How long midi cable

My band's audience loves it, as proven by yesterday's gig. Anyway, all of the above is irrelevant to my question. How long can my MIDI cable practically be? The specs say 'recommended maximum is 20 feet, absolute maximum 50 ft. Have any of you experienced [un]reliable behavior when using a 50 ft. Keyboard Corner Island. Re: maximum MIDI cable length? Joined: Jan I never had one single problem. I think the 20' spec you mention is simply way conservative and pretty sure I've heard of folks using ' with no problems.

Regards, Eric. I have been using it with my Keytar for about 3 or 4 years and it works great. Long battery life, great range and no interference. Check it out Joined: Nov Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I have no experience with this unit, though. Maybe another forumite does? Chapel Hill, NC. Gismo Recording. I don't think there is a maximum. As long as the thickness of the wire is adequate. Of course at some point there will be a delay caused by the amount of time it takes the signal to travel the length of the cable, but that's like one microsecond for every feet.

Joined: May There is a maximum but it is way longer than most MIDI rigs ever get to - 50' should be no problem. One problem is the voltage drop in long cables as the signal is unbalanced. If your Keytar has a lower voltage to start with then it will not be able to run over as long a length as normal. You can get coiled MIDI cables Hosa makes some which I highly recommended for non-stationary instruments such as Keytar and wind controller.

Sunny Florida. Signals travel, as stated, at roughly about 1 nanosecond per foot. Hello, and hello. Thank you both for answers. Split - did you use any connectors for your long CAT5 usb-midi runs?

You have 4 twisted pairs in a CAT 5 cable, take your pick. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. I agree. MIDI cables lenght? Log in or register to post comments 50 views. The midi cable itself probably will not induce any audible latency. If you are running like ft of cable you may get a few microseconds delay, but most people cant notice less than 20 milliseconds. I would wonder what your buffers are set at, and maybe the midi box you are using.

Those would be my guesses as to where the delay is coming from. With conventional MIDI cables any longer cable length could cause corrupted midi data or intermittent signals resulting in notes not triggering, sequencers not starting, channels not switching or missed or wrong notes being played or not during sequences, which, during a concert or performance could be a major disaster!

If you have been searching for a way to run much longer midi connections with error free transmission then your in luck! Again without any interference or loss of data!

Well without getting overly technical here is what is happening. This results in error free transmission over distances of up to feet. Ok here the standard MIDI signals are converted into pulses of light which are then sent through fiber optic cable. Since the fiber optic cable is virtually immune to electrical interference, it can be routed wherever convenient without regard the proximity of electrical noise producers, water or high voltages.

In addition since fiber optic cable is totally non-conducting, ground loops, which can result in loss or corruption of data, are virtually eliminated. From the recording studio to the stage, there are many possibilities and we are only just beginning to see the full potential of the Midi extender line.

Musicians on arena concert tours can now run midi equipment from off stage without the worries of cable length! Why would you need this? Say your keyboard player's normal rig consists of a mountain of keyboards, modules computer gear and rack gadgets, however you want to have a sleek looking stage without any extra equipment except for one or two controllers. Same deal! Say your running sequences from a computer or Pro tools tracks and want to have the Pro Tools rig stationed off stage somewhere that is not in close proximity to you like back stage or at the front of house mixing console, you will definitely need more than 50 ft.