guitargeek
03.13.09, 12:12 AM
Since I have quite a few Midi Connections to make on my rig, I've decided to make my own midi cables.
The Shivano Music site has a great tutorial on making Midi Cables. I have to credit them for getting the ball rolling on this project. Please check them out at: http://colomar.com/Shavano/midi_cable.html
I won't say doing this yourself is more cost effective than buying cables pre-made but if you need specific lengths to cut down on extra cable lengths throughout your setup, this the way to go.
Most midi cables on the market only have 3 of the 5 pins wired. For standard midi patch switching a 3 pin cable is fine. If you are using any kind of midi clock or sync then you'll need all 5 pins wired (I'm not sure if this is 100% true - I read this on a few internet postings) I needed all pins wired since my main Echoplex Looper sends out a midi clock/sync to most of my FX units. This allows me to have delays and other modulation fx (tremolos, phasers, rotary stuff, etc) lock into my loop tempos. Pretty cool...
Here's the parts I ordered:
1. Studio Quad microphone cable (This has 4 Wires + Shield as opposed to a standard Mic cable that has 2 Wires + Shield)
2. Neutrik Midi Connectors (PART NUMBER NYS322)
Here's the tools you'll need:
1. 15-30 Watt Soldering Iron with small tip (Radio Shack or Fryes Electronics usually have something in stock)
2. Pocket Knife (for cutting outer rubber layer from cable
3. Needle nose pliers (For handling wires and securing metal clamp to cable
4. Cable Stripper (the obvious)
5. Cable Tester. Not mandatory but a real life safer in the shop or at gigs. I use a Swizz Army 6 in 1 tester. I highly recommend it.
Here's the step by step:
1. I measured my cable length and added a few inches for good measure.
2. Gentle strip 1/2" of the outer rubber casing from the tip of one side of the cable. Be mindful not to cut into the shielding. Remove rubber.
3. Peel back shielding to expose the 4 wires (In my case it was Blue, White, Blue/White, White/Blue)
4. Strip 3/8" of plastic from each of the four wires. Twist wire on each end to a point and tin (let the solder flow through the copper strands to fuse the strands) with a small bit of solder. Go easy on the solder.
5. Map out which strand colors will go to each pin on the connectors. This is a personal choice but you'll need to keep it consistent otherwise you'll end up re-doing cables when they don't test properly.
Here's what I did:
PIN TWO (NOTE: This is ALWAYS Shield/Ground on ALL MIDI CABLES
PIN FOUR (WHITE)
PIN FIVE (BLUE/White Stripe)
PIN ONE (Blue)
PIN THREE (White/Blue Stripe)
See attachment for wiring diagram.
5. Pull back the shield and twist that into one strand. Note relationship of the pins and your strands. I pulled the shield around from both sides so that it ended up being on the top with the strands 5 & 3 on my right and Strands 1 and 4 on my left. Tin the shield just like you did on the strands.
6. Clamp the harness to to rubber part of the midi cable.
7. Now it's time to roughly line up the wires to their respective pins. I tin the PIN 2 receptacle first then solder up the shield by applying pressure on it with my needle nose pliers while soldering everything together.
8. The pin receptacles are like a small tubes. Simple insert the 4 strands/wires into 4 respective receptacles. You may have to cut these fit so there isn't any wire assembly. The last thing you want is to have wires touching each other and disrupting the midi signal. Solder the wires into the receptacles or cups.
9. Slide on metal jacket and tighten set screw.
(Note: The Neutrik Jackets had a super tough rubber sleeve for additional tension protection on the cable. It's a well-built assembly but I had to remove this for two reasons. 1. The Quad Cable was to big to fit through it (This wouldn't be the case for standard 3 Pin Mic Cable) 2. I had to make some tight bends within my rack and the rubber jacket would have prevented this.)
10. At this point, I do a dry fit to see if the cable is the right length. In my case, The midi flow started at a Motu Midi Timepiece and split to my various devices. I plugged in my completed side into the Motu and ran the cable to my next device. From there, I simply marked the cable length and cut to fit.
11. IMPORTANT! This is where you'll need to slide the second metal jacket onto the open end of the cable. I made the mistake of soldering up the second assembly end before sliding on the second outer jacket. Not fun!
