DI box.....
how much should i have and on what material...?
a di box for every instrument?

 

What is the application? Live mixing or recording? Which instruments?
Typical use of a DI box is for impedance matching high-impedance line level instruments (electric guitar, bass...) to low-impedance microphone inputs on a mixer. Some mixers negate the need for a DI by including 2 or more line inputs.
So the answer will really depend on the application.

 

for me just for having great signal after synth or sampler or drummachine...EDIT or maybe between mixer and audio interface....i will end up with max 16 channels mixer for the first , maybe bigger ....
planning to have one with direct outs for multitracking in ableton...

radial has so much different di boxes....

forgive me pls , i dont really understand...

 

Here's a good application diagram showing some uses...

 

->

In other words, you'll only need a DI box if you want to plug your synth/sampler/drum-machine 6,3mm line output into the mic inputs of the mixer. If you use the 6,3mm jack input of your mixer, you don't need a DI box at all.

 

I use those radial di's too; quality business , love it for bass & mics

 

Unless you want a DI box to color the sound, as some do, the answer from No Avenger is the right one.
You should not need a DI as most of the mixing boards actually offer 2 inputs or adaptable inputs line/mic for each channel.

 

I just plug all of my hardware synths into the 1/4" line-inputs of a Soundcraft EFX12 (sub-mixer in my case). No problems for me w/ that.

However, I do go MONO out of the mixer into a JDI so I can knock it down to MIC LEVEL, and then go into a nice external preamp to hit the mic input transformer (cinemag, carnhill, etc) to add some 5% syrupy gooey qualities and soften the transients a bit. (this is just extra, totally unnecessary though). The JDI has a clean Jensen xformer too (just like a Daking Mic-Pre ONE, or FET II compressor, etc.)

From there, after sequencing all of the synths, I solo each synth and print (record) to disk (DAW) individually.

*side-conversation* - Someone please talk me out of buying a Roland SE-02. Thanks in advance.

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2018

thank you guys..
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yes oly , was also thinking bout coloring sound....have read a wurli sounds even better with di box....and the high Q transformers in radial are sounding great in common...
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@ bluerover u use rack power strip's i guess...do somebody kno really good common power strips for EU

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2018

which radeal you would suggest for coloring a synth ? also JDI

 

https://www.thomann.de/fi/the_t_racks_power_8_s.htm
I´ve used these for live usage, the electricity was built and renewed 1950-2010(not all), so yeah I needed D.I boxes too.
But it can help, if you can get all electricity from same socket/circuit.
In my case there was always hums and buzzes, if I used lot of electricity from different sources. And then you need groundlift

 

The best Radial DI boxes for keyboards are JDI ones that have Jensen transformers and normal XLR [balanced] outs. There are two versions of JDI, mono and stereo. There are also two ProDI DI boxes, mono and stereo that *don't* have Jensen transformers, and sport low-z XLR outs that have to be used with a mic preamp. These are used when you have nice sounding preamps that you want to use, or to use them with guitar pedals and/or re-amping.

I think a stereo JDI is what you're looking for, for colouring an unbalanced stereo line-level audio source [keyboards/samplers]. These boxes are wonderful!

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2018

thx for the links legotron & sinewave

 

just btw this is not effecting me a lot...i have a lot of hum on monitors(not in DAW)....the steinberg ur22 hadnt hum at all...but the old edirol have hum..

 

Like @SineWave wrote. If you want to color your sound you need a tube or a transformer in your d.i box.
A simple di box transforms a line level signal to mic level like @No Avenger mentioned.

I see no need for such transformer based/tube based d.i. in the studio. Only for live use. Because you can use a simple d.i. to transform a signal to mic level (impedance matching). This means you can use any simple d.i. box to color the signal with your preferred studio (tube/transformer) preamps.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 5, 2018

thx for input TW
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are you guys sucking Energie just from 1 energie circle or from 2 circles . 2 circles 2 fuses...dunno right english...but i guess you get me...

 

How they are electrified(not sure correct word)? Hum can be caused many cases?

 

Mine comes from one 16A(220-230V) socket. That equal to approx. 3,5kW. Never reach the limit..
Yep 1 fuse per circuit, but you have to look into your own, to find out, which one goes where to not overload it.

P.S There are cheap kW meter that go between the socket, so you can measure the approx. usage. These are really handful also, if you want to go of grid

 

ok i get one for the facility in common...good idea
i suck from to circles on my test set up at moment cause one circle got 2 rooms plugged together...not so..
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bout edirol...its not so important to nerve you with that...sry...
but is it not normal that older 90ies interface have more noise floor then todays ??
noise floor and hum sounding the same but may have different sources am i right..

 

Yes. I use these. Monster Pro 3500. They're discontinued, but you can get them used. As far as EU, you might have to GEARSLUTZ that information for an answer. ;-)

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PRO3500--monster-power-powercenter-pro-3500