|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Jan 28, 2020 19:41:29 GMT
This is my current method of patch cable storage and retrieval for playing.  It's literally the box my first set of patch cables were stored in, and it's not going to work with the second set visible in the upper-left piled in there, too. It's not great; in fact, it's nearly impossible to grab just one wire of any length other than yellow. Even sorted and wound up, the wires form a rat's nest, and wrapping them is tedious and damaging, I feel. I'd love to see how you manage your cables, and any DIY solutions you've been brainstorming. |
|
|
|
Post by NightMachines on Jan 28, 2020 20:05:56 GMT
I did the same thing with that box at first and I’ve been wondering about storage ever since as well. Right now I just have a little sack in which the tangled cables are contained. I thought about making a wide pouch from cloth with a zipper or something, using my partner’s sewing machine a while ago, but haven’t had the time to do it.
|
|
|
|
Post by MikMo on Jan 28, 2020 20:42:35 GMT
I tried to make a little rack for the patch cables. Just a piece of acrylic sheet with some grooves cut to hang them from.
I failed miserably because of not having a good tool for cutting the grooves. A laser cutter would probably be good for the job.
|
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Jan 29, 2020 1:16:13 GMT
I did the same thing with that box at first and I’ve been wondering about storage ever since as well. Right now I just have a little sack in which the tangled cables are contained. I thought about making a wide pouch from cloth with a zipper or something, using my partner’s sewing machine a while ago, but haven’t had the time to do it. I feel like using the box is its own little rite for all new AEM players. As a visually-impaired person, I tend to prefer differing objects to be sorted by location rather than by, say, color; i.e. it took me about a month to reliably tell the difference between the blue and grey patch cables while they both stared at me from the box. A pouch per cable size, or perhaps "big" and "small" or anything granular in between would help, especially for transport. Adam Savage discusses " first-order retrievability" on YouTube for tool organization and I love applying the concept to any project that requires multiple parts for workflow. So any pouch that props itself open and accessible would be a good solution. I tried to make a little rack for the patch cables. Just a piece of acrylic sheet with some grooves cut to hang them from. Something like this?  At breadboard cable size, it would basically look like a comb. The larger header thickness is what would hold them in place, which is a pretty slim ledge for AEM. But, I bet if you oversized the gaps between teeth and put a little squishy foam on either side to fill the gaps, the slight compression of the foam would hold everything up. I think it would work. Actually, it would be perfect for a stationary setup. My synth is perpetually moved around due to lack of space, so I don't think a 2-foot (green 55cm patch cables) tall hanging rack would work for me. But I wonder... if they were hung up by the center point and the tips drooped down, overall height would be shorter. Hmm. Perhaps with a few pegs mounted on the "wall" for the longer cables to be zig-zagged around would shorten the height enough for it to be portable? A few strips of powerful magnets, or magnetized female pin headers, may also work. I worry about magnetizing the pin heads over time, though; would it affect signal transmission? Accuracy? Hmm. |
|
|
|
Post by admin on Jan 29, 2020 4:28:37 GMT
We have plenty of these plastic lunch boxes which are perfect. There's also a lid and when I pack up parts of my equipment then there's room in there for a mobile phone battery and other cables:  |
|
|
|
Post by MikMo on Jan 29, 2020 6:11:55 GMT
#Young protoboard, yes like that, except i tried to make it standing, not wallmounted.
|
|
|
|
Post by loopier on Jan 29, 2020 14:55:47 GMT
I've wondered how to deal with this, too, and I'm also using the original box. Your comments made me think of this possible solution, using a spare small breadboard, that could even be attached to a panel. Or maybe a perfboard, but the pins don't hold very well there.
