Have you ever plugged a USB MIDI device into your computer only to get that ugly red stop sign alert box screaming about the device drawing too much power? I have been up and down that road so many times I have the mapmakers asking me for directions! The good news is that there are several ways to power up your USB MIDI devices when they don’t play nice.
When you have a USB device like a DJ controller that is “bus powered” it means that the device is drawing all the electrical power needed from your computer’s USB port. Where things go wrong for DJs is that all USB ports are not “created equal” when it comes to the amount of power they provide. Read this article to learn which hubs on macbooks have the most juice.
The USB 2.0 specification tells us that a USB port has to provide 100 millamps of power while the device starts up and a maximum of 500 milliamps of power while the device runs. One hundred milliamps is not a lot of power when your controller is powering up and flashing every LED! (The USB specs can be found at http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/)
Those 100/500 milliamp values are “nominal”, which means that the port might provide you just a little bit more or a little bit less. What happens if your device needs a little bit more? You become very unhappy and your device is a now a high-tech paperweight. (But, hey, it looks really cool sitting there!)
USB HUB SOLUTIONS
Many people dont realize that there are manufacturers of USB hubs that provide more power than the USB spec requires! The most recognizable manufacturer is Targus. They make a hub that has “High Power Ports” which supply twice the power required by the spec. The model number is ACH81US (http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.aspx?sku=ACH81US). If you hunt around on the web, you can also find the previous model, the ACH80US. The cost? Under fifty bucks.
Another choice available to you is the Dr. Bott T7Hub (http://www.drbott.net/product/3122-T7UW/), which can be found around the web for under forty dollars.
Chances are you may not need a high powered hub and the problem is really just a under-performing USB port. Run all of your controllers into a single powered hub, we look at a few options here, and that should solve most of your issues. If that fails, get a high powered hub or look at these alternatives.
QUIRKY FIXES YOU MIGHT NOT CONSIDER
If you don’t want a USB hub cluttering up your workspace, your options become very, very limited. Should your laptop have an ExpressCard slot, Sonnet
There is another less costly but geeky way to solve the problem using a “USB split cable”. This type of cable has two connectors that would go the port/hub and it allows the device to draw power from two ports or from a port and an external power source. I found two different vendors that sell these split cables and they are around ten dollars. You can find them from either of these two sellers (http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1502&sku=28108&st=28108 or http://www.usbfever.com/index_eproduct_view.php?products_id=236). Connect the split ends to the USB hub before you connect to the device. If you don’t, the device will try to draw the power it needs from that first port you plug into and it will probably trip out and shut down.
THE BOTTOM LINE
As USB-based MIDI devices have become more complex they have also become more power-hungry. USB 3.0 is supposed to help fix many of these problems but that looks like it may be a ways off. If all else fails, you may considering packing a power supply that came with the controller if that is an option. A hardwired power supply will ultimately provide the most stability and reliable power you can get.
[…] too much energy I plugged in my external hard drive one day and a window popped up saying that the USB Port was taking too much energy. I unplugged it and tried again – the alert remained. Since then my Mac hasn’t recognised […]
I’ve been running traktor with the audio 6, and everytime i don’t use my power supply i get this crackle sounds that literraly take over the music and becomes impossible to even the track playing.
i mean, i know i should use the power supply all the time, but then i’ve tested with a friends audio 6 and it’s happened again. do you think the problem is with my computer ?
Hey Bepop you’ve been able to figure out the culprit? Happened to me already twice with two different sound cards that everything runned smoothly during rehearsals and then I got the kind of glitches described by you as I plugged in the venues (in different countries) – and then everything alright back at home..suspecting is something to do with the electric systems in venues?
Sounds very much like the electrical systems – especially if you were in different countries. Did you use one of those universal power converter/adapters? They can often be a culprit…
it has something to do with the version of traktor you are using, to be fair have a talk with native instruments service center, they will be of much help, while that does not help go back to a version of the software where you did not had problems.
Ok, this is wierd. Whenever i plug in my launchpad or launchkey, my computer makes this high pitched buzzing noise. i dot know the caue. To make it stop, i have to unplug my midi device. Please help. – Jack
*Dont know the cause*
i dont fully understand what everyone in the comments is saying but hopefully someone can help me out here:
I have a Traktor Kontrol Z1, X1, Novation Launchpad and Launchcontrol.
I have a total of 7 devices using USB that i wish to have plugged in at the same time
(4 of those are the dj controllers mentioned above, leaving 3 non dj related devices)
What kind of USB hub should i get?
I just bought a D-Link 7 port powered usb hub, But after plugging in everything and starting up traktor i got an error saying my hub had a power surge and some devices have been disconnected. Since then i haven’t been able to get any devices working on the HUB. It recognizes my launchpad and when plugged in it does its standby display thing but thats it.
I dont have a clue what to do or where to go from here…
so i solved the problem almost completely.
Apparently my LaunchControl is causing an issue with my setup.
I managed to get my devices all working again and went and plugged them all in again, but when i plugged my launchcontrol in every other device went blank, lights off, the unplugged USB sound, all that. Unplugged the Launchcontrol and everything powered back up. Note, I plugged everything into the powered USB hub, i even plugged my previous hub into the new powered one im using and they all worked prior to the launchcontrol being plugged in.
I thought it might be the DJTT Chroma cable i was using, something shorting out the hub that way, but i tried it with 2 different cords from 2 different sources and the same issue occurred.
If someone has any clue how to fix my LaunchControl issue i would be ever so grateful, i need that controller for my setup, without it i have to get rid of my launchpad in the setup as well.
Please and Thanks!
[quote comment=”41314″]Don’t many of the controllers and sound cards allow for external power supplies? The vci-100 for example has an adapter connection for 9v… so do many sound cards. Using external power supplies in lieu of the USB ports could relieve the demands on the computer’s power[/quote]
Not all sound cards have a power supply connection. A good example of that is the Audio 8 sound card that is part of Traktor Scratch Pro.
[quote comment=”41840″]Hi all, I have a similar problem, I run a 17″ Alienware lappy, top spec. with an Akai APC40, which I’ve mapped to run 4 decks in Traktor. I had no end of troubles getting the internal 6 channel soundcard stable – they don’t and won’t get an ASIO driver for it, and the soho one sucks unless you are using surround sound.
I bought a NI audio 2 box, to go with Traktor, and all seemed ok, but now when I’m flat out in the mix I get all sorts of audio distortion out the main outs when turning knobs – sounds exactly like an old audio mixing desk where the pots crackle.
The same feed recorded directly to disk is faultless, but over 4k later and I still can’t trust my rig in a club.
Its almost like I have an earth leak across my USB bus, which is nuts given all the button movements are actually midi commands!!
I’m toying with getting the S4, but if its a laptop issue, it won’t make any difference.
