About internal and external audio connections Unlike other devices, the Combinator contains both external and internal audio connections. • External connections are used to connect a Combinator to devices outside the Combi. • Internal connections are how devices within the Combi are connected. External audio connections • The Combinator Input connectors are the inputs to the Combinator (used for effect Combis only). Internally, these inputs are connected to the “To Devices” connectors of the Combinator Mixer (see below). • The Combinator Output connectors carry the audio output of the Combinator Mixer. This output connects with a device outside the Combi, normally a mixer. Internally, this output is connected to the “From Devices” connectors. When you create a new Combinator this output will be auto-routed to the first available mixer input channel. Internal audio connections • The “To Devices L/R” outputs on the Combinator Mixer connect to an input on a device in the Combi when the Combinator is used as an effect. • The “From Devices” inputs on the Combinator Mixer is where the outputs from devices in the Combi are connected. The “From Devices” outputs consist of 8 stereo output pairs. About External Routing If an individual device in the Combi is directly connected to a device outside the Combinator - or if an external device is connected to any of the “From Devices” connectors on the Combinator Mixer - this is known as an “External Routing” connection, which should generally be avoided. The reason for this is that such connections are not saved with the Combi patch. Therefore, all connections to/from a Combi should pass via the To/From Device connectors on the Combinator device if you wish to make the Combi “self-contained”. If a Combi contains any external routing connections, this is indicated by the “External Routing” LED on the front and back of the (unfolded) Combinator Mixer: It is still possible to use a Combi with External Routing connections within the context of a song (where all routings are saved with the song). Just keep in mind that the external routing connections will not be part of the Combi patch! How to avoid external routing connections As explained previously, all connections to/from a Combinator device should pass via the To/From Device connectors in order to make the Combi self-contained. If you should have used up all “From Devices” connectors you need to include a mixer device and route the outputs of that mixer to a free “From Devices” connector pair. If you should run out of “From Devices” connectors, or want more mixing capabilities, like panning and Effect Sends, the Line Mixer 6:2 is ideally suited for mixing device outputs in Combis (see “The Line Mixer 6:2”).
