On one occasion I patched into a digital board (I've done 100+ board patches usually mixed with mics). It was a festi in Indiana and the sound company hauled gear from FL to do the job, so they were traveling light. The little yamaha digital board he used was tiny (~19" x24") and with a rack of adat pre's he was able to use it for 32 channels effectivly.
the house engineer warned me against using the s/pdif signal because he didn't run his board hot and there is typically no way to amplify a digital signal on most recording devices (except in post). It will be an extreemly rare occasion that you see a digital console in use at a venue. For the record, 90% of the board's I patch I get xlr, but that is not to say that rca wouldn't also be available in most cases. I use ballanced inputs so I prefer a ballanced out from the board when I can get it (Iriver is unballanced so unballanced is fine) . I also typically mix board and mics, and through the matrix out you can usually get a signal without the effects which is my preferance when mixing board and mics. Carry all 3 adapters for sure!!!!!!!!!
MAKE sure you talk about polarity too:) You should also have phase reverse cables incase a boards XLR output is pin 3 hot insted of pin 2 hot so your output will be in phase with your room mics
Chris Church
Of course, if your editing software has a polarity reversal option, you can fix this in post if you don't have the right cables.
Man! You guys must think this Irvier is one bad mama-jama! It is just 2 channel and the guy just wants a board patch! Chris... Mr. Old School
... are there current production boards that have hot pin 3? I'm asking not attacking! I don't *think* I have ever run into this. However I do carry phase reversing adapters so that when I run my mics pointing at the audience from the stage I can match the polarity of the board. If the board out was backwards I wouldn't need them!
Matt