MIDI Cables

[Shockadelica]

What brand of MIDI cables do you recommend? I've noticed a great variance in prices from brand to brand and am not sure what to go for as MIDI is all new to me. I want something that's good quality but I don't want to have to take out a loan JUST for a couple of cables. Your advice is welcome and I thank you.

 

[DonF]

I always use Monster MIDI cables. My synths just seem to sound brighter, clearer, warmer, and fatter than they do with cheapo cables.

Just kidding.

My advice is to use the cheapest cable you can find, unless you're making a living with your synths. Then it could make sense to spend more money. What you're really buying in that case is reliability, e.g., better connectors. MIDI is a low-speed (by today's standards anyway) communication protocol, and will not tax the capabilities of any cable you're likely to encounter.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I'd agree with Don except I wouldn't really recomend the cheapest cables if you are getting anything longer than 2-3ft. Longer cables can start to have dropouts if they are low quality. If these cables are for gigging then I would get something pretty decent. Usually Horizon and ProCo make decent low cost cables for audio and midi.

 

[Shockadelica]

I was only in need of 10 feet for the studio. I just didn't want to spend $50.00 on two cables.

 

[Jeyan]

You are not transporting audio signals through midi cable, so you dont have to worry about noise or something, just get the cheapest one you find and better keep it short like less than 15 feet.

 

[James Argo]

You are not transporting audio signals through midi cable, so you dont have to worry about noise or something, just get the cheapest one you find and better keep it short like less than 15 feet.

Excuse me, but I dissagree. Bad MIDI cables (unshielded) *can* make noise interfere to the signal being sent. Specialy when you route the signal from PC MIDI card to your synth. If you're not realy sure about the electric voltage fluctuation delivered from your PC, then just grab the best you can afford. At least I experienced it. Couple years ago, I always heard noticeable noises (glitch) when the MIDI data being sent. I google here and there and found some articles about it. I made modification on the port by manualy adding 10K Ohm potentiometer to the port. The noises were gone, after few months, I replaced the cables, and remove the potentiometer, and the noises seemed gone. Replace the cables with the old one, noises comes again. That's why I think it's very important to get the best cables for your sake.

Hope it helps,

Jaymz

 

[DonF]

Excuse me, but I dissagree. Bad MIDI cables (unshielded) *can* make noise interfere to the signal being sent.

I agree that unshielded cable would be a bad idea. I think the MIDI spec calls for shielded cable, so unshielded cable should never be sold as "MIDI cable". If you get a MIDI cable, and find that it is unshielded, return it to the place of purchase and demand a refund!

http://www.midi.org/about-midi/electrical.shtml says,

"MIDI Standard Hardware NOTES:
. . .
4. Cable is shielded twisted pair, with shield connected to pin 2 at both ends." (emphasis mine)

So, I'll slightly modify my advice: Use the cheapest shielded cable you can find.

 

[Shockadelica]

So, I'll slightly modify my advice: Use the cheapest shielded cable you can find.

OK then that leads to another question. How do you tell if it's shielded or not if it doesn't specifically say either way on the packaging?

 

[DonF]

Unfortunately, it may not be possible to tell without destroying the cable. I personally have never seen an unshielded cable sold for MIDI use. (That doesn't mean they don't exist, of course!)

Try THESE (click link). Cheap, but not bad.

(Edit: I just noticed that the shipping charge is almost as much as or more than the cost of the cable! I usually add a couple of these on to a bigger order, so there's no additional shipping. If you don't happen to need anything else at the moment, it would probably make more sense to procure them locally.)