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Richard716

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The XW-P1 uses a mono 1/4" jack and I'm not sure if your SM58 needs phantom power or not, but I don't think the XW can deliver it if it's needed.

 

As for using the mic, it can be used as the sixth oscillator in solo synth mode but you have to enable it by editing the mixer in the synth sounds.  Solo Synth Preset P:9-9 is already set up to use a mic out of the box if you want to test your mic and see how to set up the input in the mixer settings.

 

Here's a howto on using an external sound source as a synth oscillator.

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/4882-audio-inhow-to-do/

 

Gary

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I think the OP really meant stereo plug, not jack (see the definitions below).  His adapter may look like this or this, with a female XLR connector on one end and a 1/4" stereo phone plug (AKA TRS) on the other.  Zymos is quite correct that the stereo aspect of the adapter serves no useful purpose in this case but should still work fine.  But it's not because the two balanced signals (180 degrees out of phase) from the microphone that appear on the ring and tip of the stereo phone plug will be summed together.  They aren't and if they were you would get no output at all (except for maybe hum if that was being induced on the cable).  It's because the mono jack on the XW-P1 will simply ignore the signal on the ring and will connect only to the signal on the tip (and, of course, to the ground on the sleeve).

 

Hopefully, future Casio keyboards will use a combo jack that supports both XLR and 1/4" phone connectors (like this one), avoiding the need for adapters (and actually USING the balanced inputs for interference rejection if they are provided).  Furthermore, the input should support switchable phantom power for condenser mics and have switchable impedance to allow direct connection from an electric guitar or guitar pickup.  The mic inputs on Roland's keyboards include all of these features.

 

 

Not that Wikipedia is the final authority but in this case its definitions of jack and plug match the usage I am familiar with from 30 years in the electronics industry:

 

"Jack commonly refers to a connector often with the female electrical contact or socket, and is the "more fixed" connector of a connector pair. Plug commonly refers to a movable connector, often (but not always) with the male electrical contact or pin, and is the movable (less fixed) connector of a connector pair."

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Shoot, I even went back and edited my post a minute after I made it, cause I thought "waitaminnit! We're talking about plugs, not jacks".

But my edit didn't go through for some reason- a window even popped up that said "this post has been edited".

So much for my face saving attempt....

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Impedance-the XW is a high-impedance input jack-it is 9K, I believe the Shure is low-impedance, this will need a transformer adapter in order to work. I use these adaptersfor similar high-impedance inputs which are typically 1/4" monophonic  jacks and are found in many mixing consoles without dedicated XLR low-impedance inputs such as the lower end Roland, Korg, Yamaha and other digital decks.  These are easy to find online, and have the XLR female "jack" on one end and 1/4" male "plug" on the other. This also converts the balanced XLR connector from the Shure to the unbalanced (I'm a little unbalanced myself lately ha-ha) connector in the XW-P1. Or buy a microphone which has a 1/4" mono plug which will be high-impedance but these are (usually) cheaper and not as sensitive and also noisier in my experience. Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the info

 

I have found these options in the UK

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/A3F-Jack-To-1-Plug-Adapter-Transformer/dp/B000UX3OVY/ref=pd_cp_MI_0

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Female-Microphone-Adapter-Connector-FamilyMall/dp/B00G34BFYW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390330988&sr=8-2&keywords=XLR+Female+To+1%2F4%22%22+Male+Adapter%22

 

Prefer the cheap option but pointless if it wont do the job.

 

Can anyone confirm what is right for the job, Mike are you around?

 

Cheers, Richard

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Impedance-the XW is a high-impedance input jack-it is 9K, I believe the Shure is low-impedance, this will need a transformer adapter in order to work.

I beg to differ.  First, the XW-P1's mic input is 3K ohms, not 9k ohms (the latter number applies to the XW's stereo line-level input and instrument input).  Second, a low-impedance audio source needs a higher impedance on the input to avoid signal loading; a minimum of around 10x higher is the rule of thumb.  3K ohms is about right for a dynamic mic, most of which are around 200 to 300 ohms (actual, as opposed to rated).

 

Myself, I use a Peavey PVi-100 mic that was part of a mic/stand bundle.  It performs similar to a Shure SM58 (for a fraction of the price) and works fine with the XW-P1.  I connect it with the XLR-to-phone-plug cable that was included in the bundle.  The cable is just a cable - it does not contain a transformer (nor any other passive components for that matter).

 

PS. To head off one objection:  Yes, converting a balanced signal into a unbalanced signal using a simple cable does reduce the signal level compared to using a transformer.  But the XW's mic input adjustment has enough range to compensate (since the XW's designers intended that the 1/4" mic input be be used for dynamic mics they must have accounted for this).  And since this is a relatively low-fidelity input (10-bit ADC!) we needn't be overly concerned with the increase in the noise floor that results - you'll never hear the difference.

 

PS. Here's a good article about impedance for musicians:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan03/articles/impedanceworkshop.asp

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