I can't believe that you're having noise problems from you Hosa cables....I felt that my 1/4" 8 channel snake was a great investment. That is what you have, isn't it? I use it between the VM200 and
my Behringer Ultrapatch Pro 48-point Patch bay (with switches on top for switching between Normalled, Half-normalled, Parallel and Open), which I also love. It makes it real easy to plug instruments in and out wherever I want them.
How are you setup? Here is a summary of my connections between my computer/Dakota card, the patch bay and the mixer:
The eight 1/4" inputs of the VM200 are attached to the first eight jacks in the back of the patch bay, bottom row. All permanent inputs are either fed to the back, top row, first eight jacks of the patch bay. I also have four mics attached to the first 4 channels of the VM200. Of course, I switch between the XLR's and the 1/4" inputs with the select button on the top of the mixer. I never have to go behind the mixer this way. The mixer is attached to the computer via the ADAT I/O, which consists of 8 channels in and out....incase you aren't familiar with this.
That's pretty much it for this part of my setup. If I want to add more mics or patch an instrument straight into the mixer without going behind, I just plug it into the bottom front jack...anywhere from 1-8, which disconnects the other input and inserts this instrument into the mixer on the appropriate channel.
I would start looking elsewhere for your noise problems, such as ground loops, video monitor interference, lighting, etc. If you get too close to your computer with your guitar or bass, you are liable to pick up some noise. This can be your pickups reproducing emissions from your video monitor as an analog interference type hiss/static. Variable lighting can cause noise. Any light in close proximity, Audio cables laying too close to the monitor in back or in front. Any audio cables too close to a light or some other electrical devices.
I found that when I plug in my mixer into the same outlet as the PA, hum decreases by around 2/3's. The biggest issue would for me, however, was the cables near the computer monitor. I have everything up on a full-sized rack, and cables were hanging down in the back.
Good luck,
Tom Kemp
