This may sound stupid but...

[timwat]

,,,you know what I'd like to see on pro keyboards? A one cable breakout box for all innies and outies.

 

A foot module that connects to the back panel with one cable, and the breakout box that sits on the floor has all the audio ins/outs, pedals, switches, MIDI, USB, everything.

 

Would love to see it cleaner than every board is from the rear - the side that inevitably faces the audience.

 

Or is that just silly?

[Spider76]

I totally agree. The keyboard player is visually the weakest member of the band, not only because he's trapped behind a fixed instrument, but because that intrument usually looks like the workshop of a demented electrician. And the side facing the audience is invariably the worst-looking one. There's a reason a real Hammond or piano has a completely different appeal: not just because of the sound and size, but because it doesn't look like somebody dropped a bowl of oversized spaghetti on it.

 

Some keyboards have connections on the side, and that's already a huge improvement in looks. For example, I love Moog's Phatty/Sub/Subsequent series: with all cables on one side and the sleek, curved back with the moog logo, they are clearly designed to look cool on stage. And they absolutely do, in contrast with just about any other keyboard ever produced.

 

Your idea would be even classier, let's hope some manufacturer takes notice!

[ElmerJFudd]

Interesting notion!

[StanC]

Something like that would be nice! Until then, I have a simpler solution. I gather all cords and attach them to one leg of my stand with velcro straps. That at least looks organized and reduces the sloppy spaghetti condition.

[Reezekeys]

I got the word from my boss on AWB gigs that the spaghetti coming from my board wasn't a good look, so now I route four cables (power, midi, sustain & expression) under the keyboard, gaff tape them along the bottom, then more tape down the apex stand to the floor. I'm not sure that's more involved than having a separate breakout box to carry (and most likely a proprietary cable to connect it), although the box might save a minute of setup time. The fact that I'm not paying for the gaff tape might also color my viewpoint here!

 

My wish list for less keyboard spaghetti involves using tablets as sound sources, which I've been exploring more recently. I would like to see a keyboard that has a lightning or USB-C plug on its top â one that you mount the tablet onto, where it stands up ready to use as a chart reader, but also where the port provides all the necessary connections with their associated electronics inside the keyboard - power, midi, audio, USB, etc. I'm thinking of my iPad with the CCK dangling off it, and both a USB cable and lightning power cable attached. Just place the tablet on the keyboard and you're ready to go.

[GRollins]

I, for one, don't mind seeing cables and such. It has never once occurred to me as an issue. If you play electronic instruments, cables go with the territory. To try to somehow deny that and hide them...? Might as well hide your arms and legs. Cognitive dissonance.

 

I'll ponder this for a bit and see if I can figure it out.

 

Grey

[Delaware Dave]

Despite putting my audio cables in one split loom that runs from my keys to my mixer and my power cables that run from my keys to my tripplite (in another split loom to keep them separated) the bottom of my keyboard, where it all comes together, still looks like shxt. Four audio cables, three midi cables, 5 power adapters, 1/4" lines for the remote of my leslie sim to remote footswitch, all laying down under my keyboard. It's always bugged me. I put a skirt on the front of my keyboard that drapes down to the floor and I tuck everything behind it; but that piece of the management I've never figured out. It definitely needs a rethinking.

[Legatoboy]

that low profile 80's to 90's phase has sort of passed with that antiseptic, no cable pristine look I think . Nice to be neat and look 'perfect', better to be happy and looser.. do we want to work on errant cords.... or errant 'chords' ..

[KuruPrionz]

I think it is a great idea. While you are at it, why not move the socket over to the back edge of the board? Then the entire front of the keyboard could be a clean, cosmetically appealing surface.

[Morrissey]

I put a skirt on the front of my keyboard that drapes down to the floor and I tuck everything behind it.

 

I sometimes do this to. Biggest bang-for-the-buck aesthetic upgrade, IMO. I've toyed with getting a piano shell and other ideas to improve stage presence, but doesn't seem worth the hassle.

[Stokely]

I'd be for it especially if it could be standardized across manufacturers so that a breakout box could work with any keyboard (albeit some keyboards may not have certain features, like multiple outputs for some keyboards while others only have two etc).

[synthizen2]

Although I don't do any intentional "very careful" cable hiding or tucking (but I do keep the cables somewhat tidy and organized)... Whenever I look at a photo taken by an audience member of our band/stage setup, I never notice the keyboard rig cables at all. Maybe I just have minimal cabling, or the rest of my rig simply makes the cables unnoticeable... but from a normal audience position, the cables are not a visual issue at all.

 

Remember the old television "karaoke" performances (MTV or otherwise) where a keyboard would have NO cables coming from it, and we used to notice that and laugh. (And Phil Lesh from the Grateful Dead even used a broom as a guitar on Dick Clark's show back in the 60s, just to prove the point). Well, I think people realize that electronic instruments require cables... and so, there you go.

