midi cables

trying to connect my microkorg to sync up with midi on the mpc2500
i had a midi to usb adapter earlier so its kind of useless at this point i was wondering if i needed to get the livewire dual midi cables or if i could just get midi cables in a pack from radioshack. Might be a dumb question but i noticed everyones got the dual livewire cables only place to get em near me is my local guitar center and its a bit far just wanted to make sure i was purchasing the right cables.thanks in advance

i have no idea what 'livewire dual midi' is. but it looks like you require two midi cables. one for mpc midi out to korg midi in. the other for korg midi out to mpc midi in.

midi cables are the same as 5-pin DIN cables, AFAIK. if there is an electronic stores, like tandy, nearby they might carry them and save you the trip to guitar centre.

beach_break wrote:

midi cables are the same as 5-pin DIN cables, AFAIK. .

A true MIDI cable only has 3 of the pins connected but for most functions a 5 DIN will usually work.
If you have a choice though, go for the proper MIDI cable (could save future tantrums).

To the op. Just order what you think you need (longer lengths is always better) and be done with it.

Avoid cheap budget midi cables if you can.

Sweetwater is another good source for studio products if you didn't already know.

longer lengths is always better

To offer a differing opinion....
I have a 25 ft midi cable and a 2 ft MIDI cable and guess which one I always grab for using my x0x right next to my MPC? (the short one).

Same goes for audio cables...I just can't get enough 1 ft cables....who want 8 40ft cables coiled up behind the MPC?

Just a friendly reminder to think about. Starting out, I would say go longer. But I would not say longer is *always* better.

And yes, you don't need any one brand, but any reputable brand will be fine and radio shack will be able to help you out for now. Just don't buy all your cables there. Get what you need now to make it work and upgrade when/if you need to....if you stay at it you will need to.

i usually go for 5 or 6 feet and it works out good enough. i think my midi cable is like 2 feet though.

i was gonna add something else to this but i dont remember what it was, so it probably wasnt that important.

nogginj wrote:

longer lengths is always better

To offer a differing opinion....
I have a 25 ft midi cable and a 2 ft MIDI cable and guess which one I always grab for using my x0x right next to my MPC? (the short one).

Same goes for audio cables...I just can't get enough 1 ft cables....who want 8 40ft cables coiled up behind the MPC?

Just a friendly reminder to think about. Starting out, I would say go longer. But I would not say longer is *always* better.

And yes, you don't need any one brand, but any reputable brand will be fine and radio shack will be able to help you out for now. Just don't buy all your cables there. Get what you need now to make it work and upgrade when/if you need to....if you stay at it you will need to.

My bad, varying lengths is what I should have suggested. But my suggestion was based on "studio" principles rather than a bedroom setup. I rarely, if any, have to touch any cables once they're connected because of the complex midi matrix I use which is controlled via midi interface & s/w.

I can understand the concept of unplugging and reconnecting cables from a novice standpoint, but that gets old after a while and it starts to deteriorate the cables over time. And if not done with care, the back of the device starts to look like a yound child got to it and had a field day scratching up the housing around the midi sockets.

I say this because I've been through what a most of you guys are going through as the norm now. Plus I could have suggested going with shorter midi cables, but knowing the shortfalls of dealing with them, I'd rather settle for lengths longer than 2 or 3 feet. I do however have galobs of cables starting from as short as 3 ft to about 25 ft. that I've accumulated over the years.

If anybody has the kind of gear like I have with a stack of midi modules on one side of the room, keyboards & controllers on the other, then they'd probably say they'd go for longer lengths too in most cases.

On the flip side....I'd go with shorter cables for live performances since everything is centered in one spot.

thanks guys had me wondering cause i've seen midi cables with designated outs and ins so i was wondering if they were all the same. I ended up getting the radioshack ones which work pretty good i've been recording midi info from the microkorg and playing it back on the mpc, the pack actually came with 3 midi cables and i was wondering if it was possible to do the exact same process with another yamaha keyboard i've got (such as play sounds from the keyboard instead of the mpc samples) and then also run a midi cable from the out of the mpc into the microkorg and just be able to recieve external midi clock for arps and such? I've experimented but no luck. Is there maybe something i can do with the midi thru on the microkorg? my yamaha only has in and out

Sofakingkiller wrote:i was wondering if it was possible to do the exact same process with another yamaha keyboard i've got (such as play sounds from the keyboard instead of the mpc samples) and then also run a midi cable from the out of the mpc into the microkorg and just be able to recieve external midi clock for arps and such? I've experimented but no luck.

Get your hands on a small midi interface which will help do some of the routing between multiple pieces of gear.

It's much harder to do things if you're daisy chaining between a couple of instruments, unless you make the mpc as the master and do most of your controlling from there.

Remember to get da midi headphones

MoreBuck$ wrote:Remember to get da midi headphones

right ,a good idea...and let us konw !!!!

MoreBuck$ wrote:Remember to get da midi headphones

i bought the most expensive midi headphones i could find, thanks i'll look out for that midi interface.