Dell suggested I upgrade the bios…….. several times :0s
Any ideas?
Thanks
Stu V[/quote]
Alienware got its mojo working as a “gaming” computer. I’d be surprised if it understood simple stereo sound since multi-speaker surround is such a part of the gaming scene. There may be some sort of internal driver conflict causing some of your problems.
As for running into distortion of the sort you’re talking about I would ask how long you’ve owned your deck. If you’ve had it a long time, used it a lot in smoke-filled situations and so on, I would suspect that the pots connected to the knobs are just plain crudded-up, varnished-up and in dire need of cleaning.
Ground loops in my sound reinforcement rig (I started out doing sound for shows as a mobile outfit) tend to make humming noises not crackles. I am NOT saying you don’t have a ground loop but it doesn’t sound like it to me…
It does seem odd to me that if you’re routing audio through an Audio 2 DJ box why you’re hearing crackle when you manipulate the knobs of the APC40. The APC40 is just a MIDI peripheral at that point, right? If you’re running all of your Traktor audio through the Audio 2 DJ box there simply should NOT be any crackle noise leaking into your mix because the APC40 knobs are just sending MIDI data to Traktor. (At least that is my understanding of the theory here — your mileage may vary as they say)
Before we start the next phase, you mention your USB bus… are you using a USB hub? If so, is there any way to leave it out of the system and run effectively? If you can, the rest of this process does not use the USB hub.
I’d also start with my levels/gains down compared to what I’d run for a gig. As we run the mix part of the process, we can ramp up the gains and the levels to see if that is part of the problem. If you get the distortion at some point in the level raising, well, we found our culprit…
So at this point, I’d start debugging this like so:
1) zap the config you have, especially in Traktor — we’re going to start fresh, 2) plug in the Audio 2 DJ box and config Traktor to route audio for the house and headphones through the A2DJ, 3) plug the A2DJ into your “house” speaker system and plug in your headphones, then 4) use your mouse to play/mix/fx a few songs.
Did your mix sound right? Are you getting crackle? Is the audio distorting? If so, we need to look deeper at the laptop, the BIOS, the drivers, the processes that are running by default and so on.
If you get good audio, we move on to the next part:
1) hook up the APC40 and config Traktor to accept MIDI commands from it.
2) verify that Traktor has the controls mapped how you want them,
3) play/mix a few songs (again using the A2DJ for sound output and headphones)
Did we get the crackle?
If there is crackle and distortion now, perhaps there is some sort of problem where there is data corruption in the audio stream. If this happens when the A2DJ and APC40 are plugged directly into the laptop, I’d look at re-doing this where the peripherals were plugged into a solid USB 2.0 hub and see if the game changes.
Problems like this are never easy to find, period.
As for the Kontrol S4, I have one and I like it. I am still learning the device but what I like is the fact that with the Pro S4 version of Traktor, I plug it in and it just works. I have none of the issues about how I had to startup things with the Hercules RMX I used before… (my daughter now uses the RMX) The audio output is great; it has an Audio 4 DJ built-in.
Hope this helps…
Hi all, I have a similar problem, I run a 17″ Alienware lappy, top spec. with an Akai APC40, which I’ve mapped to run 4 decks in Traktor. I had no end of troubles getting the internal 6 channel soundcard stable – they don’t and won’t get an ASIO driver for it, and the soho one sucks unless you are using surround sound.
I bought a NI audio 2 box, to go with Traktor, and all seemed ok, but now when I’m flat out in the mix I get all sorts of audio distortion out the main outs when turning knobs – sounds exactly like an old audio mixing desk where the pots crackle.
The same feed recorded directly to disk is faultless, but over 4k later and I still can’t trust my rig in a club.
Its almost like I have an earth leak across my USB bus, which is nuts given all the button movements are actually midi commands!!
I’m toying with getting the S4, but if its a laptop issue, it won’t make any difference.
Dell suggested I upgrade the bios…….. several times :0s
Any ideas?
Thanks
Stu V
[quote comment=”41822″]
Ok, so I’m assuming what you’re saying is that the expresscard setup is meant to deliver more power to the extra usb ports than a normal usb port built into the computer without hundering the performance of the usb ports built into the computer…
As mentioned before, using a hub of any kind isn’t the best thing to do with a soundcard so I would most likely use this for my HDD and VCI-100 (and any other little toys I pick up along the way 🙂 )
My main concern is being able to use this expresscard setup with out having to deal with power failures and avoiding the external usb hubs that I have to plug into walls becuase thats just another wire that can be tripped over and unplugged or one less plug I have to worry about the bass rumbling out of the power strip (and yes it has happened to me before)…[/quote]
@Kurt:
1) Yes, this particular ExpressCard can deliver a bit more power than using your built-in USB ports. It might be a possible alternative to using a bulkier USB hub and “wall wart”.
2) CAUTION: the article says that the card will deliver 650mA of current to EACH USB port on the card. THIS IS NOT CORRECT! I screwed up and read the manufacturer’s web site incorrectly. It will deliver 650mA of current TOTAL for all 4 ports. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
3) If I were doing this, I’d plug in the card and boot my laptop. Then I would plug in my VCI-100 and make sure my software was able to read the MIDI command stream. Then I would plug in my HDD. Hopefully that would allow all of the devices to come up properly and function.
The sequence I am suggesting comes from hard-won experience points trying to get my Hercules RMX to function a few years ago. I don’t know how much each of these draws at start-up so I am hoping that by staging the start-ups you can avoid tripping the 650mA limit imposed by the card itself.
There are no guarantees in this. If I were serious about adding this card to my kit, I would plan on spending an evening, maybe two, to testing my new configuration. I’ve learned that power-hungry devices can be a bit of a hassle to get working correctly. If your ideal setup can get by with the power the Sonnet can serve up, this could reduce your power connections to one for the laptop and you’re done.
The obvious downside to this scenario is that we can’t tell up front that the Sonnet USB ExpressCard is capable of supplying all of the power you would need. You might buy this card and find that you still have issues.
