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Comments
Yep, I had an Anker one fry my ipad. I also had 2 Ankers fail and 1 Hyperdrive (or maybe it was 2 Hyperdrives and 2 Anker) fail, all within a year. Never touching those pieces of shit again.
My experience with USB-C hubs was they were shit. I tried many expensive ones and hated them.
Now I use a cheap no name 4 port one that can’t do PD and just have to recharge now and then.
I bought an Alogic dock that fits fairly snugly onto the iPad.
It has USB A, USB C (powered), headphone, hdmi
https://amazon.com/ALOGIC-Charging-Compatible-Chromebook-Thunderbolt/dp/B086BRGBBP?th=1
I then got an extension cable, same brand, for it so it never stresses the iPad itself in home use.
https://alogic.co/nz/usb-3-1-usb-c-male-to-usb-c-female-extension-cable-male-to-female-prime-series.html
As noted elsewhere, I also got a usb C to 3.5mm cable from the same company for casual use, and it all works well.
I don't really blame Apple for the lack of ports, the size and weight and general form factor of the iPad are its attraction.
That looks great. Thanks.
Another vote for Kingston Nucleum here. I use it with the Apple usb-c to 3.5mm too. Never had any problems.
I have 2 of these, one in my studio and one at my satellite workstation. They work great. Get a little hot, but I've had no issues using them for hours at a time. I also plug in another Anker USB hub to it so I can get 7 total ports. I'm running and syncing up 2 Faderfoxes, 3 Elektrons, a MOTU Ultralite MK5, and the iPad. The hub powers the Faderfoxes and iPad. Occasionally, I also have a Launchpad Pro MK3 plugged in. No issues at all. I also got an extension cable which makes things even more flexible. The only issue with extension cables is that some of them won't work with the Apple dongle. I think you need to try it before you can trust what they say, though.
I’d love to avoid this usbC hub dilemma,
Will this be possible?
I’m hoping I’m able to fit the new 11” pro into my current flow.
Ideally using just the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter, powering ipad.
Into the usb a port a usb hub, into that an Ethernet to usb adapter as well as a usbA audio interface(irig or cheapo Behringer)
This currently works perfect with two iPads,
Everything connected midi-wise thru a bomebox.
Anyone care to comment on this crazy daisy chain?
Thanks!
I have been using this UNI hub for a few years now with absolutely no issues on a 11" 2018 pro. Charges the ipad and powers anything I plug into the USB A ports (moto m2 and various midi controllers) . Gets a little warm but otherwise has been rock solid.
https://uniaccessories.com/products/uni-usb-c-6-in-1-hub-1
I’ve been using this guy as an all-in-one for music, video, writing, etc…
lol this is actually an interesting concept but ugly as sin
extension cables dont give me much confidence in the hub. I went for this one with an 3.3ft cable.
https://amazon.com.au/LENTION-Multiport-Compatible-Thunderbolt-Chromebook/dp/B07XMPLZQR/ref=asc_df_B07XMPLZQR/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=588458077807&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15098677286016154200&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9071345&hvtargid=pla-1641714960462&psc=1
Not recommendations, just here to say I’ve tried probably a dozen different usb-c “hubs” and they were all crap. Expensive, cheap… didn’t matter. They all failed in one way or another. To the point where I’ve pulled back from iOS music making. I’ve thrown enough money at it TBH, it’s totally ridiculous that iPad Pros don’t have a better connection scheme. Dongle hell is real.
It is disappointing to me that Apple has none of their own offerings to fill gaps created by their own decision making in the industrial design and engineering departments. It’s almost like they have no one performing real-world tasks in the company, using these devices the way real people use them at times. And I KNOW they use all of their own devices. They should have an entire line of accessories ready to go when they introduce new and upgraded products. People need solutions.
This is why the audio in my vids is not as good as it was a year ago - no longer using an audio interface with a great mic, instead using a semi decent inline mic on my semi-decent headphones which still needs an absolute crap load of processing to make the voice even semi decent. Having been through 3 bad experiences with hubs I'm reluctant to throw more money down the drain.
yep, same here. The dongles are enough to make me crazy
Stupid question but why not just use a basic USB A hub with a USB A to USB C adapter? What's the point of these expensive hubs, apart from maybe being able to power the iPad while it's in use?
Because if you don’t power the ipad while using these things, the battery will not last long, I guess?
