MOTM

This may seem like a silly question, but as there are nine cable 
colors and eight heat shrink colors I'm rather at a loss as to which 
of the 72 color combinations to order. As I expect these cables to 
last more or less a lifetime, I don't want to get 14 two-footers that 
are, say, orange cable and blue heat shrink only to regret that 
choice after a few weeks. I would have been perfectly happy with 
three cable colors to choose from and black heat shrink. Does 
everyone get cables color coded by length, or maybe you all pick one 
color and stick with it, or maybe most people do a random mix and 
match. Picking modules for my first order was easy compared to this! 
<g>

I went to the synthtech web site for some photos to help me decide 
but they're all in black and white! Except for Roger Powell, that is, 
but he's got a mish-mash of different colors so it's hard to find an 
underlying theme (and besides, it looks like he got cheap ones 
anyway<another grin>). Since I live in New York City I could be cool 
and get all black for that "you can't see my patch cords" look, or I 
could go the other way and get magenta and green for that fluorescent 
look. Most likely I'll be somewhere in between, but I just wanted to 
get some opinions from experienced users before I put in my order.

Thanks,

      Seth

I color-code by length, and use black heat-shrink. The magenta is by far the 
coolest color (used for 3-footers). :)

Paul S.

I've placed two orders for patchcords with Larry, and I chose my color
combinations somewhat strangely, I suppose. I grouped cords of the same
length by primary and secondary color groups. E.g., all of my three-foot
cables are red, yellow, and blue; and all of my two-foot cables are green
and purple. Then I chose the heat shrink to differentiate cables of the same
color within a length group. E.g., some of the three-foot yellow cables have
white shrink, and some have black shrink.

In retrospect I'm not sure that this is a very good system, but it's
colorful. :-) More to the point, I couldn't really think of a system that
seemed any more appealing or functional. In particular I didn't want to get
so hung up on a cable color-coding scheme that I'd find myself making
patching decisions based on the cable colors, if that makes sense.

Purple's my favorite cable color, in any case.

--Adam

--
Adam Schabtach
adam@...
www.studionebula.com

Seth, This is certainly not a silly question.  It is often asked and maybe
the most often asked question.  By far the most popular way cables are
ordered is color coded by length.  And, there are a variety of opinions.
Some follow resistor code using the translucent black for 1 foot (it is
brownish), red for 2 foot, orange for 3 foot and so on.  Other use the
"light wavelength concept with violet being the shortest and red being
longest.  By far, I suggest that 2 and 3 footers will be the most commonly
used cables in most systems.  So, maybe you want your colors of choice to be
in these lengths.  BTW, Magenta and red are different colors.  But, they are
not a lot different.  Most people don't get both, they tend to get one or
the other.

One of the schools of thought on heat shrink is to make them all different.
I am in this school and like the effect.  I can easily find the remote end
of a cable in a jungle since even though I might have 6 or 7 green cables in
a patch maze, each of them has a different color heat shrink at the end.
Yet some people order everything with the same heatshrink.  So, there is no
wrong answer.

Hope this helps.
Larry

PS, there are .... possible combinations for each length
MOTM logo translucent cables:
9 colors x 8 heat shrinks = 72
Heat shrink inside barrel or outside, so that is 144
Wise Guy solid color cables:
10 colors x 8 heat shrink = 80
Total 224 combinations

And that does not consider all the end choices.  :-)
Yes, I am stupid crazy giving you so many options.

----- Original Message -----
From: Seth Elgart <selgart@...>
To: <motm@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 11:00 PM
Subject: [motm] patch cord colors



This may seem like a silly question, but as there are nine cable
colors and eight heat shrink colors I'm rather at a loss as to which
of the 72 color combinations to order. As I expect these cables to
last more or less a lifetime, I don't want to get 14 two-footers that
are, say, orange cable and blue heat shrink only to regret that
choice after a few weeks. I would have been perfectly happy with
three cable colors to choose from and black heat shrink. Does
everyone get cables color coded by length, or maybe you all pick one
color and stick with it, or maybe most people do a random mix and
match. Picking modules for my first order was easy compared to this!
<g>

I went to the synthtech web site for some photos to help me decide
but they're all in black and white! Except for Roger Powell, that is,
but he's got a mish-mash of different colors so it's hard to find an
underlying theme (and besides, it looks like he got cheap ones
anyway<another grin>). Since I live in New York City I could be cool
and get all black for that "you can't see my patch cords" look, or I
could go the other way and get magenta and green for that fluorescent
look. Most likely I'll be somewhere in between, but I just wanted to
get some opinions from experienced users before I put in my order.

Thanks,

      Seth




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I just ordered cables of two different lengths with all 
different colors. (I matched the heatshrink color with the 
cable color though.)

Using the color to code the length of the cable is I guess 
the most smart thing to do. When you need a cable of a 
given length you immediately think 'blue, I need a blue 
one', look at that messy pile of cables on the floor and 
pick it out.

But on my (still) small modular this would mean that almost 
all cables would have the same color, which is:

a) plain boring! ;)
b) not easy when debugging a patch.

So I went for the what-the-heck rainbow approach, and enjoy 
it. :)

- Robert

> From: Robert van der Kamp [mailto:robnet@...] 
> 
> So I went for the what-the-heck rainbow approach, and enjoy it. :)

Reserve a couple of colors for future expansion. Best of both worlds.

