I use these with an Organelle and an OP-1 (and with Fates when I get it), pretty happy with them:

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maybe I am getting it wrong but Fates uses 2 separate mono ins and outs for L/R channels…

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I do too, but I’ve always wondered about the stereo/mono issue with norns in general. If I take 1/4’ stereo outs from norns, into a single 1/8’’ plug, and plug directly into a mono input on my wmd mixer, or er301, will one of the channels be lost? i.e. if I have sounds panned hard left and hard right coming out of norns, if I plug into a mono input, will i only hear one (right or left) channel since the mixer ins are mono?

This is a bit off topic, since it’s really just a fact of all TRS plugs when comparing a stereo unbalanced feed to a mono balanced feed, but I’ll answer it since it seems to be a common question.

The plugs and cables don’t themselves care what signals you put on what pins, what matters is that what you plug between interprets them the same way. In your case: a stereo pair of unbalanced channels (e.g. a headphone out, or a stereo TRS jack, doesn’t matter 1/4" or 1/8") plugged into a mono balanced socket (e.g. a mixer line input) will result in the mixer “hearing” the difference between the two stereo channels, since it is expecting balanced single-channel data where there is in fact equal-polarity two channel content. Conversely, if you plug any TRS cable into a socket expecting a TS (unbalanced mono - like an instrument input or a guitar pedal) you will usually either just ignore one channel (usually the right channel, carried on the ring) or depending on the physical implementation of the socket, you could short that channel to ground - which could damage some outputs (but most are buffered, with enough output impedance to not really care).

In short: know what you’re plugging in to what - phone jacks of all flavours cross over a variety of standards and they are not necessarily compatible despite the physical similarity.

cool. thanks for the detailed explanation.

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i ordered two of these exact adaptors and only one works. the other one doesn’t work at all and can’t be easily repaired. just a heads up for those looking.

for some dumb reason, i had a hell of a time figuring out what cables/adapters to use norns with my mixer: i ended up buying one of these to plug into my mixer send, then use mono eurorack patch cables to go from that adapter to the fates inputs. i also use patch cables to go from the fates outputs, and then use 1/8” to 1/4” headphone adapters to plug each into an input channel on my mixer. this has been working well and would recommend the same approach if other people are trying to do the same thing.

Thanks. That’s good to know. I only own two (of the shorter ones), and they both work.

Found this.

Will probably get a set and the adapter that @bunkbeds mentioned to connect the fates to the aux loop on my mixer.

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Control in Brooklyn has shop branded 3.5mm to 1/4" ts cables in several lengths for those looking.

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Oh, nice. And in grey and black, one for each channel. Thanks.

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quick question as i’m for some reason finding this a bit confusing. the longer header goes in from the top of the display and is soldered down. the shorter header is then soldered to the pcb? and the longer header gets pushed into the female end?

That sounds correct. There’s a picture on the build guide which might help?

hey thanks for the reply, i followed the build guide but it wasn’t particularly clear that the connection from the top header on the display to the female header on the pcb would be enough for a solid connection as the longer pins don’t fully push down all the way. not sure if adding that to the build guide would be redundant or not but it’s always helpful to clarify just in case.

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My Fates lives!! (Pictures soon :sweat_smile:) Just a quick question, when Awake starts up, is the output to headphones mono? I only have sound in the left channel. Reflow the DAC…?

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Should be stereo, yeah… prob check the pins on the left side of the dac or the stuff in the top left corner of the board

hi i 3D printed one of your case designs and was wondering how you connected your rpi to your pcb?
i think i made a pretty big mistake as i soldered the tall 2x20 female header that was in the bom to the pcb which the rpi inserts into. this was in the build guide but i’m now realizing that it doesn’t fit in the case properly as it’s too tall…i guess i should’ve inquired about this before following the build guide that is more so geared towards the case that @okyeron designed… it looks like i might need some chip quick and a shorter 2x20 female header?
also did you use any standoffs? any suggestions would be much appreciated!

The 2x20 header in the bom should be a “standard” one, not “tall”. With the header I use, the pi ends up with an 11mm spacer between the pi and the Fates pcb.

Not sure about @frankchannel’s case design, but others have printed that and have not reported an issue.

If you do decide to find a shorted header - search for one of the Pi Zero ones.

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Maybe you used the wrong header as @okyeron pointed out? I used the fates BOM with no special changes. The case has built in standoffs. At least 2 other people have made the case without problems as far as I know.

yeah i somehow got those confused and ordered the tall one…flagrant mistake. i hope using some chip quick can remove it while salvaging those small pads where the new 2x20 header needs to go.

ugh yes looks like i soldered in the wrong hight of header:(