Compact mixing desks - what are you using?

[dave_bass5]

41 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

 

 

Is this to be expected with the aux-outs? If it was going to a monitor it would be a non-issue, but going to headphones (other than ironically the Xvive U4 IEMs a couple of our band have got as they are mono rather than stereo) this isn't going to be great.

That doesn’t sound right. Dawn plugs her Xvive transmitter directly in to one of the Aux sends on our desk and gets a mono signal in both ears. 
 

EDIT:
Sorry, I think I miss read your post. So the Xvixs are fine, just not stereo headphones? 
If so you can get an adapter or use the correct cable  to sum them together so it should still work. Obviously in mono but in both ears. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by dave_bass5

[Al Krow]

29 minutes ago, Jakester said:

 

Unfortunately I think so - the aux outs are generally mono on these IIRC. 

Surprised you can't finagle or bodge a mono to double mono (i.e. same into both phones) for headphones though. 

I know I keep going on about it, and I know it's a LOT more expensive, but the QSC TM16 has two stereo headphone level auxes as well as 8 mono - if you want/need a lot of stereo auxes, that's a good way to do it. 

 

That's really useful to know. So it turns out that our IEM's (Xvive U4) being purely mono are perfectly suited to a standard aux-out then.

 

The Zoom Livetrack L-8 I had dealt with this issue by providing all the ancillary outputs as headphone-out rather than aux-out. Shame it was unshielded / noisy with our U4s.

 

Looks like there's no fault / design flaw with the Soundcraft Signature 12MTK desk I've just got then, and I won't have an excuse for returning it. Although I must admit I'm starting to develop an unhealthy interest in desks in the same way as I had in different make/models of bass guitar, amps and cabs a few years back! Maybe that's my own design flaw 😁

[Al Krow]

32 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

That doesn’t sound right. Dawn plugs her Xvive transmitter directly in to one of the Aux sends on our desk and gets a mono signal in both ears. 
 

EDIT:
Sorry, I think I miss read your post. So the Xvixs are fine, just not stereo headphones? 
If so you can get an adapter or use the correct cable  to sum them together so it should still work. Obviously in mono but in both ears. 

 

Thanks Dave - I can just use normal headphones into the headphone out rather than the aux-out, and most stereo IEMs have a mono setting as I understand, so seems we're all good.

[Woodinblack]

Most (ie, almost all) aux outputs are mono - its odd for them to be anything else, as by standard they go on to 'some other device' be a speaker or an IEM. If you want stereo you have to use two aux outputs, that way you can decide what goes in the left and right ears (otherwise would be quite confusing to set up). This is regardless of what the plug is - for instance on the XR18 the aux is XLR (common) and on the X18 it is TRS (less common) - either way it is low impedance balanced, so a differential signal on two outputs and a sheild on the third (ie, diff between T & R on a trs, 2 & 3 on an XLR).

If you want something to connect to a stereo TRS cable, for instance to drive a stereo input somewhere (while bearing in mind aux outputs are line level signals, not designed to drive headphones), you need to take the difference signal and throw the ground away, so if you want a TRS aux output to a TRS stereo cable, you need to put the T & R of the stereo cable to the T of the aux cable, and the S of the stereo cable to the R of the aux cable, and don't connect the S of the aux cable to anything.

 

as you say, the XVives will be fine as they are designed to go from a XLR aux cable, so they just plug in.

[Jakester]

23 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Looks like there's no fault / design flaw with the Soundcraft Signature 12MTK desk I've just got then, and I won't have an excuse for returning it. Although I must admit I'm starting to develop an unhealthy interest in desks in the same way as I had in different make/models of bass guitar, amps and cabs a few years back! Maybe that's my own design flaw 😁

 

Unless you bought via the internet, in which case you can return it without any excuse. 

[Al Krow]

15 minutes ago, Jakester said:

 

Unless you bought via the internet, in which case you can return it without any excuse. 

Yeah true, and actually I'm still within the 14 day return period. But if this is a common issue for all aux out then replacing the desk isn't going to help. Besides we have a work around for stereo IEM users who can just set their IEMs to mono. 

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

That doesn’t sound right. Dawn plugs her Xvive transmitter directly in to one of the Aux sends on our desk and gets a mono signal in both ears. 
 

EDIT:
Sorry, I think I miss read your post. So the Xvixs are fine, just not stereo headphones? 
If so you can get an adapter or use the correct cable  to sum them together so it should still work. Obviously in mono but in both ears. 

Btw any recommendations for a suitable adaptors for use with 3.5mm and 1/4" headphone jacks to use with the aux outs? 

[jimmyb625]

34 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Btw any recommendations for a suitable adaptors for use with 3.5mm and 1/4" headphone jacks to use with the aux outs? 

 

Never used them myself, but are you looking for xlr female to a 3.5mm socket?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devinal-Mini-Jack-Microphone-Transforming-Converter/dp/B07VG3RB5M/ref=mp_s_a_1_27?keywords=xlr+to+3.5mm+jack&qid=1675878144&sr=8-27

 

Or do you want something like this:

 

https://www.gear4music.com/G4M/Rean-Neutrik-35mm-TRS-Jack-to-Male-XLR-3-Metre/37RB?origin=product-ads&gclid=CjwKCAiArY2fBhB9EiwAWqHK6qA3Ke3IaVqplTnCdl6IWvk4dIqLs14YCBm8ABO5o8US5liwJAU0oBoCqZYQAvD_BwE

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by jimmyb625

[Al Krow]

32 minutes ago, jimmyb625 said:

 

Never used them myself, but are you looking for xlr female to a 3.5mm socket?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Devinal-Mini-Jack-Microphone-Transforming-Converter/dp/B07VG3RB5M/ref=mp_s_a_1_27?keywords=xlr+to+3.5mm+jack&qid=1675878144&sr=8-27

 

Or do you want something like this:

 

https://www.gear4music.com/G4M/Rean-Neutrik-35mm-TRS-Jack-to-Male-XLR-3-Metre/37RB?origin=product-ads&gclid=CjwKCAiArY2fBhB9EiwAWqHK6qA3Ke3IaVqplTnCdl6IWvk4dIqLs14YCBm8ABO5o8US5liwJAU0oBoCqZYQAvD_BwE

 

Thanks. I need something that will feed a mono output from an aux-out on a desk to both ears of a stereo headset, and not to just one ear. 

