MOTM

Don't be a wimp! It only takes 1 minute to unbraid a half inch end of 
a cable using a straight pin. Your patchcords will last a lot longer 
and be less noisy than foil shielded stuff.

Moe

>>>>>
> Again, I'm looking for 1 or 2 conductor, flexible, in colors and a
> drain wire.

A drain wire normally implies a foil shield, which normally implies a 
not particularly flexible cable. A cable with a spiral shield should 
be almost as easy to terminate as cable with a drain wire - cable 
with 
braided shields are obviously a little more work because you have to 
unbraid them. In general - Canare and Mogami both make nice flexible 
cables and are usually available in various colors. Canare cables 
tend to use a braided shield where Mogami uses a spiral shield.
<<<<

I use a small flat bladed jewellers screwdriver to unbraid the cable.

Twist the unbraided fanned out wire into a tight/neat single wire, 
form the wire into the right shape to make the best join with the 
plug, and tin it fully, to keep it neat and stop it fraying within 
the plug during use.

Mount some female 1/4" sockets (and xlr if making those too) onto a 1 
foot long piece of 4x2 as a 'jig' to hold the plugs while soldering. 
I also have a couple of plastic coated tip alligator clips attached 
to the 'jig' to hold the wire itself when needed.

Pre-tin the wire and pre-tin the points on the plug where the wire 
connects, making sure there is a good solder connection on the plug, 
then you don't need as much heat when actually joining the wire to 
the plug.


Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

>Don't be a wimp! It only takes 1 minute to unbraid a half inch end of
>a cable using a straight pin. Your patchcords will last a lot longer
>and be less noisy than foil shielded stuff.
>
>Moe

>  >>>>>
>>  Again, I'm looking for 1 or 2 conductor, flexible, in colors and a
>>  drain wire.
>
>A drain wire normally implies a foil shield, which normally implies a
>not particularly flexible cable. A cable with a spiral shield should
>be almost as easy to terminate as cable with a drain wire - cable
>with
>braided shields are obviously a little more work because you have to
>unbraid them. In general - Canare and Mogami both make nice flexible
>cables and are usually available in various colors. Canare cables
>tend to use a braided shield where Mogami uses a spiral shield.
><<<<

Canare cable and Neutrik connectors, beautiful stuff.

Although I have never tried other high end cable, how does cable like 
Mogami, Belden and other brands compare to Canare?


At the school where I work as tech I use orange for unbalanced 
cables, yellow for balanced cables, blue for digital cables, and red 
for weird format cables. Having weird/bright colored cables makes 
them less likely to be stolen, and easier to spot if stolen.

You can also get colored boots for the Neutrik connectors, I use red 
boots on all my own cables to keep track of them, and have blue boots 
on my blue digital cables to keep track of those. The colored boots 
look really good as well, and you can also get black barrels instead 
of silver for further color coding/coolness. Not to mention the color 
coded rings that you can put onto the plugs as well.

I use a thinner Canare balanced cable for my balanced studio patch 
cables, it's thinner than the normal size Canare and more flexible 
for tight curves like on a studio patch bay or modular synth. I don't 
know if this thinner Canare comes in an unbalanced version as well.


Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

>If you can get over fear of the braid try the Canare L-2T2S
>
>www.canare.com
>
>Comes in 6 colors! Charles.

If you can get over fear of the braid try the Canare L-2T2S 

www.canare.com

Comes in 6 colors! Charles.

On Monday, October 21, 2002, at 03:36 PM, Simon wrote:

> Canare cable and Neutrik connectors, beautiful stuff.
>
Amen!

I use the black Neutrik connectors, matches the MOTM. Canare
with the color representing length (can't remember the exact
length), blue spans a row, red, two rows, black three.

TH

>A drain wire normally implies a foil shield, which normally implies a
>not particularly flexible cable.

Yes, there are plenum foil-sheilded install cables than are quite stiff,
but these are only recommended if you plan on setting your MOTM on fire --
like Jimi Hendrix :)  I have plenty of foil-shielded cables that are more
flexible, and easier to manage, than most braided cables.

Snakes often use foil shields, and while there is a limit to how sharply
one can bend the middle of a snake, there is no limit to how much one can
bend the individual cables at the fan of the snake.  It takes significant
abuse to open holes in a quality foil shield, and that much abuse just as
likely to open up any of the braided cables mentioned so far in this thread.

Btw, you can buy audio cable with both a drain and a 98% braided shield.

>Don't be a wimp! It only takes 1 minute to unbraid a half inch end of
>a cable using a straight pin. Your patchcords will last a lot longer
>and be less noisy than foil shielded stuff.

While I agree that perfectly good patchcords can be made from braided cable
without any soldering problems, I doubt that braided cable is less noisy
than foil-sheilded cable.  Afaik, there is no such thing as a 100% braid,
and most braided mic cables have less than 85% coverage.  Then again, I
only buy quality American-made cable.

Yes, there are braided cables with less triboelectric (handling) noise, but
imho that isn't much of an issue when used to patch a modular synth or when
carrying line level signals.  Even those performing with their modular live
are unlikely to whip their cables around, and unlike a guitar or
microphone, MOTM has an output equivalent to about 20dBu.

Yes, there are braided single-channel cables that are more rugged than foil
shielded cables.  So your patch cords will last longer if they get smashed
by speaker cabinets or run over by a van.  Otherwise, I think it's a non
issue.

As far as colors are concerned, you can buy a length of Clarke 716 audio
snake cable, split it open, and have cables in 16 different colors.  For
unbalanced, connect both of the inner conductors to the tip.  Neutrik 1/4"
connectors come in both black and silver.  I use silver for TS and black
for TRS.