After quite some messing around and a bit of reading, I seem to have learned that the only way to make a smoothly curving cord, rope, cable, et al is to have a great many actors in it. In various combinations of facets per actor, length of actor, et al, it appeared that Poser would only apply a bend to three facets at a time; with the center of the joint params placed in a center facet, only the facets immediately fore and aft of the joint center would move. Additional facets at either end were left untouched. I tried using spherical falloff zones....this behavior did not change. I tried using curves, and yes, with a curve channel in place more facets were shifted. However, they were shifted in unpleasant ways. As far as my experience with it goes, I think the curve channel could be useful for fabric or hair but is useless for a constant-diameter object like a cord or cable. If anyone has had different experience please let me know.