Ableton Forum

Just bought my self an Audio Kontrol 1 from soundslive.co.uk (best customer service). As my macbook has only two USB connections, I was thinking about getting a 'USB hub' - will this slow down the data transfer between computer and soundcard etc with multiple items connected. If so, will it be a significant difference?

I was looking at buying a hub like this one from ThinkGeek.com: 'USB Man 4-port hub' and 'USB Squid'

no. audio runs at stupid slow speeds compared to USB. I added a seven port hub years ago, I run my sound card and some controllers through it and never noticed a difference.

Won't make any speed difference. You will almost certainly need a powered hub so the little man is better than the squid. Depending on the interface's driver you may get hangs or other problems when going via a hub. Most manufacturers advise against it, but in practice usually there are few problems on a Mac, maybe sometimes not seeing the card after sleep/wake for example. You could always drive the interface direct and use a hub for everything else.

Cheers guys. I was going to run a USB flexlight in one port (to keep it sturdy) and then everything else through the USB hub. At least I now know it shouldn't make much of a difference.

Do a quick search for hubs on here, it's come up a few times.

In short - get a powered hub!

I find that music stuff is pretty finicky through hubs, so do some research. I am using a Belkin 7 port hub that someone on here recommended, it was a good purchase.

contakt321 wrote:I find that music stuff is pretty finicky through hubs.

how so?

buy a belkin or D-link POWERED hub, i would by a 7 port hub, if you run still into trouble, not every sound card will 'react' the same, then as already someone suggested run the card directly from one port and anything else from the second one over the hub, and you should be set.

Tone Deft wrote:

contakt321 wrote:I find that music stuff is pretty finicky through hubs.

how so?

on a 4 port powered hub I had (since thrown in the street) I could hook up my Novation Remote SL37, MPD32, and APC40, however when doing so APC40 wouldn't work. If I unplugged the MPD32 and left the APC40 plugged in, it would then work.

Very strange considering the APC40 has it's own power, never could figure what the deal was, and gave up and bought a better hub. The Belkin may have actually been your recommendation Tone, I think you responded in my old thread.

contakt321 wrote:The Belkin may have actually been your recommendation Tone, I think you responded in my old thread.

me?

thanks for the info. I'll change my standard answer to 'you shouldn't have any problems, but...'

Windows does have that bullshit that sometimes when you use a device on the port it was NOT installed on, the device isn't recognized.

sometimes a device in the street is therapeutic.

I am on a Mac

I think the key is to have a decent to good quality USB hub if you plan on running several (important) devices through it. That's why I recommend the Belkin 7 Port one, it's been reported on here as one that works w/ Audio Interfaces, Midi Controllers, etc.

on a Mac even, the plot thickens!

the Belkin was suggested to me by Hambone1, so that's some advice that goes back a few years.

Tone Deft wrote:no. audio runs at stupid slow speeds compared to USB. I added a seven port hub years ago, I run my sound card and some controllers through it and never noticed a difference.

I've tried a Belkin and an HP hub and both added 2 ms of latency to my Apogee One USB interface. It didn't matter if nothing else was connected or if I powered the hubs. This was on a late 2008 unibody MBP [email protected] and 4GB RAM.

Interestingly, Live picked up on the added latency automatically.

slirak wrote:

Tone Deft wrote:no. audio runs at stupid slow speeds compared to USB. I added a seven port hub years ago, I run my sound card and some controllers through it and never noticed a difference.

I've tried a Belkin and an HP hub and both added 2 ms of latency to my Apogee One USB interface. It didn't matter if nothing else was connected or if I powered the hubs. This was on a late 2008 unibody MBP [email protected] and 4GB RAM.

Interestingly, Live picked up on the added latency automatically.

wow, cool info. 2ms, I'm surprised.

did a quick google, it might be a purposeful delay when using Isochronous USB transfers, but 2ms is a loooong time in computer terms. maybe it's related to a buffer size.

http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb1.htm

"While we will look at the other transfer modes later, Isochronous allows a device to reserve a defined about of bandwidth with guaranteed latency. This is ideal in Audio or Video applications where congestion may cause loss of data or frames to drop. Each transfer mode provides the designer trade-offs in areas such as error detection and recovery, guaranteed latency and bandwidth. "

I'm using a Macbook 2Ghz, 2gigs ram (first unibody edition), + Live 8.1.1
which only has 2 USB ports as well.

Actually did a pre-gig test today:

AK1 in 1 USB port (dedicated)
Launchpad + Nocturn (guille's script for Live)+ Padkontrol in 2nd USB port (using a passive no-name/cheap 4port hub)

everything worked fine, was even firing fast drum patterns on both PK and LP (user1 mode) with clips playing
Nocturn was functioning fine.

I have used the same setup (minus the PK) in a previous gig with no problems.
Was just pushing the hub to see if all the controllers could handle.

(I was running off the laptop's battery when I was testing) wasn't bothered to plug into mains for the test

mrsakitumi wrote:I'm using a Macbook 2Ghz, 2gigs ram (first unibody edition), + Live 8.1.1
which only has 2 USB ports as well.

Actually did a pre-gig test today:

AK1 in 1 USB port (dedicated)
Launchpad + Nocturn (guille's script for Live)+ Padkontrol in 2nd USB port (using a passive no-name/cheap 4port hub)

everything worked fine, was even firing fast drum patterns on both PK and LP (user1 mode) with clips playing
Nocturn was functioning fine.

I have used the same setup (minus the PK) in a previous gig with no problems.
Was just pushing the hub to see if all the controllers could handle.

(I was running off the laptop's battery when I was testing) wasn't bothered to plug into mains for the test

Yeah, well, I only get increased latency if the audio interface is connected to the hub, not if it gets its own dedicated port.

I also have a cheap "MIDI interface on a cable" that won't work at all when connected to a hub, even if it's powered.

So I got myself a dead cheap four port USB express card. The MIDI interface doesn't like being connected to that either, but my Nocturn, LPK25 and MS20i controller all perform flawlessly with it, so I'm good now, using the MBP's two built-in ports for the MIDI interface and the audio interface.