Feedback Request—MIDI on Pedals

[yeky83]

I see your point but its not smaller width wise

I've never ran into issues with the 1/8th" connections. On the flipside, when I'm setting up my board at a show or practice and I'm not getting sound and I have to go through the chain and find out what is slightly unplugged its almost always one of the pedals that I'm using several ins and outs in (hx one, rc500 namely) and having even more 1/4" cables coming out of those boxes. 1/8" feels far less congested to me

But we can at least agree that even 1/4" would be preferable to 5pin

Would you prefer if audio connections were 1/8" too?

 

[spawnofthesith]

Would you prefer if audio connections were 1/8" too?

Nah, I'm happy with the balance of my audio signal path being 1/4" and my midi 1/8"

 

[Orvillain]

Board full of adapters?! Nah, just one of these which take no real estate at all under the board or under another pedal:
View attachment 18536

Case in point for why MIDI cables are horrible, they can’t even make a good right angle jack for it! Thanks for joining the 1/4” club!

I'm not in the 1/4" club.

I have a DisasterArea Micro.Clock - it is cool... but requires a special cable to go from TRS > MIDI DIN, and if that cable breaks... I'm fucked until I get another one. Whereas with standard DIN cables - standard being the primary word there - I can just grab one out of my spares drawer and get through whatever it is.

I do not like this move towards 1/4" or 1/8" cables simply because it introduces extra hassle and annoyance and compatibility issues, no matter which way you scratch it.

This setup here really isn't too much to deal with:

From the back of my GigRig G3....

Under the board, everything strapped down and nice and secure....

To the back of the LVX... and then to the back of the MercuryX.

Absolutely no issues with this.

 

[yeky83]

Nah, I'm happy with the balance of my audio signal path being 1/4" and my midi 1/8"

One of them's the better jack, regardless of what's going through it. I say it's 1/4"

I have a DisasterArea Micro.Clock - it is cool... but requires a special cable to go from TRS > MIDI DIN, and if that cable breaks... I'm fucked until I get another one. Whereas with standard DIN cables - standard being the primary word there - I can just grab one out of my spares drawer and get through whatever it is.

I do not like this move towards 1/4" or 1/8" cables simply because it introduces extra hassle and annoyance and compatibility issues, no matter which way you scratch it.

Or just one extra MIDI hub box like the one in my post you quoted, with which you can use 1/4" cables. And one could argue DIN cables are kind of special and 1/4" cables are even more standard, I've got way more 1/4" cables in my spares drawer.

"It introduces extra hassle and annoyance and compatibility issues" is an argument against the first wave of 1/4" MIDI pedals. We live in a 1/4" & DIN mixed world already (and sometimes 1/8", but let's ignore them and they'll go away). So new pedals might as well adopt the new 1/4" format. Again, you just need one MIDI hub.

This setup here really isn't too much to deal with:
View attachment 18615

From the back of my GigRig G3....
View attachment 18616

Under the board, everything strapped down and nice and secure....
View attachment 18618

To the back of the LVX... and then to the back of the MercuryX.

Absolutely no issues with this.

Yeah, but that ain't gonna win any Instagram reposts!

 

[Orvillain]

one could argue DIN cables are kind of special and 1/4" cables are even more standard

Not really. DIN cables for midi go back to the invention of midi.... 1/4" cables for midi are a relatively new thing.

Again, you just need one MIDI hub.

Which I would have to hide under my board... and would never be clearly able to see what it is doing, whether it is broken, hasn't powered up because of a faulty capacitor or cable or whatever.... it just adds an extra level of .. ahem... hassle, annoyance, and compatibility issues. Throw maintenance into the ring too!!

Yeah, but that ain't gonna win any Instagram reposts!

I know you're being sarcastic, but it does sometimes feel people build boards just to put photos on Instagram rather than use them!!

 

[yeky83]

Not really. DIN cables for midi go back to the invention of midi.... 1/4" cables for midi are a relatively new thing.

1/4" cables are more standard, you and I have more of them in our spares drawer. We can use them for MIDI, great.

Listen, I'd love it if MIDI was used properly with 5+ pins, differential signals over twisted pair, proper power delivery, etc. But they don't get used that way, and so the special connector and cable are stupid. You need three conductors, 1/4" TRS is standard.

Which I would have to hide under my board... and would never be clearly able to see what it is doing, whether it is broken, hasn't powered up because of a faulty capacitor or cable or whatever.... it just adds an extra level of .. ahem... hassle, annoyance, and compatibility issues. Throw maintenance into the ring too!!

Again, we live in a mixed MIDI jack world already. You're going to be annoyed with whatever the solution is, whether it's a special TRS->DIN cable or a MIDI hub. But since you're annoyed already, at least with a MIDI hub, one more 1/4" MIDI isn't going to add to the annoyance.

I know you're being sarcastic, but it does sometimes feel people build boards just to put photos on Instagram rather than use them!!

Partly sarcastic. Partly I think consumers care, and therefore pedal companies care, therefore DI should care it's 1/4".

 

[JT]

You're going to be annoyed with whatever the solution is

Snipped for explaining every grievance on every gear forum ever

 

[Orvillain]

Snipped for explaining every grievance on every gear forum ever

This man bringeth the wisdom.

 

[spawnofthesith]

1/4" cables are more standard, you and I have more of them in our spares drawer. We can use them for MIDI, great.

Listen, I'd love it if MIDI was used properly with 5+ pins, differential signals over twisted pair, proper power delivery, etc. But they don't get used that way, and so the special connector and cable are stupid. You need three conductors, 1/4" TRS is standard.

Again, we live in a mixed MIDI jack world already. You're going to be annoyed with whatever the solution is, whether it's a special TRS->DIN cable or a MIDI hub. But since you're annoyed already, at least with a MIDI hub, one more 1/4" MIDI isn't going to add to the annoyance.

Partly sarcastic. Partly I think consumers care, and therefore pedal companies care, therefore DI should care it's 1/4".

To be fair, I think I have more spare 5 pin midi cables lying around than TRS 1/4" lol

 

[spawnofthesith]

I guess one of my big things is that since most of my devices that are crucial to my personal midi situation are already 1/8" so I'm mostly just selfish

This thread inspired me to go back to my amazon cart to revisit getting what I needed to put my HX one in my midi chain. I guess in reality this isn't much different than buying two 1/8" cables, but I still find it immensely annoying. I haven't done the update yet either and I've heard mixed bags on whether or not midi thru has been fixed, but at this time I'm only sending clock data not any other commands so fingers crossed

That cme cable probably isn’t even long enough so I may need an additional rock board right angle cable as well

 

[AFKAEjay]

The rest of the world is using usb for everything these days…power, audio, data.
Im voting 6 Omni usb ports on everything!