[EscapeRocks]

Paging @vonnor He creates snake masterpieces with multi-pin connectors

 

 

 

 

 

Here's some pics of my old "roll your own" I created. Pedal board with my pedals, Radial DI, and off the shelf snake

 

 

Fit very nicely under my OnStage Z

 

 

Business end of an old custom snake Redco built for me.

 

 

I am creating a new snake that fits in with my Gibraltar stand for our 2022 season. I will be using a system very similar to the inspiration I got from Vonnor

[allan_evett]

Not a stupid idea, at all. Though I'd make sure to have a case that easily contains that breakout box and connecting cable; it's one item you wouldn't want to have left behind.

 

I like what Studiologic has done with the Numa X Piano: Four programmable audio inputs; a built-in mixer for stage! I want to see more practical functions like that - including ideas like yours, Tim.

[Al Quinn]

I like the breakout box idea and would likely use one if it were available. For me, neater is better within reason.

[Outkaster]

Good idea for a thread. My problem is sometimes I am in tight situations and getting things organized can be a pain but I totally like the tighter look of cables together.

[MAJUSCULE]

Yeah, absolutely. Thinking about building a snake when I nail down some rig changes in the new year, but a manufacturer getting ahead of the issue and offering a ready-made solution with their keyboard would be awesome.

[Docbop]

Sounds like time to get your soldering skill together to make cables to exact lengths, bundling cables, and master the art of velcro and tie wraps. In other words all the skills of rackin' and stackin' servers in a data center mixed with a guitarist making a pedal board.

[Old No7]

Here I am thinking "If it's OK for Rick -- it's OK for me..."

 

I have to admit, on opening night of his recent U.S. Tour; I admired his boards and stand (same as mine ), but I never paid any attention to the cabeling...

 

Old No7

 

[timwat]

On a practical note, I realize this is a cost/expense add for a manufacturer.

 

So maybe it's an accessory purchase. Put the multi-pin socket on the rear or side panel, and only those who want to purchase can do so. Duplicate all the rear panel jacks and sockets on the breakout box for those who want to pay for it, those who don't can just use the rear panel as we've always done.

 

I get that not everyone (or, perhaps, most) would use this option. And I do know my way around a soldering iron and cable fabrication - no matter what, it still ends up with a medusa head when it reaches the rear panel of the boards.

[Stokely]

For the mechanically inept--and also for those whose rig may change--I've used the same "snake" for the past eight years to handle mic cable, keyboard audio, and monitor signal back from FOH. It's simply a split plastic sleeve (doesn't come apart, which was my worry for split). I've changed cables out of it a number of times, most recently to put an ethernet cable in it to handle our Behringer mixer's ultranet connection. I have a smaller one that bundles 2-4 audio together to make it that much easier to go from two keyboards to a submixer, and yet a smaller version that I was going to use for two wall warts, but found a different solution.

 

Next step up would be an actual snake with standard connections where I wouldn't need to change cables out, just use adapter cables (granted, I could do that with my snake also). For example, when I got a new mixer with XLR outs instead of 1/4".

 

This doesn't help the back-of-keyboard look, but boy does it make running cables to FOH look cleaner and work easier (as well as packing up). No tangles and the sleeve offers a bit of protection.

[ProfD]

Brotha Tim, the idea doesn't sound/read stupid or silly at all.

 

Sometimes, all we have to do is put a thing out in the atmosphere and it could come to fruition.

 

A USB cable can provide power and carry MIDI and audio.

 

The breakout box would essentially be similar to an audio interface or a small digital mixer.

 

Technologically, we're already there. Just a matter of making it KB rig specific.

[stoken6]

This got me thinking: could you do the whole thing with USB? The modern standards can carry power alongside audio/MIDI, (pedals could be represented as a game controller, perhaps?) and it would not require proprietary cables/connectors. That requires the keyboard manufacturers to get their act together, of course.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[CowboyNQ]

I gaff all my cables to my stands to take tension off the plugs. This has the collateral benefit of tidying things up significantly from an aesthetic perspective.

 

I think your idea has merit Tim as it also addresses both these issues. However I"m getting too old to crawl around on the floor inserting plugs, haha.

[Reezekeys]

A USB cable can provide power and carry MIDI and audio.

Yes and almost stop a show too. I used to think USB was quite superior to regular 5-pin midi; indeed, power and midi to my keyboard, so no need for a wall wart for the keyboard or midi interface for the laptop. Then we did a show on a large stage where my laptop was about 20 feet away. I carried a USB extension cord but when I patched it in I started getting dropped notes - it seems my USB connection had a little too far to travel for it to work reliably. Now I use a 35 foot midi cable and those worries are over. I know there are USB repeaters (which themselves need power), also midi over ethernet, etc. but I'm not playing stadiums. A simple 5-pin midi connection works fine and I'll trade the inconvenience of setting up my MOTU Fastlane and getting power to the keyboard for the peace of mind.

[MathOfInsects]

Huge fan of snakes here, it satisfies two different OCDs of mine, one of which is speed/economy of set-up, and the other is spaghetti on and around my rig.

