How can I tell by inspection if my USB cable is for audio or MIDI?

[alexis]

I have a USB A, female-to-USB mini, male cable. If I hadn't used it to transfer MIDI data between my computer and a hardware voice processor, I wouldn't know if it was for MIDI or audio, despite looking it over in detail - it simply has written on it:

• USB Cable AWM 2725 VW-1 80 degrees centigrade 30V 28AWG-IPR AND 28AWG-2C SHE

Or, gasp, does the same cable work for either? I've read two or three articles on line, and they suggest that's not the case, but don't come out and say so. Probably because everyone in the universe knows that answer except me

[Wonks]

USB is a standard. The only difference in cables is those for data+charging (the norm), and those for charging only (which normally come supplied with either the equipment requiring charging of a USB charger). Charging-only cables aren't really USB, just a similar format.

Any USB cable that can carry data can carry both audio and MIDI. (MIDI doesn't have anything like the data rate of audio). So you only have to make sure that the USB type (not connection type) of your devices is compatible.

If you have a USB 2 keyboard, then it's happy as long as what it's connecting to is USB 2 or USB 3.x

For a USB 3 keyboard, then you need a USB 3 port to connect it to.

And a very old USB1.1 keyboard should be happy with any USB 1.1, 2 or 3 port.

[The Elf]

USB cables carry data - lots of ones and zeros. They don't care what that data is. There's no such thing as a USB cable for audio or MIDI.

Just use good quality USB cables where it's important to you and you'll be fine.

[Hugh Robjohns]

USB cables carry data. That data could represent audio, or Midi, or video, or megabytes of stored information from a hard drive or memory card. The USB interface doesn't care.

But data can be transferred at different speeds, and the way a cable is constructed affects how quickly data can be transferred.

(NB. Some USB cables don't have the data lines connected, just the power lines. These are intended for charging/powering without permitting access to a device's data.)

Midi doesn't involve much data and it changes pretty slowly in modern computer terms. Audio involves more data and needs a faster transfer... and a hard drive involves a shed load of data and needs to move very fast if you're going to finish cloning that drive before you die.

So USB cables are specified in terms of maximum transfer speeds: the slowest is USB 1.0, faster is USB 2.0, fastest is USB 3.0... etc

Usually, the cable is marked with the USB speed, and sometimes the plastic 'tongue' in the USB connector is colour-coded to indicate the type.

White is USB 1.0 or 1.1
Black is USB 2.0
Blue is USB 3.0
Teal is USB 3.1 or 3.2

USB 1.0 and 1.1 are pretty much obsolete now. USB 2.0 is almost universal and can handle midi or many tens of audio channels. USB 3 is faster and slowly taking over...

[alexis]

Now I know ...

Thank you very much, Wonks, The Elf, and Hugh!

[Martin Walker]

Here's a handy image to cement this in our collective memories

[merlyn]

Those diagrams are of A connectors. The colour code is pretty random in its application. On my be quiet! case all the A connectors are black. Aesthetic reasons, I would suppose. On my MSI motherboard USB 3.0 is blue, and everything faster is red or USB C:
You may be able to see that the red ports are labelled SS 10 or SS 20. That's superspeed and the speed in Gb/s. That's an easier way to do it than than 3.1 gen 1, 3.1 gen 2 ... The important spec is the speed.

For cables the B end identifies USB 3.0 or above:

And USB 3.0 (or above) micro B:


No matter what colour it is, if it doesn't have that connector, it won't do USB 3.0 or above speed.