A Y-cable, Y cable, or splitter cable is a cable with three ends: one common end and two other ends. The Y-cable can resemble the Latin letter "Y".
A Y-cable, Y cable, or splitter cable is a cable with three ends: one common end and two other ends. The Y-cable can resemble the Latin letter "Y".
There are five common uses for Y-cables in signal paths:
A Y-cable common in domestic settings has a stereo 3.5mm (1/8″) stereo male minijack at one end, to plug into the line- or headphone-output of an MP3 player, mobile phone, or computer soundcard, and a pair of RCA (phono) male plugs to connect to the left and right mono inputs of an external amplifier. This is an example of un-consolidating connectors, as described above.
Y-shaped mains leads enable two appliances to run from one mains plug.
In older desktop PCs, PATA (aka "IDE") devices such as 5.25 inch optical drives and 3.5 inch hard drives are typically powered by means of Molex connector Y-cables. [11] [ additional citation(s) needed ]
Traditional USB Y-cables exist to enable one USB peripheral device to receive power from two USB host sockets at once, while only transceiving data with one of those sockets. As long as the host has two available USB sockets, this enables a peripheral that requires more power than one USB port can supply (but not more than two ports can supply) to be used without requiring a mains adaptor. Portable hard disk drives [12] [13] and optical disc drives [14] [15] are sometimes supplied with such Y-cables, for this reason.
A newer variant on this kind of cable allows a USB peripheral to receive data and power from two different devices respectively. This allows power-hungry peripherals to be used with sockets that are designed to supply little or no outgoing power, such as USB On-The-Go mini-B sockets on smartphones. The power is supplied to the third leg of the "Y" by a mains adaptor or a power bank.
A sound card is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces used for professional audio applications.
A microphone, colloquially called a mic, or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public events, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, sound recording, two-way radios, megaphones, and radio and television broadcasting. They are also used in computers and other electronic devices, such as mobile phones, for recording sounds, speech recognition, VoIP, and other purposes, such as ultrasonic sensors or knock sensors.
The RCA connector is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals. The name RCA derives from the company Radio Corporation of America, which introduced the design in the 1930s. The connector’s male plug and female jack are called RCA plug and RCA jack.
Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards and audio peripherals designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology. The first Sound Blaster card was introduced in 1989.
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic instruments, or recorded sounds. Mixers may control analog or digital signals. The modified signals are summed to produce the combined output signals, which can then be broadcast, amplified through a sound reinforcement system or recorded.
Balanced audio is a method of interconnecting audio equipment using balanced interfaces. This type of connection is very important in sound recording and production because it allows the use of long cables while reducing susceptibility to external noise caused by electromagnetic interference. The balanced interface guarantees that induced noise appears as common-mode voltages at the receiver which can be rejected by a differential device.
A phone connector is a family of cylindrically-shaped electrical connectors primarily for analog audio signals. Invented in the late 19th century for telephone switchboards, the phone connector remains in use for interfacing wired audio equipment, such as headphones, speakers, microphones, mixing consoles, and electronic musical instruments. A male connector, is mated into a female connector, though other terminology is used.
The XLR connector is a type of electrical connector primarily used in professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. XLR connectors are cylindrical in design, with three to seven connector pins, and are often employed for analog balanced audio interconnections, AES3 digital audio, portable intercom, DMX512 lighting control, and for low-voltage power supply. XLR connectors are included to the international standard for dimensions, IEC 61076-2-103. The XLR connector resembles the DIN connector, but is larger, more robust and is physically incompatible with it.
The DIN connector is an electrical connector that was standardized by the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN), the German Institute for Standards, in the mid 1950's, initially with 3 pins for mono, but when stereo connections and gear appeared in late 1950's, versions with 5 pins or more were launched. The male DIN connectors (plugs) feature a 13.2 mm diameter metal shield with a notch that limits the orientation in which plug and socket can mate. The range of DIN connectors, different only in the configuration of the pins, have been standardized as DIN 41524 / IEC/DIN EN 60130-9 ; DIN 45322 ; DIN 45329 / IEC/DIN EN 60130–9 ; and DIN 45326 / IEC/DIN EN 60130-9.
