Home › Forums › Instruments › PULSAR-23 › Recording without Line Ins
Since I don’t have Line Ins on my 500 Series (Craneborne R8) Interface I need to find a work around to multitrack the pulsars 1/4 Line Outs. This comes with several difficulties:
The Pulsars unbalanced Line Outs (TS) have an output impedance of 50 Ohm with line level current. since we are talking control voltage the output should be 10V pp +/- 2V. At least thats what the manual says. The Mic Preamps either expecting balanced xlr signal with mic level (around 1V) and 200 Ohm or (if using their DI ins) unbalanced line signal with instrument level and 50k Ohm impedance.
There are some ways to control the signal before sending it to the 1/4 Jacks by both using the attenuator to decrese the signals volume and (in case of BD and BASS module) using the 10uF capacitor to get rid of the +5V bias Voltage. (I wonder if there is a way to send both channels through the 10uF capacitor without mixing them, so I can send them to seperated 1/4 Jack outs afterwords?).
Maybe somebody in the community had the same unorthodox idea to record the pulsar wih mic preamps and is facing the same issues?..
You’re mixing up CV and audio.
The Pulsar-23 ¼″ jacks are patch points. They can carry either CV or audio.
To record audio, take each voice’s OUT jack (BD, BASS, SD, HHAT) and run it to your interface/mixer just like any other synth line out.
On a Cranborne 500R8, flip the Slot Bypass so the rear XLR becomes a straight line-level input into the converter.
thanks for the quick reply!
“To record audio, take each voice’s OUT jack…” You mean by using a crocodile clamp to connect the voice’s OUT with a 6,3mm cable? Further you suggest to plug an unbalanced TS cable into the r8s xlr in with an addapter?..
Good idea thou, where did you find the information that the r8s xlr in switches to line level input after bypassing the module?
best regards!
So I can’t share links here (it will go the the moderation queue) but it’s on page 19 of the user manual. Here is also a youTUbe video
“500R8 Quick Tutorial | Using 500R8 without 500 series modules” by Cranborne Audio
There is a switch on the rear which you can flip to analog.
I could be wrong about what kind of adapter you need. I regularly play loose with balanced and unbalanced connections but maybe for unbalanced TRS to XLR it’s better to use a direct injection (DI) box? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think those are pretty cheap.
Regarding the routing: The 1/4″ jacks on that back are hardwired to the 1/4″ jack pins on the lower left of the device (under the attenuator knobs)!
To route the Kick drum (BD) audio to OUTPUT 1, connect BD’s OUT pin to the number “1” pin in the 1/4″ jacks panel using alligator clip.
Thanks for the information on the R8.
Regarding the soma:
the 1/4 jacks on the back of the soma have an output impedance of 50 Ohm. Any DI box expects an output impedance of 50k Ohm or more. This is a missmatch which will lead to signal dampening on the lower and upper ends of the transmitted frequency spectrum (signal flow is determend by voltage, current and electrical resistance= impedance. If one changes the others must change aswell).
Maybe its possible to mod the soma jack outs from unbalanced to balanced?..
