Interface to monitor connection

[ef37a]

Please calm down folks. Nobody needs this.

I could not agree more Drew.

Dave.

[Arpangel]

Please calm down folks. Nobody needs this.

Come on chaps, now I know why we won’t let Trump use our air bases, they are already taken.
I'm not innocent though, I can definitely remember when I asked someone to "step outside" after he refuted my claim that green cable sounded better than black.

[Sam Spoons]

I can definitely remember when I asked someone to "step outside" after he refuted my claim that green cable sounded better than black.

Was that because the green cable had wire inside and the black one pasta?

[Matt Houghton]

Blimey, you leave a thread for five minutes... Put the handbags down please, gents!

I like standardisation, but I really dislike USB-C. But the connectors are flimsy and come out way too easily. The strain relief on cables is generally awful. The sockets are hard to clean. And people 'borrow' your cables all the bloomin' time. Other than that, it's a wonderful piece of design.

[ef37a]

Blimey, you leave a thread for five minutes... Put the handbags down please, gents!

I like standardisation, but I really dislike USB-C. But the connectors are flimsy and come out way too easily. The strain relief on cables is generally awful. The sockets are hard to clean. And people 'borrow' your cables all the bloomin' time. Other than that, it's a wonderful piece of design.

I agree with most of that Matt but I thought C was the best we have if, as I suspect, manufacturers are going to go for a really compact connector...we don't want another one do we!! Yes, they are not as strong as XLRs, little is but I would aver they are the most rugged of all the USB plugs? As to retention, I use ~25x25mm adhesive pads on kit that takes a cable tie. My laptop supplies have one to take the strain off the DC output exit point. The C cable to my M4 is cable tied to the shelf it sits on. I don't swap cables about. I have one for each device pretty much and if you cable tie the fekkers down peeps can't pinch them!

Otherwise I really like RJ45s, maybe because I worked with the system for ten years. They can stand standing on. The plugs and cable are cheap as chips but yes, the crimp tool is a bit pricey. If I had the need of a MIDI patch bay I would build it with CATx modules.

Dave.

[ef37a]

Just had a thought, because the C plug is a fairly strong continuous metal sleeve there could be a 'caming' mechanism inside the port and an M3 pozi screw used to lock the plug?

Dave

[Matt Houghton]

I would aver they are the most rugged of all the USB plugs?

Really? Not in my experience. The key drivers behind this connector's adoption as a standard, at least in terms of the physical form, are (a) size (it can be accommodated in tiny devices like smartphones and even smaller things that require recharging) and (b) that it works 'both ways up'. They might be marginally less prone to bending than a micro USB, but they're not what I'd call robust. And it's incredibly easy to get things stuck in the ports that are very tricky to extract/remove.

I like RJ45s too. And all sorts of other larger, more robust connectors. But they're not small enough for all of the above.

Besides, now it's the EU standard for charging devices, USB-C won't be going anywhere soon, so there's little point getting further into it. Unless we start to think in terms of USB-C breakout adaptors like you get for HDMI, Ethernet etc...

Ah well, at least cables will always be readily available!

[ef37a]

I would aver they are the most rugged of all the USB plugs?

Really? Not in my experience. The key drivers behind this connector's adoption as a standard, at least in terms of the physical form, are (a) size (it can be accommodated in tiny devices like smartphones and even smaller things that require recharging) and (b) that it works 'both ways up'. They might be marginally less prone to bending than a micro USB, but they're not what I'd call robust. And it's incredibly easy to get things stuck in the ports that are very tricky to extract/remove.

I like RJ45s too. And all sorts of other larger, more robust connectors. But they're not small enough for all of the above.

Besides, now it's the EU standard for charging devices, USB-C won't be going anywhere soon, so there's little point getting further into it. Unless we start to think in terms of USB-C breakout adaptors like you get for HDMI, Ethernet etc...

Ah well, at least cables will always be readily available!

Are you thinking of the B plug? Yes, pretty tough still I would aver not "boot proof'. Clogged ports? I have had phones for years with micro USB and now C and never had that problem.

Then 'B' also had a higher speed variant and that looks rather vulnerable and I hope we have seen the last of that flat thing with a kink in it! Don't know its name. I have an external drive with that. PITA.

Nothing wrong with staying with DIN but "they" will want small so I think it makes sense to go with the least worse option? And as you say Matt, cables are very available and cheap.

Dave.

[Arpangel]

MIDI over DIN is fine, why change it?

[Hugh Robjohns]

Unusually, for once I agree with you...

[James Perrett]

Clogged ports? I have had phones for years with micro USB and now C and never had that problem.

I guess you don't put your USB-C equipped phone in your pocket then. I've found it a big problem with USB-C.

[ef37a]

Clogged ports? I have had phones for years with micro USB and now C and never had that problem.

I guess you don't put your USB-C equipped phone in your pocket then. I've found it a big problem with USB-C.

I do, James but it is the inside pocket of a coat and very clean! But now you have mentioned it I shall try to put it in upside down so that the USB port is not buried in the fluff.

But then 't'appen, I have been trying to remove the ball end of a jack plug in a jack in a Behringer mixer I want to send to son for his band. No amount of poking with a bent paper clip would shift it, tried chewing gum on the end of 4mm drill, nope. Then in bit of a hissy fit I banged the jacks on my thigh. Sorted it! That has saved me pulling a zillion knobs off and about the same number of screws.

Dave.

[Martin Walker]

...Then in bit of a hissy fit I banged the jacks on my thigh. Sorted it! That has saved me pulling a zillion knobs off and about the same number of screws.

Well fancy that - a hissy fit CAN occasionally be productive!

[Matt Houghton]

Clogged ports? I have had phones for years with micro USB and now C and never had that problem.

I guess you don't put your USB-C equipped phone in your pocket then. I've found it a big problem with USB-C.

Yes, this. But not just phones in pockets — other devices like BT speakers have suffered in bags. Whatever the reason for it getting clogged, it can, and once it is, it can be a real ****** to fix without taking the whole thing apart!

[Matt Houghton]

MIDI over DIN is fine, why change it?

Because the DIN is bigger than some actual devices? The Minijack alternative, plus adapters where necessary seems to me to work fine.

[ef37a]

MIDI over DIN is fine, why change it?

Because the DIN is bigger than some actual devices? The Minijack alternative, plus adapters where necessary seems to me to work fine.

But, doesn't the new MIDI need more conductors? Been to bed since the SoS article.

Dave.

[Arpangel]

Unusually, for once I agree with you...

Hugh, sometimes, I’m actually normal. It’s another side of me you rarely see, I don’t show it very often, simply because it’s a bit faded.