Members Awake77 Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 I rearranged my studio recently, and Ill need some 16ft USB cables to connect some devices that use USB for audio I/O. Will a regular passive cable be Ok or should I get an active 'booster' cable like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812116123 Thanks,Awake77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 Id get the active to be on the safe side. or, alternatively, get a powered USB hub. I wouldnt feel comfrotable running USB over 5-6 feet with a passive device on the end. Printers, scanners ect inject their own power into the line.. but something passive like an audio interface, I just wouldnt want to risk it. I need to pick up a powered hub for my laptop. I havent had any problems, but im getting nervous as I keep adding more gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Awake77 Posted June 29, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 Cool, thanks for the info Proteus, i think ill go with the hub... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reverend179 Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 Umm....it really shouldn't matter. You shouldn't get audio deterioration unless you have USB strung up a rediculous amount. It's digital information at that point with parity check on the packets at both sides. Besides, a lot of DAW's have issues with hubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 Any Xp system shouldnt have trouble with hubs.. If fruity loops can work off a 4 port hub on my laptop with the audio, controller and mouse all on it, I have no doubt that cubase, sonar ect will do fine. As I said, I dont feel comfortbale with runs of anything over 5-6 feet, aside from network cable. But my many years as a PC tech compels me to take the better safe that sorry route. Just cause the IEEE3 standard says you can run a parrallel cable 30 feet before you need a repeater, doesn't make it so. Espeically when someone runs it behind a microwave and refridgerator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 I've run 20ft. usb passive with no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted June 29, 2006 Members Share Posted June 29, 2006 I said I dont want to risk it! Ive got a crew of four men down there, and were not going to start playing god!! oh wait, were we talking about ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Quiet Earth Posted June 30, 2006 Members Share Posted June 30, 2006 5 meters is the spec for guaranteed performance. You may use repeaters beyond that though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reverend179 Posted June 30, 2006 Members Share Posted June 30, 2006 Originally posted by protues9 Any Xp system shouldnt have trouble with hubs.. If fruity loops can work off a 4 port hub on my laptop with the audio, controller and mouse all on it, I have no doubt that cubase, sonar ect will do fine. As I said, I dont feel comfortbale with runs of anything over 5-6 feet, aside from network cable. But my many years as a PC tech compels me to take the better safe that sorry route. Just cause the IEEE3 standard says you can run a parrallel cable 30 feet before you need a repeater, doesn't make it so. Espeically when someone runs it behind a microwave and refridgerator. Do as you feel is required to help you sleep at night. I've had issues with both Sonar and Pro Tools being worked off of a hub. Could just be me, but it's been on several different computers as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted June 30, 2006 Members Share Posted June 30, 2006 I guess, everyone is trying to say I'm stupid.. which is fine with me. I'm a bit over cautious and fesitidious when it comes to my audio setup. I run a clean XP setup with nothing on it except my audio software. I hate windows and I try to keep those problems like where you say it works on your computer and not mine or vice versa to a minimum. you know, I could... just to be an ass jump in here and say "i had sex with your mom last night with no problems.." :D But no ... hahahahahahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Awake77 Posted June 30, 2006 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2006 lol...from USB audio to your mother jokes, nice:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members XorAxAx Posted June 30, 2006 Members Share Posted June 30, 2006 Many (most?) devices that utilize a significant portion of the USB bandwidth will have problems when hung off a hub. The manuals for these devices include warnings to that point. I'm not sure what the problems are -- latency, dropped packets, or whatever. I've always followed these instructions, and have never experienced (to my knowledge) any issues. Does a repeater cable introduce problems like a hub? As for cable length, all communications protocols with a physical layer will have a specification for maximum cable length. USB 2.0 is no different. You should be fine up to that length. If you're not, then the cable is not a USB 2.0 cable. As someone else said, do whatever helps you sleep at night. In college, my buddy and I built a contraption consisting of a big Jacob's ladder encased in plexiglass, around which we wrapped a couple hundred feet of serial cable. We then connected two computers to the serial cable and energized the Jacob's ladder. We let it run for a couple of hours, but could not get any erroneous or missed bytes on the receiving end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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