Phantom power, in the context of professional audio equipment, is DC electric power equally applied to both signal wires in balanced microphone cables, forming a phantom circuit, to operate microphones that contain active electronic circuitry. It is best known as a convenient power source for condenser microphones, though many active direct boxes also use it. The technique is also used in other applications where power supply and signal communication take place over the same wires.
A DI unit is an electronic device typically used in recording studios and in sound reinforcement systems to connect a high output impedance unbalanced output signal to a low-impedance, microphone level, balanced input, usually via an XLR connector and XLR cable. DIs are frequently used to connect an electric guitar or electric bass to a mixing console's microphone input jack. The DI performs level matching, balancing, and either active buffering or passive impedance matching/impedance bridging. DI units are typically metal boxes with input and output jacks and, for more expensive units, “ground lift” and attenuator switches.
Line level is the specified strength of an audio signal used to transmit analog sound between audio components such as CD and DVD players, television sets, audio amplifiers, and mixing consoles.
A DJ mixer is a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys (DJs) to control and manipulate multiple audio signals. Some DJs use the mixer to make seamless transitions from one song to another when they are playing records at a dance club. Hip hop DJs and turntablists use the DJ mixer to play record players like a musical instrument and create new sounds. DJs in the disco, house music, electronic dance music and other dance-oriented genres use the mixer to make smooth transitions between different sound recordings as they are playing. The sources are typically record turntables, compact cassettes, CDJs, or DJ software on a laptop. DJ mixers allow the DJ to use headphones to preview the next song before playing it to the audience. Most low- to mid-priced DJ mixers can only accommodate two turntables or CD players, but some mixers can accommodate up to four turntables or CD players. DJs and turntablists in hip hop music and nu metal use DJ mixers to create beats, loops and so-called scratching sound effects.
In audio processing and sound reinforcement, an insert is an access point built into the mixing console, allowing the audio engineer to add external line level devices into the signal flow between the microphone preamplifier and the mix bus.
The Pop-Port interface was a proprietary plug-in port for accessories and data synchronisation, available with many Nokia mobile phones. The port consists of one metal pin on either end, and a plastic tab containing thirteen contacts. Pop-Port-like interfaces first appeared in Nokia phones since circa 1996, but the Pop-Port was standardised as a single interface in 2002.
A computer port is a hardware piece on a computer where an electrical connector can be plugged to link the device to external devices, such as another computer, a peripheral device or network equipment.
The H2 Handy Recorder is a handheld digital audio recorder from Zoom first announced at the NAMM Show in February 2007. It records very high quality digital stereo or 4-channel audio on a hand-held unit, and has been called "the studio on a stick."
A headset is a combination of headphone and microphone. Headsets connect over a telephone or to a computer, allowing the user to speak and listen while keeping both hands free. They are commonly used in customer service and technical support centers, where employees can converse with customers while typing information into a computer. They are also common among computer gamers and let them talk with each other and hear others while using their keyboards and mice to play the game.
Audio connectors and video connectors are electrical or optical connectors for carrying audio or video signals. Audio interfaces or video interfaces define physical parameters and interpretation of signals. For digital audio and digital video, this can be thought of as defining the physical layer, data link layer, and most or all of the application layer. For analog audio and analog video these functions are all represented in a single signal specification like NTSC or the direct speaker-driving signal of analog audio.
A microphone blocker is a phone microphone connector used to trick feature phones that have a physical microphone switch to disconnect the microphone. Microphone blockers won't operate on smartphones or laptops because the microphone is controlled with software rather than a physical switch.
I had a [Sennheiser] 421 [microphone] on the top and [a Shure] SM57 [microphone] on the bottom of each of the toms, going into the console via a Y-cable, so the signals from the 421 and the 57 were blended in the cable and came up under one fader on the console. For some reason that works and sounds really good.
