I’m curious as to if it’s possible to setup balanced audio out without having to do anything overly special with the MB-6582 baseboard? I was going to use my own passive mixer design using a Cmoy-inspired design and that is where I was thinking about using balanced connectors since I mostly end up using the passive output most of the time anyway.
It looks like the circuit should be easy to modify to have balanced outs after the op-amp but is there a way to do balanced connectors for the direct SID outputs without having to use an op-amp? If it was rather simple, I was thinking about using balanced connectors for those as well.
I know it’s not necessary for short runs but my next audio I/O solution will likely have balanced XLR connectors so I figured it can’t hurt and I’ll have plenty of room on the back of my chassis anyway.
Oooh I didn’t even think about an IC-based solution. Well that would make things pretty easy to do. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the IC basically *is* a DI right? Or did you mean something that might offer better quality? Either way, thanks for the info as that’s much appreciated! Didn’t think of an SMD solution, but that’s probably small enough I could make all outputs balanced (not just the mixed output). I was going to do a euro-rack style thing for the back for all the outputs and I think I should have room to add some chips. The mixed out will already have the op-amp design (now probably replaced with something like the above) so I’ll already have a bipolar supply ready to go.
Don’t suppose you have a Eagle library you could point me to that would have one of these things? Been searching the base Eagle library and haven’t had any luck. Before I go off and make my own I thought I’d check to see
As in you’re suggesting I just use a DI box or that’s what I use to try to find the part in Eagle? (I did try to search for it, still failed miserably ).
Haha oh ok. Well, I liked the TI option just because it also replaces the need for an op-amp, which I was going to use to boost the mix out anyway. So it’s either an op-amp or the TI thing. On the other hand, I do have a mic pre-amp that functions as a DI and was planning on using it for recording some of the time (although more as send / bounce more so than as a DI).
I want to go with a modular solution which I could use both for my MBSID and MBFM projects, as well as pretty much anything in the future, although I’ve gone back and forth on that. I like the modular idea because I can decide how I want to orient the plugs on the back and such and you never know when that might come in handy.
The idea I had was to have direct outs which have a 1/4" jack and resistors to a mix out header. I tap the output of that header into a wire that runs the length of all the direct outs into a final mix out board which has an op-amp or line-driver.
I’ve included my stereo version of the line-driver mix out but I rather like the idea of making the boards single channel which gives me some interesting options down the line. For my MB-SID, I would just have one row for left and one for right. Not the cheapest option, but I think it might prove to be useful in the future.
Anyways I’m happy to share everything I have. I was going to throw this up on my MB-SID synth [=sidr8tr]wiki](mb-sidr8tr:start [MIDIbox]) page. If you want them before them, just let me know and I can post them here or PM them to you.
I keep tweaking the designs (like going from stereo to mono out) so it’s a work in progress )
