Turtlerock Forum

Hi guys I acquired an Orban De-esser some time ago and wanted to wire it up. It's has a strip input instead of xlr's so I finally modified a mic cable by cutting it in half and soldering the 3 spade connectors to each end giving me an Input and an output option. My signal flow would be mic-preamp-compressor-Orban-apogee in.

I noticed that on the strip are the spades that have been chopped off from the last owners Still connected. with the input there is all three spades connected to positive, negative, ground but the out put only has the positive and negative ones connected. My question is how do I connect this between my 500 series Neve compressor and then direct into line in on the symphony system? Not sure what to do. Do I ground it on the out put, leave it off or put it together with another pin. Sorry I'm not a tech but would like to test the de-Esser.

Cheers in advance

Hi, it kind of depends on your system, are you running patchbays, multitrack machines, console etc?
In a complex system you will usually find that outboard and ancillary equipment has ground connected at one end only. It would seem that the Orban in question was previously part of a wiring system like this.
If you a creating a hard wired single channel input chain, I would first try connecting the earth at the output as well. If you are getting hum, lift the earth on the output of the Orban. I like the barrier strip connector style, it allows easy experimentation with connection regimes.
Having said all that, I would be very cautious about tracking through a de esser, especially the Orban ones. They can be pretty heavy handed, it's easy to give any vocalist a heavy lisp with these. The Orbans also have a pretty bandwidth limited, grainy sound of their own. I like that sound, and I use Orbans for de essing vocals when I'm mixing, but I never, ever track through them. You can't undo their effects later.
Cheers!
Paul

There is the opportunity to add XLR in/outs on the back panel if you want - I did this on my unit - the manual explains how.

Thanks for all the advise it's been taken on board. I may convert it later but for now I'd just like to hear whether I even like it. Will give it a go later.

in the time to write all these posts you could have just tried it with and without pin 1 and found out for yourself if there was any difference

Thanks for the burn Rob I felt like it’s safer to ask the good people here then potentially damage my gear.