One plug to rule them all.

[glenn303]

I just bought a Belkin (powered) USB hub and I plan on hooking up my Axiom 25, Launch Pad, BCR 2000,NanoKontrol, and my Arturia synths doggle. What I plan on doing is using it for my desktop PC and my Macbook pro laptop so all I would have to do is plug the hub into whichever computer I am using at that time. Does anyone else use this set up as well? Will I be looking at any potential problems? Latency issues?
Thanks.

[JuanSOLO]

I do this very same thing with with the Belkin 7 port hub that has an aluminum finish on it. I think it's an older one. It's always worked pretty good, even with lots going on including using my Gutar Rig Kontrol plugged into the hub and my Audio 8 in the second port on my Laptop.

However I heard these worked really well, plus the layout seems better. http://www.amazon.com/7-Port-USB-2-0-Hu ... 023&sr=8-8

[glenn303]

^^^Cool! That's what I wanted to hear . Thanks JuanSolo, I was dreading the thought of constantly unplugging all of them.

[glitchrock-buddha]

Ya I keep a ton of stuff plugged in to my usb router: Rig Kontrol, Kore, Novation SL, APC40, Maschine, Korg MS-20 controller, LPK25. Works fine. I do keep audio separate though because it's firewire. Keyboard and mouse/trackpad are wireless.

[jbone1313]

Glad you asked. I've been working on a similar setup. It's working pretty well, but I've not been without issues. I started off plugging in everything to a Belkin 7 port, like the ones you mention.

I noticed that sometimes my mouse and keyboard and other devices would randomly stop working. I did a bunch of research, and at first, I thought it was just a crappy hub.

Disclaimer: I may not be right on the below.

It seems there are at least two things to worry about when doing this:

1. Power
2. Bandwidth

Bandwidth seems to be less of an issue, because I think most USB ports can handle everything we're throwing at them, although I haven't tried recording multi-track audio yet. If I have a problem there, I'll just try plugging my interface into a main port.

The power issue is what I think is what you'll more likely encounter (if you encounter problems), and that is what I think I've encountered with the devices randomly cutting out. I actually bought another 7 port hub, which I've daisy chained to my first 7 port hub. That helps spread the power out amongst the devices, and that seemed to reduce the aforementioned issues. I've actually--just today--picked up a third 7 port hub to see if that eliminates those issues entirely.

I thought I read somewhere that the 7 port hubs don't really distribute power
properly, and that you're better off with a 4 port, but that could be completely untrue. Not sure.

Please let us know how you get along, and share any tips. I'll do the same.

Cheers!

[jbone1313]

Oh, and one quick tip: If you're on Windows, you can monitor the power usage of your ports by going to Device Manager->Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Then, right click and go to Properties. Then look at the Power tab.

[Phelios]

Oh, and one quick tip: If you're on Windows, you can monitor the power usage of your ports by going to Device Manager->Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Then, right click and go to Properties. Then look at the Power tab.

That´s a great tip, thanks a lot for sharing!

[H20nly]

^ that is a good tip.

@ jbone - I don't think daisy chaining them together is a good way to help with power issues. This could cause a bottleneck. Remember, the power is all coming out of one USB port. Dividing that by 7 or rather, by the number of additional devices, doesn't seem like a solid solution. Taking a single USB port and making it 7 is great, but making it 19 is a stretch. I would recommend putting one hub each on 3 ports, preferably the ports in the rear that are attached directly to the mobo (if you're using a desktop) because the wiring in desktop enclosures often causes those front ports to go out on a lot of computers in my (work related rather than just personal) experience. YRMV... If you think about the math its the same thing - you use 3 USB ports and have 21 inputs vs. you use 1 USB port and have 19 inputs plus 2 more free USB ports = 21. The only difference is the strain on that one port.

One other point with this... make sure your power supply can handle it. If you have a low wattage power supply, adding too many devices could sap it out and rob power from places that need it... like... the CPU and fans. The hic-ups might make something go POP!.. that burning smell is nothing nice.

[Machinesworking]

Someone on here a while back reported a small amount of latency introduced by hubs. I have the Belkin 7 port on one port with Kore 1 (audio out in Live) and Rig Kontrol (audio In) on the other two, as USD audio latency issues seem a lot worse than firewire. MIDI wise, I'm not as worried for performance use. I daisy chain a 4 port hub into the Belkin in the studio with some USB HDs attached.

[jbone1313]

@H2Only-

The key is that all my hubs are independently powered. That's why I have multiple hubs--to spread the power out.

[H20nly]

independently powered.

[Machinesworking]

independently powered.

FYI, on any laptop all the "power" is coming from the same source, same bus etc. A powered USB hub does in fact help. The only bottleneck you get from loading a couple hubs with a bunch of hardware on one USB port is the extra latency you introduce. You generally have 480mb to work with from one USB bus, which isn't generally multiplied by the ports to the outside world. You can get a slight amount more juice for non powered devices from extra ports, but a powered USB hub will cover all the power requirements of the devices, and from what I understand 480mb is plenty for twenty USB MIDI Devices and an audio card. I personally have run two hubs, four USB hard drives, PadKontrol, Kore 1 with audio out and MID out going to the Wretch, Rig Kontrol usb with audio in, Remote SL, MOTU MTP AV 8 MIDI port device hooked up to a Mackie Control, three hardware synths, a Logic XS key, and a Logitech mouse.
All on the laptops single bus for USB with no issues.

YRMV, but mine are pretty straight forward.

[agent314]

I have noticed spotty performance with my Launchpad and APC40 when running through a hub, specifically the clip launch LEDs not consistently updating to reflect changes made from Ableton>LP/APC.

The functionality is there and latency hasn't seemed to be an issue, but the feedback being inconsistent is frustrating at best.

[Machinesworking]

I have noticed spotty performance with my Launchpad and APC40 when running through a hub, specifically the clip launch LEDs not consistently updating to reflect changes made from Ableton>LP/APC.

The functionality is there and latency hasn't seemed to be an issue, but the feedback being inconsistent is frustrating at best.

Powered or unpowered hub? Latency of hubs is minimal, just someone a while ago posted that they did get some, less than 2ms from what I remember.

[agent314]

Powered or unpowered hub? Latency of hubs is minimal, just someone a while ago posted that they did get some, less than 2ms from what I remember.

Powered 7-port Belkin. Works fine for everything else I've tried (haven't tried my interface through it), but for some reason the feedback from Live to the LP isn't always accurate through the hub.

As I think about it, it may only be a problem with the LP - I don't think I had any issues with the APC40 through it