Advice for USB Hub
Hi guys,
I would like some advice on a small USB hub for my Macbook Pro.
I am running traktor with the Audio8 DJ, Kontrol X1 and now I want to add Maschine but I dont have enough USB slots.
I have read that some hubs are not very good and loose power unless you use a AC Adaptor.
Could any of you advise me on a good one?
Cheers,
Chris
sure enough, click here
Yeah with Maschine and the Audio 8 DJ you will need a powered hub for sure. I have the exact same setup and Maschine behaves funny or not at all when plugged into a hub with no power and obviously you are going to want the soundcard plugged straight into the Macbook USB port rather than a hub. I have a belkin 4 port hub. I struggled to find any ones that stood out as well built so just picked this up from PC World. Seems ok so far.
I can vouch for this one http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/belkin-7-port-usb-2-0-hub-brown-00939381-pdt.html
That has not been my experience. My crappy $4 un-powered 4-port hub from best buy would run Maschine, 2 X1s, and an LPD 8 just fine…off the low-power port (which also has the keyboard, trackpad, and iSight on it). I could replace any of them with my Audio 2 and it’d still work, but I used the high-power USB port on my MBP for it anyway.
I have no idea what all you people are doing with hubs, but I just don’t get it. I haven’t had anything give me any trouble except Cruzan flash drives.
If it helps, Native Instruments have tested USB Hubs and recommend:
D-Link 4-Port Hub DUB-H4
I should also point out that I don’t use USB for hard drives ever and avoid USB for sound cards if I can (apart from my old Audio 2 and my SL1, because I don’t have a choice). I posted my tree in one of these threads.
Again…all of my controllers ran off one un-powered hub and the low-power port of my MBP. No problems at all.
Only thing I ever had an issue running on a hub were Xone: 1Ds
I had my DB4, Maschine, and 2X1s connected to a powered hub and I had the power cord unplugged for like a month before I realized it and didn’t notice any performance issues running in unpowered mode.
I dunno I had an S4, soundcard, and midifighter, and the midifighter would never work unless I was using a powered one.
Let me answer your question by telling you a story. I have a 13" MBP and I’m using 2 X1s and an Audio 8. The port closer to my screen is for my Audio 8 and I have a hub for the X1s. I have a powered hub that I normally use but last night I brought my non-powered one. With the non-powered hub, my X1s weren’t nearly as responsive and the effects didn’t work at all. So use a powered hub.
I use this one: TigerDirect Sunset
It’s powered, cheap, and works great.