usb hubs and controller not getting enough power?

ok so today I started setting maschine up in my studio. my studio computer is a macbook pro 2.4 ghz with 4 gb ram (15") here is the thing, i have on usb 1) torq conective (this is advised to be on the seft hand usb closest to the power)
2) an extension cable and usb hub (non powered) with my novation remote zero, midiman keystation 61 keyboard and Maschine and a korg nano pad.
when all is connected maschine has all kinds of issues that look as though it's power issues to the controller. so even after unhooking everything except the extension cable and hub (just for the length) it seems work ok but it needs to be on the left usb by the power! i need that for torq!
can you get powered usb hubs that will fix this issue?

 

According to Wikipedia, there are both "low power" and "high power" USB devices:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_2#Power

The article above talks about devices using power in "unit loads", and unfortunately I suspect you have a situation where Torq and Maschine are "high power" devices which can't be used at the same time, since their combined power needs are higher than what is supplied by your computer.

You can definitely buy powered USB hubs, but I would also see if any of the USB products you have can be powered via their own power supply.

D-link sells both a 4-port and 7-port USB 2.0 Hub that include an AC power adapter:
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=DUB-H7

$30 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817111402
$20 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817111131

Most M-Audio USB devices can be powered by optional AC adapters. Does your Torq and/or Midiman keystation have optional AC adapters?

You may be in a situation where you need "extra AC power" either through a powered USB hub or direct AC power for some of your devices. You might have to add a multi-outlet surge protector/power supply to your rig. Furman makes great power supplies:
http://www.furmansound.com/index.php?div=01

 

thanks that was a great response! i completely forgot that i can power those units from an adapter lol... and i also bought a 7 port powered on ebay. for $10 so i should be good real soon. thanks

 

also...in the manual it says that maschine cant run on usb hub unless its powered (or something like that...lol)

 

thanks for pointing that out. yeah it draws a good bit of usb power, i find it odd it doesn't come with a port for a power adapter. no biggie though just need a powered hub.

 

USB hubs

I run a setup very similar to yours with the same MacBook Pro. I'm not at home now, so I can't remember the model of the USB hub I got. It's a Belkin, but I did some research before I bought it. I've used some of their hubs and others and almost always had problems with devices dropping off and/or slowing and/or being underpowered.

There was a net review of the one I got where a guy did a really thorough test of the speed of the hub with all ports connected. With everything connected and running, devices were running at something like 2/3 of the speed of any one connected, and running reliably and consistently. Anyhow, I finally have a hub I can love and that will do what it's actually supposed to do including power multiple devices like Maschine, my Remote SL 37 and external USB drive without any unacceptable performance hit.

You may find your $10 hub works fine, but my experience was that they're not all created equal. I'll try to remember to check the model # of the hub I got when I get home and post it. I've had the stackable Belkins and several others in the past and none of them were reliable in the way my current one is.

Mike

 

F5U307 Belkin

That's the model # of the one I have that works great.

 

I have a Belkin High Speed Mobile 4-Port hub (F5U404-BLK) which is absolutely tiny, powered, and handles my M-Audio Axiom 61 and Maschine just perfectly. Also, I checked latency between plugging directly into the hub vs. directly into my workstation, and my software reported no difference.

(One thing that doesn't like external hubs is Digidesign's MBox. If you plug that into a hub on Windows XP it will BSOD).