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alexis

Joined: 10/01/03
Posts: 1204
Loc: San Antonio, TX USA

USB MIDI - how different from DIN cable?
#989926 - 28/05/12 01:15 AM

Hi - I found this excellent SOS article by our very own Mr. Martin Walker http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/qa1004-7.htm , but I was wondering if the USB-2 (or -3) MIDI cables bring anything new to the mix. I was wondering - are they still a bit slower, and with a bit more jitter than the alternatives? Given a choice, should one use a DIN-5 cable?

Thanks!

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Alexis -Cubase 6.5.0/SX3.1.1.944, XP SP2, 4GB RAM (1GB not accessible, but used just to balance the computer so it doesn't tip over); Delta 66 in Omni i/O Studio; Motif8; UAD-1

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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies

Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 16375
Loc: Cornwall, UK

Re: USB MIDI - how different from DIN cable? new

[Re: alexis]
#990034 - 28/05/12 02:26 PM

The USB MIDI cables I've used over the last few years have latency and jitter that are on a par with dedicated 5-pin DIN MIDI cables – that isn't to say that there aren't some bad USB MIDI cables out there (I'm sure there are), but that the USB connection doesn't have to be any worse than the dedicated MIDI one.

Generally the dedicated MIDI work every time though, whereas the occasional USB MIDI cable/interface can run into compatibility problems

Martin

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YewTreeMagic

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OneWorld

Joined: 07/04/09
Posts: 1566

Re: USB MIDI - how different from DIN cable? new

[Re: alexis]
#990077 - 28/05/12 05:34 PM

Where I have tended to get more repliable MIDI over USB is where the device is class compliant, eg no drivers need installing

BTW anyone - is this what MLAN was supposed to address? both MIDI and audio over the same (Firewire) cable?

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chris...
active member

Joined: 12/03/03
Posts: 4151
Loc: Glasgow

Re: USB MIDI - how different from DIN cable? new

[Re: alexis]
#990111 - 28/05/12 10:03 PM

"Was" being the operative word. mLAN was gonna be big - about 15 years ago.

Nowadays, if millisecond timing is important, the solution now is software synths triggered inside a DAW, where you should get single sample accuracy.

(ie. accurate to tiny fraction of a millisecond)

But that sort of accuracy won't in itself help you write better choonz

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