[If] you were to split the mic signal with a simple Y-cord the mic would indeed 'see' the two input destinations effectively in parallel with each other, and that will result in the effective load for the microphone being reduced below the impedance of either. [Transformerless] capacitor and active-dynamic mics won't have a problem at all [but] if the impedance gets too low, you might possibly notice a small change in the tonal character or transient response with traditional dynamic mics and transformer-output capacitor mics. [So a] simple Y-cord (parallel split) can certainly work, and I've used that technique myself on occasion, but it does open the door to conflicting phantom-power supply problems, and makes ground loops very likely. The way around the ground-loop issue — this applies to active splitter/preamp techniques too, of course — is to disconnect and isolate the cable screens for all but one of the outputs at the destinations. Balanced connections don't employ the cable screen as a ground reference, so disconnecting it won't affect the signal transfer (but it is required for the return phantom current, so needs to be present in the connection to the preamp providing phantom power).
You now need to derive two outputs from this ... signal [which can be done using] a splitter cable ...
We recommend taking a simple microphone splitter jack which allows two mono microphones to record simultaneously into [each of] the two channels of a typical stereo jack input. [This] can be used effectively with ... an MP3 recorder with a couple of basic wired lapel microphones.N.B. A splitter jack is electrically equivalent to a Y-cable, just in a rigid enclosure instead of having flexible parts.
Consumer soundcards generally use 3.5mm stereo 'mini' jack sockets, which although somewhat less robust than their quarter-inch relations, take up significantly less space on the backplate. If you have such a card, you'll need to buy or solder up stereo-to-twin-mono leads to connect to most music gear.
A 1.5m Y-cable is supplied with the mic ... to convert the five-pin connection into two standard three-pin XLR connectors, each with labelled cable sleeves to identify which provides the dynamic element signal, and which the capacitor element.
To get the sound from the iPhone to the Zoom, you need a slightly unusual kind of patch cable called a "stereo breakout" cable or "Y splitter" that will split the stereo output of the phone into two separate mono channels (remember, each of the inputs on the Zoom is strictly mono). I use a Hosa 3.5mm TRS (stereo mini plug) to dual 1/4"... The mini plug goes into the iPhone's headphone jack, and the two 1/4″ plugs go into the inputs on the Zoom's expander module...
The type of mixer found in project studios almost always has unbalanced insert points, which are accessed though the same TRS jacks normally used in balanced cables. However, these are wired such that they carry both the (unbalanced) send and return signals down the two inner cores, using the outer screen as a common signal ground. At the outboard (or patchbay) end, the lead is broken out into two tip-sleeve plugs, one carrying the send signal and the other the return (hence the popular term 'Y-cable'). Normally, the Tip contact is used as the send from the mixer, and the Ring carries the return, although this isn't always the case, so you should check your mixer manual.
Many mixers offer unbalanced insert points as it's convenient to use a [single] TRS jack to handle both the send and return signal.
Iomega previously included a "Y" cable for connecting the eGo Portable Hard Drive to older notebooks or budget netbooks that might require two USB 2.0 connections in order to power an external hard drive. The new USB 3.0 drive takes advantage of the higher power output of the USB 3.0 port and comes with a single USB cable that is easier to pack in your laptop case.
The ThinkPad Secure Hard Drive ... comes with a ... Y cable that connects the drive to two USB 2.0 ports for adequate power if your PC doesn't have a USB 3.0 port.
[The] Pioneer BDR-XD05B ... comes with a USB 3.0 Y-cable, which is handy for older computers that can't power the drive from one port.
As is often the case with portable optical drives, a USB Y-cable is included for plugging into the micro-USB port on the rear of the drive. Since the [HP] bd530s is bus-powered, there's no need for an extra AC adapter. While the thirty six inch primary strand of the Y-cable is generously sized, the ancillary strand is a paltry sixteen inches long, which may not be long enough to reach a USB port on the other side of a laptop. While it's worth noting, this is an admittedly minor gripe...