MusoWayneUK Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 Hi guys Hope your all safe and well during this awful time I"m just setting up all my boards in my spare room today and wondered if you knew what keyboards had balanced or unbalanced outputs? Tried to research but hearing conflicting answers from what I"ve read Want to make sure I have the correct cabling I have the following boards KAWAI MP11 HAMMOND XK1C ROLAND FANTOM X8 YAMAHA MOTIF ES7 KORG KRONOS 2 88 YAMAHA MONTAGE 8 Quote Korg Kronos 2 88 Gold Edition Yamaha Montage 8 White Edition Crumar Mojo Suitcase 2 x Roland Fantom X8 Roland Fantom X7 2 x Roland Fantom XR’s Yamaha Motif ES7 Kawai MP11SE Korg TR Rack Korg SG Rack Quiklok, Gibraltar & K&M Stands Kali Audio LP-8 Monitors Soundcraft EFX12 Mixer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 I can verify that the Kronos has balanced outs. Anything XLR is going to be balanced like on the Kawai, though I can't verify if the 1/4" outs are balanced or not. Maybe the bigger question is why does it matter? You can run them all unbalanced just fine. The only reason why it may be of benefit to switch to balanced (assuming it's available) is if you're picking up some noise. In particular over long cable runs. Quote Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Mike Metlay Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 Agree. If there are relatively short cable runs (under 10 feet) and you don't have a huge source of RFI in the area, you should be OK. Here's a rule of thumb that will help a lot: audio flies, MIDI walks, power crawls. Keep power strips and wall warts, which are horrid sources of noise, on or near the floor. Note which cables carry AC rather than DC; the latter won't create noise but the former can. Keep MIDI cable runs near the floor, as power RFI won't affect their data. Where possible, keep audio cables elevated - think of drawing a straight line from your keyboard to your mixer, with as little sagging as possible. Cabletying to your stands is an easy way to do this. When audio cables and AC power cables MUST cross, do it at a right angle, not parallel. If all else fails, slap a direct box on your unbalanced outs and run mic cables to your mixer. In a small studio with well-dressed cables, I have only ever had to do this once. I hope this helps. mike Quote Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1 clicky!: more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my book ~ my music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusoWayneUK Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 Yeah most of cable runs are 8ft to 12ft and no more 6 x keyboards running in stereo (12 cables used) I only have balanced cables at the moment So was just asking if okay to use them on unbalanced keyboard outputs or do I have to buy extra cables Quote Korg Kronos 2 88 Gold Edition Yamaha Montage 8 White Edition Crumar Mojo Suitcase 2 x Roland Fantom X8 Roland Fantom X7 2 x Roland Fantom XR’s Yamaha Motif ES7 Kawai MP11SE Korg TR Rack Korg SG Rack Quiklok, Gibraltar & K&M Stands Kali Audio LP-8 Monitors Soundcraft EFX12 Mixer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. Dan Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 You can use balanced cables on unbalanced. The conductor connected to the ring won't be used, just the tip and sleeve. Quote Dan Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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