Members Zahiti Posted March 12, 2008 Members Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hello all,Sound noob here, so please bear with me! I am a concert promoter/sound guy for a venue, and we occasionally have acoustic acts, and we usually just go straight into the board with a 1/4" cable. But I have seen some people bring their own DI boxes, what is the difference? Do we need to invest in DI boxes? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RHA Posted March 12, 2008 Members Share Posted March 12, 2008 I started a somewhat related thread yesterday:http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1918547 I'm no expert; you should listen to the better-versed members here, particularly the ones responding to my op. But my limited knowledge tells me you'll want to have DI boxes available, particularly if you are currently sending line outs directly to a house mixer. I suspect this is acceptable for some limited applications, but most sound techs I know would insist on either mic'ing instrument amps to the mixer or running a DI--and in the latter case, this would be the preferred method for bass amps and electric keyboards in particular. But again I'd defer to the more experienced members of this forum; I'm just a weekend warrior musician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted March 12, 2008 Members Share Posted March 12, 2008 Isolation, impedance conversion, balancing of the signal for noise rejection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BigMac5 Posted March 12, 2008 Members Share Posted March 12, 2008 A direct box is a device that converts the high impedance of a guitar, bass or keyboard to a balanced low impedance signal. Balanced signals inherently cancel noise and due to their lower impedance, can travel much further. Balanced signals are the norm in professional recording, broadcast and live sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimmyP Posted March 13, 2008 Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Isolation, impedance conversion, balancing of the signal for noise rejection. Yep. The input impedance of a mixer's line input is much lower than what is optimal for most instruments (save for modern electronic keyboards). An active DI is the ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zahiti Posted March 13, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2008 Thanks for all the help, we'll be buying some! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted March 13, 2008 CMS Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 While you definitely don't have to spend this much, for acoustics I can heartily recommend the Countryman Type 85 active DI. It runs about $130. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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