9 Front & Rear Panel Details
TRS and Logic Circuit Wiring 10
Buttons, knobs, switches, lights, and connections.
Here’s a look at what’s what on the Talkshow Gadget front panel:
Each brightly-lit mic pushbutton toggles its associated
microphone on and off, eliminating the need to move the
fader and disturb the mix just to active or de-activate a
mic.
Stereo monitor
volume control for
active monitors or
headphone amp.
Power LED. No light = no
power. Solid green light =
power on. Flashing Morse
code = cryptic messages
from the other side
(optional)
External audio switch. Set to
listen to any external stereo
source, such as a tuner or
stream decoder
mad at poorly-
designed, shoddily-
built audio products,
not at you.
Cable with
both ends connects to
Talk Show Gadget and
mixer insert jacks.
Stereo output of mixer (PGM IN) and
output of external source (EXT IN)
connect here and are controlled by
the PGM/EXT switch on front.
Accepts
unbalanced (TS) cables.
And a look at the back panel:
Monitor Outputs,
typically used to feed
powered monitors;
muted when mics are
on. Accepts
balanced (TRS) or
unbalanced (TS)
cables.
Contact closures signal on-air warning
light or mic arm tally light when mics are
turned on. A mute bypass function for
each mic is provided.
120V or 240V
AC power cord.
TRS 101.
As mentioned previously in the rear panel diagram, an insert cable is required
to connect your Talk Show Gadget to your mixer. Insert cables have a ¼” TRS
(Tip – Ring – Sleeve) connection at both ends. The wire connected to the tip
sends audio from the mixer to the gadget. The wire connected to the ring returns
audio from the gadget to the mixer. The wire connected to the sleeve serves as a
common ground.
Tip
Ring
Sleeve
Suggested wiring for on-air and tally lights.
The Talk Show Gadget’s logic port provides dry relay contacts that can be used
to trigger a mic arm tally light or on-air light, providing a visual indication that one
or more mics in the studio are live.
If you‘re not comfortable or proficient at soldering or crimping pins for a DSUB
connector, you may find a 9-pin shell with a breakout terminal board to be a
handy gizmo. We like ones from Uxell, available on the interwebs by heading to
amazon.com and searching for “Uxell plastic breakout terminals connector“. For
this application, you‘ll want the DB9 male version.
Pin 6 on the rear panel DSUB connector is normally closed (NC), Pin 7 is relay
common (C), and Pin 8 is normally open (NO).
A 12VDC power supply (typically a wall wart) can be used for illuminating a mic
arm tally by connecting the gadget, power supply, and mic arm as shown below.
LOGIC
AUDIO HOT
SHIELD
AUDIO COLD
+12V
0V
+12V
0V
M!KA MIC ARM
LED TALLY
7
8
