USB hubs and controllers

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sporkles
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USB hubs and controllers

Post by sporkles » Sat Jun 26, 2021 10:08 am

So I've got a new computer, and it has fewer USB ports than my previous one, so I've tried connecting various gear through hubs instead, but it's a mixed bag. Some controllers can be detected fine by Windows, but not recognised in Live. Some hubs (all powered ones) work, while others don't. So I'm wondering if adding a PCI card with extra ports would work better than external hubs. Any tips?

fishmonkey
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Re: USB hubs and controllers

Post by fishmonkey » Sun Jun 27, 2021 1:28 am

it is generally less troublesome to avoid daisy-chaining hubs (an external hub daisy-chains off one of your computer's internal hubs).

Windows also used to sometimes mess things up if the same device was used in different USB ports, but i don't know if that is still an issue or not.

sporkles
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Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:43 pm
Location: Schmocation

Re: USB hubs and controllers

Post by sporkles » Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:09 am

Cheers. Yeah, I know that connecting via a hub is never recommended, and weird stuff can happen. I connected my Keystation Mini through my Dell monitor's hub, Windows detected it fine, with the right name and all, but Live did not see it at all. I then plugged it into a different hub, where Windows saw it as some kind of generic device, but Live then recognised it as the Keystation, and it's working...

My computer has one USB-C port (which is just wasted space for me), so I bought a hub with a C connector, but so far that's not worked at all. Might work with stuff like mice and keyboards, but I've already got my wireless mouse and keyboard connected through an old hub (sat on top of my desk for minimal interference), and it's working beautifully for this.

jestermgee
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Re: USB hubs and controllers

Post by jestermgee » Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:56 pm

I have pretty much all my gear connected via 2 USB hubs because I have a lift desk and too many devices to run extended cables down to the PC. Only thing I connect direct to the PC apart from the hubs is the audio interface which has the whole PC USB controller to itself.

One HUB is just a generic USB2 hub "Digitech" from JayCar here in Australia that I have used for probably 10 years. It is 10 port powered with a switch that can power off 4 of the ports, I use that to easily reboot Push, my Corsair keyboard, StreamDeck and a spare port. I also have 2 mice connected and a few other things.

The other hub is a 8 port USB3 TPLink powered hub which has Maschine, MCU and a KK Keyboard connected

No issues with any devices on either of these however the key I believe here is both are powered. I have had some small 4 port unpowered hubs that were just unreliable in the way you describe often when I would boot the PC something was not working requiring disconnect/reconnect but occasionally I would have to completely swap ports to have it work. Now I always use a powered hub and don't seem to have issues.

sporkles
Posts: 3228
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:43 pm
Location: Schmocation

Re: USB hubs and controllers

Post by sporkles » Tue Jun 29, 2021 8:28 pm

Yeah, I've always used powered ports (and successfully with previous computers). I would assume that the hub on my Dell monitor is powered, but I had the same problem with my new (powered) USB-C hub. I've connected the Keystation via an old Belkin hub for now, and it seems to be working fine there.

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