Dante:  When I purchased my first Pulsar II I realized how critical the professional breakout cable was.  Basically, without it, my Pulsar would be useless.  So in order to protect my investment, I purchased a second breakout cable whip.  So I put the spare cable away and thought nothing of it.  That is until 53E7 posted his customized solution on planetz, a good follow up to our STDM article last year.

53E7:  I have two breakout cables behind my computer and I only use a few of the ins and outs so I decided to make my own custom ones. I want less clutter behind my PC for better airflow and like the idea of using my own cable soldered directly to the pins. This information may be useful to others who have the opposite set-up of mine with a need for more flexibility with their inputs because they are using all of them. They could make breakout cables that are directly soldered to a patch bay. I established the pinout of the balanced outputs and AES/EBU breakout cable (Scope Professional) and the unbalanced and SP/DIF breakout cable (Scope Project). So far I’ve determined the breakout cable uses a D-Sub three Row 26P male connector.  I ordered one online. I’ll post a picture once I get it (if it works).  Here’s the pinout:

     
   
     

The main reason I started this project was because I wanted to clean up the back of my computer, but I was also hoping to improve my analog signal. I have one last piece of analog gear from my once great home studio of '70s and '80s synthesizers. It is the filter section of the ARP Solina (String Ensemble). It’s that great sound in a small box! I bought it from former Moog salesman Vincent Michaels, in the mid '90s before the internet and eBay took over. He claimed that it was used for a NAMM Show in the '80s. The story goes it was hooked up to the hottest new keyboard at the time, a Casio CZ-101 to show it off. I love using this filter. The String Ensemble sound was always my favorite classic synth sound. I do think the signal is much cleaner as a result of silver conductor cables running in and out by pins directly in contact with my Scope card.
 

 
Dante and 53E7 February 2012