I’m looking for a little guidance on what cables to buy, as I just purchased a Toraiz Squid sequencer (I’ll pick it up from the Post Office tomorrow). I get the concept of MIDI; I’ve used it before. I basically get the concept of Din Sync, it’s just the cables that have me a little confused. When I search for din sync cables (or either midi cables or din sync cables), midi/5-pin din sync cables come up. Are these what I need if I want to use my older equipment with my toy, or can I use one of the MIDI cables I already have? I don’t want to damage my new equipment. Is there anything else I need, like some sort of converter? Also, how old does the equipment need to be in order to need din sync? Thanks in advance. 
Unlikely, the vast majority of MIDI cables will only be wired to the Central three Pins, but you’ll see from this that DinSync utilises the central and outermost Pins - a few MIDI cables could be fully wired (all pins connected) but it’s not likely that you’d have one of those
Pre MIDI (early 80s) would be the right ballpark, but gear made after this is of course free to use the older analog standard
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Thanks for the responses. So, then my next question is can I use a midi cable or one of those midi/5-pin din sync cables and newer, post 80’s equipment and connect it to the Squid via the din sync connection?
Don’t be doing anything until you have no questions - I hope it’s obvious that you can connect a MIDI device to another MIDI device with an appropriate cable using the respective device’s MIDI port (typically Out to In) or that you can connect a DIN-Sync device to another DIN-Sync device using the appropriate cable using the DIN-Sync Ports (presuming either device has one and this is the only option, if MIDI is a possibility stick to that i.e. for Elektrons)
Note that these are fundamentally different and mutually incompatible standards, do not mix and match or experiment. The fact that both standards use the same 5pin 180deg DIN plug is purely a distraction. The fact that Elektron mark later devices with dual legends only confuses matters, to use DIN-Sync on the Elektrons you have to software disable the MIDI function of the respective Thru or Out port (there is no DIN-Sync in for Elektrons) … They do this to allow sync compatibility with non-MIDI or pre-MIDI device’s which use one of two DIN-Sync rates (24 or 48)
If you do not know that (and why) you explicitly need to use DIN-Sync then do not think about using it. If a device does not support MIDI (but supports DIN sync) then that may be an option (using the specifically wired cable mentioned) assuming the Squid even supports DIN-Sync (i haven’t looked)
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To confuse matters further (sorry, but it might help!) some 5 pin din cables sold as MIDI cables do actually have all 5 pins connected, which obviously will work as din sync cables or midi cables.
Best advice I can offer is to check when ordering the cables if all 5 pins are connected, or make your own cable.
You can easily check any existing cables you may have by using a multimeter set to continuity mode then buzz out each pin. A multimeter is a handy thing to have around for anyone using midi/audio/cv gear and you can get a fairly ok one for less than £/$/€10, just make sure it has a continuity function, most do.
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Added: Using a proper midi cable (only 3 pins connected) with dinsync gear should not cause any issue, it just won’t work. Obviously make sure only to connect from the dinsync outputs on your squid when connecting to other dinsync gear, and only use the midi outputs when connecting to midi gear.
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I think the only thing I’m still unclear about are the cables - the only ones I find are described as midi/din sync 5-pin. Are these okay to use with din sync?
They should be fine if they are described as din sync.
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