Connecting MIDI (cables)

T

TMS

New member
Hi,

I want to connect my Axiom 25 keyboard with the interface using MIDI I/O.
Before I buy any cables...
Is it that you get what you pay for or any MIDI cable would do the job just fine?
Any suggestions?

:facepalm:
 
Just use any old midi cable.
You'll get what you pay for in durability, but what kind of abuse will it get?

Btw, the axiom 25 seems to have USB. If yours does I'd just use that instead. :)
 
Steenamaroo said:
Just use any old midi cable.
You'll get what you pay for in durability, but what kind of abuse will it get?
Click to expand...
No abuse just use to abuse somebody :)

Btw, the axiom 25 seems to have USB. If yours does I'd just use that instead. :)
Click to expand...
It has USB.
I was thinking that if I plug in the keyboard into interface directly, it should improve the work-flow...? (I almost said "sound")
 
What Steenamaroo said. When it comes to digital, cable quality is irrelevant except to durability or if you're going to do very long runs. MIDI is a serial protocol, and a very slow one at that. A MIDI cable only has to accept a series of 0s and 1s slowly poured in one end and drip them out of the other -- either it works or it doesn't; cable "quality" can have no effect on the sound. Buy the cheapest cables you can, avoid Monster, and put your money into gear and software.
 
Thank you guys for the tips and answers.
Very much appreciated!
This question is bothering me since yesterday. Not any more:thumbs up:
 
TMS said:
It has USB.
I was thinking that if I plug in the keyboard into interface directly, it should improve the work-flow...? (I almost said "sound")
Click to expand...

Using the usb out of a keyboard is no different than taking midi from a keyboard and then using a usb midi interface.
It just means you have a usb midi interface inside your keyboard.
Use it.
 
TimOBrien said:
Using the usb out of a keyboard is no different than taking midi from a keyboard and then using a usb midi interface.
It just means you have a usb midi interface inside your keyboard.
Use it.
Click to expand...
I agree about using it, but would only note that USB is orders of magnitude faster than MIDI, which can provide benefits in some circumstances.
 
One key difference between usb MIDI and DIN is that the latter is chainable and might therefore be a more versatile system in some circumstances.

It is also true that even usb 1.1 is vastly faster than MIDI (about 40kHz?) but tis not quite that simple since we have those blessed drivers to contend with! But most of the time, no diff. Keyboards with usb out are generally only 1/2 of a MIDI interface, only the more expensive ones have a MIDI input.

Cables? Be sure to buy 5pin "pin to pin" wired DINs NOT "crossovers". No, don't pay silly money. You can sometimes find V old computer keyboard DINs at 1$/£ in the remnants bin, work fine.

MIDI can generally be sent further on DIN than usb. Just for the craic some 3 yrs ago I cobbled 40mtrs of ethernet cable (cheap as chips) twixt kbd and PC. Worked a treat!

Dave.
 
I ordered these midicalbledual.JPG for 6£. (Hosa MID-201 Dual Midi Cable - In and Out (1M))
But I still got my USB cable.

Thank you again for helping me to explore my question.
 
Assuming no driver issues USB should perform just as well, but it never hurts to have a few midi cables knocking around.
Best of luck. :)
 
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