Help me with the cables!

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So I'm reorganizing my "studio" for the umpteenth time and I don't know wtf to do with cables. I don't want to roll them up and put them in drawers (or milk crates as it may be) because they always get tangled. In the past I've hammered nails into the walls but this time there's just too many cables, the nails aren't big enough etc etc. I'm going to buy some velcro wraps and I've got some twist ties here but I feel like I must be missing something. I've got so many cables that need organizing. Audio cables, MIDI cables, power cords, USB cables, Firewire cables etc etc. What's your brilliant solution????

dan selzer, Sunday, 6 January 2008 20:52 (sixteen years ago) link

I think I'll start with these...

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

dan selzer, Sunday, 6 January 2008 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link

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

electricsound, Monday, 7 January 2008 01:01 (sixteen years ago) link

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

uptown churl, Monday, 7 January 2008 04:15 (sixteen years ago) link

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...

dan selzer, Monday, 7 January 2008 04:59 (sixteen years ago) link

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.

nickalicious, Monday, 7 January 2008 22:11 (sixteen years ago) link

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

nickalicious, Monday, 7 January 2008 22:11 (sixteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

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.

NI, Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:27 (fifteen years ago) link

(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)

NI, Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:28 (fifteen years ago) link

go to a dj shop

Manchego Bay (G00blar), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:30 (fifteen years ago) link

and ask them

Manchego Bay (G00blar), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:31 (fifteen years ago) link

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

NI, Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:37 (fifteen years ago) link

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.

Manchego Bay (G00blar), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:40 (fifteen years ago) link

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

Ed, Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:45 (fifteen years ago) link

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.

Manchego Bay (G00blar), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:53 (fifteen years ago) link

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

Manchego Bay (G00blar), Wednesday, 3 December 2008 21:55 (fifteen years ago) link

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.)

nabisco, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:25 (fifteen years ago) link

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).

nabisco, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:28 (fifteen years ago) link

thirteen years pass...

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)

mark s, Friday, 29 April 2022 12:47 (one year ago) link

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

— πŸ›πŸ”₯🐝 muad'dob bee 🐝πŸ”₯πŸ› (@dubdobdee) April 30, 2022

mark s, Saturday, 30 April 2022 14:48 (one year ago) link

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.

Being cheap is expensive (snoball), Saturday, 30 April 2022 15:34 (one year ago) link

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)

mark s, Saturday, 30 April 2022 15:50 (one year ago) link

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.

assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 30 April 2022 21:57 (one year ago) link

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

mark s, Sunday, 1 May 2022 12:45 (one year ago) link


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