Ah, that's great! I'm so glad this helped! ^_^

Yeah, isn't it so flipping cool? Haha, I'm glad you appreciate it too ^_^

For long cable runs it's always better to use TRS cables. Especially when they're routed near noise sources.

Also, the shield (wire mesh around the signal portion of the cable) is generally used for the ground connection.

Yeah, thanks! I figure I can show that if I do a soldering video or something similar. I'm usually pretty short on time making these videos lately.

It usually depends on your system. So let's take 1/4 inch cables and jacks, for example: Some equipment can send out a stereo signal through a single 1/4 inch jack, and in that case it's *unbalanced* signal that's being sent out, despite the fact that you're using a TRS/balanced cable to run the signal (it's the same as if you had two TS cables running the left and right out - you're not using the polarity flip concept here, you're running two distinct signals through the T and R wires). But, usually, with studio equipment, we have something called "line inputs" and "line outputs" for sending signal in and out of our devices using 1/4 inch cables, and we just assume those are balanced, and connect TRS cables to those. It's not like the world will end if you plug a TS cable into those, but it's just not quite the right way to do it/not the best. Sometimes, (like with my audio interface, the Apollo 8), there are separate jacks labelled "Hi-Z" on them - and that's designed for plugging in your guitar using a TS cable. So, if you were plugging in a guitar to record, you would use that Hi-Z jack with your unbalanced guitar cable instead of the line inputs. So a lot of the time, they're separate jacks. The really cool thing though, is that some devices are fairly intelligent about it. Like with the Apollo interfaces like mine, if you plug a TS cable into that Hi-Z input, then that input channel will automatically switch to Hi-Z input, and can't be switched for mic or line input until you remove the TS cable from the Hi-Z jack. It also won't accept signal from the channel's XLR or TRS inputs while the cable is in the Hi-Z jack. So I think that's a really long way of saying it's usually context dependent, and there are often separate jacks. Like, for example, I assume all guitar pedals are expecting unbalanced cables. The plugs themselves are often the same (ease of manufacturing and such), and I *think* it's the way it's hooked up and the circuitry that it's connected to that really decides.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

Interesting, yeah, I have heard that about a lot of synths having unbalanced outputs. I assume you've tried using balanced cables for your line outs just in case, yeah? Have you tried plugging into something like a DI with a ground lift button, pressing the ground lift button, and seeing if that fixes it?

@@CatoNoise I have not tried a DI before, all of the devices that I have are small, portable synths that I can optionally run off batteries. It’s an improvised home/bed room studio setup. After some experimentation I established that using the Roland devices with just battery operation works best if I want to I record them from the line-out into my interface. Somehow the combination of powering it from the USB whilst also beeing connected via the analog outputs to an audio interace (that by itself is also connected via USB ) is a bit of a problem. The scenario where the TR-6S is only connected via USB (in audio/midi interface mode) seems to work OK too. I’ve heard of so called USB isolators, I wonder if they could be a remedy in my case to avoid having to use batteries for power.

@@dykodesigns Try an active DI. I bet it will clear up the noise.

Thanks! And they're usually not shielded too, right? (For similar reasons) So if you use them as an instrument cable, then you're more likely to pick up noise.

@@CatoNoise yes, exactly! Unbalanced, unshielded. Your channel is great- thank you!