Hopefully, this helps you in making your decision. If you buy one, I’d like to know how it works out, what you can plug into it, etc.
i would reccomend the expresscard sized mini solid state hard drive as an alternative (list here – http://goo.gl/nmwvL) no worries about any vibrations is the best part. but in general keep your tracks on your hard drive locally or use a self powered firewire drive(build it yourself and choose a rugged enclosure and hitachi brand hard drive) if you absolutley have 2 tb of raw wav files in which case you should be looking into lossless compression(flac/alac).
i have never played a gig off a usb hard drive on purpose, thats just asking for trouble., first of all usb is very slow, it is a total usb bus bandwidth hog and you’ll have to adjust your usb soundcards latency to substandard lag times. most usb hard drives aren’t meant to be gigged with, they’re meant to plug in at home for extra storage for ppl who arent tech savvy enough to open a computer or use a laptop. the ones that are made for gigging can be bought at sam ash and guitar center and online at music sites but are extremely extremely expensive, and you will probably experience corruption and total hard drive failure within a year or so unless you build something custom or pay 400$ for a roadworthy external usb drive. everyone i know that gigs with an external has lost their collection or at least part of it due to their hard drive failing completly which is inevitable gigging and throwig it in your bag and it getting bumped around constantly, changes in temperature, exposure to the club environment which can mean humidity smoke, spilled drinks, etc. I’ve noticed the majorit of ppl dont keep good backups on a regular basis of their externals, and in fact usually use their external as their backup so double loss. so if you have a small drive, keep it on you and up to date in case you need to plug into someone elses computer or decide to tag last minute but dont use it when gigging, keep it in your bag as a backup.
if you must i suggest using an ipod’s extra storage space to keep your stuff on, no extra power cables, they’re compact, and the drives in those things in most cases are rock solid. if its a nano even more so cuz they dont use a hard-drive, another reason i reccomend this is you probably already have an ipod, and if you dont you should get one, keep your tracks on there and whenever you have a chance no matter where you are listen to your tracks, you’ll get to know them quicker and be better because of it. for me its invaluable as i can rate my new tracks on the go and it all syncs and shows up in traktor later (the stars). i had my ipod stolen so i keep a backup on my droid which comes with a 16gig sd card, again perfect for listening to your tracks, or using someone elses computer, i already always have my phone, and always keep an extra micro usb cable in my bag. i have a bag dedicated to cables, and keep two of everthing i use and also extra high gauge trs and xlrs, and some extra rcas, you never know when a midi, usb, or sound cable is going to fail on you and this is a horrible situation to be in.
btw for any fellow droid owner when you get to an afterparty and there is either no sound source or speakers expect it to be over with in about half an hour. the droid is loud enough and honestly has an acceptable bass response on its own to save the situation.. also if noise is a problem such as in hotels or shared livng spaces, i find the level of sound to be perfect and no complaints about sound either. i have literally saved afterparties with this phone more times than i can count, and even saved a burner when the dj bringing the equipment showed up 4 hours late. believe it or not the thing will play music for a good 6 hours at high volume and not need a charge. the new soundcloud app on there makes for easy requests or playing your newest demo for people, or their demos if they ask. seriously this thing has gotten me more free alcohol and got me smoked out, loved, etc so many times its paid for itself. 🙂
also you might want to go ahead and keep copies of control cds, drivers for your hardware, backups of your midi mappings. both traktor/seratos and the one that you save from the midi editor that came with your controller. ive had midi mapping corruption occur, and it used to be true that you had to reinstall the serato drivers if you used a different usb port than you installed it with last time. either way plan for these things, with your drivers and tracks on a seperate hard drive you can borrow a fellow djs computer and load up everything and still play if your computer decides to not work at all(it happens, everything that can go wrong will eventually go wrong, its why i keep all those backups, and my latest stuff burnt to normal CD’s in case I have to play on cdjs, and then at least enough vinyl to play a set in the event that there are no cdjs, extra needles always, extra cables always, extra headphones always(even if they’re not the greatest), always keep as many 1/4 to 1/8 adapters as you humanly can as you will inevitably not remember you put it in your pocket when you were using them on your laptop earlier or the fact that you let that one guy borrow it that forgot his and never got it back. 🙂
Also unless I know the venue pretty well and their power setup is solid i bring a 40$ battery backup ups i got at best buy and a 8 dollar outdoor high gauge 30 ft or so power cable and one of those ground hum eliminators. why? because a majority of my gigs, and im talking about even gigs where i played on a funkton one had a super sketch power strip hookup that was probably so far from ground or chained through so many devices you have no idea what you’re getting from there, before i did this i’ve even noticed at one of the largest rentable venues in socal that when the bass really hit on the subs, my control records would slow down, the house voltage was being affected by the draw of the amps. never doubt the cheapness of any venues owner or promoter when setting up a dj booth. using the battery backup like i mentioned means all your power is getting filtered, and these surges and drops and fluctuations arent getting to your equipment and your hard drives, causing shit to lock up or totally fry. if you’re using timecode make sure the mixer and if you’re using decks, the decks are sharing a common ground with your backup the only time i reccomend not using a battery backup is if you’re at an outdoor in the middle of nowhere and all power is coming from generators, i forget the reason but I do remember never to ever run a UPS off a generator(even though you’re thinking but thats where it’d be most useful. lifes a bitch. the only generator you should use to power an outdoor event is a crystal sync generator and they’re very expensive so most promoters don’t bother. better have that set of cds handy if you know you’re going to be playing off power from a generator as its so dirty your timecode scope will look like one of those inkblob paintings. 😉
i would reccomend the expresscard sized mini solid state hard drive as an alternative (list here – http://goo.gl/nmwvL) no worries about any vibrations is the best part. but in general keep your tracks on your hard drive locally or use a self powered firewire drive(build it yourself and choose a rugged enclosure and hitachi brand hard drive) if you absolutley have 2 tb of raw wav files in which case you should be looking into lossless compression(flac/alac).
i have never played a gig off a usb hard drive on purpose, thats just asking for trouble., first of all usb is very slow, it is a total usb bus bandwidth hog and you’ll have to adjust your usb soundcards latency to substandard lag times. most usb hard drives aren’t meant to be gigged with, they’re meant to plug in at home for extra storage for ppl who arent tech savvy enough to open a computer or use a laptop. the ones that are made for gigging can be bought at sam ash and guitar center and online at music sites but are extremely extremely expensive, and you will probably experience corruption and total hard drive failure within a year or so unless you build something custom or pay 400$ for a roadworthy external usb drive. everyone i know that gigs with an external has lost their collection or at least part of it due to their hard drive failing completly which is inevitable gigging and throwig it in your bag and it getting bumped around constantly, changes in temperature, exposure to the club environment which can mean humidity smoke, spilled drinks, etc. I’ve noticed the majorit of ppl dont keep good backups on a regular basis of their externals, and in fact usually use their external as their backup so double loss. so if you have a small drive, keep it on you and up to date in case you need to plug into someone elses computer or decide to tag last minute but dont use it when gigging, keep it in your bag as a backup.
if you must i suggest using an ipod’s extra storage space to keep your stuff on, no extra power cables, they’re compact, and the drives in those things in most cases are rock solid. if its a nano even more so cuz they dont use a hard-drive, another reason i reccomend this is you probably already have an ipod, and if you dont you should get one, keep your tracks on there and whenever you have a chance no matter where you are listen to your tracks, you’ll get to know them quicker and be better because of it. for me its invaluable as i can rate my new tracks on the go and it all syncs and shows up in traktor later (the stars). i had my ipod stolen so i keep a backup on my droid which comes with a 16gig sd card, again perfect for listening to your tracks, or using someone elses computer, i already always have my phone, and always keep an extra micro usb cable in my bag. i have a bag dedicated to cables, and keep two of everthing i use and also extra high gauge trs and xlrs, and some extra rcas, you never know when a midi, usb, or sound cable is going to fail on you and this is a horrible situation to be in.