					...Craig

--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, Seth Elgart <selgart@e...> wrote:

>Since I live in New York City I could be cool 
> and get all black for that "you can't see my patch cords" look, or
I 
> could go the other way and get magenta and green for that
fluorescent 
> look. Most likely I'll be somewhere in between, but I just wanted
to 
> get some opinions from experienced users before I put in my order.
> 

We feel your pain - there's enough options that everybody can do it
differently. 

I'm using two color schemes for two different functions. 

First, I'm using pairs of long brightly colored cords to go from each
piece of gear back to a patch bay.  Larry didn't advertise it last
time, but he can make cords longer than 6 feet. They look fantastic,
and it makes it so much easier to figure out the patch bay!

On the MOTM, I use cheapy Radio Shack cables for control signals.
They've got these 1' long ones with L-shaped connectors that work
great. They actually will span about a foot, while the MOTM 1' calbes
only go about 7-8". 

I use bright magenta/red MOTM cables for the audio signals. The
difference between the cables makes it a lot easier to trace patches
quickly.

Let us know what you decide on - I bet it will be unique!

I opted to to color code the heat shrink to indicate various cable
lengths. This way, I get to use all of the cable colors, and it's
still easy to pick out the various lengths by looking at the heat
shrink.

 Andrew Sanchez

On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:02:01 +0200, Robert van der Kamp <robnet@...> wrote:
> 
> I just ordered cables of two different lengths with all
> different colors. (I matched the heatshrink color with the
> cable color though.)
> 
> Using the color to code the length of the cable is I guess
> the most smart thing to do. When you need a cable of a
> given length you immediately think 'blue, I need a blue
> one', look at that messy pile of cables on the floor and
> pick it out.
> 
> But on my (still) small modular this would mean that almost
> all cables would have the same color, which is:
> 
> a) plain boring! ;)
> b) not easy when debugging a patch.
> 
> So I went for the what-the-heck rainbow approach, and enjoy
> it. :)
> 
> - Robert

>I color-code by length, and use black heat-shrink. The magenta is by far the
>coolest color (used for 3-footers). :)
>
>Paul S.
>

Same here, black heatshrink and the following lengths:

1' black
2' blue
2' magenta
3' green
3' orange
4' red
4' purple
6' yellow

No real pattern to the colour/length, I just picked them at random.

Red and magenta look quite similar, so consider making them vastly 
different lengths to help differentiating them.

--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, Seth Elgart <selgart@e...> wrote:
> This may seem like a silly question, but as there are nine cable 
> colors and eight heat shrink colors I'm rather at a loss as to which 
> of the 72 color combinations to order...

I used the rainbow (visible light) spectrum and colored by length.  So
violet = short wavelength = 1 foot, blue = 2 foot, green = 3 foot,
yellow = 4 foot, red = long wavelength = 6 foot.  Most of my cables
are the 2' and 3' length (blue and green), the second group (by
number) is the 1' and 4' length, and a limited number are the 6' length.

For any particular length of cable (say, the 3' length) I did half the
cables with white heatshrink (black print) and half the cables with
black heatshrink (white print).  (Like the keys of a piano I guess.) 
I guess this could be use to distinguish between CV and audio signals
but I don't really do this.  I just thought it would be cool to have
the half white half black on colored cables.

seth

Question for Larry and owners of his cables: how distinct is the magenta
from the red? And how about orange relative to red and yellow? If they're
side by side, are the easy to distinguish? 

Thanks--
--Adam

--
Adam Schabtach
adam@...
www.studionebula.com
www.audiodamage.com

At 10:19 PM -0600 2004/10/23, Adam Schabtach wrote:
>Question for Larry and owners of his cables: how distinct is the magenta
>from the red? And how about orange relative to red and yellow? If they're
>side by side, are the easy to distinguish?

Red and magenta look quite similar to me, I have a tough time telling 
them apart. I've got one of each in hand now, the magenta has a 
slight hint of pink in it, but that is only visible when viewed under 
a bright desk lamp. In my normal studio lighting I can't tell them 
apart. If you are consider getting red or magenta, and not both, I 
suggest magenta, I think it looks nicer. But most people will think 
it's red.

OTOH, yellow and orange are quite distinct and are nowhere near red 
or magenta. I have no trouble differentiating between orange, yellow, 
and red (or is it magenta?).

In the translucent colors:

I have to agree with Scott.  Red and Magenta are very similar.  Magenta
tends to be the purple side of red if that makes sense.  The yellow is very
"gold" and quite different than orange.  Red and orange are much closer than
yellow and orange.  If you want to your red to be more different than
orange, then use Magenta instead.
Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: Scott Juskiw <scott@...>
Red and magenta look quite similar to me, I have a tough time telling
them apart. I've got one of each in hand now, the magenta has a
slight hint of pink in it, but that is only visible when viewed under
a bright desk lamp. In my normal studio lighting I can't tell them
apart. If you are consider getting red or magenta, and not both, I
suggest magenta, I think it looks nicer. But most people will think
it's red.

OTOH, yellow and orange are quite distinct and are nowhere near red
or magenta. I have no trouble differentiating between orange, yellow,
and red (or is it magenta?).





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