Universal Apollo Twin with Nord

[felixerstudios]

I'm sure this is splitting hairs, but I was reading the instructions for a UA Apollo Twin interface, and it says "1/4" TRS should be used for all line level signals when possible. 1/4" TS connections should be avoided for line level signals."

My understanding is that I would go TS out of the Nord since it is unbalanced, and then just plug the TS into the Apollo. Is there really any reason that I shouldn't just do that, or would there be some positive in using a TRS cable that I'm unaware of?

[Hlaalu]

Hi,
unless you put a DI in between, since the outs of the Nords are unbalanced (as 99% of keyboards' are), if you plugged a TRS into the Nord you'd be left with ring floating, and the interface would be getting only a half of the expected doubled signal. Which means it couldn't be doing the "balancing", and it would simply output the signal as it is... So I'd say it doesn't literally make any difference if you use TRS or TS. I'd use TS for simplicity.

[felixerstudios]

Thanks so much. Super helpful information.

[Hlaalu]

You're welcome!

Besides, the opposite isn't necessarily true: if you have a balanced output (so meant to travel over a TRS), and you plug it into a non balanced jack (which only has TS connections inside), you can expect a slight volume loss, but it does work nevertheless, albeit of course no balancing taking place.