Hi I’m new to this forum and only a relatively recent convert to Digital DJing (Approx 4 years ago). I use Traktor scratch Pro 2 on PC (not an Apple lover I’m afraid, please don’t hate me!) with a NI X1 controller and a Pioneer DJM-750 mixer mk1 (i.e. built in sound card). My normal set up is a direct USB link between mixer and laptop (I’ve repeatedly been told this is important to have it on its own because of the data transfer rate needed?), then a D-Link POWERED usb hub connects to a second USB port for the X1 and Wireless mouse dongle and occasional USB memory sticks from clients. On very rare occasions I also add a second X1.
So here’s my thing: Naturally I want to get the very best possible (stable, reliable and high quality) connections to all the above gear. To get around the age old problems of limited number of USB connections, power usage, data transfer rates, (something called “multi-TT” which I still don’t fully understand?), etc etc!! I was considering whether there would be any benefit from using a IP Network connection from the laptop to a networkable USB Hub (again this would be a powered version). My thinking is that I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that this would give me fast data transfer rates (so no latency issues?) and a stable connection with a less “vulnerable” type of physical connection into the actual laptop (by this I mean that RJ45 is more compact than USB, it’s in a position less likely to be “knocked” and also cannot also be pulled out as easily due to the latching clip)..
I’m considering something along the lines of this product: USB Switches from LINDY Electronics
Not that expensive but also definitely not the cheapest..
Has anyone else actually tried this “method”? successfully?
Are there good reasons NOT to do this and should I abandon the idea and just stick with USB?
I tried once before with a similar but very cheap product but it wouldn’t accept some of the USB devices (just said “unrecognised device”) and I ended up taking it back. I believe it also did something where it assumed certain priorities for the different USB ports (which I guess is bad) although the Lindy product allows you to choose this through the GUI allegedly..
So I can see my post has been viewed over 100 times since 29th January but not a single person has replied or commented. Can I assume from this that either no-one understands what I’m asking about or that no-one has ever tried it?!
I could go ahead and just buy the thing and try it but its not money I can really afford to spend on something that wont work.
Apparently, no one has used one. I haven’t even seen one.
I did see something a while ago about a converter that sends the USB signal itself over cat6 cable to try and get longer cable lengths, but that doesn’t seem to be what you’re talking about. The product you linked will absolutely not work the way you want. It just exposes print and file servers to windows networking.
I would suggest not trying to do anything USB over IP. Now if you were using a NAS that could work but depending on the network, transfer speeds may actually be slower than USB. Even hooking a NAS directly to your laptop will be tricky as you will definitely need to do some configuration in windows. If you use a regular patch cable you will have to turn on internet sharing to trick your laptop to act like a router then adding the NAS to the network. An IT person will probably tell you to use a crossover cable to directly attach a NAS but you will probably still have to add/map the drive in windows.
What I would recommend is double checking whether you have USB 2 or USB 3 ports on your laptop. If you have USB 3 ports you can get away with putting your interface/mixer and a midi controller on one hub and the rest of your items on the second hub. This will be a better solution since in theory it should be a plug and play thing so no configuration would be needed. In theory stereo 96khz at 24 bit requires a bandwidth of 4.39mbps so mixing 4 sources at that setting would need about 18mbps. USB 2 handles 480mbps while USB 3 can handle ten times that(5gbps).
So, the actual math is a little more complicated than that because USB involves some overhead in the transfer…which is why literally nothing works at the published speeds.
But, yeah…I’ve run a pair of D2s, a Maschine Jam, an F1, and an Audio 10 all off one USB 3 port through a hub, and it works fine. Granted, that’s on OS X, but still.
