Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

 

Well, here'remy 2-cents, for what they're worth:

 

 

Many people havehad perfectly good experiences using cables of all one color (usually black, Iwould guess).

 

Because there isnow a wide range of colors to choose from, the desire is there to "do"something with this available dimension, to put the colors into some kind ofuseful scheme.

 

At first, it'san attractive idea to make them color-coded by function. But in reality, I don'tthink this is fruitful at all. It's just one more thing that an analretentive person (like myself) will "worry about" when selectingcables for a patch, an aspect that adds nothing to the final sound, but slowsdown the 'process.' Think about it---MOTM modules use a uniformplug/jack type for audio, control voltages, triggers, and gates. So why try tomess UP that flexibility by limiting your red cords "only" to gates,for instance? MAYBE in a classroom situation, this could be useful, but itseems to me that you'd need a LOT more cables to have varying lengths inevery color.

 

So the otheralternative is to color-code by length. Now, this may offer only a 'minor'aid in selecting and organizing your cables, but since it's a "free"option, and every little bit helps, it seems like a logical way to go. I mean, ultimately,the whole thing is arbitrary, but as long as you have a choice of colors, whyNOT make it easier to untangle them when they are in a big ball on the floor? Ihate to admit it, but as careful as I am, when I'm in a patching frenzy, cablesare everywhere, and if I'm crazily thinking, "Where's a2-foot cable?? Where's a 2-footer??" and I know my 2-footers aregreen, then it just helps me that little bit. You know? That's just 8brain cells that I do not need to switch from right-brain to left-brainactivity.

 

So bottom line,my opinion is that it doesn't matter a whole lot, but as long as theoption is there, why not put it to use, and it seems to me that with fewspecific exceptions, color-coding by function doesn't help at all (mayeven hinder), and color-coding by length at least helps a "little."So why not go that way?

 

Now, as towhich-colors-are-what, that ∗IS∗extremely arbitrary and up to personal taste. The "rainbow/wavelength"idea seems a logical as anything to me. I hadn't thought about that idea,but it's interesting. I may adopt that myself, and I'm glad folkson this list mentioned it.

 

KT

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Brousseau, Paul E (Paul)[mailto:noise@...]
Sent: Tuesday, 18 February, 2003 4:08 PM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [motm] Cable colorscheme advice?

 

-----OriginalMessage-----
From: jwbarlow@...[mailto:jwbarlow@...]
Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2003 11:57 AM
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [motm] Cable colorscheme advice?

In a message dated 2/18/2003 5:21:27 AM Pacific Standard Time,synth1@... writes:

I color-code to ∗length∗, not by function.

Me too!