btw for any fellow droid owner when you get to an afterparty and there is either no sound source or speakers expect it to be over with in about half an hour. the droid is loud enough and honestly has an acceptable bass response on its own to save the situation.. also if noise is a problem such as in hotels or shared livng spaces, i find the level of sound to be perfect and no complaints about sound either. i have literally saved afterparties with this phone more times than i can count, and even saved a burner when the dj bringing the equipment showed up 4 hours late. believe it or not the thing will play music for a good 6 hours at high volume and not need a charge. the new soundcloud app on there makes for easy requests or playing your newest demo for people, or their demos if they ask. seriously this thing has gotten me more free alcohol and got me smoked out, loved, etc so many times its paid for itself. 🙂
also you might want to go ahead and keep copies of control cds, drivers for your hardware, backups of your midi mappings. both traktor/seratos and the one that you save from the midi editor that came with your controller. ive had midi mapping corruption occur, and it used to be true that you had to reinstall the serato drivers if you used a different usb port than you installed it with last time. either way plan for these things, with your drivers and tracks on a seperate hard drive you can borrow a fellow djs computer and load up everything and still play if your computer decides to not work at all(it happens, everything that can go wrong will eventually go wrong, its why i keep all those backups, and my latest stuff burnt to normal CD’s in case I have to play on cdjs, and then at least enough vinyl to play a set in the event that there are no cdjs, extra needles always, extra cables always, extra headphones always(even if they’re not the greatest), always keep as many 1/4 to 1/8 adapters as you humanly can as you will inevitably not remember you put it in your pocket when you were using them on your laptop earlier or the fact that you let that one guy borrow it that forgot his and never got it back. 🙂
Also unless I know the venue pretty well and their power setup is solid i bring a 40$ battery backup ups i got at best buy and a 8 dollar outdoor high gauge 30 ft or so power cable and one of those ground hum eliminators. why? because a majority of my gigs, and im talking about even gigs where i played on a funkton one had a super sketch power strip hookup that was probably so far from ground or chained through so many devices you have no idea what you’re getting from there, before i did this i’ve even noticed at one of the largest rentable venues in socal that when the bass really hit on the subs, my control records would slow down, the house voltage was being affected by the draw of the amps. never doubt the cheapness of any venues owner or promoter when setting up a dj booth. using the battery backup like i mentioned means all your power is getting filtered, and these surges and drops and fluctuations arent getting to your equipment and your hard drives, causing shit to lock up or totally fry. if you’re using timecode make sure the mixer and if you’re using decks, the decks are sharing a common ground with your backup the only time i reccomend not using a battery backup is if you’re at an outdoor in the middle of nowhere and all power is coming from generators, i forget the reason but I do remember never to ever run a UPS off a generator(even though you’re thinking but thats where it’d be most useful. lifes a bitch. the only generator you should use to power an outdoor event is a crystal sync generator and they’re very expensive so most promoters don’t bother. better have that set of cds handy if you know you’re going to be playing off power from a generator as its so dirty your timecode scope will look like one of those inkblob paintings. 😉
quote]
@Kurt – the Sonnet ExpressCard mentioned in the article will supply a total of 650mA of electrical power @ 5V TOTAL to the 4 ports on the card. The power would be coming from the computer’s ExpressCard circuitry. The USB ports of the computer would be drawing from that same power supply that the ExpressCard does. BUT (a very big but) that probably is not what you’re really driving at with your question. To say that both the USB and ExpressCard circuits pull power from the same source does not mean that the ExpressCard will have exactly the same ability as the USB ports to power something external. In the case of this ExpressCard, you could connect a single USB device that required as much as 650mA of current without the USB port shutting down. The USB ports that came built into the computer will not deliver anywhere close to that 650mA of current.
The Sonnet USB ExpressCard helps because it is designed to deliver more power (current) to attached devices than a standard USB port on the laptop or on a “standard” USB hub is designed to deliver.[/quote]
Ok, so I’m assuming what you’re saying is that the expresscard setup is meant to deliver more power to the extra usb ports than a normal usb port built into the computer without hundering the performance of the usb ports built into the computer…
As mentioned before, using a hub of any kind isn’t the best thing to do with a soundcard so I would most likely use this for my HDD and VCI-100 (and any other little toys I pick up along the way 🙂 )
My main concern is being able to use this expresscard setup with out having to deal with power failures and avoiding the external usb hubs that I have to plug into walls becuase thats just another wire that can be tripped over and unplugged or one less plug I have to worry about the bass rumbling out of the power strip (and yes it has happened to me before)…
[quote comment=”41809″][quote comment=”41370″]This applies to Windows users as well- you just may not know it. Windows users dont always get the same kind of notification when a device is underpowered but its often the case as windows laptops have widely varying power outputs on various USB ports depending on the manufacturer.[/quote]
Most definitely Ean… I’m working with a Vista Laptop and with my Fast Track Pro, VCI-100, and External HDD all running off of the usb hubs, I get a power drop off at my HDD… I’ve since bought a powered usb hub that suits my needs but the problem I have is my power source gets unplugged sometimes causing a power dropout on my HDD and losing all sound.
My question is about the sonnet expresscard hub… Does the express card slot run off of a different “power supply” than the usb ports? What I mean to say is does the computer seperate the amount of power delivered to the express card slot and the usb ports??? I would assume if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t see the express card slot actually helping with power issues as much as # of port issues…
I appreciate all the help in advance…[/quote]
@Kurt – the Sonnet ExpressCard mentioned in the article will supply a total of 650mA of electrical power @ 5V TOTAL to the 4 ports on the card. The power would be coming from the computer’s ExpressCard circuitry. The USB ports of the computer would be drawing from that same power supply that the ExpressCard does. BUT (a very big but) that probably is not what you’re really driving at with your question. To say that both the USB and ExpressCard circuits pull power from the same source does not mean that the ExpressCard will have exactly the same ability as the USB ports to power something external. In the case of this ExpressCard, you could connect a single USB device that required as much as 650mA of current without the USB port shutting down. The USB ports that came built into the computer will not deliver anywhere close to that 650mA of current.
The Sonnet USB ExpressCard helps because it is designed to deliver more power (current) to attached devices than a standard USB port on the laptop or on a “standard” USB hub is designed to deliver.
