Insert cable

As insert cable is referred to in the audio engineering a cable , that the grinding of a signal processing unit in the signal path of a mixer is used.

Insert cables are usually Y-shaped ( breakout cable ) with a jack plug for the connection to the mixer and two further connectors ( XLR or jack) for the connection to the device to be looped in.

The mixer usually provides special insert jacks to which the insert cable is connected. These sockets are available for individual channels, for subgroups and for sums.

The assignment of the jack socket on the mixer is not reliably standardized; The signal is usually led out of the mixer via the tip, the ring returns the signal and the sleeve serves as ground potential. The socket is usually designed in such a way that the signal is passed on internally in the mixer if there is no plug in the socket. The signal routing of such an insert cable is asymmetrical. This is accepted because the signal paths for looping in external devices are usually short.

Some mixers still offer symmetrical inserts; here there is one input and one output socket per signal path. The external device is then looped in via normal LF cables.

literature

• Roland Enders: The home recording manual. 3rd edition, Carstensen Verlag, Munich, 2003, ISBN 3-910098-25-8
• Hubert Henle: The recording studio manual. 5th edition, GC Carstensen Verlag, Munich, 2001, ISBN 3-910098-19-3