Hi I know this question has been asked but a few years ago now.
I have the Elektron Trio, Digitakt, Digitone and Syntakt and ancient 2012 MacBook Pro, unfortunately this is on its arse and barely starts up anymore.
I’ve got an opportunity to purchase a 2017 MacBook in great condition only problem is the external connections it has 4 USB C ports and as you all know the Elektrons use USB-2.
I’m assuming a usb-c to USB2 hubs would work fine or would I need individual adapters if I was wanting to connect all three up to Overbridge.
Any recommendations would be helpful.
Also a quick question on performance I don’t know if it’s my aging Mac or Overbridge in general whenever I use Overbridge either stand alone or in Ableton the tempo speeds up and down erratically. I’m hoping a slightly new Mac will take care of that?
I’d swap out the HD for a SSD and get it cleaned up. I did this with a 2010 13" MBP and it transformed it. For a few quid, irrespective of your decision to buy a newer MBP, you’ll have a great laptop as a music server or whatever.
Not all USB hubs are created equal. The Overdub is good because it has some thing (name escapes me) that means it can service that many connections without too much latency. There are others that have it, but that one definitely has it. Then just the right adapter between laptop and hub and it’ll be fine.
Agree on the SSD upgrade. Also, do a clean install from scratch too.
Thanks for the reply’s so far. I’d love to save a few pennies but it’s not just the HD that’s knackered the battery is gone and the USB ports are worn out not sure if that can all be refurbished.
So the Overdub Hub is worth getting? Do Anker do a hun that works too?
MTT — that’s the thing… Overhub is an MTT hub. Any hub that has the same feature will work fine for multiple devices (that run at multiple speeds). So yeah, very possibly an Anker one may work — the Overdub isn’t made by Elektron, it’s just a random hub with a sticker on it I think.
I’m using the 10-port Sabrent on my Mac Studio. Although I generally like Anker, the hub you linked has only 7 data ports and 3 charging ports.
After trying out a few different USB3 hubs, my guess is that either USB3 hubs always have MTT built in as part of the standard, or the USB3 hub chips that everyone uses has MTT built in.
Indeed. When I lived in the US, I found that on Amazon especially, its easy to buy USB cables and adapters that are not actually up to technical specifications of what is advertised. For the most part, I think sellers of this garbage get away with it because most average consumers don’t notice. If it does get taken down, it just pops up elsewhere.
Kind of unrelated, but when people complain about companies like Apple wanting to lock down accessories to MFi spec, its more so that $2 cable you bought at a gas station doesn’t potentially brick your $1000 phone.
Virus TI (equally infamous for its USB finickiness)
Jupiter Xm
TR-8s
Novation 61SL Mk3
Korg SQ-64
After I realized that nearly all of my synths support MIDI over USB, I bought the 10-port hub instead of trying to find an 8x8 MIDI hub. USB is much cheaper and easier to work with - I already had two decades worth of USB cables - and the few devices that don’t have USB can hang off of any of the synths that have both USB and MIDI.
I started out with this smaller Sabrent, so I could inject power into my MOTU M4 when hanging it off the iPad + CCK. It worked well, so I upgraded to the 10-port version and added a long USB 3 cable. (I almost exclusively buy USB cables made by Anker, but they don’t make a USB3 Type B cable)
Edit: you would need this USB-C -> 3.0 B cable instead of the USB A -> 3.0 B that I used. My Mac Studio has both USB-C and USB-A ports.
Thanks @obscurerobot bought this item. Thanks so much for your help.
Out of interest what computer are u using?
Do you get any weird tempo fluctuations when u use Overbridge?
As I’ve mention I press play on Ableton and the tracks are all playing through Overbridge it will play nicely for a bit then boom tempo goes bonkers from 138bpm up to 170bpm and then slows down so annoying.
I’m hoping a slightly newer 2017 MacBook in new condition and this new hub will mean I don’t get issues.
I haven’t checked, but my assumption is that with the much higher clock speeds of USB 3, jitter should be reduced significantly for devices that communicate at USB1 or USB2 speeds.
Are you sending MIDI notes from Ableton to the OB device and then recording audio? If so, I can run that same test this afternoon and let you know what I find.
The cable that comes with the 10-port hub is a 60 cm long USB-A to USB 3.0 B cable. My mac sits a few feet away from the music gear, so I bought a 10’ long cable, which I linked above. But since my mac has USB A and C ports, I bought the cheaper cable. Your MacBook only has USB-C ports, so you need to also buy a USB-C to USB 3.0 B cable in order to hook it up.
Edit:
I created a new project with Overbridge and the AK. Track one is kicks, track two is snares. I recorded 10 minutes of audio at 120BPM (Ableton was the clock and MIDI note source). It looks like the beats line up about as perfectly as you’d expect from an analog device. The kick seems to be delayed slightly, but that delay is constant over 10 minutes.
