Hi,
I need to add an extra midi port to my set up. There appear to be quite a number of different cables that will convert midi to usb ranging from £35 From Roland £25 Shop Own Brand £7 Very Generic. Is there any difference? Am I just paying for the badge (Other than the in/out functionality, which I don’t really need)?
Would love some advice
Grace and peace
Since those prices are low enough, I wouldn’t skimp.
I would go for the name brands for sure. I have an M-Audio one. I think it’s called Uni-Sport or something.
Otherwise, I 'd go with Roland. That would probably be the most reliable one.
You’d hate to mess around with the possibility of endless glitches just for sake of saving a few bucks.
go for the cheapo one there is no difference , I have a cheapo straight through cable as a spare in my laptop bag just in case I forget something and it works a treat , no drivers required just plug and play 
Cheapo one will do the job just fine unless you’re one of these people that like paying £1000 for interconnects.
USB-Midi is a very simple cable, the 7,- one will suffice. Just make sure you stay below 5m. cable length and you should be fine.
there are loads of possibilities with midi but in it’s basic form if you want something more reliable go for http://www.motu.com/products/midi/fastlane_usb
take my advice and don’t even bother with Maudio midi sport ,not the best drivers on the planet .
Or another option if your only looking to run 16 midi channels is something like a Philip rees v series
http://www.philrees.co.uk/products/thruunit.htm which are very good ive been running the powered version v10 since 1994 that’s how good they are .
When you start actually getting into midi interfaces do your research on drivers for future proofing but for the basic extra port a cheapo will do
MIDI interface technology is very simple indeed, and therefore I would buy the cheapest one.
For a £7 cable you could buy 3 for the £21, or a stack of 5 for the more expensive £35 which, IF you had a problem, would give you backups, and you could possibly expand even further as needed.
Thanks for all the replies. I don’t anticipate my midi needs increasing a great deal beyond 2 ports for some time yet. Cable length is something I hadn’t thought about so thanks Strophold for that tip. On the. Advice from all the cheapskates who haven’t had any problems, I’ll think I’ll go generic and cheap. I’ll let you know if I have any issues.
Cheers