Rodelink

tony240sx

tony240sx

Well-known member
I just purchased a Rodelink filmmaker kit and I have a few stupid questions. I am not an audio guy by any means and always prefer to have one on set. I will do the occasional one person interview or coverage. I have been using Sennheiser G2/G3 kits for many years. I decided to give this Rodelink a try because it seems they have pretty good reviews, audio quality and range. My sennheisers have been getting a lot of interference lately.

First off the Rodelink only comes with a 3.5mm receiver to camera connection. I am using a Canon C100. When I connect to the 3.5mm mic input on the camera with the supplied cable everything works fine. I tried to use my sennheiser 3.5mm to xlr cable that works on my g2/g3 receivers and there was no audio at all. I had to bump the gain on the transmitter to +20 and than was barely getting a signal. I would speak loudly directly into the mic and it would show a bar or two of audio level on the camera. What could be the issue? I have read that you can get a 3.5mm to xlr adapter and that would work but what is the difference in a dedicated cable from 3.5mm to xlr and an adapter for the supplied cable?

Forgive my audio ignorance.
 
Strouty said:
Is the receiver output gain switch to 0 db?
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Yes, I tried all variations too. Setting the receiver gain to -10 and -20 as well to see if there was some weird issue there. Nothing. The only way I got any audio at all was by setting the transmitter to +20 and receiver to 0. It has to be something with the cable I'm assuming but it works fine with sennheiser packs.
 
I have the same setup and I've used my G3 cables without any issue. I have dedicated cables for the Rode now. The Rode, which is my backup set, does seem to have lower output than the Sennheisers. But it sounds like your cable might be the issue. Have you tried another XLR cable or tested the cable that you have?
 
DNN said:
I have the same setup and I've used my G3 cables without any issue. I have dedicated cables for the Rode now. The Rode, which is my backup set, does seem to have lower output than the Sennheisers. But it sounds like your cable might be the issue. Have you tried another XLR cable or tested the cable that you have?
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I only have the one xlr to 3.5mm cable. it works fine in the sennheiser but when I use it with the rode link it's extremely low output. I was wondering if there was something different about this type of cable but yours works fine. Very strange issue.
What dedicated Rode cable are you using?
 
tony240sx said:
Just ordered that earlier today. Thanks. I hope that works, just strange that my current cable will not.
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It works fine with mine, but I wish it had a locking connector on the mini-plug end. One of these days I'll trace the connections and wire up something permanent that will work without the adapter.

- Greg
 
I suspect the Sennheiser o/p cable is wired up as a 'balanced' configuration and the Rode is wired as an unbalanced or dual track cable.... either way probably pin 2 & 3 are joined together..... the result would be little or NO signal coming from the Rx unit.
There are SO many ways to wire connectors of all types, just because a connector physically fits don't rely on it actually doing what YOU want.
 
I had a short cable made at a shop nearby. It's not necessarily a dedicated cable for Rode but it's a short high quality cable with the right XLR connector. Most premade aftermarket cables in this configuration are too long. I'm trying to keep my cable routing clean. I didn't want to use the Rode connector because I prefer a straight cable vs mini into an XLR adapter which can potentially make noise.

tony240sx said:
I only have the one xlr to 3.5mm cable. it works fine in the sennheiser but when I use it with the rode link it's extremely low output. I was wondering if there was something different about this type of cable but yours works fine. Very strange issue.
What dedicated Rode cable are you using?
Click to expand...
 
Both the G2/3 EK100 portable receiver cables are wired specific. It's unbalanced and the receiver's ring terminal is floated on both the XLR and 1/8" cables
I have no idea if the Rodelink is unbal. or bal. I would agree it's a cable wiring issue.
 
Thanks guys. The balanced or unbalanced cable makes sense. The rode and sennheiser must differ one way or the other. I will get an adapter tomorrow for the rode cable from 3.5mm to xlr. Hopefully that solves the issue.
 
tony240sx said:
Thanks guys. The balanced or unbalanced cable makes sense. The rode and sennheiser must differ one way or the other. I will get an adapter tomorrow for the rode cable from 3.5mm to xlr. Hopefully that solves the issue.
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The Rode 3.5mm to XLR adapter is excellent and should solve your problem.
We've been using the RodeLink into a portable recorder for 4 months without any problems with the adapter.
 
Got my vxlr adapter. Haven't done a proper test into the camera yet but will try to today. I wish the connection was a little more secure or had a locking connection. Hopefully it does the trick though.
 
The one piece adapters are ok for an occasional quick fix, but for regular use, I would recommend building a custom cable with locking connectors. If you cannot build it yo'self, most of the usual suspect shops can.
 
Quick fix: pull the 3.5mm side out of the receiver just a tiny bit and you should find a clear connection.

We sell some Sennheiser CL1001 3.5mm-XLR that TecNec makes that lock in and work just fine.
 
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