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OTish: How many midi cables do you have?


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Just asking here because I was around when midi came about. So, around 30 midi cables for me, I guess.

 

Asking now because my humble gig rig just reached a new milestone which is all USB but not yet fully tested but so far so good.

 

(3 to 5 key 'sources', iPad as central destination, some backup hardware but goodbye midi cables....home cave still a midi rats nest.)

 

(I still have my C64 midi cartridges around here somewhere.)

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In 1989 I probably had 50 cables ranging in length from 2 feet to 30 feet strung around my studio. In 2019 I had a period of several months where I wasn't using any, having gone fully to USB.

 

Right now, I am using a grand total of [turns around and counts] two. One is a daisy chain between two synths so they play in unison from the same keyboard, and the other runs from a controller to an iPad MIDI interface. That keyboard's an interesting one: it is simultaneously providing control to four different devices via wired MIDI, wired USB, Bluetooth, and CV/Gate.

 

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

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I use two in my live rig. One from my Yamaha S70XS to my Roland Integra and one from the Integra to a Roland XV5050 in the rack.

 

Now I have accumulated many of them over the years in a storage box in my practice room. Too many to count!

Montage 7, Mojo 61, PC-3, XK-3c Pro, Kronos 88, Hammond SK-1, Motif XF- 7, Hammond SK-2, Roland FR-1, FR-18, Hammond B3 - Blond, Hammond BV -Cherry
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For the band rig it adds up to 5: 88-key controller to Motif XF6, XF6 to thru box, thru box to GSi Burn for rotary speed control, thru box to percussion pad for patch change, thru box to Bluetooth dongle for iPad song change (though i'm giving up on that and going back to wired).

 

Solo rig has gone all USB. In fact the only audio cables are my mic cable and two powered speaker cables.

 

And uncounted (many unopened !) in boxes.

 

- Jimbo

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At the peak, I had something like 5 going into an MX-8, an exterior merger, and 6 coming out, so I could drive any noisemaker from any key source. At this point, at home I tie the PX-5S MIDI out to the PC361 input (1 cable); at the practice hall I go from the 88 key dumb controller output to the AX-Edge input (1 cable); and currently when gigging I don't use any MIDI cable at all.

 

I have probably 20 MIDI cables in a case, just in case; and a Mio processor/merger at the ready should I need multiple external inputs to my noisemakers.

 

I'd mention that I am ready to sell the MX-8 -- uh, make that MX-7, since one input seems fried -- but that would violate our "Keep the selling to the garage sale thread" policy, so I won't mention it here.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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I have several MIDI cables all from the 80's. I currently only use one to hook Roland PK-5 pedals to a Nord Stage 3 Compact.
C3/122, M102A, Vox V301H, Farfisa Compact, Gibson G101, GEM P, RMI 300A, Piano Bass, Pianet , Prophet 5 rev. 2, Pro-One, Matrix 12, OB8, Korg MS20, Jupiter 6, Juno 60, PX-5S, Nord Stage 3 Compact
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Not that much. Have probably 10 now in various lengths. I just use 2 in my current setup: stage piano to synth and synth to audio interface for controlling VST's. No midi for my clonewheel. I prefer old school midi cables over USB as I hate dealing with ground hum issues when using USB.
Trumpet player by trade, but fell in love with keys too.
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I have three but only use two at a time. My two keyboards are wired together both ways on this upcoming big worship event.

 

Here's a trick I just invented by the way. I created a patch on the Nord Stage 2 that involves setting the pulse width. Then I wanted to double that sound in another octave. Too bad, on the NS2 you can only have one of PWM / Sync / Detune at a time. Using the other panel's synth section was also not an option because there's another synth part I need. So I turned on the Extern section, sent the midi signal to the JUNO-G in another octave and use Soft Through on the JUNO to send it right back to the NS2.

Life is subtractive.
Genres: Jazz, funk, pop, Christian worship, BebHop
Wishlist: 80s-ish (synth)pop, symph pop, prog rock, fusion, musical theatre
Gear: NS2 + JUNO-G. KingKORG. SP6 at church.

 

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I have 2 for my GM RPX because the USB driver for it sucks and this funky 3 cable set up

for my HX3 so I can have I/O between it and my MIDI hub and still get power to the drawbar

controller that sends its sig to the hub. my 2 boards and BCR are USB.

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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I own exactly one. I bought it when I got my used set of Roland PK-5 pedals a few years back. Since then, it"s also been used to connect a Motion Sound head to a lo-pro cabinet (because, as one member of that band sarcastically put it, 'what analog-purist musician who wants to play through a real rotary speaker doesn"t have MIDI gear lying around?') and to connect my Privia to my Sennheiser audio/MIDI interface for Pianoteq and Mainstage.

 

I know I could just use USB for the latter, but one guy on the Mainstage group in Facebook is a real crusader about how MIDI-over-USB is an unreliable hack. I haven"t had any problems myself, but I figure as long as I have the 5-pin DIN in/outs in my interface, it can"t hurt to use them for piano instead of plugging more stuff into a USB dock.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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I might still have 1 or 2, in that box of cables and stuff that you never get around to throwing away, y'know the one under the bed or in a closet somewhere. But I don't use midi anymore for anything.

 

These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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Between my studio and stage rig, probably close to 100 MIDI cables.

 

Yer kiddin' right?

 

http://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/shocked-astonished-animals-photography-3__700.jpg

 

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Live rig now. None. Kronos does what I need with no need no MIDI cable. The Hammond stands alone. The FA-06 stands alone. Sometimes I take a D-05 out for fun. Trigger it with a MIDI cable out of the Kronos. I send the audio out of the D-05 through the Aux in on the FA-06.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I don't care to dig out the two semi-orphaned-cable boxes to check, but easily 30, some quite elderly now. I'm happy to be all-USB now, simply playing Logic and a few softsynths from an XKey controller. I sometimes run a Korg TR61 into a Focusrite Scarlettt's audio Ins for a more pure take, but I also use it via USB when I need 5 octaves & a proper pitch-bender. Its so plug-&-play now, I feel a bit suspicious! :o That's a major contrast with the old world of MIDI Spaghetti, MIDI splitters and head splitters. The Most Significant Bite was the one it took out of my sanity at times. :taz::/

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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