 

I wrap all relevant cables together using cable wrap, and that makes a big difference. The only challenge is that not all gigs use all pedals, so the two options are repeats (which I'm in favor of anyway) or stragglers. The only issue I've had putting a good all-purpose snake together is it means change the cable situation on certain pedals, which would probably make them more versatile anyway, but I can never find the motivation to dive in and make it happen.

 

A breakout box is a great middle ground (though I'd still want to snake together all the cables from the various components that would run to it). Sign me up for your Kickstarter.

[Piktor]

I am not a fan of drape cloths. Sensible velcro cable ties? Yes. Permanent snake cabling is a no go, as it could make me less able to change my rig from gig to gig. To be honest, as far as feeling concern about gear stage appearance goes....meh. Most of my past gigs were in dive-ish places, so no one could give a sh**. (I AM the guy who once tried to start a thread titled "Dig My Wreck".) For some reason I have found myself much more concerned about the manner of dress some of my fellow music makers adopt than I have ever felt about cabling. (Crocs? Shorts? Golf shirts? Sweat pants? Severely normal dress? Blues hats and two-toned shoes? You've got to be kidding!) Of course, I would appreciate any innovation that made it easier to set up and take down and would keep me from tripping over cords or spilling something, as long as it would not require me to update a bunch of gear just for that convenience.

 

Regarding the side-of-boards jacks, I would have more appreciation for recessed inputs/outputs than anything else. When I used to teach, my school's Yamaha P-120 made regular trips to the repair shop, because kids kept brushing up against the cord jacks and cracking the circuit boards that the output jacks were connected to. Finally, my great repair tech came up with the solution of moving the output jacks to the bottom of the instrument. Obviously, that would not work if one wanted to stack the instrument.

 

Just my thoughts...

[elif]

I suppose one could use only rack-mount gear, modules, synths, VST players, etc. and run the whole thing with controllers via MIDI or Ethernet.

[RichieP_MechE]

So maybe it's an accessory purchase. Put the multi-pin socket on the rear or side panel, and only those who want to purchase can do so. Duplicate all the rear panel jacks and sockets on the breakout box for those who want to pay for it, those who don't can just use the rear panel as we've always done.

This is how I would implement it if I were a keyboard manufacturer. It's good to have redundancy.

 

One disadvantage to multipin connectors is that they tend to be rated for a fewer number of mating cycles than your standard TS, TRS, and XLR connectors. And ones with higher cycle ratings are $$$. Other considerations are how the cable would be constructed - can get expensive/complicated running signals like USB, AC power, and audio close by each other. Those would probably want to be separate shielded cables instead of putting everything into a single multi-conductor cable. But these are are solvable problems I think.

 

A USB cable can provide power and carry MIDI and audio.

Yes and almost stop a show too.

Yep, unfortunately USB still seems to suck at cable lengths longer than a couple meters. USB C connectors are nice though because you can send up to 100W through them which is definitely in the realm of being able to power most keyboards.

 

I've actually made my own breakout box for my pedal board/snake setup. I don't think I ever shared pics of this here before. I have an enclosure with multipin connector for the snake which runs up to an assortment of 1/4" connectors. The breakout box has a built in DI along with 1/8" TRS outs to the pedals, and XLR outs from the DI, along with a couple 1/4" inputs that are original to the DI (which connections are duplicated through the snake). I modified my pedals to have 1/4" inputs (except for the FC5 which is 1/8") then put in a 1/4" - 1/8" adapter to keep the size down and run 1/8" mini cables from pedal to input.

 

Yes, that is the band logo laser etched on the breakout box cover.

 

The little stubby cord on the power strip is my solution to being able to use any ordinary extension cord with this setup. Originally I was going to install an IEC C14 socket on there but decided against it. The power to the keyboard runs in a separate cable that plugs into the power strip and is then bundled in the cable wrap with the multiconductor snake.

 

Internals of the box. The DI is a Switchcraft SC702CT that removed from the factory housing and removed most of the connectors. I replaced them with pigtails to connect to new connectors mounted to my enclosure. Everything is connectorized internally as well to offer the most flexibility and redundancy in case of an emergency. Also makes is easier to replace any one individual connector.

 

The multipin connector is a cheap 16 pin I found on Digikey. I'm not too worried about the cycle life on it since my band doesn't play or practice that often, so I'm only using it about 2 dozen times per year.

 

This is the only picture I have of the snake. I need to add some velcro ties to tame it a bit. Also I used a red cable wrap to match the Nord but I'm probably going to change it to black at some point so it's less noticeable.

[Dr88s]

I"d love something like this, but how is the manufacturer supposed to know what configuration the end user wants? One momentary TS pedal? Two? One expression and one momentary? A pair of TS out? Two? Any audio in for synths can have an onboard A/D for processing?

 

I can"t imagine how this could be turned into a 'one size fits all' (or even most) situation.