The electrical specification says:

The cable shall be shielded twisted pair, with the shield connected only to pin 2 at both ends, as illustrated in Figure 3, below.
Do not connect the MIDI cable shield to the shield barrel of the MIDI plug.

[quotePost id=20635]The electrical specification says:

The cable shall be shielded twisted pair, with the shield connected only to pin 2 at both ends, as illustrated in Figure 3, below.
Do not connect the MIDI cable shield to the shield barrel of the MIDI plug.

[/quotePost]

Hi Clemens, thanks for your reply.
I'm aware of that official diagram which is why I'm confused to see some MIDI cables such as my Y-Splitter have 5 Cores for the 5 pins + cable Shield soldered to the MIDI jack/plug, & not the 4 Cores for 4 pins + cable Shield connected ONLY to Pin2 on both sides like I expected to see. Surely this was deliberate but why are some wired like that?

I mean if I didn't cut it open, I'd automatically assume there should be either 2 Cores or 4 Cores max only + cable Shield connected to Pin2 both sides & not touching the jack/shell. here it is here, just the regular MIDI Y-Splitter ::

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394671550635

(( Was using the following MIDI specs diagram which is a slightly updated version but pretty much the same I think. ))

https://www.midi.org/specifications/midi-transports-specifications/5-pin-din-electrical-specs

Thanks.

[quotePost id=20655] https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/394671550635 [/quotePost]

That is not a MIDI cable. (It is not possible to split MIDI signals this way.)
That seller tried to include as many keywords as possible, and the misconception "MIDI using DIN-5 implies that DIN-5 is MIDI" is common for sellers that do not know what they sell.

Posted by: Ash

↑

Hi.

Can someone please confirm if the MIDI jack/plug shells should be connected to the cable Shield or not?? What is the official MIDI specs regarding this?

I MOSTLY see diagrams & people saying that the MIDI jack shells should never be connected to cable Shield, and that Shield should only be connected to Pin2 on both sides.
But there are others that say the jack shells should also be connected to cable Shield.
Also I had a MIDI Y-Splitter cable, & I cut it open to find that Shield was connected to Pin2 both sides but also connected directly to the jack's shell, soldered on. Which confused me again. It had 5 cores + Shield, & not 4 cores + Shield like I'm used to seeing in for example Mogami MIDI cables.

So what's the official MIDI.org way to do it?

Thanks for your time.

I find this answer:
"

While standard MIDI and instrument cables come already shielded, opting for higher-quality ones enhances their shielding capabilities further. To optimize performance, it's advisable to maintain a distance between MIDI and Audio cables and refrain <a href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">from running them parallel, particularly with audio input cables. Avoid bundling all the cables together for optimal signal integrity.