Night of the Living USB Hubs

  • Thread starter Thread starter kidkage
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kidkage

kidkage

Bored of Canada
My PC has 8 USB ports. 2 on front (my always movie MPK mini goes here), 4 in a group on the back (interface, Maschine, dongle), and 2 more in a group on the back below the VGA and other ports (that's where I've got my keyboard and wireless mouse connect).

I recall reading in the past that managing USB ports is important. Where things are plugged in, how much stuff is plugged in, stuff like that. I didn't care. All I had was an interface. Then I got controllers, and dongles, and etc. etc.

So I'm wondering "What do iMac users do? Or laptop users? Or... me when I buy some Steinberg CMC modules or more controllers?!:eek:"

I would assume that USB hubs are for just that purpose... So I amazoned USB hubs. And found tons of results. Now, after a few years of doing this, I've learned that EVERYTHING matters- from the coffee to the cables, and that brings me to my question-

What should we "recorders" look for in a USB hub?
 
USB hubs are used when your computer's USB buss does not have enough power to drive all the devices that are USB-powered (or you just have too many USB devices plugged in!) My first advice is to avoid them for recording - its just putting another device in the signal path.
 
I use a USB hub but not for any gear related to recording. That all goes direct.

I have my mouse, external HDD and, as needed, external CD/DVD burner, thumb drive or other non-essential USB powered accessories connected to it. Never had any problems with it. I make it a habit of disconnecting stuff when not in use.
 
I use a cheap Belkin USB hub, but only for Cubase dongle, Ilok, and wireless keyboard and mouse. Interface uses USB3.0 port, and my drives, the USB on the MOBO.
 
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Hmmmm I am in the same boat as kidkage (nice topic title btw :D) I've always been confused by usb hubs though. I record on a laptop, but it's impossible for me to run my tascam 1641 and my usb wireless mouse at the same time! Would having a usb hub for my mouse fix this?


Save me :D
 
So what's the reasoning behind people recommending switching around where devices are plugged in?
Are some computer ports "clearer" or something?

I'm mainly interested in getting a hub for keyboard, dongle, mouse, and little things like that on the desktop. The laptop is where it's a little more necessary. It has 3 ports- I want to have a wireless mouse, dongle, soundcard, and probably 2 controllers going... And it's got a pretty small hard drive, so some day I'll need an external.

I plan on definitely keeping the interface plugged straight into the computer.
But with MIDI controllers and such, will plugging into a hub mess with things?

Or is all well in the world if you get a good enough hub?

And I'm about to invest in one of these as a house for my dongle :D http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-E...I796/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1329352021&sr=8-6
 
On an imac I use a cheap-o usb splitter for the keyboard and mouse and I have 2 interfaces going into the other 2 ports. On the next album we are adding a 3rd interface for a total of 10 channels. Hopefully it will work fine through the hub.
 
kidkage said:
So what's the reasoning behind people recommending switching around where devices are plugged in?
Are some computer ports "clearer" or something?
Click to expand...

Not sure if it's right or wrong but, I can be pretty sure of not introducing any unwanted or unexpected line noise if the devices are separated on different busses.
 
btw D-Link Dub-H7 has solved my problems flawlessly!

You just don't want to plug in a USB 1.1 device in though or it'll bring the speed of everything down to 1.1. As long as you keep it 2.0 things are great and I look like this -> :D
 
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