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Expense of Cables
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| Degradation |
| Does anybody here have the secret for getting decent XLR, 1/4" line and MIDI cables at a reasonable price? Do you make your own? This issue is killing my creativity because I'm too cheap to buy enough cables to hook all my hardware together and have to keep moving cables around through the rat nest behind my desk. Please help! |
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| Limit |
the cheapest way to go is to make your own. Buy a spindle and some connections. No matter what they are still expensive. It all depends on the cables you go for. One major thing that a lot of people disregard is good cables. The difference in sound is huge. I go for Neutrik cables. I still havent conveted all my connections though as they are expensive. Also try and keep your cabling neat and away from power cables(even your midi cables)...you can pick up some garbage freaquencies if they are to close.
Just take it slow and do what you can. It all doesnt have to come at once. |
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| Degradation |
| Thanks Limit. Are there any good places on the net to buy the connectors and cable? Anything to look for like reinforced connection points, right angles etc? Should I make everything TRS? |
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| jdat |
| quote: | Originally posted by Degradation
Thanks Limit. Are there any good places on the net to buy the connectors and cable? Anything to look for like reinforced connection points, right angles etc? Should I make everything TRS? |
You could get everything from www.markertek.com
Wide selection of cable from Belden and Canare which are some of the best brands on the market.
In regards to TRS and symmetrical cabling I would assume that won't be necessary.
What kind of connectors do you have on your sound card? Sounds like you have multiple I/O's so I'm assuming mostly 1/4" and some xlr and some other too possibly.
The 1/4" in most cases will not be symmetrical on the card. So no point in getting TRS plugs.
In regards to Right Angle etc that's up to you do decide.
One solution that could be more convenient and potentially cheaper for you is to buy some snake cabling a couple feet and build a box with the connectors on there ( kind of like a mini snake ); you could install that in a rack and plug everything into there ... but you would still have to plug and unplug from there.
But going the DIY route is by no means cheap unless you buy in big quantities usually. |
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| Degradation |
| Thanks for the link. I have a Novation Speedio and a Motu MTP. Yeah, I don't think the Speedio inputs are balanced. They're XLR and 1/4 combo jacks. With the snakes are you saying to get female connectors on one end so I can patch from the front where they're easier to get to? That's a good idea. I hadn't thought of that. The short snakes are cheap on ebay too. Are connection points like that a problem for noise getting in? |
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| jdat |
A distance that short shouldn't be getting too much interference but if you're paranoid about that buy your own snake cabling and build your own. Most of the cabling like that has sufficient shielding.
I'm assuming you're talking about these kind of different colour patch bay cables? They tend to be kinda garbage and I wouldn't really use them for anything else them maybe effects interconnect or patchbay but not as the main extension of I/O's for your card. |
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