Members Tedster Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 And I bet you do, too... Why cords and cables make you want to SCREAM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 God, do I. And I hate studio spaghetti, and I hate stage spaghetti, and I am HYPER-prone to practically COMICAL problems with each. You're hitting my hot button with this issue, Ted... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 I use ties for a lot of my studio stuff, but it doesn't matter. It's better, but it still doesn't matter. I think it takes a special sort of organizational sickness to be able to successfully combat cord spaghetti. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 Well... cables don't tend to get knotted as frequently (by themselves or with other cables) when both ends of the cables are in fixed positions. And, as most gigging musicians know sooner rather than later, your cable coils will be a lot less trouble when you learn how to -- and take the trouble to -- coil the cable without twists. I'm someone who, in certain (not entirely rare) moods, can fly into a blind rage of frustration that manifests in a Tourette's-like spew of colorful but compulsively repeated vulgarities... (I have, at this late point in life, found a way to divorce the get-things-done part of my brain from the compulsively-spewing vulgarities part of my brain and can actually proceed in a vaguely sensible path -- but it's not pretty.) When I was gigging with my all-improv one man echo loop act, Frippenstein, I ended up with a rig that often had 70-80 cables -- many of them the particularly nasty, super small gauge wall-wart type low power cabling (because of all the modules and FX). I was able to keep a few things wired but it was overwhelmingly setup/tear down stuff. So, the potential was there for nastiness on every gig., pretty bigtime. Unwilling to have a scary and embarrassing tantrum in front of a bunch of people already fidgeting as set up invariably took the better part of an hour, I had to teach myself a sort of Tao of cable handling and management. Of course, sometimes it's accompanied by a soto voce stream of polyhyphenated vulgaritities... but I've found my inner volume control. PS... I use a LOT of ties -- I prefer Velcro loops but I've also used a lot of those tooth-and-slot plastic ties they used to supply with high end garbage bags. They're not that great for garbage bags but the bright yellow ones are my favorite (next to the much more expensive Velcro loop -- but I don't use the commercially available "purposed" velcro loops... which can cost more than a dollar a pop. I go down to Home Depot and but a roll of the stuff. At the bottom of the cable tie hierarchy, is string -- which I've used in a few pinches. Just above that are plastic covered wire twist-ties. White preferred but most that come my way seem to be black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members D Charles Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 Well, according to that article, you just need to use cords 1 & 1/2 feet or shorter and no worries! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 Pre-studio re-wire: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted October 5, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 Pre-studio re-wire: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 I think some of my cables may have been made in Asia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeff Leites Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 Velcro Cable Ties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 5, 2007 Members Share Posted October 5, 2007 I use a bunch of snakes for the back of my rack, and that helps too. But I've made an awkward transition from my really poor days when it was just a hodge-podge of cables to now. It's not horrible, but it could be so much better. I have tried to label everything, which really helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oliver Chesler Posted October 8, 2007 Members Share Posted October 8, 2007 Here is a blog post I made about this issue called "Use rubberbands as cable ties.": http://www.wiretotheear.com/2007/10/03/use-rubberbands-as-cable-ties/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike McLenison Posted October 8, 2007 Members Share Posted October 8, 2007 These guys could have used wireless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 8, 2007 Moderators Share Posted October 8, 2007 I love that picture. Is that Help! era? I see a Fender Twin and a grand piano which says later. But the hair and suits says earlier. Anyone know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted October 8, 2007 Members Share Posted October 8, 2007 And I bet you do, too...Why cords and cables make you want to SCREAM! That's a safe bet Tedster! I hated it so much that I recently took my keyboard rig to a custom cable solution using multipin connectors. It consists of a custom cable harness that carries 13 connections (L - R Output channels, MIDI In, MIDI Out and Pedal connections for two keyboards) and connects via a multipin connector to a junction box on a pedal board. A second harness connects to the junction box via multipin connector and runs via a single cable to my rack to make the connections to my MIDI interface, amp and rack unit. It wires up in less than two minutes - and is clean as a whistle! No more spaghetti for me!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oliver Chesler Posted October 8, 2007 Members Share Posted October 8, 2007 Im telling you guys... rubber bands. Also useful when fans in the audience misbehave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike McLenison Posted October 9, 2007 Members Share Posted October 9, 2007 I love that picture. Is that Help! era? I see a Fender Twin and a grand piano which says later. But the hair and suits says earlier. Anyone know? Not sure. The black oyster pearl drum wrap is another clue it was earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wwrwizam Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 There seems to be quite a lot of posts on this forum regarding cable management. I developed a product to deal with this. It's new and still in developement, but so far its worked out pretty well in all kinds of different cable management situations. http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/sys/1090648597.html If you have specific needs, I would love to hear them and am totally willing to adapt the product to the need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 My mother came to my apartment last month. And in the middle of our conversation, she suddenly gesticulated toward the mass of cable spaghetti attached to my computer. She shrieked: "Son, I can't believe this is the way you LIVE!! This place, this tangle of cables, represents your mind, don't you see that??" It was totally out of left field, I thought. But I had to consider: my cables look like total confusion to the innocent visitor to my apartment.... and yet, I'd spent many an hour getting those cables hooked up JUST SO.... exactly the way they needed to be. They look like chaos... but actually, they keep my whole little audio world in perfect functioning.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 My mother came to my apartment last month. And in the middle of our conversation, she suddenly gesticulated toward the mass of cable spaghetti attached to my computer. She shrieked: "Son, I can't believe this is the way you LIVE!! This place, this tangle of cables, represents your mind, don't you see that??" It was totally out of left field, I thought. But I had to consider: my cables look like total confusion to the innocent visitor to my apartment.... and yet, I'd spent many an hour getting those cables hooked up JUST SO.... exactly the way they needed to be. They look like chaos... but actually, they keep my whole little audio world in perfect functioning.... so, she's got an iMac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 so, she's got an iMac? She does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members spokenward Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 She does. yeah, that's gonna be complicated. The good news is that you are probably used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 She shrieked: "Son, I can't believe this is the way you LIVE!! This place, this tangle of cables, represents your mind, don't you see that??" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John Sayers Posted March 26, 2009 Members Share Posted March 26, 2009 It will be wireless - not just internet/phones but power as well. Your laptop will get power on the wireless feed. So will your car, washing machine and reading lamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hard Truth Posted March 27, 2009 Members Share Posted March 27, 2009 The dirty truth is that most jobs with titles such as stagehand, roadie, audio engineer, field sound recordist etc would be more accurately described as "cable management technician." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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