I need Help looking for a particular audio cable

[jesse g]

Hey all,

I have a Roland Octa-Capture I/O as seen below, and I have never had the need to use I/O (9/10)  before.   These are coaxial stereo ins and outs on the device and I want to use them to route to a hardware Lexicon MX200.   My problem is that I need a stereo audio coaxial cable to a 1/4 in male TRS, but I can't seem to find one anywhere?  

Has anyone  seen or heard of one of these?  Everything seems to be a dual mono coaxial to a to single 1/4 inch TS or TRS.

Can anyone steer me in the right direction, or post links to where I can purchase the cable over the Internet.

 

 

[Sheens]

coaxial output is always digital and just 1 cable, you can connect them with  any normal coaxial cable.

it's not possible to connect it to the Jack input on the Lexicon as that's analog.

you can connect 2 analog cables Jack cables from the Roland to the Lexicon though.

Don't know if you'd need balanced (TRS) or unbalanced (TS) cables.

hope this helps..

 

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Sheens

[jesse g]

 

1 hour ago, Sheens said:

coaxial output is always digital and just 1 cable, you can connect them with  any normal coaxial cable.

it's not possible to connect it to the Jack input on the Lexicon as that's analog.

you can connect 2 analog cables Jack cables from the Roland to the Lexicon though.

Don't know if you'd need balanced (TRS) or unbalanced (TS) cables.

hope this helps..

 

 

Sheens,

Thanks for your response.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I was trying to route the Lexicon and 9/10 ins and outs of the Octa-Capture through my patch-bay,  I was trying to make use of the Octa-Capture  9/10 in and outs.

I have used the 3/4 I/O's for my Octa-Capture in the past for my Lexicon MX200, but I am starting to use more hardware in my studio and have moved items around in my rack. Now the only 2 spots I have left is 9/10 on the Octa- Capture and I am trying to find a way to make them work for me.  I only use the Lexicon to add reverb to the vocalist Cue Mix so they can hear reverb in their headphones while singing,  the reverb never gets recorded.

I guess I will skip the patch bay and just route 2 audio coaxial cables from the Octa Captures 9/10 's I/O to the SPDIF  I/O of the Lexicon MX200.  I will add this as one of my new External Inserts in Cakewalk by Bandlab. for my Cue Mix Bus.

 

Thanks for your help  ??

Edited May 28, 2022 by jesse g

[Kurre]

You'll need this:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Analog-audio-converter/dp/B004C4WPXA

[jesse g]

1 hour ago, Kurre said:

You'll need this:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Analog-audio-converter/dp/B004C4WPXA

Kurre,

Thank you for finding this for me.  ?

[Zargg]

Hi. When I had my RME UCX, I connected my POD HD 500 via spdif, using half of an old school Hi-Fi cable (red and white for connecting devices to amp/receiver).

I had no issues with degradation of the sound using simple cables as that.

My RME UFX doesn't have spdif, so need to find an spdif to AES cable to connect it digitally. For now, 2 jacks...

All the best.

[Kurre]

8 hours ago, jesse g said:

Kurre,

Thank you for finding this for me.  ?

You're welcome. ?

I came across it when i did a setup of my home cinema. My reciever have coaxial audio in and out.

[Tom B]

Wanted to understand your main goal:

• Is the goal to connect the Lexicon MX200 to the Octa-Capture as an external effect?   
• Or, do you want to add general-purpose stereo Analog ins/outs using the Octa-Capture "Coax" ports 9/10 ?    

I skimmed the Octa-Capture manual.  As others have said, the "coax"  (9/10) are digital I/O ports.  One thing unclear in the  manual is whether the "Coax" ports are S/PDIF compatible.  The MX200 and the D/A converter suggested by Kurre are both S/PDIF.  I'm speculating they are compatible, but you should contact Roland or a knowledgeable retailer to make sure.  Perhaps someone will chime in here too.  S/PDIF is a digital transmission specification.  

