Otari is +4 unbal, I forgot about that. That pretty much neutralizes my worries about that but if I'm combining direct outs (unbal) and bus outs (bal) am I going to run into trouble? I would just try it for myself but the 320b is in the shop for some repairs so I want to worry about all this so I can get to tracking as soon as I get it back. I was planning on using the Tascam's onboard pres quite a bit but I also have one of those dual ART tube pres. Thanks for all the help.
 
wow, I didn't know it was you Scott, whats up?! Nice talking to you. Did you ever get the calibration down?

Yeah, it's all +4 db for some wierd reason. Anyways, it's always easy to go from balanced to unbalanced: (this diagram is specifically for the otari, most other recorders use pin 2 as its hot signal)

Otari..................Other unit
Pin1>>>>>>>>>>pin1 (sleeve if on 1/4")
pin2>>>>>>>>>>pin1 (merge it together with groundwire)
pin3>>>>>>>>>>pin3 (or the tip of 1/4")

basically you tie the - signal to ground, and wire everything else up normal.

If you're going from unbalanced to balanced, that's more tricky. Even though it sends out a +4 db signal, it still doesn't have 2 conductors. What you most likely want to try is either a di box, or a more high quality transformer. Jensen I've heard make great transformers, but they're expensive. But that will do a fine job of converting unblanced to balanced.
 
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