Conference napalm::commusic_v1

    Find a local hardware type that has catalogs.  Amphenol has a zillion
    different connectors and you could use just about any of them (at least
    the ones with a sufficient number of contacts) to accomplish your goal
    here.  One thing that you can do to reduce the number of contacts you
    need (and thereby reduce the cost and labor involved in this effort) is
    to utilize a set of common ground contacts (say three big ones) instead
    of one for each cable.
    
    Alternatively, isn't there a way you can reconfigure these racks to
    reduce the number of interconnects?
    

I'm not sure what you want to do, but it it's just an audio signal, you could
put 1/4 inch phone jacks (available from many sources, including Radio
Shack) in both racks, and route the audio signals thru a regular sheilded
cable. If it's MIDI, you can also buy the 5 pin DIN jacks at many places
(including radio shack). As long as you get the connections correct, you
can have quick detach cables on all of your racks. I do - I have 2 racks
that talk to each other thru MIDI and audio, and I use 3 20 foot cables;
2 midi, and 1 audio, these are held together with nylon wire ties every
foot. The MIDI cables are color coded - ie, green tape on the ends of one
MIDI cable and yellow tape on the other MIDI cable - Red on the Audio cable.
I made a junction box out of a small aluminum box (From Radio Shack) and
I put sets of panel mount female 5 pin DIN jacks and 1/4" phone jacks
on each rack - Used a paint brush to mark colors by each connection and
a magic marker to say (in 4 letters) what each was. To wire midi jacks,
you need only 3 conductor (actually 2 conductor with a shield) cable
(You can also get this at Radio Shack), the 2 outside connections are not
used, so you don't need to wire them.

      Looking down on
       the side you 
	 solder to
    N/C	o          o N/C	  If you wire the MIDI connectors up
				  like this, you can make 20 foot long
      Red o      o White	  cables quite easily. These colors are
              o   		  the ones in the RS 2 conductor audio
	     Sheild		  cable - I use them only for reference.


For the ones that connect the junction box to your MIDI gear, make them about
2 feet long and wire the female end after you have mounted it in a metal
box (or any kind of holder), then plug in the male jack, then wire the mail
jack so that the red wires go to the same connection on the male & female
jacks, and the white wires to the same.

Once you are done, plug the cables into your MIDI gear, and test the full rig.
One additional advantage is that you now significantly reduce the wear on
your MIDI gears MIDI jacks, and if you break one of your junction box jacks,
you are only out around 75 cents to get it replaced (I doubt that the repairs
to your other MIDI gear would be that cheap). I've broken 2 jacks on the last
2 years, both times, someone tripped over one of my cables (it wasn't me
either time).

							Jens

    
    
    re: .2
    
    What I was suggesting is that you connect the shields of all of the
    audio cables to the shell of the connector, and for the unbalanced
    signals only, connect the ground of each signal to one of the
    designated ground contacts.  Naturally, you'll buss all of the ground
    contacts on each connector to each other.  Before you commit big bucks
    to this, though, use a bunch of test leads to implement this and verify
    that you're not introducing major ground loops into your system.  Also,
    obviously, you won't be tying either side of your balanced lines to the
    common ground.
    
    Another good thing to do - make sure that both racks are driven from
    the same AC outlet - in fact, if one rack is relatively low-powered,
    plug it into the other rack's AC strip and just run the "heavy" rack's
    lead out for power.
    
    Alternatives: (1) move everything into one big rack - fewer points of
    failure, or (2) install patchbays into the front of each rack, so that
    when you stack them all you need are short patch cables to connect the
    necessary functions.
    
    I vote for the patch bays - maximum flexibility!
    

    re: .4 
    
    I did considered a bigger rack but the weight and height makes it very
    difficult to carry around.
    
    I did considered hiring a some to carry (1 man road crew) the equipment
    and set it up.
    
    What I'm trying to accomplish its be able to set it quickly without 
    sweting to much.
    
    Regarding the patch bay, I have no more space in the racks and I must
    admit it was poor planing in my side because my initial idea was
    to have a mixer rack, SGU rack and Amp rack, each one easier to carry,
    less weight and one person can do it.
    
    I evaluating using a 50pin Amphenol connectors (the ones use by the 
    telephone comp.) so I only have to connect one to have all my
    audio signals properly routed. My only worry is crosstalk between
    them.
    
    Thanks for the inputs.