If  the Octa-Capture Coax ports are compatible with S/PDIF:

• You will need two cables (in and out) to connect the MX200. Technically, you should purchase two 75ohm coax cables (w/RCA connectors) to make the connections.   However, as Zargg mentioned, you can sometimes get away with regular home stereo/video cables.  Keep them short if you try this. 
• The converter suggested by Kurre appears to provide stereo analog outputs only but no inputs.  In this case you would need one coax cable (same specs and caveats as above).   Maybe a coax cable comes with the converter.
• I believe the Lexicon MX200 can be configured to allow the analog stereo inputs to be converted to digital without effects.

Sweetwater carries S/PDIF Coax  cables.  I would imagine they are available at major music stores, audio retailers, and Amazon.

FYI  ... the "75ohm" coax cable is a specified to maximize digital signal integrity.  Using regular audio cable may cause digital transmission problems.   

Hope this helps -- rather than cause more confusion!    

[jesse g]

1 hour ago, Tom B said:

Wanted to understand your main goal:

• Is the goal to connect the Lexicon MX200 to the Octa-Capture as an external effect?   
• Or, do you want to add general-purpose stereo Analog ins/outs using the Octa-Capture "Coax" ports 9/10 ?

 

Hello Tom,

So I was routing all of my gear through a new Patch Bay and I got to the Octa-Captures  9/10 I/O port.  I usually don't use it but i wanted to add it to my Patch bay if I could connect it to my Lexicon MX200 reverb unit, which has 2 coaxial ports on the back.  I was just trying to find a way to use the Coaxial and SPDIF ports with my patch bay connected via analogue adapters.

I tried using RCA cables, but I kept getting this pulsing sound but no audio coming through.

I previously used the 3\4 analogue outs on my Octa-Capture, but they were now being used by another piece of hardware, and I didn't want the 9/10 SPDIF outs to go unused.

I just ordered 2 Coaxial cables and they will work along side SPDIF for the connection.

[Tom B]

1 hour ago, jesse g said:

Hello Tom,

So I was routing all of my gear through a new Patch Bay and I got to the Octa-Captures  9/10 I/O port.  I usually don't use it but i wanted to add it to my Patch bay if I could connect it to my Lexicon MX200 reverb unit, which has 2 coaxial ports on the back.  I was just trying to find a way to use the Coaxial and SPDIF ports with my patch bay connected via analogue adapters.

I tried using RCA cables, but I kept getting this pulsing sound but no audio coming through.

I previously used the 3\4 analogue outs on my Octa-Capture, but they were now being used by another piece of hardware, and I didn't want the 9/10 SPDIF outs to go unused.

I just ordered 2 Coaxial cables and they will work along side SPDIF for the connection.

Glad to hear you ordered the coaxial cables.  I'm not entirely surprised the audio RCA cables didn't work for S/PDIF. Those cables aren't designed to work at the speeds required for transmitting digital signals.  BTW,  in the MX200 and Opti-Capture documentation, I see there are some settings to configure the S/PDIF.   Hopefully, you saw that info too.   

Edit: Additional info ...

For those who are curious about the technical details behind some of the popular digital transmission formats, 
here's an article titled  "Connections & Clocking For Digital Audio" at the Sound on Sound  (SOS) magazine web site.

The SOS article mentions the pitfalls of using regular audio RCA cables for S/PDIF connections. Scroll down to the S/PDIF section to read more.

The article references a document known as "IEC standard IEC-60958".  The Octa-Capture user guide says the coax in/outs use this standard.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Tom B
Added section about Sound on Sound article

[Gswitz]

I totally thought you were going to say 'I know it's in one of these bags somewhere!' and have us try to guess which bag of stuff you left it in.

That's usually me looking for a midi cable.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Gswitz

[msmcleod]

I'd avoid using converters if possible.  I've almost never got them to work properly due to clocking issues - sometimes the converter wants to be the clock master, other times not, and not all of them support all of the sample rates/bit depths.