|
|
|
|
Post by thetechnobear on Jan 30, 2020 11:46:22 GMT
I use the wooden box from a koma field kit ( they sell b grade ones cheap  Nice thing about ae patch cables is they don’t tangle as badly as eurorack ones. |
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Jan 31, 2020 6:39:03 GMT
Your comments made me think of this possible solution, using a spare small breadboard, that could even be attached to a panel. Or maybe a perfboard, but the pins don't hold very well there. This is cool, and inspires some thought about spreading this out in unused space. Perhaps some sort of rail mounted on the top- or bottom-most unused edge of a rack, secured in the threaded hinge kit holes, could hold strips of breadboard or female pin headers on Protoboard. Then they'd be secure, sort-able, and out of the way. This might be a good way to get rid of those pesky 6x28 hole Protoboard pieces I seem to have dozens of...Hmm... We have plenty of these plastic lunch boxes Your rainbow spaghetti lunch looks so pretty and delicious! |
|
|
|
Post by rodney on Feb 5, 2020 0:18:26 GMT
We have plenty of these plastic lunch boxes Your rainbow spaghetti lunch looks so pretty and delicious! ... always with a grain of salt ... |
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Feb 6, 2020 1:39:12 GMT
A radical idea that struck me yesterday: This is some foam that came from a shipping box. It's closed-cell and glued together in layers.   Anybody know what this stuff is called? I could see this working, given a large enough and well-anchored bit of foam... |
|
|
|
Post by Kobs Works on Feb 7, 2020 21:31:38 GMT
I just got my AE Rack a week or so ago, and I got frustrated with the cables as well, so this is what I came up with today. It's quick and dirty, I may fix it up at some point to be a bit prettier (probably not).  All it is is a couple pieces of PVC cut to length with a foam stopper in the bottoms, zip-tied together, then a piece of 550 cord for the lanyard/strap thing through the middle so I can hang it on my desk. For me, it fixes the issue of all of the cables getting wrapped together, and I have yet to have an issue only pulling one out at a time. I want a more space-saving measure at some point, but this solves the organization issue for now. |
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Feb 16, 2020 22:48:33 GMT
I just got my AE Rack a week or so ago, and I got frustrated with the cables as well, so this is what I came up with today. It's quick and dirty, I may fix it up at some point to be a bit prettier (probably not). I wish I could view your photo! Love those DIY ingredients. My final package arrived a few days ago (<3) and this comb-shaped foam was used for padding. My bench time has all but disappeared the past few weeks, so my prototyping is quick and dirty:  It's: 1. Sortable, by color and length 2. Tilted, to accommodate cable length and for a smaller footprint And, unfortunately: 3. Just butt-ugly, 4. flimsy, 5. not free-standing. Perhaps a properly-notched dowel, on its own stand, would work on the same principle... Regardless, here's an idea to throw on the idea pile! |
|
|
|
Post by rodney on Feb 17, 2020 19:55:10 GMT
This is some foam that came from a shipping box. It's closed-cell and glued together in layers. Damn! that is such neat idea, especially for live gigs. In my case, because I have my synths on a guitar strap, I could even mount some on the strap itself. I'll be watching the dumpsters for closed-cell foam from now.
Realistically though, I don't think my eyesight will ever be up to serious live patching with AE modular. Just can't see or feel where I am without good light and my reading glasses. But, I feel more secure with a few spares in case I change my mind at the last moment. Currently, I have a bunch of leads stuffed in the pocket of my white lab-coat. I could velcro these onto my coat too.  |
|
|
|
Post by loopier on Feb 20, 2020 14:58:44 GMT
At breadboard cable size, it would basically look like a comb. hmmm... that made me think: "why not just use a comb"? I tried and I must say it works very very well. It's fast and very easy to put cables in, pull them out, and to sort them by size or color. It works better than the breadboard solution I mentioned above. This solution is actually pretty convenient and I think I'm going to stick with it for the time being.
|
|
|
|
Post by NightMachines on Feb 26, 2020 11:38:52 GMT
At breadboard cable size, it would basically look like a comb. hmmm... that made me think: "why not just use a comb"? I tried and I must say it works very very well. It's fast and very easy to put cables in, pull them out, and to sort them by size or color. It works better than the breadboard solution I mentioned above. This solution is actually pretty convenient and I think I'm going to stick with it for the time being.
