What kind of cables do you use?

[Jade]

I've always taken it for granted that I should use midi cables, when I use Cubase (SX), but is there anyone else that uses something else?

[Hollowcell]

most synths, samplers, romplers and pretty much all other equipment use midi...so midi is the standard i guess....

the only other cables i use would be scuzzi. but thats only for sending sound data to my sampler (not from cuabse either. from recycle mainly)...having said that though, when playing the sampler i use midi..

[Tomer=Trance]

yeah but whats the company that makes them?
there are 5 dollars audio cables and 25 dollars audio cables
im using the cheap ones and i think i'l go get me the expensive ones tomorow

[Hollowcell]

cheap midi cables or expensive ones?! i dont think they make n e difference...as long as your machines can send and recieve midi, thats all u need...

audio on the other hand...ive noticed differences with cheap and expensive audio cables...usually once the cables start to age, the differences show up more....

maybe this is a juho tech question....whats the difference with cheap and expensive audio cables?...appart from the obvious gold plating and of course the balanced variety.

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by Hollowcell

maybe this is a juho tech question....whats the difference with cheap and expensive audio cables?...appart from the obvious gold plating and of course the balanced variety.

I haven't studied this phenomena, but I think the change of resistance causes the quality dropdown. With expensive cables the shield and the signal wires are probably coated with something that doesn't become oxidized during time when the plain copper wires, which are used in the cheap cables, starts to become oxidized.

The oxidization causes a slight reasistance change in the wire because the electrons always move on the surface of the cable, so if the surface gets covered with coopper oxide there has to be some trouble.

That's my vision. Not sure about it though, but it seems logical.

[udenjoe]

There has been articles about this in Sound-on-sound magazine. What is basically said is that you should not bother with expensive cables.

All companies use copper wiring. The shielding may be different than others. The expensive ones would only have gold tipped cable plugs.

Get something in the middle. Better yet, get some bulk cabling and make them yourself. Real easy.

I think you can get good signals from inexpensive wiring with good shielding without gold plated tips.

What you have to do to make wire sound good is some kind of grounding. You gotta make sure there are no feedback loops or something like this.

I'm gonna see if I still have that magazine. Check the SoS site.

[TommyS]

The only time to use high quality cables is for audio. But its not a bad thing to get shielded midi cables.

Try to get 100% oxygen free copper cables. Also try to get hold of some Deoxite Pro Gold to treat the connecters with. It`ll increase the conductivity and clean the surface at the same time.

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by TommyS

The only time to use high quality cables is for audio. But its not a bad thing to get shielded midi cables.

Midi cables are always shielded. At least they should be. Without shielding there can be nasty itnerference which causes strange behaviour.

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by udenjoe

All companies use copper wiring. The shielding may be different than others. The expensive ones would only have gold tipped cable plugs.

Of course the wiring is coopper, but the quality and the coating affect the elecrical preferences.

Get something in the middle. Better yet, get some bulk cabling and make them yourself. Real easy.

Yes. Much cheaper that way. But it requires soldering.

I think you can get good signals from inexpensive wiring with good shielding without gold plated tips.

Yes. The shielding is the main factor in cables. Bad shielding causes noise and interference.

[Jade]

Originally Posted by Tomer=Trance

yeah but whats the company that makes them?
there are 5 dollars audio cables and 25 dollars audio cables
im using the cheap ones and i think i'l go get me the expensive ones tomorow

Well, I think there may be a difference between the cheap cables and the expensive cables, but I don't think the difference is hearable. I use those with gold plated tips.