Is running a controller and sound card on USB power a risk?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Is running a controller and sound card on USB power a risk?

Is running a controller and sound card on USB power a risk?

I have a reloop Digital jockey 2 (1 week) if feels good, but the support is really poor.

I bought a version with a built in Audio interface, but it requires a PSU to power it.

It works as a controller on USB power without the PSU.

I was thinking a could get a separate USB audio interface like the audio 2 DJ

and then i wouldn’t have to worry if the PSU wire broke for the controller.

and just take a spare USB cable

Or is powering a controller on USB only a bit risky?

I am getting a HP laptop this week HP DV6 to run the setup

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I’m also very curious about the answer of this question… I’m experiencing problems with my VCI-100 SE and my Audio 2 DJ both USB powered on my Macbook.. It seems that it has some latency problems even in the lowest regions. I think that the Audio 2 DJ doesn’t get enough power or something to work properly.

I’m now looking for an adapter to power my VCI-100 SE

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Yeah, bad idea. Sound cards use up all the available power almost all the time. Check out deal extreme for some sweet and cheap powered hubs. I use one usb port and a powered hub for my audio 4 and the one other 4 port usb hub for my franken controller and the 3rd for my herc steel. also use the port closest to the magsafe port on your macbooks, supposedly they are the ‘best wired’ , read an article i think on here about not all usb ports being equal when it comes to this. GOOD QUALITY FERRITE CABLES TOO! :smiley: Hope this helped!

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I’d like to run a USB only setup, but not it it costs me.

cheers for the input bro

I have PSU with a tiny wire that came with my Reloop DJ2 controller. I’d rather a chunky USB cable

@everyone else …so is running a controller and audio card on USB bad

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I use a Numark DJ i/o, and I usually use it’s own power supply. When I don’t plug in the power supply I notice an increase of about 10-20% in my cpu usage, but haven’t had any issues.

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How have you concluded its a power issue ?

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@OP

I run both a USB soundcard and controller without any hitches, and no external adapters. As long as they dont share the same socket (via a hub), or you use a powered hub, you should have no problems.

You can also check the power usage each devices requires by check them out in the device manager.

Windows can also warn you if you are low on power on a USB device.

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cheers some good info

I rang the shop today (decks.co.uk sappires uk) the guy said i should check to see that things were on different busses, and that modern laptops are pretty well powered for this sort of thing.

I might give it a shot

the PSU that came with my reloop controller is about the same as my mobile phone charger. with a tiny bit of bell wire for power. I feel that i would like a ‘kettle lead’ or a ‘ghetto blaster lead’ for power. rather than this flimsy bit of wire

I’m switching up from Decks to laptop setup, and i don’t want it to bite me on the arse :eek:.

I feel at least USB cables are a bit more universal
I can carry a spare that will work for both.
I can get them anywhere (even someone else may have one)
and they are a lot more sturdy than the ‘bell wire’ on the Reloop adaptor

any more opinions welcome

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hello, i use a reloop2 controller with an audio 2 and run a kontrol x1 on the same machine, with no problems.

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sweet cheers for the info

I bought the reloop interface edition. but i might get the audio 2 DJ anyway so i don’t have to use the Reloop PSu adaptor

so to double check, are you running all of it purely on USB power?

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yes mate im running it all on the laptops usb ports, and i have had no problems.
regards
traktorboy

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it really depends on your laptop and what you use.

I ran a VCI-100 and an NI Audio Kontrol 1 from my asus laptop with no problems, as soon as i added a Korg PadKontrol it was too much (too many leds). I had to use a powered hub for the Korg or the AC adaptor for the VCI-100.
The soundcard and the VCI malfunctioned on the hub, It was a decent Logitech one aswell.