[quote comment=”41467″][quote comment=”41465″][quote comment=”41463″]This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.[/quote]
Congratulations Ean, you are legit now! Only people that make it to the spot light have haters. Hopefully your fame progresses and you have at least 30 to 40 hater by the summer time.
P.S. Great website, blog and tips. You rock.[/quote]
+1, I completely agree with you man… DJTT rocks!
I’ve been here every fucking day since 2008 😀
Number one Brazilian reader![/quote]
Make that +2… Your guys’ posts are always great… They may not apply to every dj in the world (beginners, bedroom djs, international djs with TONS of experience, etc…) but I know I have found a bunch of your articles very good and informative. I think if you continue to help all of us dj’s as much as you do, you won’t only keep your following of readers and customers, but you’ll gain more as the digital djing revolution continues to grow… Keep up the good work!!!
[quote comment=”41370″]This applies to Windows users as well- you just may not know it. Windows users dont always get the same kind of notification when a device is underpowered but its often the case as windows laptops have widely varying power outputs on various USB ports depending on the manufacturer.[/quote]
Most definitely Ean… I’m working with a Vista Laptop and with my Fast Track Pro, VCI-100, and External HDD all running off of the usb hubs, I get a power drop off at my HDD… I’ve since bought a powered usb hub that suits my needs but the problem I have is my power source gets unplugged sometimes causing a power dropout on my HDD and losing all sound.
My question is about the sonnet expresscard hub… Does the express card slot run off of a different “power supply” than the usb ports? What I mean to say is does the computer seperate the amount of power delivered to the express card slot and the usb ports??? I would assume if it doesn’t then I wouldn’t see the express card slot actually helping with power issues as much as # of port issues…
I appreciate all the help in advance…
Awesome article! Yay hubs!!! 🙂
ok while we are on the subject of you get what you pay for…
You know your a real controllerist if you own one of these…
sorry but this is over the top
http://www.slipperybrick.com/2009/07/cambrionix-49-port-usb-hub/
@RMDJ – Yup! I’m old. I wear that badge with pride. Thanks for the props. You are right about “you get what you pay for”. My dad taught me that you should buy good tools and take care of them. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to know which bits of kit are actually “good tools” and which are expensive junk.
@JSM – Yeah, I guess we probably are about the same age. I have some old friends that used to write RPG and COBOL on the old Burroughs machines.
I think with hubs its a case of “you get what you pay for”
as RMDJ points out, why would anyone want to plug in their top of the line kit into a cheep bit of carelessly made (or cheaply manufactured) kit.
Spend the extra few $$$ for peace of mind.
@DJDENNIS …. try COBOL74 or RPG400 …the tru programmers code .. 😉 I think we must be about the same age!
Lil late on this conversation…But be wary of plugging $2,000 of gear into a $5 hub (Rosewell). I had a drop out with a full house because the cheap powered hub blew. If you are really worried about it (as some are-and should be), spend some money on quality.
@DJDennis-Damn you’re old! Nice write
@JSM
Yup. No worries. Reading about MPLS isn’t too far out of my wheelhouse… I wrote FORTRAN when it was COOL!! (yeah, i am THAT OLD… and I am familiar with guys like Cox and Hawtin, too…)
As for that tech breakdown of hubs, now that would be an amazing article to write because I’m not 100% sure you can even get all of the information you need to write it. I did not know about the transaction translator issue until you brought it up — thanks again for that… — and none of the websites I looked at bothered to mention whether their hubs were single or multi TT. I saw how the EU version of Targus’ website didn’t even mention the ability of their stuff to handle delivering more power so I know for sure you won’t find much about how many transaction translators there are in the device…
I suppose that contacting the engineering departments of all those manufacturer’s isn’t out of the question…
Mmmmm…. basslines! yeah, now you’re talking… turn off my mind, relax and float downstream on the basslines… yeah!
DJDennis
@DJDENNIS
No wories big fella, i’ve had my time writing technical papers, some are still referenced today (if you ever fancy reading about MPLS – Multi protocol layer switching) or the introduction of least cost routing to metropolitan area networks…. obviously it has shit all to do with DJing and will send you to sleep.
To the haters … when you grow up and get into the real world, you might appreciate the time and effort people put into things, rather than having everything spoon fed to you. If you want to learn something, buy the bible, read, experiment, create and then report ……..
BTW Dennis, I would still like to see a decent breakdown of peoples hubs and their specs. ..
i.e.
Manufacturer / model number / ports / power / ST or TT / price
Peace and basslines
JSM (self confessed uber geek)
targus arrived in the mail… Amazing! have all my portable drives hooked up at once… was able to do some sorting which wasnt possible before. Also xone2d hasnt crapped out once when unplugging other devices… Again I must say this article makes my laptop and setup feel like a fresh pair of underwear.. before with all my troubles it was feeling like I was changing into a dirty pair of underwear soaked in bot fly infested flea egg jelly spread.
The one thing that could improve for the store here is selling a high quality USB cable for the hub. Gold with ferrite core. The regular usb cables are great from the shop.. But we all need the quality usb to mini usb cable.
We need moar beef. Good article btw Dj Dennis.
[quote comment=”41463″]This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.[/quote]
This was not a FLUFF POST!
There are real DJs out there with USB power problems. All I am trying to do is share what I know with those who need the info I have. Seriously, if you don’t have a USB power issue, call yourself “lucky” and just move on to the next article or next blog. Hopefully, for those who have the problem I have provided them with an understandable explanation and hope for a remedy.
DJTT is a very useful blog. It has covered a ton of fairly in-depth topics and I know I personally have learned a ton from reading it. Various other USB issues have been covered here and this is my attempt to add to the knowledge. From the comments, I feel that there are some who actually appreciate what I wrote. For those who feel that it is deficient in some way, I’m sorry but I cannot and will not try to be all things to all people.
The process of putting down what I knew about USB power here at DJTT has led me to other knowledge about USB hubs (the single vs multi TT issue and data throughput) that is valuable to myself and others. If that makes this “garbage”, I say “dump that stuff right here”.
To the haters, I have this to say: get out your writing tools and pitch an article that you think would make DJTT better. I really want to read those articles. I am an “event DJ”, I don’t do wild controllerist tricks, I don’t scratch, I don’t remix on the fly. I read about all of those things because I want to know how to do them and maybe apply some of those tricks in my work. So sharpen those pencils folks and gimme your best shot. I want to read them!
And for me, DJTT will always be my “first read” among the DJ blogs because it was there for me when I needed it. It has consistently dropped knowledge on me. When I tried to connect my Hercules to Traktor, they were the ones who actually had a TSI file to make it run right. Thank the deities for that because if someone had said to me “do a MIDI mapping” I’d have asked them what keyboards have to do with road maps!
To all those who have had positive stuff to say: thank you all! Having readers respond positively is what writers want. To JSM I have a special thank you. The article you cited on the Tom’s hardware site was very interesting; it explained some issues I had with those D-Link hubs they tested long ago.
