Connecting 4ms Listen IO, Wav recorder, Listen 4 Quarters, etc to Intellijel Performance case ins/outs: it works!

Eurorack
#1

Thought some folks might find this useful: I have a 4ms Listen I/O that I had previously connected to their Listen Up module (which passively adds 1/4" TRS ins and outs to the module), and I just got a Performance case and was wondering if I could replace the Listen Up with the case’s built-in 1/4 TRS jacks. Turns out it can be done and is pretty easy!

You need to make a hybrid connector cable because the connectors are slightly different even though they look almost the same size/spacing - don’t force it or you might break the plug. I made the cable by splicing a 4ms jumper cable (Audio Jumper ) into an Intellijel connector cable that Intellijel customer support generously sent me (I’m not 100% sure what the part numbers for the different headers are and it appears you may only be able to buy them in quantities of like 1 zillion at a time anyway; I believe this is it, but I can’t vouch for the merchant https://hubtronics.in/1274 - so thought it was best to go directly to Intellijel).

Anyway, the pin out for both modules has ground in the middle and left/right on either side; the 4ms board and connector can be attached either way but the Intellijel Performance Case PCB connectors can only be connected one way, so if you try to do this, I’d recommend going like this:

  1. cut your 4ms jumper cable in half; you’ve now got 2 4ms-side connectors
  2. get 2 connector cables directly from Intellijel or as mentioned find the part elsewhere
  3. cut the end off the Intellijel connector cables
  4. solder the two cables together, making sure that the middle wire stays in the middle (it’s the ground) - as I said above, since the 4ms connector can be attached to their module in 2 different ways, it doesn’t matter which ones you connect as long as you keep ground in the middle. Use heat shrink and/or electrical tape to keep the strain off the wires after you solder; if you’re using heat shrink, remember to put the heat shrink tubing on the unconnected wires before you rejoin them! :smiley:
  5. Plug the thing in, power up, and test the case jacks; if the stereo signal is flipped from how it should be on either the inputs or the outputs, unplug the spliced connector cable’s connector from the Listen IO side, flip it 180 degrees, and plug it back in.

That should do it! Hope that’s useful; I managed to grab 4hp back in my case by not needing the Listen Up anymore.

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4MS WAVrecorder compatibility
#2

Bookmarked, cool! I want WAV recorder some day.

…And if you plug it into the (three-pin chain system ending with) Stereo Line In or Out 1u, you can keep the Performance Case Jacks (V2) running on balanced circuitry. (see below)

#3

Not sure I understand you correctly here. Stereo Line In and Stereo Line Out do not have rear inputs, only outputs. The 4MS Listen series uses 3-pin headers to provide an unbalanced connection. Because of this, I don’t see how they could be chained with the 4MS products to produce balanced outputs, although I’m not very familiar with them so I might be missing something. I just want to make sure other people don’t get a mistaken impression and expect to easily set things up in a way that doesn’t work.

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#4

You understood, sorry! I forgot they were only OUTs on the rear. :flushed:

Actually my imagined use case was to use the OUT of the Stereo Line In to send a signal to the recorder, but from looking into that again, the recorder only seems to have one header on the rear intended for OUT.

Guess I’ll be using the front jacks… the memory jog is appreciated @ScottMFR

#5

I have a 4ms Listen I/O, wondering about connecting it to the Intellijel case jacks as well. The Listen I/O line-level outputs are stereo; in your solution do you get stereo output from the case jacks, or left/right split?

#6

You get a left-right split between the 2 jacks! The front-panel 1/8" jacks on the Listen I/O are stereo, but the back-panel connectors on the module allow you to split out left and right, so you send a discrete signal to each jack on the Intellijel case.

Hope that helps!

#7

Reviving this thread. Sorry for the necromancy. I have two questions:

  1. Once connected on the back to the case, can you still use the front panel as well?

  2. Are specific cables really necessary here? Or would 3 dupont wires do the job for the line in and line out, (assuming you got the ordering correct with ground in the middle)

It would be a huge win if these two could play together. Thank you in advance for any help!

#8

For others looking at this. You can connect the listen io using standard Dupont cables, which is awesome.

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