A few years back I bought a couple of mono-pedals to integrate into my modest twiddling set up.
Thing is, I’ve never been sure if I’m achieving the optimal sound using the right leads, or not.
So just to be sure.
Going out of a stereo synth into a mono pedal, I have thus far been using a dual TS (out) to TRS (in), then when I go into a stereo pedal (or even into my mixer) - TRS (out) to dual TS (in).
Thing is, I’ve never been sure if that’s the way to go, and every discussion I look up online seems to go around the music-tech houses without a definitive answer (maybe there isn’t one).
So, as far as leads go. What’s the best lead to use when feeding a mono pedal that will then go into a stereo input (mixer or pedal)?
or to put it more succinctly…
Mono pedal input (from stereo) - what’s the best lead
Mono pedal output (to stereo) - what’s the best lead
Interesting topic. Here are my thoughts on the matter. Many stereo synths and pedals have one of the outs as a mono output. But In the case of something like the Digitakt, it is a stereo output. Since it is already going to be summed to mono at the pedal, you could pan all the tracks to one side. Or, pan some tracks to the L, and some to the R, and process them differently through different pedals. The signal will already be mono once it hits the mono pedal, so just go mono into it. That way you have control at the source. Also, I don’t think a mono pedal is doing any sort of summing, so it seems like it would just cut off one of the channels if you use an adapter like the one listed above.
Once it leaves the mono pedal, that is just a single mono out into a stereo source. Again, usually a stereo pedal will have a mono in. So for many cases it seems like is mostly TS cables, because many pedals use instrument cables which are TS. Unless it is a balanced synth/mixer/pedal, then it would use balanced TRS cables. So I would just look at the specs of the devices you are using to make sure you are using the correct balanced or unbalanced cables. If you could provide which synths/pedals in the chain, that might clarify some things.
Thanks for that…most interesting considerations (I even had the idea last night to split my Digitone signal into two different pedals, left and right, just to see what happened).
Anyway, my typical ambient noodling set up (when using mono pedals) goes something like:
Digitone into Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl (mono) into Red Panda Tensor (stereo)
or
Model Samples into Chase Bliss Mood (mono) into Strymon El Capistan (Stereo)
or
OP-1 into Mood (mono) into Red Panda Particle (stereo)
I do own combinations of TS and TRS and even TS to TRS cables.
I just got into a bit of a confused spaghetti junction last night and thought “am I doing this right?”
If the pedals are true mono (as in TS jacks) then there’s no point using a splitter from the stereo source, as the pedal will not receive the ring output, so can only “hear” one side of the output source. Unless of course the pedal is summing the stereo source to mono (as the Digitakt does) but in that case, I would expect there to be stereo inputs.
Most modern stereo effects units will happily take a mono input source and still output in stereo (one of the inputs is usually labelled mono).
With the setups above, I would pan all my sources out of the left output on a TS cable into the mono pedal, then a TS out into the mono input of the stereo effect.
If you’ve got stereo outputs where panning is a pain and you need to run them into true-mono inputs, see the summing cables that I had a thread on the other day (assuming everything is unbalanced).
I would certainly recommend just making your life easier by getting a cheap mixer with a few effect sends (my Boss BX-8 was like $50). Sends are usually mono out (so you get a true stereo to mono sum), you get the added benefit of mixing wet/dry signals, more control of the pedal input, and they are usually mono in and stereo in (very flexible).
I have a Mackie Mix 5 here in Poland (no fx send).
I’m not sure this mixer adds any help to the stereo out mono in situation,
unless it does something that is more outputtable to a mono pedal…
if you’ve got a mixing board you can always use the stereo output as a main mix and create a parallel mix using the headphones through pedals into another channel on the mixer. Might get interesting results.
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