So, I’m waiting, where’s the beef from the haters?
lol! Is this the same guy from that other forum who got that Bluetooth vibrating egg midi controller stuck up in his anus? Something about his name representing his passion for deep wobble bass. The tutorial he is wanting is that max4live script which lets the lfo control the vibration amount. I dont think he will find anyone here either that will make this tutorial for him… thats “the truth”
[quote comment=”41465″][quote comment=”41463″]This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.[/quote]
Congratulations Ean, you are legit now! Only people that make it to the spot light have haters. Hopefully your fame progresses and you have at least 30 to 40 hater by the summer time.
P.S. Great website, blog and tips. You rock.[/quote]
+1, I completely agree with you man… DJTT rocks!
I’ve been here every fucking day since 2008 😀
Number one Brazilian reader!
[quote comment=”41463″]This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.[/quote]
Confucius say “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure” lmfao.
[quote comment=”41463″]This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.[/quote]
Congratulations Ean, you are legit now! Only people that make it to the spot light have haters. Hopefully your fame progresses and you have at least 30 to 40 hater by the summer time.
P.S. Great website, blog and tips. You rock.
This blog is fucking garbage now, i’m over these weekly fluff posts. Ean golden needs to realize that his shop is going to fail if he lets his blog die. Post some tutorials, i’m sick of these fluff articles, you might as well not update this ugly website.
[quote comment=”41445″]OK, Ive been looking and it seems the 2 Targus models are discontinued in Germany (and quite possibly Europe). Anybody know an alternative that offers high-power ports with good reviews?[/quote]
I searched the US version of the Targus store when I wrote the article. Sorry…
But, there is a ray of hope! I searched the EU version of the Targus store and found that they still have the ACP45EU docking station (yeah, more money…) which provides two high power ports. I did not look up the cost.
Here is where things get a little odd (at least to me). The EU site does not tell you that the hub/dock provides the high power ports in the product description on the site. The ACP45EU dock has a picture gallery and I saw the “lightning bolt” sign near two ports in the pictures that Targus uses to tell which ports supply extra power. I thought it was odd that the site didn’t tell me that it supplied extra power so I downloaded the user guide. The user guide said that it does provide extra power to the two ports. (Note: the docking station with video DOES NOT provide high power ports!)
I bought a US version of the dock with video (it was the only device I could buy in a store as I couldn’t wait for shipping) and it cost me about $100. It has served me well and now serves my daughter well (she snagged my Hercules RMX and does a night at a local club… “forced” me to upgrade to the new Traktor S4 — “forced”, uhmmm, yeah, right)
Hope that helps!!
OK, Ive been looking and it seems the 2 Targus models are discontinued in Germany (and quite possibly Europe). Anybody know an alternative that offers high-power ports with good reviews?
I totally agree… Ive got 3 usb hubs that I now know are half-empty instead of being half-full. Now number 4 is on its way and hopefully I can now problem solve any other issues I might have. Until now I never factored that the usb hub was the issue for devices taking dumps on me. Ableton and I now have a date which will not leave me with Blue Bytes ever again
@thomas.
Would you prefer the authors to talk purely technical, without giving real world examples? If this your thing, i suggest giving USB.org a go, it’s brilliant technical only site, ran by geeks for geeks (I am one those said geeks – and i am not inferring you are).
I do like to see manufactures listed and specifically model numbers, that way i know that the unit i am interested in will do what i expect it to do.
I know from first hand experience that not all products do what they claim to do, and as USB spec was a little vague in the past, some companies have used the cheapest solutions they can get away with. Only now with USB3 have the spec’s been rigidy been set with extremely tight tolerances … so hopefully in the future we won’t have these problems.
The power issue has caused many headaches in the past, with audio drops, glitches and even controllers failing mid set (I know that one all too well, and was informed that if i wanted to DJ there again, it’s vinyl or CD only!).
Writing papers, technical or otherwise is difficult, trying to find the balance between, information, speculation and entertainment.
I enjoyed the article.
[quote comment=”41438″]Hi JSM, not sure if i could do better but maybe thats why i dont try, but that doesn’t matter anyway. Again it just the piece comes across as to much of an advert for expensive products, I’m surprised to see DJTT not selling all the stuff name dropped here.[/quote]
@thomas: This article got started because a few years back I ran into the problem of having an expensive USB MIDI deck that required more power than the ports on any computer in my house could provide. It is NOT an advert. Neither I nor DJTT are making any money off of any of the links I put in the article since they go directly to manufacturer/vendor websites with no affiliate linkage. I offered up this information because I have consistently found other DJs around the net having power issues trying to power USB MIDI equipment.
The specific USB equipment presented are the very few USB hubs that the manufacturer specified that would supply more power than the USB specs require. Too many DJs (and in my opinion, one is too large a number) have written that they experienced power-realted problems with their USB devices. No power, no music and making music is what the DJ is all about. I was in that situation and learned a lot getting out of it. This was my attempt to share that info with those DJs who are similarly affected.
I’m sorry if you saw my article as an “advert” but that was not my motivation.
Hi JSM, not sure if i could do better but maybe thats why i dont try, but that doesn’t matter anyway. Again it just the piece comes across as to much of an advert for expensive products, I’m surprised to see DJTT not selling all the stuff name dropped here.
[quote comment=”41435″]mabey this is not the place to discuss this.. but shouldnt the soundcard always be plugged directly into one of the ports and then the hub on the next. Just wondering if the sound card would have latency going through the hub and then into the computer.. assuming its USB. This is influencing me to get a soundcard that is firewire so I dont have to think about any issues from timing or power drain on the USB hub. Since this article came out I ordered the targus(damn you djtt).. Im just wanting to be carefull with my soundcard purchase[/quote]
Anything attached through a USB hub will have some (added) latency. You have added an additional element to the digital processing chain that does not have a processing time of zero (that is, the stuff in the hub takes time to handle the bits going between the devices and the computer).[/b]
[/b]
For anything that might create a problem because of latency, you would be better off connecting it directly to the computer’s USB ports. If your computer can’t power it, you have to have an external USB hub or, possibly, use a split cable. For a device with a latency problem, I would consider trying a split cable since it would eliminate the hub and its added latency.
mabey this is not the place to discuss this.. but shouldnt the soundcard always be plugged directly into one of the ports and then the hub on the next. Just wondering if the sound card would have latency going through the hub and then into the computer.. assuming its USB. This is influencing me to get a soundcard that is firewire so I dont have to think about any issues from timing or power drain on the USB hub. Since this article came out I ordered the targus(damn you djtt).. Im just wanting to be carefull with my soundcard purchase
Hi… regarding this article, reminded me my latest crash on a gig…
Fortunately it was not a big event, but even though, it went wrong…
I was doing a promotion masterclass in fitness in one of Porto’s finest gyms in town, dong a live mix on my MB Pro setup with XONE 4D and an additional Traktor X1 controller…
Xone has it’s own power, but later i new, that the sound card draws some additional power off the Mac’s USB Port.
