Anyone Know Exactly what is going on with MFC in Australia?

well, mine turned up yesterday, after standard house crap I will plug it in today and get it going. Hopefully I'll get a 7 pin cable MIDI cable soon to get things cabled the way I want...
I also need to figure out the best way to actually cable the Axe as I'll want it plugged into my computer MIDI port and the MFC at the same time. I am sure I'll find posts on the forum of people trying to do the same thing!
 
That cant be done using a 7 core 7 pin midi cable from MFC to Axe (Im assuming you want to do that for Axe Edit?). you get conflicts. it does work with 5 core 7 pin cables, or standard 5 pin connections (no fantom power though).

ultimately at home I run 5 pin from PC to MFC in, 7 Pin 5 core from MFC out to Axe in, 5 Pin from Axe out to PC in. For gigs, I have a 7 core 7 pin to go MFC to Axe and thats it.
 
I can confirm that neither of my two rocktron 7pin cables allow me 2way communication between the MFC & Axe-Fx, no tuner or IA control.

Anybody know where I can get a 7pin that will work here in Australia?
 
I made my 7-pin midi cable. Before that I had a Hosa one - and I did a quick seach for "hosa 7 pin midi" and found quite a few resellers in Oz. It's not that solid but I keep it in the bag as a back up.
Richard
 
Last edited:
I made my 7-pin midi cable. Before that I had a Hosa one - and I did a quick seach for "hosa 7 pin midi" and found quite a few resellers in Oz. It's not that solid but I keen it in the bag as a back up.
Richard

Thanks mate, i just ordered a couple of the Hosa cables from the local music store, non of the three local stores had any in stock, then i did an ebay search and found the same model in the U.S. but it says that it's not a true midi cable but was designed for powering ADA & some rocktron footpedals so now i'm a little worried they won't work, fingers crossed.
I'm still baffled that the two different rocktron ones i have that are advertised and sold as 7pin cables don't work, very strange.
 
I got the hosa one to use with my LFJr/Ultra. THe hosa one works but it is a bit of a pain as one end is straight and the other 90 degrees. The 90deg end points up so it spoils access to the 9vac phantom in on the back of the ultra - hence it ends up sticking up higher than the back of the LFJr. It's OK on the MFC101 as it's a much taller unit.

AND I just checked and the Hosa definitely works with my MFC101 and AxeFx Ultra.

Another option (although from the US) is:
http://best-tronics.com/guitar-cable/MIDI/midi7.aspx

Richard
 
I got the hosa one to use with my LFJr/Ultra. THe hosa one works but it is a bit of a pain as one end is straight and the other 90 degrees. The 90deg end points up so it spoils access to the 9vac phantom in on the back of the ultra - hence it ends up sticking up higher than the back of the LFJr. It's OK on the MFC101 as it's a much taller unit.

AND I just checked and the Hosa definitely works with my MFC101 and AxeFx Ultra.

Another option (although from the US) is:
http://best-tronics.com/guitar-cable/MIDI/midi7.aspx

Richard

Phew excellent it should work, the right angle plug shouldn't cause me any problems on the back of the MFC anyway.

I saw the best-tronics one but am after one really quickly, it seems they are hard to find in aus, might be worth the distributor holding them for other aussies purchasing MFC's
 
I just ordered a Hosa 25' 7pin Midi cable for $22.95. Any local Hosa dealer should be able to get them for you.
 
"I'm still baffled that the two different rocktron ones i have that are advertised and sold as 7pin cables don't work, very strange."

its not hard really, its advertising. A standard MIDI cable has 5 pins - but only 3 are wired. Thats a ground and a data pair. its all you need. IF a unit is capable of being fantom powered, that power is applied on pins 6 and 7 pins of a 7 pin connector. Its done this was to prevent power being applied to a device by accident (if the receiving unit has wires connected to the pins NOT used for MIDI on a 5 pine socket).

It has become standard to refere to "5 Pin MIDI Cable" for one not capable of fantom power and "7 PIN MIDI Cable" for one that is. Normally you still only need a ground and one data pair fo MIDI to work - 99.9% of units are only capable of one way comms. Those that are capable of 2 use two midi cables (connected to send and return).

As far as Im aware the MFC is the only unit that handles communications both way down a single cable (though I dont know about the Gordius stuff and the Liquid Foot). However to do this is needs 2 data pairs (one each way) a ground and 2 power pins (though a 5 pin cables wired with 5 cores will do 2 way comms without fantom power).

Nowhere in the description of those rocktron cables does it state 7 CORE - only 7 PIN, and the cables are indeed terminated with 7 pins - but only 5 are wired as per the standard MIDI format.
 
The cable itself is good quality (a bit too good for MIDI to be honest!).

And yes, the work was fast. Ordered and received within a couple of days.
 
Back
Top Bottom