What USB C powered hubs and USB C to USB cables to use for NI controllers ?

Jeremy_NI

Hey dear NI fam, we often get this question asked in support, especially from new Macbook users: What would we recommend for powered USB hubs and/or USB C to USB B cables for our hardware controllers, Maschine, Komplete Kontrol, Traktor ?

Since we can't really recommend brands as a company, we could use your help on that matter.

What are your experiences ? Can you share models and brands you are using and would recommend ?

JesterMgee

Ha. Yeah macOS is so fragile with everything, seems to crumble in the corner if you give it even a slightly dirty look!

I can't recommend brands and the ones I see people recommend are usually stupidly "high end" expensive solutions. I use a generic one I got from Kogan.com.au (unpowered/powered multi-hub)

https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-8-1-type-c-pd-hub-gigabit-ethernet-port-4k-30hz-hdmi-space-grey/

Works with anything I throw at it, tho on my mac that isn't much, but it passes the USBC power through so can power devices and gives me the all important physical network+HDMI ports. I did have a generic one from eBay but that didn't work, tho I think that was a physical issue as it caused the machine to almost freeze when plugged in. Could also depend on what the day of the week is, what the temperature currently is and in what phase the moon cycle is if things work properly these days on macOS. No doubt whatever option you select it will stop working after the next OS update :)

Cables, again no idea on brands and on my windows machines literally everything has worked from USB2/3 hubs and a 5m generic USB cable. Trick is to make sure you get one that has the shielding and the higher spec and of course if you have any kind of problems, always revert to the included NI cable (which has the NI logo embedded in the plug) to see if that works.

Murat Kayi

This is my chance to ask what the cylindrical thingamabob on the original USB cables my Maschine controllers came with is for and if those cables ever break if I need to get some kind of special USB cable to ensure smooth Maschining?