Help me with the cables!

I think I'll start with these...

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CBLD/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Claw/

yeah velcro ties did the business for me. tangle free leads!

lean how to roll them up right, seriously, they have a physical 'memory' of how they were manufactured and will twist back into that shape; if you roll em u p and out with that 'memory' in mind they wont twist and helps you too avoid the dreaded spahgetti effect

I know all about the roll, alternating direction...I interned at a serious recording studio in high school (Bat Out of Hell! Dr. Buzzard!) but when I roll them up then put them down in a box...forget about it. I just ordered 2 of those raxxess cord racks and a bunch of velcro from sweetwater. Looking forward to them...

At my most organized I used twistie-ties (the velcro ties sounds more effective but is also maybe more expensive?) on the cables individually, sorted them by type and size and hung them using corkboard and metal hooks.

Nowadays it's all plastic tubs and piles though d'oh.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizardishungry/2180647203/

im looking for a cable to connect both my laptop AND my pc into my stereo, so im guessing two 3.5mm jacks at one end, and one stereo phono connection (red & whites) at the other. does this cable exist? im having no luck with google at all. or is there a better way to do this? at the moment i have to muck about unplugging cables each time and it's a bit of a pain.

(so the sound from my pc or laptop plays out through the stereo, not sure if i made that clear in my post just there)

go to a dj shop

and ask them

yeah probably will if no one on here can help. im guessing it's a fairly common problem though so fingers crossed

serious I've had times when I had zero luck finding various cables online, and then walked into a dj shop and they've had everything.

You need a switch box. 2x 3.5mm stereo to 2xphono into a switch box and then 2xphono to 2xphono to the stereo.

ooh, while it's on my mind, does anyone have a cheap and reliable way to get analogue audio (either 1/4" or 1/8") >> usb? I've now gone through two 'solutions' (griffin imic and m-audio fast track) that have both stopped working after very little use.

I know, I know, go to a dj store.

I use a $99 thing called the Stealthplug -- straightforward 1/4" to USB line with a direct-monitoring output. (ASIO drivers, comes with a tracker and amp modeling software.)

P.S.: NI, I think what you should look for is not a cord with two inputs (which seems mythical/unlikely) but a tiny, simple, no-frills, two-way A-B switcher (or even just a seriously cheapo two-line mixer).

i am staring at seven jumbled boxes of cables and leads with every kind of connector or jack, plus a mix of old plugs and chargers

i feel like some of them are worth hanging onto and some are very much not, but i don't really know how to begin sort which from which -- i have a weirdly poor memory for what once went with what, even two years ago is now a blank to me (i like to tell myself this is efficient use of human brainspace)

apologies for posting my own tweet but it saves have to faff around with imgur:

is there any practical reason to hang on to leads like THIS in 2022? what might still be using them? pic.twitter.com/fY45rE4zgj

— 🐛🔥🐝 muad'dob bee 🐝🔥🐛 (@dubdobdee) April 30, 2022

That's the ropiest looking MIDI cable I've seen in a long time. Assuming it's wired as a MIDI cable that it - the connectors at least are correct. I'd probably bin it either way.

it's 30+ years old is my only excuse (i have four in all, in no better condition: i have no idea what i used them for once upon a time)

It’s most likely a 5 pin audio DIN cable, used to plug a tape deck into a receiver or similar instead of two RCA pairs.

5 pin audio DIN seems to be the consensus, most likely for a tape deck

Ok, I'm doing the first live show for a new project and I'm kind of freaking out about having the proper cables to connect everything to the PA properly. Aside from two acoustic drum kits, I have a sample pad with two 1/4" outs (stereo), and a mic + fx box going into a stage mixer, also with two 1/4" outs.

-Should I just make sure I have four long 1/4" to 1/4" cables? Does it matter if they're TS or TRS (unbalanced vs balanced...instrument vs speaker?)?

-Would it be better to have 1/4" to XLR? I do have a couple DI boxes I could bring too, idk.

I just don't want to stress about the setup, since there are so many other details to take care of and it's been years since I've had to perform with new equipment.

In my experience depends what type of venue / engineer you're dealing with how into balanced xlr they are, maybe ask them what they prefer. Some places have lots of DI boxes they insist on using either way, others are very happy if you bring your own 1/4" to xlr cables. Might wanna check if the 1/4" output on your pad and stage mixer is actually balanced, if not they might insist on DI boxes.

XLR cables are better for long cabling than unbalanced 1/4". I always travel with my own DIs, and use the shortest possible wiring to get to them. Then I just have the in-house techs connect their XLR outs to my DIs. I like independent Radial JDIs for every channel; I stay away from the rack unit variety because you're in trouble if one of the units fails. I never find myself at odds with a tech who desires an alternate DI, everyone likes Radials. $ though.

Yah, I spent $$$ on a Radial Key Largo I found used on Reverb and it's a sturdy little box for the combination of things I use it with.
https://www.radialeng.com/product/key-largo

I would also suggest you bring your own DIs, so they just plug "mic" lines in and are good to go.

I'd also make sure what you want to do works in mono in case the PA isn't stereo, or if you only have 2 DIs total, etc...

Thanks y'all, I've got my setup ready to go. Everything running through my stage mixer now (the sample pad through the fx send is pretty sick actually), so just two stereo outs to the DIs, done.

I spent a very silly amount of time trying to figure out the best solution to simply playing some longer field recordings/textures for portions of the set, going through old tablets and phones (all unusable it turns out due to fucked batteries and apps too out of date to run). Ended up using my old Roland Edirol, which is still showing full battery and runs like a charm despite not having used it in ages.