Insert cable

For cost and space saving reasons, some devices often use connectors that integrate both an input and an output, typically on a female 1/4" connector. This type of arrangement is common for the so called insert points of a mixer's channel, which allow the insertion of a processor, such as a compressor or an equalizer, after preamplification but before the fader. Thus, a female 1/4" connector integrates both the output (send) to the processor and the input (return) from it. This arrangement is also often used for a compressor/limiter's side chain.

To make use of such a connection, one needs an insert cable. Although in this age with ubiquitous digital mixers with integrated effects they are not nearly as useful as they once were, here's how to make one: connect the sleeves of the mono send and return connectors to the sleeve of the stereo connector, the tip of the mono send connector to the tip of the stereo connector, and the tip of the mono return connector to the ring of the stereo connector, as shown on the illustration below.

NOTE : We are assuming that the tip of the 1/4" male connector takes care of the send and the ring of the return, on the stereo connector, which is the usual assignment. (in non-English-speaking countries 1/4" phone connectors are often referred to as 'jack' connectors, irrespective of the gender)


(Do not confuse this cable with a "Y" cable that splits a signal in two)