Making MIDI cables

B

Bozie

Active Member
I want to make up some MIDI cables. Yes, before anyone says it, I know we can buy them easily enough!

I am making an interface panel for the back of my rack so that everything plugs into that coming in and out of the rig including the MIDI cable. I'll be chassis mounting all the I/O so need to make up a cable to connect the EG to the appropriate MIDI plug. The all knowing internet tells me only two cores and a shield are needed for a 5 pin MIDI cable, but I want to future proof the rig for a phantom powered foot controller (like the much anticipated Mastermind GT!).

So, how is this done?
 
All you have to do is connect all of the pins through - pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2, etc. With most gear (certainly ours), you'll want to use 7-pin connectors and wire them all through.
 
Thanks for that, Ron.
I figured it would be straight forward form the outset, but when I googled this topic I found images with 3 pins used and the others not connected at all, I didn't want to assume anything so this clears it up nicely.
 
Thanks for that, Ron.
I figured it would be straight forward form the outset, but when I googled this topic I found images with 3 pins used and the others not connected at all, I didn't want to assume anything so this clears it up nicely.
 
The 3 pins on most diagrams are the ones that are going to be used most of the time. Pins 4&5 are only normally used when two compatible devices (usually from the same manufacturer) support bidirectional communication - eg if you connect a Rocktron Prophecy and an All Access together, you can show the Prophecy's patch names on the All Access without connecting up a 2nd cable. Pins 6&7 are used for phantom powering MIDI controllers (except the Ground Control and GCX, which use pins 4&5 for this, just to be awkward).
 
Just being picky here, but the bidirectional data pins are actually pins 1 and 3. Data is on pins 4 and 5, and pin 2 is grounded, but only on the transmitting side. DIN connectors use an odd numbering scheme (attached)

The soldering technique for the cables is the only difficult part - it definitely takes some patience!
 

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