Haha! Nice! I’ve got those “proper” cable rake hangers for my other cables and always thought something like this wouldn’t exist for our tiny AEM cables ... yet the solution was sitting just meters away in my bathroom  |
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Feb 27, 2020 5:45:50 GMT
hmmm... that made me think: "why not just use a comb"? I tried and I must say it works very very well. It's fast and very easy to put cables in, pull them out, and to sort them by size or color. It works better than the breadboard solution I mentioned above. This solution is actually pretty convenient and I think I'm going to stick with it for the time being.
Haha! Nice! I’ve got those “proper” cable rake hangers for my other cables and always thought something like this wouldn’t exist for our tiny AEM cables ... yet the solution was sitting just meters away in my bathroom The solution is so pure, and it makes me so happy. I can't wait to get funny looks as I shove a bright yellow patch cable into comb after comb on the wall of the store...  |
|
|
|
Post by Gaëtan on Feb 28, 2020 22:13:58 GMT
I just repurposed an empty wall plug box. I had the idea of doing the same thing with a cigar box, but I didn't have time to make the dividers. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by admin on Feb 28, 2020 22:22:46 GMT
Wow, this looks like the neatest storage solution yet! And very portable as well.
|
|
Lugia
Wiki Editors
Ridiculously busy...ish.
Posts: 556 
|
Post by Lugia on Feb 28, 2020 22:40:18 GMT
Hmmmmm...that wall plug box gives ME an idea. Need to get up to Field & Stream and have a look at tackle boxes...
|
|
Lakef
Junior Member
Posts: 64
|
Post by Lakef on Mar 1, 2020 20:14:37 GMT
At breadboard cable size, it would basically look like a comb. hmmm... that made me think: "why not just use a comb"? I tried and I must say it works very very well. It's fast and very easy to put cables in, pull them out, and to sort them by size or color. It works better than the breadboard solution I mentioned above. This solution is actually pretty convenient and I think I'm going to stick with it for the time being.
You Sir! You are a genius!
|
|
|
|
Post by young Protoboard on Mar 2, 2020 23:52:09 GMT
I just repurposed an empty wall plug box. I had the idea of doing the same thing with a cigar box, but I didn't have time to make the dividers. I love this! Goals: Drill some small holes and feed the patch cables through so that you can pull them out one at a time like tissues from a tissue box. |
|
Lugia
Wiki Editors
Ridiculously busy...ish.
Posts: 556
|
Post by Lugia on Mar 3, 2020 1:49:50 GMT
I just repurposed an empty wall plug box. I had the idea of doing the same thing with a cigar box, but I didn't have time to make the dividers. I love this! Goals: Drill some small holes and feed the patch cables through so that you can pull them out one at a time like tissues from a tissue box. Or perhaps not...after all, plenty of other musicians constantly accuse us modular users of "musical masturbation". No need to give 'em more evidence toward that conclusion!
|
|
|
|
Post by loopier on Mar 4, 2020 10:52:10 GMT
The solution is so pure, and it makes me so happy. I can't wait to get funny looks as I shove a bright yellow patch cable into comb after comb on the wall of the store... Haha! My thorough research led me to the conclusion that the best comb size is the one with the midium-sized comb pin spacing (there where 3 spacing sizes in the dollar-store where I got mine). |
|
Lugia
Wiki Editors
Ridiculously busy...ish.
Posts: 556
|
Post by Lugia on Mar 5, 2020 3:04:11 GMT
The studio actually has a slatgrid panel still planned to go between the "Sandbox", where all of the modular/patchable toys are, and the multitrack workstation area. One side will have some shelves for stompboxes, but the OTHER side uses some of these: www.stringswing.com/keyboard-wall-mounts/ for my Casio CZ-101 and SK-5 and the Yamaha VSS-30. But even with those, there's ample space still left for more shelves AND for some hangers to hold all sorts of patchcords.
This, naturally, ignores the fact that the patchcords will wind up all over the damned studio _anyway..._
|
|