I made the mistake of forgetting to buy one with a headphone amp/jack and it has killed my spirit, because I refuse to drop another $50-100 or more on something that doesn’t work properly. Even the one I have (I just ordered the top selling/rated one on NewEgg) takes two or three plugins to catch and actually power on my interface.
That makes sense, from what I can see the only advantage of a USB-C hub is that you can charge the iPad while you are using your peripherals.
One possible cheap solution is to use a USB 2 hub with an old-school USB Y cable connected to a power bank. That will at least power the peripherals (but not the iPad) which will significantly reduce the power draw. It's how I've always powered my audio interfaces when using Lightning port iPads, and imagine it should still work OK with USB-C.
I got one of those little Vava 8-in-1 hubs initially in 2020 and after using it once or twice it just sits in a drawer. Only one usb-c port and for charging only, but the bigger problem was when the hub was plugged in there was always some sort of ground loop noise or hum added to my signal. And this was with the iPad not even charging. So I gave up on hubs a while ago and just have several tiers of audio interfaces that have most of the i/o I would need already onboard. That doesn’t solve the larger problem we are all experiencing, but my point is that the hub itself needs to be designed not just with the necessary inputs we all need, but also with wiring and shielding and components that won’t affect or degrade the signal.
Perhaps one of those apple magic keyboards, with its extra usb-c port for charging the iPad, could be an elegant way to still use a hub on the iPad but without need to charge it through that hub…
The way to avoid ground hum is to power the hub with a powerbank rather than the mains.
This is the one I use as well for my M1 iPad (and occasionally for my MBP). It was expensive as hell for what it is, but I have had zero problems with it and connect a lot of gear to my iPad through it (audio interface, KSP, BSP, Midi interface, Korg Nanokontrol Studio, SSD, some of these through a connected USB 2.0 hub) and it's all good. TB4 cable is replaceable, provides plenty of power for both host and peripherals. From what I'm reading on this thread, it was probably worth it!
That’s sage advice for sure.
The hub I have is not a powered hub though. So I would have my audio interface ( bus powered) going into one of the usb-a inputs on the hub. guitar plugged into the interface. I also have an old midi keyboard (Fatar from the 90s) plugged into another usb-a input on the hub, via the Iconnectivity Mio midi-usb adapter. That adapter works flawlessly and allows you to go from 5 pin midi to usb without any issue. But, they keyboard itself is powered by mains via its own 9V adapter, so I would assume that caused the hum. These days I just plug the midi keyboard into the 5 pin midi on the back of my motu m4, no need for hub. My set up is pretty simple though. iOS music peeps still need a proper hub solution. That keyboard someone posted upthread looks dope.
https://www.iconnectivity.com/audio4c
I know it's not a hub, but damn, I love this thing. Powers the ipad, allows me to send tracks from Drambo to Bitwig (and vice versa), and you can plug a usb A hub into the back where it can host 8 more usb peripherals (hardware and midi controllers etc).
It solved the problem of messing with dongle hell. No longer tethered to short C hubs that seem likely to fry my ipad. Plus if you use a Mac or PC for music production as well, it's the only interface that can host two devices. Or even two ios devices if you prefer
Yes - had these ground noise hum issues with both Hyperdrive and Anker. Also, neither was able to receive audio in from a connected inline mic.
The Magic keyboard is an elegant solution but am incredibly expensive one.
I get a decent amount of hours with an 11” M1 Pro.
I am powering a Steinberg UR22 mk2 and Roland A-49 from the pad and get about 6 hours from a full charge.
This might help to fix the hum issue from your old MIDI keyboard, plug it into the MIDI ports on the hardware and send the MIDI straight to the iPad wirelessly:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AXSYSLU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00
(edit): sorry I see you've solved the problem by plugging the keyboard into the MOTU
Also Jakob's video is slightly misleading because he states that Apple don't make any USB-C dongles that can charge the iPad, but they do make one, although it's expensive:
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MUF82ZM/A/usb-c-digital-av-multiport-adapter
So you could use that adapter with a cheapo USB 2 hub and avoid most of the issues that people seem to be having. Plug a powerbank into the dongle and you should be able to charge the iPad while also powering audio interfaces etc...
If they added a headphone jack with in/out, so I could record from headphone inline mic, I would buy it, even at that ridiculous price