 

If your suggestions do that, I'll check them out. 

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Btw any recommendations for a suitable adaptors for use with 3.5mm and 1/4" headphone jacks to use with the aux outs? 

A Behringer P2 is the answer you are looking for.

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

A Behringer P2 is the answer you are looking for.

Not a bad shout! Anything that's just an adaptor costing < £10?

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Btw any recommendations for a suitable adaptors for use with 3.5mm and 1/4" headphone jacks to use with the aux outs? 

Dawn just uses the adapter that comes with the Xvive. Direct in to the Aux1 out on our desk. 

[EBS_freak]

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Not a bad shout! Anything that's just an adaptor costing < £10?

You dont want an adapter. An aux isn't really designed to drive headphones...

 

There should be a headphone amp in there somewhere, whether it's on the other side of a wireless connection, or in this case, in between the aux and the headphone. Plus it gives you the ability to easily change volume should you need to. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by EBS_freak

[dave_bass5]

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Not a bad shout! Anything that's just an adaptor costing < £10?

Double the price, but i have one of these and I think its a good idea as it will allow anyone using it to control their own volume without messing about with the desk.

 

https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/SubZero-Passive-Personal-Headphone-Controller/2XOL

 

As Russ has just said though, Aux sends dont give out a lot of volume so it really is a good idea to use something like the P2., ive got a couple of the gear for music clones that cost around £30 each. These have a mono/stereo switch so will also fix your issue with just one side coming out of stereo headphones, and allow you to use them with the  low output Aux sends. 

Actually i just looked and they have gone up to £39 now. 

[jimmyb625]

37 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks. I need something that will feed a mono output from an aux-out on a desk to both ears of a stereo headset, and not to just one ear. 

 

If your suggestions do that, I'll check them out. 

Ok, just seen the other responses and I completely agree, either the Behringer, or sub-zero units are what you need. I didn't realise you were thinking of trying to feed the earbuds directly.

[dave_bass5]

Im not familiar with this desk, but another idea could be to send some or all of the vocal channels to a separate group, and use the group out to feed something like this? Or even just feed it from the Aux out. 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-HA400-Microamp-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B000KIPT30/ref=asc_df_B000KIPT30/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309964054975&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17175282499391845560&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006886&hvtargid=pla-362879265511&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Edited February 8, 2023 by dave_bass5

[Al Krow]

Thanks for the suggestions which make good sense for a pair of headphones.

 

The other thing I'd be wanting to use one for is to connect the mono aux-out to my desktop stereo active monitors, which have a shared single 3.5mm aux-in on the powered speaker. Is there something short of a £50 Behrigner P2 adaptor for that, so that I can have the aux out mono signal going to both rather than one of the desktop speakers?

[dave_bass5]

17 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks for the suggestions which make good sense for a pair of headphones.

 

The other thing I'd be wanting to use one for is to connect the mono aux-out to my desktop stereo active monitors, which have a shared single 3.5mm aux-in on the powered speaker. Is there something short of a £50 Behrigner P2 adaptor for that, so that I can have the aux out mono signal going to both rather than one of the desktop speakers?

Is this for using at home as a general sound mixer on your desk? if so you only need a cable with two jacks on one end and a mini stereo jack on the other. You could use the group 1+2 outputs for this. 

[Al Krow]

7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Is this for using at home as a general sound mixer on your desk? if so you only need a cable with two jacks on one end and a mini stereo jack on the other. You could use the group 1+2 outputs for this. 

 

But not possible to have a single mono aux out --> adaptor --> stereo aux in and drive both desktop speakers? 

[Jakester]

30 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Thanks for the suggestions which make good sense for a pair of headphones.

 

The other thing I'd be wanting to use one for is to connect the mono aux-out to my desktop stereo active monitors, which have a shared single 3.5mm aux-in on the powered speaker. Is there something short of a £50 Behrigner P2 adaptor for that, so that I can have the aux out mono signal going to both rather than one of the desktop speakers?

Looking at it, could you not just run the Grp1/Grp2 outputs and make sure the channels are selected to 1-2 as well as Mtr?

[Jakester]

Or, if you’re using it at home, why not just use the master outs into your monitors? Mine have XLR ins but if yours don’t, you could get an XLR to jack cable easily?

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Looking at it, could you not just run the Grp1/Grp2 outputs and make sure the channels are selected to 1-2 as well as Mtr?

Yes I think so.

 

But I would like the ability to hear what's coming out of my aux outs via both my desktop monitors rather than one of them. And I'm wondering if there's an adaptor that will enable that? 

 

But I agree that the Group 1-2 outputs do look interesting in what they are bringing to the party! 

[Al Krow]

Here's a picture of the desk, if it helps folk trying to follow this part of the thread! 

[dave_bass5]

19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

 

But not possible to have a single mono aux out --> adaptor --> stereo aux in and drive both desktop speakers? 

Not sure I follow that. You mean Mono Aux out from the desk in to the Aux in on the speakers? Yes, that should work fine.

Is there a reason you want to use the Aux and not stereo out at home?

Edited February 8, 2023 by dave_bass5

[dave_bass5]

This is the desk we have. It's cheaper but much more versatile.