For SPDIF, just connect it directly.  You will need to designate one device as the clock master and one as a slave though.

[Kurre]

S/PDIF and coaxial are two different connectors for digital signals.

Coaxial uses digital signals thru metal threads. Even if it can use the same cables as analog audio the signal could not be used by analog gear.

S/PDIF uses digitals signals converted to laserlight thru fiberoptics. No likeness to analog gear.

Posts above was unclear about the difference and use.

You can NOT connect a coaxial output to a S/PDIF input.

[Milton Sica]

21 hours ago, Kurre said:

You'll need this:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Analog-audio-converter/dp/B004C4WPXA

Yup. That's right ! I use it very well with my historic TASCAM US 600 connected to my mixer.

It works perfectly for me.

[Sheens]

1 hour ago, Kurre said:

S/PDIF and coaxial are two different connectors for digital signals.

Coaxial uses digital signals thru metal threads. Even if it can use the same cables as analog audio the signal could not be used by analog gear.

S/PDIF uses digitals signals converted to laserlight thru fiberoptics. No likeness to analog gear.

Posts above was unclear about the difference and use.

You can NOT connect a coaxial output to a S/PDIF input.

one can connect Spdif signal to the Coaxial input on the Roland.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Sheens

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, Kurre said:

S/PDIF and coaxial are two different connectors for digital signals.

Coaxial uses digital signals thru metal threads. Even if it can use the same cables as analog audio the signal could not be used by analog gear.

S/PDIF uses digitals signals converted to laserlight thru fiberoptics. No likeness to analog gear.

Posts above was unclear about the difference and use.

You can NOT connect a coaxial output to a S/PDIF input.

I think you're mixing up the cable type ( coaxial ) with the  most common type of coaxial cable which has BNC connectors.  Coax cables with BNC connectors are typically used for digital clock signals,  10-Base-T networks, and analog video.

Both the Lexicon and octa-capture have RCA S/PDIF connectors, which REQUIRE coaxial cables with RCA connectors to operate properly.
 

[Tom B]

10 hours ago, Kurre said:

S/PDIF and coaxial are two different connectors for digital signals.

Coaxial uses digital signals thru metal threads. Even if it can use the same cables as analog audio the signal could not be used by analog gear.

S/PDIF uses digitals signals converted to laserlight thru fiberoptics. No likeness to analog gear.

Posts above was unclear about the difference and use.

You can NOT connect a coaxial output to a S/PDIF input.

S/PDIF is defined to use either fiber optic or coaxial cable (with RCA connectors) to transmit the digital signal. This is part of the S/PDIF specification.
It's a design choice by the manufacturer.  

This Wikipedia article  S/PDIF description has more information.   

The good news is the OP is getting  proper coaxial cables (with RCA connectors) to connect the gear. ? I hope to hear back about on how it went.

[Kurre]

Ok. My fault.

I associate spdif with toslink.

Coaxial is  just digital signal for me without further clasification.

With that difference i never have the kind of misunderstanding we have here.

[Tom B]

7 minutes ago, Kurre said:

Ok. My fault.

I associate spdif with toslink.

Coaxial is  just digital signal for me without further clasification.

With that difference i never have the kind of misunderstanding we have here.

It can be really confusing since there's so much nomenclature and conflicting use of terminology. I (and certainly others) have experienced this at various times during our gear quests.  ?     It's all good! 

[jesse g]

Hey All,

The Coaxial Cables I ordered from Amazon arrived today and the connection to the Lexicon SPDIF  port and the Otca-Capture worked flawlessly.   There is an option on the Octacapta that has to be turned on first.

Press the Display button on the Octa-Capture.
Turn the dial until DIGITAL is selected on the screen.
Set DIGITAL to AUTO

Done.

I also set the Lexicon MX200 though the analogue patch bay so I could route it's sound out to other things.

Thanks everyone for the discussion and helping me with this.?