Ableton Forum

ok, this one is about mostly uncovered ground, I know there've been alot of threads lately on the macbooks but I think it helps us in the end. so if you repeat something you said elsewhere or earlier... good for us!


How do You macbook Users handle the usb ports issues, the fact that there are only 2 of them, and that those two are apparently underpowered (if thats your experience)...... I've been reading about this issue for a little while now. Remember when the original novation remote 25 came out.. I got one back then, and I can remember alot of people having problems with the mac desktops and laptops powering the remote 25. I had a pc and I have never had this problem but I was contiplating picking up a mac back then and I remember being very concerned about that.

for a point of refference let me tell you what i'm used to. my desktop has 4 usb ports on it
one port is connected to usb hub, it's a non-powered hub and has 5 ports on it, connected to my computer through the ports and hub I have the following.

usb qwerty keyboard
usb mouse
x-session midi controller
radium 49 midi controller
-trigger finger-midi controller
bcf-2000 midi controller

non-powered usb items

tascam us-2400 midi controller
usb blackbook external harddrive

ok as you can see there has been alot connected to the usb-hub at the same time and like i said it's non powered so thats all into one port. but the point is that i never had any usb power issues what so ever.


I'm not expecting this from a macbook 2.0 laptop, but I would like to know what kind of usb power capability you are getting realisticly....I'd like to get one of the new remote 25 sLs, will I have problems powering it, I'd also Like to get one of those usb to midi adapters so that I can hook up my fatar 88 key controller at the same time, but I also have a usb hard drive and I'd like to hook up my usb mouse and usb keyboard.

so what are you hooking up and are you facing any issues.
and thanks for reading this boring long ass post.

i have a remote SL plugged into a macbook pro - no probs. dont think the power management will be different on mac book...

just use a usb hub with its own power supply if you need to plug lots a things in.

yawn yawn... zzzz....

Get yourself a "MIDEX 8".
It's a hub with 8 MIDI I/O. Uses 1 usb port and a powercord.
You can hook up your whole setup to that thing.

I'm running a new Macbook 2Ghz and when I try to power a Korg Kontrol49 off of USB I get a warning that the device is drawing too much power.
It works, but I've been running the Korg off of wall power just in case.
I power a MOTU Ultralite off of the firewire bus and there is no problem.
It's weird because I've never seen this problem with another laptop, including an iBook 500Mhz 12"...

hoffman2k wrote:Get yourself a "MIDEX 8".
It's a hub with 8 MIDI I/O. Uses 1 usb port and a powercord.
You can hook up your whole setup to that thing.

Stale Bread, whatever you do DON*T get a Midex8! They suck arse, and it will definitely NOT solve your power problems, quite the contrary! Using one of those you'd need to power each usb-powered device from a wall-wart. Not a pretty scenario!

Get a powered usb hub. I have a very slick Sandberg 7 port, that will distribute power to:

usb qwerty keyboard
usb mouse
x-session midi controller
radium 49 midi controller
-trigger finger-midi controller
bcf-2000 midi controller
-and then the Remote SL (which has a midi input, so you won't need another usb-to-midi converter)

-also note that some usb hubs require more power to run stuff. I have a Targus 4-port, which will happily power my triggerfinger, padkontrol, mouse. The Sandberg will not - that needs external power.

ahh thanks folks, it appears that the saga continues,, saving the best for last though.