Midi cables as Din sync...

[binman_uk]

all of my midi cables work as din sync (and i've got like 30 of them). i get the cheap ones off ebay and all the required pins are wired for use as either midi or din. it's probably your hardware that's behaving weird and not the cables (my 909/727/727 are seriously out of time when sync'ed to ableton/mpc using a midi to din converter, but fine-ish using plain midi). they're fine when din-sync'ed to each other though, for example with the 707 as the master.

[m.o]

MIDI uses pins 2, 4 and 5 while apparently DIN sync uses 1, 2 and 3.
So if you use generic DIN cables with all 5 pins connected they should work for both/either, but if someone makes cheap Midi-specific cables chances are they use 2 or 3 wire cable.

[golden beers]

In my experience, some midi cables work. Others don't.

[Looneytune]

Originally Posted by conanb

Can regular midi cables be used as din sync cables? I'm finding it difficult to source din sync cables and I tried one of my midi cables. It made the units start in sync but the timing was messed up. Any suggestions?

yeah my midi cables all work fine with dinsync..
I have several brands and they all work just fine

[conanb]

Thanks for the replys. If the machines are starting together ( so there's some communication happening ) but they're not syncing could it still be the cable? Or once they're talking to each other that means the cable works but the machines are acting funny? I've got a tr808 syncing out to a tb303 but the 303 is playing 1.5 bars instead of 2 before starting its loop again. When u unplug the midi cable the 303 plays its full 2 bar loop again.

[binman_uk]

what happens if you sync them the other way round?

[conanb]

Hadn't thought of that. I'll be in the studio this afternoon, I'll give it a lash.

[rein]

never had problems with midi-cables as din-sync.

one thing i hate about syncing my TR boxes to ableton via DIN is that when the daw has a short hick up the TRs are out of sync. only way to get them synced again is by pressing pause and play.

very frustrating during live gigs..

[binman_uk]

Originally Posted by rein

never had problems with midi-cables as din-sync.

one thing i hate about syncing my TR boxes to ableton via DIN is that when the daw has a short hick up the TRs are out of sync. only way to get them synced again is by pressing pause and play.

very frustrating during live gigs..

indeed. seriously annoying. same happens when i sync them to my mpc though - it's not just ableton.

[conanb]

I'm looking forward to syncing everything with Ableton at some point but right now I just wanna sync them to each other. Once that's done I'm gonna sync them to the MPC and then once all that works I'll hook the whole thing up to Ableton. One step at a time sweet jesus.

[binman_uk]

Originally Posted by conanb

I'm looking forward to syncing everything with Ableton at some point but right now I just wanna sync them to each other. Once that's done I'm gonna sync them to the MPC and then once all that works I'll hook the whole thing up to Ableton. One step at a time sweet jesus.

All the information we posted is relevant to midi/din sync between synths and drum machines..... (sweet jesus!).

[conanb]

Sorry dude, not sure what your point is. I am talking about syncing synths and drum machines. I'm not going near the computer until all the synths and drum machines are talking to each other. I'm just enquiring about din sync at the moment, midi to follow at a later date.

[boon]

get the 5 pin din cables from radioshack. all the pins are connected. some midi cables don't have all the pins connected.

[conanb]

No RadioShack here in Ireland unfortunately. Think I found a couple from uk, will cost around $20 including shipping. That's more than I was hoping for but it's not a lot. What u reckon?

[binman_uk]

Originally Posted by conanb

No RadioShack here in Ireland unfortunately. Think I found a couple from uk, will cost around $20 including shipping. That's more than I was hoping for but it's not a lot. What u reckon?

as mentioned before, cheapest ones off ebay mate.
all of mine have been 100% fine.

[conanb]

Yeah, I'll defo have a look there. See if they're cheaper. Cheers.