USB and the Studio

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sr1200

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Dec 6, 2010
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Location
Long Island, NY USA
I'm about to "break ground" on my new place in a few weeks (finally... been waiting 2+ years now).  I'm trying to come up with a good way to pipe USB connections between rooms.  I figure USB3 is probably safe for most things audio related (keyboards, electronic drum kits, other devices... not talking microphones or interfaces here).  The other thing is power.  I'd like to find a way to get the ports lit with the 5v from a reliable source and not a crap switching supply/wall wart kinda thing, id rather it be something more "permanent".

Any thoughts?
 
Hello

Keep in mind that usb may have length limit ! which can be a problem in a multi room studio depending of cable path...

Best
Zam
 
There was a company doing usb over fiber, but it was extremely expensive.  The runs aren't terribly long.  25 -30' max. 10-12' shortest.
 
With USB2, 3-4 metres should be fine, but you will have problems with 10m.
USB3 is even more limited, you will definitely have to use Active cables.
 
These look fantastic.

https://www.corning.com/optical-cables-by-corning/worldwide/en/products/usb-optical-cables.html

I haven't used them but I know people who have without issue. It's not some fly by night company either.
 
These optical cables are not cheap, at $109 for a 33ft, 199 for a 50ft, you'd better think if really you need these USB connections. For MIDI, you may want to use conventional copper...and maybe complement with WiFi.
 
@Gold, those were the ones I saw at AES a couple years ago and the same ones i was thinking about.  We may wind up doing a single long run to the furthest area with that and use a powered hub if we need more than one device on that line.

The shorter runs i have no problem with using copper, i think that will suffice.

For the "charging stations" (can't believe thats actually a thing now...) I'd like to find something that is better than a cheap switching supply.
 
abbey road d enfer said:
I don't think you get usable timing going via ethernet, unless using a prioritized layer, such as Dante.

Ah, yes.  Ours is all keyboards and peripherals, no audio. And even if it was in mastering land everything happens slowly, extra latency doesn't really matter.

 
I use a USB to ethernet thing for a webcam that we use with the live band. It can go about 75 feet. I had to buy a few different types until I found one that was compatible. If you can, I recommend doing everything over ethernet if possible.
 
Mbira said:
I use a USB to ethernet thing for a webcam that we use with the live band. It can go about 75 feet. I had to buy a few different types until I found one that was compatible. If you can, I recommend doing everything over ethernet if possible.
I did that and found the timing is horrible; OK if used as a video intercom, but for playing interaction, forget it.
 
abbey road d enfer said:
I did that and found the timing is horrible; OK if used as a video intercom, but for playing interaction, forget it.

I had to test a couple different setups.  I returned two different hubs as they were unusable.  The one we use now works well enough to display the image in a live band setting in 1080p with around 100ms delay.  Basically the same amount of delay that I get without the hub. This is the one that ended up working best:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EV33R8S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It beat out the Sewell one that was about $300. 

But- if you are trying to play in real time with another remote player by watching the video, then I don't think the technology exists yet.  I was even watching a Tony Robins documentary the other day and even with their huge setup with hardwired cameras, there was still a noticeable delay between him talking and the talking on the monitors.
 
Mbira said:
But- if you are trying to play in real time with another remote player by watching the video, then I don't think the technology exists yet.
I used 2.4GHz cameras and it worked well, with no latency issue; however I had to give up because WiFi interefered with them, so I couldn't run both simultaneously.
I thought I found a solution using 5.8GHz cameras, but they lacked range.
Finally I chose to turn off WiFi whenever I used the cameras, but it's just another chore added to preparation, so I gave up using cameras. Nobody seems to care much, anyway.
 
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