USB power question

[jnzzzz]

Hello,

I've been having trouble getting my MOTU Fastlane to work on both USB ports with Ableton. The Fastlane is the only USB device I have plugged in. MOTU thinks the problem is that one of my USB ports is not providing enough power to the Fastlane.

Does that make sense to you guys? If only 1 USB port is used at a time, shouldn't both provide the same amount of power when used separately?

I also have a MOTU MIDI Express and it works fine for me on both ports. That's why I was skeptical. Only the Fastlane is giving me problems.

MOTU says that the Fastlane and MIDI express have different power needs, but the MIDI Express has 8 ports and the Fastlane only 2, so I would think the MIDI express would need more power.

Any ideas/advice?

Thanks!

[8O]

Hi,

What kind of computer do you have? iirc, there was some usb power problem with some Macbooks a while ago. If it's a laptop, you using it on battery or connected to the mains? Does the Fastlane work fine with a powered USB hub? Just some things to try out, but I reckon you're better off making a technical report thing with MOTU directly - I've had good support from them in the past.

[jnzzzz]

Hi,

What kind of computer do you have? iirc, there was some usb power problem with some Macbooks a while ago. If it's a laptop, you using it on battery or connected to the mains? Does the Fastlane work fine with a powered USB hub? Just some things to try out, but I reckon you're better off making a technical report thing with MOTU directly - I've had good support from them in the past.

Hi,

It's an intel macbook running OSX 10.4.9. I tried using the laptop both on battery and connected with the power supply.

I called MOTU and they say it's not them, that it's the Mac that is the problem. The guy said that he thinks one of my USB ports is providing more power than the other. I have never tried a powered USB hub. I asked MOTU about it and they advised against it.

Just a weird issue that I didn't have with the MOTU MIDI Express. Only the Fastlane.

Thanks for your help. Any other ideas? Has the happened to anyone else before?

[8O]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there were other reports of MacBook USB power issues about 6-9 months ago or so. Might be tricky to find using the forum search function, but worth a look...

[jnzzzz]

I figured out the problem, but I don't know how to fix it.

Basically, the MOTU Fastlane is coming up as a completely different device on each USB Port.

My first USB port is "MOTU FASTLANE", and if I plug it into the second USB port, it comes up in Audio MIDI setup as "MOTU FASTLANE #2"

Ableton and my Mac think they are two completely different MIDI interfaces. So, any ins and outs that I save on one USB port will not work if plugged into the other.

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Solutions?

Thanks so much

[ondamarela]

Any solutions?
Just bought it, updated the drivers and sometimes it works, some times it doesn't...