Having the X1 on the other USB port (MB PRO is a 15″ w/ 2x USB’s), and even powered up, with all the gear up and running, the MB battery was not charging, and crashed the system after 15 minutes of performance… it was a major breakdown that led me to the “disaster recovery mode” lauching a track from my iPod, while the Mac was rebooting and restoring the session…
Since then, always run a USB powered hub for remote devices…
[quote comment=”41420″]Hi guys,
wondering if anyone was aware of a reasonably priced distributor for the sonnet express card in the UK or another branded alternative of similar quality. Mac arriving tomorrow and i need to get on top of the usb ports asap.
Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Sorry all but realised i had mistyped in Amazon and sorted it. If anyone else could do with one they’re here.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003BJQSDA/ref=ox_ya_os_product
Hi guys,
wondering if anyone was aware of a reasonably priced distributor for the sonnet express card in the UK or another branded alternative of similar quality. Mac arriving tomorrow and i need to get on top of the usb ports asap.
Thanks in advance.
[quote comment=”41410″][quote comment=”41397″]Poor article.[/quote]
How is it poor? Could you do better?[/quote]
He obviously doesnt even own a computer
[quote comment=”41397″]Poor article.[/quote]
How is it poor? Could you do better?
[quote comment=”41333″]”Have you ever plugged a USB MIDI device into your computer only to get that ugly red stop sign alert box screaming about the device drawing too much power?”
Nope, seems to be a Mac thing.[/quote]
Yes I get that on every PC I have ever used.
Poor article.
[quote comment=”41336″]It could be nice if users list their hub spec. as most companies do not mention single TT or multiple TT. Obviously we need to use multiple TT for best performance, especially when we mix and match 1.1 & 2.0 controllers.
I have a powered 4 port single TT “generic” copy of the targus unit – now i know why it’s slow.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-technology,677-9.html
I’ve just ordered a multi TT unit … thanks for the article.[/quote]
Based on my read of this article, I would urge DJs to buy hubs that were multi TT instead of sinle TT. The article makes it clear that there is a definite difference in the amount of data that can be moved between the host and the devices. Single vs multi TT does not deal with underpower issues but it can explain problems such as missing or mistimed control messages or audio dropouts.
[quote comment=”41387″]simple fix have a powered usb hub in my view like for your external HDD if you keep music on them which seem to be the adopted way for some pros… but if you wana keep work space clear there laptop stands out there that work with powered usb hubs in them and fans to cool got 1 myself for £15 (approx $20) for oc but work wit my macbook[/quote]
my current small gig rig is 2006 macbook (black), akai lpd8 x2, hercules mp3 e2, ts pro 1.2.4 just for intrest…
[quote comment=”41384″]LOL nice pic …. my first thought on loading djtechtools was “oh shit, my computer is crashing.” Back on topic, I’ve actually never seen this dialog before, and I use an $8 7-port usb hub I got off amazon.com… it’s a powered hub but I never plug in the power and it works fine running a VCI-100, 2 midifighters, a joystick, trigger finger, a dicer, and sometimes another controller. The only time I need the power plugged in is if I plug in the Stanton SCS.3d. Just lucky I guess? I’m on a Macbook Pro.[/quote]
Just lucky? I think so. That list of hardware you have plugged in is amazing, especially considering you are running it unpowered. But this tells us all something. If you are running in an acceptable fashion, run it and be happy. If things aren’t ok, start changing the situation.
simple fix have a powered usb hub in my view like for your external HDD if you keep music on them which seem to be the adopted way for some pros… but if you wana keep work space clear there laptop stands out there that work with powered usb hubs in them and fans to cool got 1 myself for £15 (approx $20) for oc but work wit my macbook
LOL nice pic …. my first thought on loading djtechtools was “oh shit, my computer is crashing.” Back on topic, I’ve actually never seen this dialog before, and I use an $8 7-port usb hub I got off amazon.com… it’s a powered hub but I never plug in the power and it works fine running a VCI-100, 2 midifighters, a joystick, trigger finger, a dicer, and sometimes another controller. The only time I need the power plugged in is if I plug in the Stanton SCS.3d. Just lucky I guess? I’m on a Macbook Pro.
[quote comment=”41370″]This applies to Windows users as well- you just may not know it. Windows users dont always get the same kind of notification when a device is underpowered but its often the case as windows laptops have widely varying power outputs on various USB ports depending on the manufacturer.[/quote]
Absolutely! Many issues in Windows go sliding by because of how the OS gets configured. A good example of this is when you “safely eject” an external media device (a HDD or USB stick, for example). Some people will see a popup message telling you it is safe to remove, some won’t. It is all in how your copy of Windows is configured. To really know what happened you need to dig into the Windows log files.
Oops. Tony, that reply from Anonymous was from me. I decided to reply to some comments with another computer and forgot to put my credentials in….
[quote comment=”41372″]To Dennis…
I wonder if a powered hub might help solve my problem.
Been using traktor pro for a few months with kontrol x1 and ag gigaport soundcard everything worked fine.
Traktor had half price sale so I bought traktor scratch pro for the audio 8 soundcard and the option to use timecode cds.
My xp laptop more than meets min spec for tsp but im getting dropouts with audio 8 and timecode will not work.
With audio 8 under task manager it is using 100% cpu.
With gigaport soundcard cpu is running around 40%
Will a powered hub make the audio 8 run as it should?
Thanks Tony[/quote]
Simply using a powered hub CAN solve issues related to POWER, or rather the lack of power, needed to run your devices. How power figures into your dropout issues with your Audio 8 DJ I cannot say. Does it look like it loses power during a set? Do the LEDs dim noticeably? If you disconnect all the other stuff will the Audio 8 DJ play without dropouts? All that said/asked, I would suspect that something else besides power is at the root of the problem.
To Dennis…
I wonder if a powered hub might help solve my problem.
Been using traktor pro for a few months with kontrol x1 and ag gigaport soundcard everything worked fine.
Traktor had half price sale so I bought traktor scratch pro for the audio 8 soundcard and the option to use timecode cds.
My xp laptop more than meets min spec for tsp but im getting dropouts with audio 8 and timecode will not work.
With audio 8 under task manager it is using 100% cpu.
With gigaport soundcard cpu is running around 40%
Will a powered hub make the audio 8 run as it should?
Thanks Tony
I agree with Ean…since I am a Windows user. I know on my Lenovo Thinkpad X61, the lower dock with extra controls can at times shut off the ports. It’s why I never have my main control or external HD on those.
