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Library / Room 08

CABLES &
CONNECTORS

Every plug you will meet between a microphone and a speaker, drawn from the front, with what it carries and where it lives.

Which cable do I need?

XLR

Balanced mic and line; DMX lighting (five-pin); AES3 digital123

¼″ TRS

Balanced line, or stereo headphones1

¼″ TS

Unbalanced: guitars, basses, line-level gear1

3.5 mm

Eurorack patch cables (mono)4

RCA

Unbalanced consumer line level; S/PDIF coax digital53

MIDI 5-pin DIN

The original MIDI 1.0 connector between instruments6

DIN sync

Clock and start/stop between older Roland machines7

USB

Audio interfaces, controllers, MIDI over USB89

speakON

Amplifier to passive speaker10

Optical (ADAT)

Eight channels of digital audio on light, or stereo S/PDIF113

BNC word clock

One sample clock for every digital device3

Banana

Control voltages and pulses on Buchla systems12

Faces are simplified drawings, not to scale. XLR has its own page; the others are being written.

Sources

  1. System Science, Part 3: Analogue Connections, Focusritebalanced lines; TRS, TS and XLR; outputs male, inputs female; guitars need a high-impedance input; headphone TRS · checked 2026-10-07
  2. ANSI E1.11 – 2024, DMX512-A, ESTAclause 7.1.1: equipment shall use 5-pin XLR connectors · checked 2026-10-07
  3. System Science, Part 4: Digital Considerations, FocusriteAES3 on XLR; S/PDIF on phono (RCA); TOSlink for S/PDIF or ADAT; BNC word clock · checked 2026-10-07
  4. Technical Details A-100, Doepfermodules are patched with mono 3.5 mm leads · checked 2026-10-07
  5. Sound System Interconnection (RaneNote 110), Ranebalanced XLR and TRS; unbalanced TS and RCA; balanced output stages · checked 2026-10-07
  6. 5 Pin DIN Electrical Specs (CA-033), The MIDI AssociationMIDI 1.0 uses a 5-pin DIN connector · checked 2026-10-07
  7. TR-808: Technical Specifications, Roland Supportinstruments, step keys, outputs, DIN sync. Read through the Internet Archive copy of 2026-09-03; the live page refuses automated readers · checked 2026-10-07
  8. Universal Serial Bus Device Class Definition for Audio Devices 1.0, USB-IFaudio over USB as a standard device class · checked 2026-10-07
  9. Universal Serial Bus Device Class Definition for MIDI Devices 1.0, USB-IFMIDI over USB as a standard device class · checked 2026-10-07
  10. speakON cable connectors, Neutrikthe industry-standard amplifier/loudspeaker connector · checked 2026-10-07
  11. All About ADAT, Focusriteeight channels of 24-bit audio at 48 kHz in one direction · checked 2026-10-07
  12. User’s Guide for the 200e, Buchla USAcontrol voltages and pulses use banana jacks · checked 2026-10-07