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Apple vs other USB C to USB adapter
It’s been a iOS musicians rule number 1 to purchase the original Apple CCK because others would stop working sooner or later.
Now. I’ve been having issues with my controllers not being recognised half way through sessions and I thought the new USB CCK might be to blame so I have ordered the £20 Apple one.
In theory USB C not being Apple proprietary dongle they should roughly work the same right?
I wonder what are people’s experiences.
Comments
I’ve had a ton of non-Apple cords and adapters in the past and most of them eventually fail. Would rather buy the Apple one as they generally last longer.
I don’t have a USB-C iPad, but never had any problems with them coming loose on my MacBook
No, but they hold in well.
USB c on my pro 11 is very solid, comparable to lightning.
They should really bring MagSafe to iOS, they’re quite thin now.
Which makes me wonder if anyone’s using one of those magnetic add ons that work like MagSafe.
@ehehehe the iPad holds the USB-C plugs quite well. You can feel that there is a light „snap in“.
Generally I decided to go for a pure USB-C hub. I bought a Sitecom CN-386 with PD and 3 USB-C ports and it works basically great. It just does not support display signals and somehow my Mac does not recognize the iPad when it is connected through this hub with the hub plugged in at the iPad (saying that Thunderbolt accessories can not be used - strange).
Basically you have to be very cautious when selecting USB-C hubs and cables. You need to look closely at the fine print of the specs what do they support. It must all match or you can end up in falling back to USB 2.0 speeds or even electrically fry devices because of the device does not do proper capability negotiation.
I’ve got a couple of those cables - they definitely have their uses, but in a way they work too well as they disconnect all too easily. I’ve stopped using them for controllers and now just use them for charging where a momentary disconnect is less critical.
Indeed, a usb c hub is ideally the one to go for. For me personally there’s 2 issues.
Firstly I have 2 iPads that I connect to the rig, one of which has a lightning connector. So I have the old type usb hub and a cck as well as the usb to usb c adapter.
Secondly the cables on all usb c hubs are ridiculously short which makes it a real pain to manoeuvre especially in set up like mine where I bluetac the hub to the side of the case with all the cables plugged into it. I basically don’t want cables under stress which is virtually impossible with the short ones. It’s a real pain and I bought a short extension which came with its own issues.
Thanks for the feedback. I had a feeling that the experience may not be as sleek as in the advert.
@supadom I’m actually using two USB hubs. The main hub is the 3 port USB-C hub: headphones with USB-C adapter or the audio interface, USB drive, power and the secondary hub. The secondary hub is a powered USB-A hub and it connects to the Midi devices. I have a 30W PD powerbank that has USB-C PD and USB-A QC outlets that powers both hubs. The good thing is that power for the Midi devices and the iPad is separated from each other so power hungry Midi devices don’t use up all the power.
At home I have a wall powered USB-A hub, outdoors I use an Anker 4 port powered USB-A hub. My mobile setup allows to connect a Behringer UM2 audio interface, Arturia MicroFreak, Arturia BeatStep Pro, Launchpad X and Korg nanoKeys Studio all powered off the powerbank. I also use a USB-C extension cable. The most important thing is to check the USB 3.x version that is supported by all components. Cables to power sources should also be active, e.g. with an eMarker chip that negotiates the power delivery mode on both sides.
The safe but expensive option is to buy Thunderbolt hubs and cables because is is much better standardized than USB, more strict. USB is a bit like the swinger’s motto: everything is possible but nothing is a must 😅 You always need to read the specs of all components regarding supported protocols and power delivery.
That was a very interesting read @krassmann, thanks
How do you know what draws what power from what hub? I find this part rather baffling because I can never tell where does power actually come from: the iPad or the power bank. At times the power bank will turn itself off without me realising but everything will stay powered, clearly by the iPad.
Lately I’ve added Circuit Tracks to the mix (with its own internal battery) and it shows ‘plugged to the mains’ when I power it up so likely it is also grabbing power off the iPad/bank when plugged into the hub. I guess as long as things don’t get starved of power during a live performance I’m fine with staying blissfully ignorant.