3.5mm MIDI to 3.5mm MIDI

I am using Rample with Five 12 Vector where Vector is configured to have a drum track that is sent over a MIDI out. It appears Vector and Rample use opposing 3.5mm MIDI standards so as of right now I cannot simply connect a dual male 3.5 mm stereo and have them communicate. I have to use a 3.5mm to MIDI DIN with a standard MIDI cable in between, which works without issue-it’s just bulky. Is there a way to make/buy a cable that does not need the dongles?

you need a midi trs A - trs b

retrokits have one.

(unfortunately, this kind of cable is very specific to music production, as the rest of the world doesn’t need to swap the left and right channel :wink: )


you can also make one up very simply from an existing TRS cable, all you need to do is cross-over the tip and ring wire.

so cut the cable…you’ll find 3 wires…
(i assume cable is moulded so you cannot get inside the 3.5mm jack)

one is ground (sleeve), the other goes to tip, the 3rd to sleever

use something like a continuity tester to determine which colour is ground/sleeve.
e.g. say you have red/blue/black… put one probe of continuity tester on sleeve, then touch each wire in turn, see which one beeps, thats then ground.( *1 )

then reconnect the two ends of the cable… and cross over wires. so in above example, connect red-blue, blue-red , then black to black.

really you’ll want to carefully solder the wires together, and put electrical insulation tape around to protect. (*2)

for a better DIY solution, you could buy a TRS jack, then solder the cable to the new jack, rather than trying to solder two cables together which is quite weak - this is then basically what the retrokits cables is.

lots of other diy options, eg. make a converter cable with jack + socket, or get two sockets and wire on a pcb. this way you can use normal TRS cables.


important note
as with all DIY, its your gear, your risk… i take no responsibility for this :wink:

( *1 ) most likely the ground/sleeve will be black, also you could just connect make this assumption and then test… this should not damage anything - tip and ring, momentarily ground anyway when you plug them in, so gear has to protect for this momentary short.
(but see above note ;))

( *2 ) for testing you can initially just wrap the wires together, but this won’t hold up to be pulled etc.

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https://www.xoxomodular.com/midixo.html

This works well

A more readily available solution, but less elegant, is using these:
image

Then plugging red into white and vice-versa

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