12. Repeat the same process for the other side.
13. Test with Cable tester
14. One cable down... 10 to go!
The Shivano Music site has a great tutorial on making Midi Cables. I have to credit them for getting the ball rolling on this project. Please check them out at: http://colomar.com/Shavano/midi_cable.html
I won't say doing this yourself is more cost effective than buying cables pre-made but if you need specific lengths to cut down on extra cable lengths throughout your setup, this the way to go.
Most midi cables on the market only have 3 of the 5 pins wired. For standard midi patch switching a 3 pin cable is fine. If you are using any kind of midi clock or sync then you'll need all 5 pins wired (I'm not sure if this is 100% true - I read this on a few internet postings) I needed all pins wired since my main Echoplex Looper sends out a midi clock/sync to most of my FX units. This allows me to have delays and other modulation fx (tremolos, phasers, rotary stuff, etc) lock into my loop tempos. Pretty cool...
Here's the parts I ordered:
1. Studio Quad microphone cable (This has 4 Wires + Shield as opposed to a standard Mic cable that has 2 Wires + Shield)
2. Neutrik Midi Connectors (PART NUMBER NYS322)
Here's the tools you'll need:
1. 15-30 Watt Soldering Iron with small tip (Radio Shack or Fryes Electronics usually have something in stock)
2. Pocket Knife (for cutting outer rubber layer from cable
3. Needle nose pliers (For handling wires and securing metal clamp to cable
4. Cable Stripper (the obvious)
5. Cable Tester. Not mandatory but a real life safer in the shop or at gigs. I use a Swizz Army 6 in 1 tester. I highly recommend it.
Here's the step by step:
1. I measured my cable length and added a few inches for good measure.
2. Gentle strip 1/2" of the outer rubber casing from the tip of one side of the cable. Be mindful not to cut into the shielding. Remove rubber.
3. Peel back shielding to expose the 4 wires (In my case it was Blue, White, Blue/White, White/Blue)
4. Strip 3/8" of plastic from each of the four wires. Twist wire on each end to a point and tin (let the solder flow through the copper strands to fuse the strands) with a small bit of solder. Go easy on the solder.
5. Map out which strand colors will go to each pin on the connectors. This is a personal choice but you'll need to keep it consistent otherwise you'll end up re-doing cables when they don't test properly.
Here's what I did:
PIN TWO (NOTE: This is ALWAYS Shield/Ground on ALL MIDI CABLES
PIN FOUR (WHITE)
PIN FIVE (BLUE/White Stripe)
PIN ONE (Blue)
PIN THREE (White/Blue Stripe)
See attachment for wiring diagram.
5. Pull back the shield and twist that into one strand. Note relationship of the pins and your strands. I pulled the shield around from both sides so that it ended up being on the top with the strands 5 & 3 on my right and Strands 1 and 4 on my left. Tin the shield just like you did on the strands.
6. Clamp the harness to to rubber part of the midi cable.
7. Now it's time to roughly line up the wires to their respective pins. I tin the PIN 2 receptacle first then solder up the shield by applying pressure on it with my needle nose pliers while soldering everything together.
8. The pin receptacles are like a small tubes. Simple insert the 4 strands/wires into 4 respective receptacles. You may have to cut these fit so there isn't any wire assembly. The last thing you want is to have wires touching each other and disrupting the midi signal. Solder the wires into the receptacles or cups.
9. Slide on metal jacket and tighten set screw.
(Note: The Neutrik Jackets had a super tough rubber sleeve for additional tension protection on the cable. It's a well-built assembly but I had to remove this for two reasons. 1. The Quad Cable was to big to fit through it (This wouldn't be the case for standard 3 Pin Mic Cable) 2. I had to make some tight bends within my rack and the rubber jacket would have prevented this.)
10. At this point, I do a dry fit to see if the cable is the right length. In my case, The midi flow started at a Motu Midi Timepiece and split to my various devices. I plugged in my completed side into the Motu and ran the cable to my next device. From there, I simply marked the cable length and cut to fit.
11. IMPORTANT! This is where you'll need to slide the second metal jacket onto the open end of the cable. I made the mistake of soldering up the second assembly end before sliding on the second outer jacket. Not fun!
12. Repeat the same process for the other side.
13. Test with Cable tester
14. One cable down... 10 to go!