T
thehorseshoe
New member
I just bought a full set of the monster performer 500 series for every piece of gear that handles MIDI. Did I make a good decision or could I have done just as well with HOSA or a cheper brand?
AlChuck
Well-known member
There are Performer 500 MIDI cables? Wasn't aware of that.
Uh, the way I see it is, a MIDI cable either works or it doesn't. There's nothing special the cable design can do, like keeping the phase coherency of audio signals or decreasing loss of highs or lows, etc., that would make any difference with a MIDI cable. If the signal gets from point A to point B intact, there it is -- the data is read, and the moiving finger, having writ, moves on.
I have used Hosa cables since forever and I have never had a single problem with any of them.
But I guess if you have a gigging rig, having really beefy, well-made MIDI cables might make a difference with reliability and wear-and-tear. I'm a guitarist and I don't use MIDI at all live, it's only in my recording rig and usually just gets connected and then stays there for years.
Uh, the way I see it is, a MIDI cable either works or it doesn't. There's nothing special the cable design can do, like keeping the phase coherency of audio signals or decreasing loss of highs or lows, etc., that would make any difference with a MIDI cable. If the signal gets from point A to point B intact, there it is -- the data is read, and the moiving finger, having writ, moves on.
I have used Hosa cables since forever and I have never had a single problem with any of them.
But I guess if you have a gigging rig, having really beefy, well-made MIDI cables might make a difference with reliability and wear-and-tear. I'm a guitarist and I don't use MIDI at all live, it's only in my recording rig and usually just gets connected and then stays there for years.
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
The only exception I can think of to Alchuck's comments would be if you are trying to get the longest possible cable run for a MIDI device - then, the parameter to look for in a MIDI cable would be the actual inter-electrode capacitance on the pair of wires that actually transmit the MIDI digital signals.
When transmitting digital signals, the lower the capacitance between conductors the longer the cable can be before the pulse edges are rounded off to the point of bit loss. At that time, you will get spurious results (errors)
I generally buy medium-priced cables that have REAL solderable connectors with metal shells, and only spend extra for really long (15-20 foot) cables because of the above-mentioned conditions.
I've not measured the capacitance of the Monster series (I too wasn't aware there WAS one) so I can't comment on whether they are any better in ANY way than the Hosa's (although MOST Hosa stuff I've checked out is pretty marginal)
When transmitting digital signals, the lower the capacitance between conductors the longer the cable can be before the pulse edges are rounded off to the point of bit loss. At that time, you will get spurious results (errors)
I generally buy medium-priced cables that have REAL solderable connectors with metal shells, and only spend extra for really long (15-20 foot) cables because of the above-mentioned conditions.
I've not measured the capacitance of the Monster series (I too wasn't aware there WAS one) so I can't comment on whether they are any better in ANY way than the Hosa's (although MOST Hosa stuff I've checked out is pretty marginal)