Mixer to Interface Wiring: Should I NOT use a snake?

[TheGuitarMan]

So I'm putting an order together at Markertek of cable making supplies, and this item caught my eye.

It's Carare star-quad multichannel cable. The highest conductor count cable they have available right now is 8ch, which would be enough in/out for me right now.

Is there any disadvantage to using a multichannel cable like this one instead of individual cables for wiring a mixer to an interface? It would make things a LOT neater in back of the mixer, as I've got a lot of cable back there already.

[SuperGeek]

I use 4 and 8 channel snakes ( I make them )

It can make cabling nice and neat like one cable for in and a cable to out if its 8 channels instead of 16 cables also most snakes have numbers for each channel to ease hook up.

When I mic a drum set I will use sub snakes to the main just to keep the cable clutter to a mimimum.

My 2Kw's

[Smogger]

YES! Any time you can get rid of clutter in the back of a set up it is helpful.
A.) It is much easier to set up when you have one snake for a specific purpose.
B.) Depending on your setup, if your extra cable length is anywhere near the computer, a big clunk of cables can create traps for dust and block air flow. (Not usually a huge issue, but worth mentioning)
C.) It looks cooler
D.) Tends to protect the cables a bit better than having 8 cables strewn about.

The only problems I foresee are;
A.) If you are hooking up multiple pieces of gear to an interface (and not using a patch bay), The distance can sometimes be too great and you may have to cut some of the shielding to make more room for the cables to move.
B.) If something happens to the snake in the middle and a cable is cut....good luck fixing it..it's possible, but a true pain in the rear. Again, not usually much of an issue, but make sure you get a pretty good quality cable.

Otherwise, I'm all about them.
I remember back in school, my buddy and I redesigned the Studio's Patch bay. 384 points went by ALOT faster since we could do them 8 at a time (thank you snakes).

WOW! I never thought I could write so much about liking snakes!

[Raw-Tracks]

Multi-Pair (snakes) cables were made for you're doing. No reason not to use them. However, the Canare Star Quad may be overkill for what you're doing. Star Quad has 4 conductors and a shield instead of the normal 2 conductors and a shield. It is a little more cumbersome to terminate than a 2 conductor and a shield type cable.

[TheGuitarMan]

Originally Posted by Raw-Tracks

Multi-Pair (snakes) cables were made for you're doing. No reason not to use them. However, the Canare Star Quad may be overkill for what you're doing. Star Quad has 4 conductors and a shield instead of the normal 2 conductors and a shield. It is a little more cumbersome to terminate than a 2 conductor and a shield type cable.

Glad you mentioned that! Hadn't even thought about what a bear that would be to solder. They have a twisted pair snake as well, but they only have the four channel in stock. I'd need two of those just for four channels. The 12 ch. would be just about perfect but they're out of stock.