Music - studio and stage notes - cables, connectors, adapters

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✎ This article/section is a stub — some half-sorted notes, not necessarily checked, not necessarily correct. Feel free to ignore, or tell me about it.

Connectors

Plugs and practicality, on mixers and instruments

XLR3 is pro mic level, which is always balanced/differential, always mono.

mono, because one signal requires a differential pair (and the third pin is shield, not ground)

if you want to carry stereo over XLR, use two cables (depending on the devices you're interconnecting, this may be easier with two balanced 6.35mm TRS instead).

6.35 mm is two different things:

6.35mm TS is unbalanced, mono, often instruments and often called instrument level. Guitar plugs are similar, though there is a difference between levels put out by guitars and instruments)

Effect pedals are typically unbalanced, instrument/guitar level

Tip is signal, Sleeve is ground/shield

unpowered instruments may have rather lower voltage levels - but still close enough to gain without much trouble

powered instruments may be somewhere inbetween(verify)

6.35mm TRS is pro line level

(typically) balanced/differential ~1.2V mono, and mixes may mark this as "balanced".

Tip and Ring is the pair, Sleeve is shield (not shared ground)

this seems mostly used for interconnects

(rarely, and recognizably) an insert Y lead to two TS plugs, to put an effect on a mixer insert socket

(rarely) unbalanced stereo. To see this on a device is an exception, and will be noted

Mixers tend to accept both TRS balanced and TS unbalanced, because it's not very hard to design them that way - and avoids some weird cases.

If they do both on the same socket they usually mark that (e.g. "bal/unbal")

Note that unbalanced inputs are not always isolated, so connecting unbalanced things (other than floating instuments) could create common mode issues.