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Alesis DM5
- Thread starter -Asdfgh-
- Start date
Nope, but...
If you're having trouble getting a particular cable in, check the pins on that cable end.
If you're having trouble getting any cable in, check for gunk in the DM5's MIDI in socket.
If you're having trouble keeping a particular cable in, bend one pin ever-so-slightly.
If you're having trouble getting a particular cable in, check the pins on that cable end.
If you're having trouble getting any cable in, check for gunk in the DM5's MIDI in socket.
If you're having trouble keeping a particular cable in, bend one pin ever-so-slightly.
None of my decent MIDI cables fit properly in either MIDI socket of the DM5 I have in my rack, because they won't go deep enough, so it's unlikely to be dirt or bent pins . I'll check on my second DM5. But the cheap cable with pins made from tiny tubes rather than entirely solid metal go right in...
I've ordered a couple of the cheapest MIDI cables I could find in the hope they are cheap enough to fit.
I don't think there's a design issue with all DM5s. Although Alesis sold a truckload of DM4s and DM5s back in the day, and you used to see them in studios and live racks everywhere in the 90s, I don't recall ever hearing about systematic problems with the MIDI jacks. I've still got an ancient DM4 seeing occasional use as a trigger-to-MIDI convertor, and I've never had a problem with the MIDI jacks.
But it's still possible that either a QC lapse left your particular unit with a whacked jack, or (likelier) something happened in the field to leave its jack out-of-spec. So I'd still give it a visual inspection, and maybe spray the plug one of your "cheap" MIDI cables with Deoxit, and exercise the DM5's input jack a few times.
If that doesn't work, I'd wonder where your "decent" cables are hitting physical resistance. They might use overly thick pins as a perverse kind of feature—the way Monster instrument cables used such a thick plug that it eventually would bend the input jack on the instrument, causing it to short with a regular plug. Or, if those "decent" cables use a plastic housing, I've seen designs in which the housing keeps the plug from fulling mating with the DIN jacks on some gear.
In that case, ignore the purchase price and use the cables that work.
But it's still possible that either a QC lapse left your particular unit with a whacked jack, or (likelier) something happened in the field to leave its jack out-of-spec. So I'd still give it a visual inspection, and maybe spray the plug one of your "cheap" MIDI cables with Deoxit, and exercise the DM5's input jack a few times.
If that doesn't work, I'd wonder where your "decent" cables are hitting physical resistance. They might use overly thick pins as a perverse kind of feature—the way Monster instrument cables used such a thick plug that it eventually would bend the input jack on the instrument, causing it to short with a regular plug. Or, if those "decent" cables use a plastic housing, I've seen designs in which the housing keeps the plug from fulling mating with the DIN jacks on some gear.
In that case, ignore the purchase price and use the cables that work.
I haven't got as far as checking the other one yet.
It's both in and out, so it would have to have happened to both!
Nor me, and it includes new cables and 15 year old ones, plastic and metal bodies, but the issue is within the first 5mm of insertion.
Unfortuantely those are captive on a cheap MIDI interface I had laying around.
The second DM5 is fine. So I'll try shoving the cables into the first one a bit harder 
. I have to pull the rack out the cupboard it's in first (keeps things tidy) to access it, but since I forgot to put the cables to the triggers in I have to do that anyway, and reposition the whole unit for a bit more accessibility.
. I have to pull the rack out the cupboard it's in first (keeps things tidy) to access it, but since I forgot to put the cables to the triggers in I have to do that anyway, and reposition the whole unit for a bit more accessibility.