Pfister…does your gear manufacturer offer their own power supply for sale? I know when I bought a Torq Connectiv I ordered the power adaptor separately.
This applies to Windows users as well- you just may not know it. Windows users dont always get the same kind of notification when a device is underpowered but its often the case as windows laptops have widely varying power outputs on various USB ports depending on the manufacturer.
Anybody recommend any good models or an equivalent to the Targus in Germany?
Great Article!
I love those really deep technical articles, we need more of those 🙂
I always have my main controller powered by a power adaptor. Same deal with the big external HD I have my music on.
I think it’s foolish to rely on the USB to power a controller like that when it could fail. Power the smaller side controllers you use.
This is a great article there is one thing you don’t want to plug into that device, it is a external Portable HDD with the two leads you will burn out your HDD.
…
Put batteries at your midi fighter and that’s it!
…
Anywhere in the uk that sells the targus?
Had a real hard time getting everything running on my MBP, with an Audio 8, 2 X1s and a Maschine. Tried using the DeLock USB-Expresscard, but that didn’t work either. Now I have installed a powered Hub from Sitecom and it works just great. Using a USB-Hub also reduces the number of connections you have to make, Now I just need to plug in my 2 USBs, 1x Ethernet and the powercord. I tried using one of the USB-ports as an additional poweroutlet, but that didn’t work as well.
It could be nice if users list their hub spec. as most companies do not mention single TT or multiple TT. Obviously we need to use multiple TT for best performance, especially when we mix and match 1.1 & 2.0 controllers.
I have a powered 4 port single TT “generic” copy of the targus unit – now i know why it’s slow.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-technology,677-9.html
I’ve just ordered a multi TT unit … thanks for the article.
“Have you ever plugged a USB MIDI device into your computer only to get that ugly red stop sign alert box screaming about the device drawing too much power?”
Nope, seems to be a Mac thing.
Yeah….due to the lack of Multi TT Hubs here in SA (I could import one….but yeah)….I bough a 7 port Targus.
Have not had a problem with it yet.
Powers my VCI-100, APC40, External HDD, Mouse all in one go!
No problems…yet!
🙂
@wikkid1
why the agression son? some of us need extra mobile setups and no, it won’t break my back to carry a few adapters but why do so when you can avoid them? It gets worse when you start adding gear.
what i’m saying it is that it’s way easier carrying a powered hub rather than a handfull of adapters. easier to setup (you don’t need to guess which one corresponds to which device in a dark booth) and way cleaner to the eye.
[quote comment=”41327″]Great article, this was something that was on my mind about a week or two ago. But, this all talks about controllers, does anyone know if I hit my Audio 2 DJ with more power, will there be improvements?[/quote]
I would let my ears be my guide. If you plugged your Audio 2 DJ in using a split cable and a beefy power supply and it sounded better than when you ran it on simple USB port power, well, …. I would *think* that if you had sufficient power to run the card, you should get the full output from the card but I have been known to be wrong before.
[quote comment=”41325″]umm… is this a mac only article? im using a ton of USB devices but never seen a message like that…
but either way, there is absolutely no excuse for not using external power if theres an adapter socket available in the gear.[/quote]
No, it isn’t a Mac-specific article. My rig is based around a Macbook Pro so that is how I generated the picture.
When I started out with my original Hercules RMX it tripped out every USB port on every computer and USB hub in the house. That exercise included my Macbook Pro and a few PCs.
[quote comment=”41325″]”yes, but having 2 power adapters + notebook charger ain’t really an option for most of us” — makes 0 sense, is carrying a couple more power adapters going to break your back? why would it not be an option otherwise?
any 99cent store will happily sell you an extension cord that has 3x power sockets, or for $3-5 you can get a decent surge protector that will provide you with 5+ sockets.
and unless you actually need the extra usb ports, save yourself $40+ and just carry power supplies.[/quote]
I think the comment about adapters + charger not being an option refers to trying to work in cramped DJ booths where you might be unable to get power to your setup.
If I couldn’t get a power strip to where I setup, I’d be dead in the water. My old Herc RMX wouldn’t run and my new Traktor S4 would be dark without power.
As to saving $40 and carrying the power supplies, if the power supply is not included with the device you will most likely spend a minimum of $20 for the external power supply.
Great article, this was something that was on my mind about a week or two ago. But, this all talks about controllers, does anyone know if I hit my Audio 2 DJ with more power, will there be improvements?
[quote comment=”41315″][quote comment=”41314″]Don’t many of the controllers and sound cards allow for external power supplies? The vci-100 for example has an adapter connection for 9v… so do many sound cards. Using external power supplies in lieu of the USB ports could relieve the demands on the computer’s power[/quote]
yes, but having 2 power adapters + notebook charger ain’t really an option for most of us[/quote]
It seems the Vestax line of MIDI controllers have external power inputs but the website didn’t say external power supplies are included with the controller. I got started with the Hercules RMX and their line does not have external power inputs. Not sure about other manufacturer’s devices.
In part I wrote this because there are posts in forums all over the net where people are singing the blues about USB power problems. If your gear won’t run using the USB ports you have this is a way out.
The point about power adapters + notebook charger not being an option for most folks is worrisome given the power hungry nature of the gear we’re talking about. Maybe the follow up article to this should be a design exercise to come up with a single power supply that can run a laptop, sound card and one or more MIDI devices.
umm… is this a mac only article? im using a ton of USB devices but never seen a message like that…
but either way, there is absolutely no excuse for not using external power if theres an adapter socket available in the gear.
“yes, but having 2 power adapters + notebook charger ain’t really an option for most of us” — makes 0 sense, is carrying a couple more power adapters going to break your back? why would it not be an option otherwise?
any 99cent store will happily sell you an extension cord that has 3x power sockets, or for $3-5 you can get a decent surge protector that will provide you with 5+ sockets.
and unless you actually need the extra usb ports, save yourself $40+ and just carry power supplies.
Referring to the macbook pros having a specific usb port that provides more power, does anybody know which port it is on the older silver non-unibody macbook pros which came out in around 2007-2009?
[quote comment=”41312″]you guys are awesome… amazing article!
Thankyou![/quote]
You are welcome. Thanks for the vote of confidence!
[quote comment=”41314″]Don’t many of the controllers and sound cards allow for external power supplies? The vci-100 for example has an adapter connection for 9v… so do many sound cards. Using external power supplies in lieu of the USB ports could relieve the demands on the computer’s power[/quote]
yes, but having 2 power adapters + notebook charger ain’t really an option for most of us
Don’t many of the controllers and sound cards allow for external power supplies? The vci-100 for example has an adapter connection for 9v… so do many sound cards. Using external power supplies in lieu of the USB ports could relieve the demands on the computer’s power
you guys are awesome… amazing article!
Thankyou!