Should I be getting a powered or unpowered USB hub?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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Should I be getting a powered or unpowered USB hub?

So my home setup is going to consist of (for the time being) a CDJ850, DJM-T1, and Rane Sl3 all connected via USB. Problem is I only have two working USB 2.0 ports on my laptop.

I’m going to be running Serato on my laptop with the 850 in HID mode, the T1 serving as my mixer and MIDI controller, and the SL3 to unlock software and DVS with a second CDJ w/o HID capabilities.

All the devices are powered externally, so my question is should I be getting a powered USB hub, or would that just be overkill?

(also suggestions for either would be nice, especially if they reinforce or rebuke this article)

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Alot of powered devices still draw juice from the USB port, from my own experience both my APC40 and VCI100Mk2 both draw 500mA even though both are powered via mains adaptors.

For stability reasons I’d go with powered hub - even if it works initially you could face issues if you devices suddenly draw more power for any reason e.g. more LED’s being lit, more audio channels being used, higher master volume etc…

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powered

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i bought a powered hub and never use it. my little unpowered 4 banger hub handles everything fine and doesnt take up a open plug on my surge protector

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The Pioneer DDJ-T1 will not work through a powered USB hub. Not sure if other devices might have the same issue.

Make sure you research it.

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It’s the DJM-T1, the Traktor/Pioneer mixer. It definitely won’t work just on USB power. The only one that would is the SL3 card.

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I know. But I’m saying the DDJ T1 is a midi controller. With A/C power on and Working. If I connect into a powered hub my laptop Will NOT recognize the controller at all.

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I use this one, the one Ean recommends and uses himself (super cheap also)

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Doesn’t recognize it whatsoever, or doesn’t recognize it in the software ?

This was discussed a while back on the Pioneer forums and was a case of Traktor being an issue rather than the hardware (although it does say no hub in the manual).

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Thunderbolts to USB and to unpowered hub. I been testing it out now, running fine

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Good thing PCs just have USB ports on them :wink:

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i use a pluggable brand powered 3.0 hub, and its a beast.

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I and most of the people I know use these

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Belkin AC Powered Ultra-Slim Series 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub (F4U040v)

Powered, currently 8 bucks on Amazon, and rock solid (at least in my experience).

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I went ahead and purchased this along with a Chroma Cable (Tangerine). I’ll let you guys know how it works out for me!

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PSA: Don’t cheap out on these, fried two brand new Macbook’s and a harddrive with a cheap powered usb.

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doesn’t matter what the reason.

The DDJT1 doesn’t work with a powered hub.

So the point is watch out for this problem when using Traktor with any other controllers.

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Supposed to get the Targus hub on Monday. I’ll report back if it works or not

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I run 2 X1’s and both my Midifighters off this no problem.