AxeFx Usb to Keyboard

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NineWorlds

Member
Hello guys I'm new here, although I've had my Axe for a while.

Recently i had to rearrange my work area, where i host my Pc Rig and my axe along with other tech stuff.
My usb that plugs into my axe and directly into my PC is to short to reach now since the change, and there is no way to move the two closer at all as of now.

I do own a gaming keyboard with two mounted usb ports on it. The name is - Steelseries Apex.
Would anyone know if plugging this into my keyboard would work, and produce the same results as a direct input to the computer, or would I be better off buying a longer usb cable.

I would love to hear if anyone else does this, as I do not want to damage the axe ( These babies cost a bunch D: ) neither do i want to damage my keyboard as gaming boards also are costly.

Thanks!
 
I've had less than stellar results running the Axe-Fx II through hubs that do not have their own discrete power. They tend to not be able to handle the appropriate data transfer rates you need to work with audio. The one hub I've used with passable results is an older Belkin 7-port hub I bought straight of the Apple Store web site.
 
Hey everyone, I have been looking around for longer cables, as it seems by the results and searching - hubs arnt cut out for it.

Whats the difference between cables? I've seen some normal usb a-b cables and higher end ones. Would it do me justice to buy a $10 audio cable or fork over some cash around the $30-50 mark for a pricey audio one.
 
Nothing will get damaged. The throughput quality might not be all there but it will work. There might be some interruptions. Test it by using the Axe as your sound card and running some YouTube through it for a bit and see if you're good with it. Minimal risk. I've run my Axe's USB through keyboards, hubs (powered and unpowered), monitor side USB ports, whatever. It won't hurt anything. That's the whole point of USB.
 
Cable is a cable, it either works or it doesn't. I use Monoprice, which cost just a few bucks. Been using them for years and never have had an issue
 
NineWorlds said:
Whats the difference between cables? I've seen some normal usb a-b cables and higher end ones. Would it do me justice to buy a $10 audio cable or fork over some cash around the $30-50 mark for a pricey audio one.
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There's nothing to be gained by shelling out extra money for USB cables.
 
Rex said:
There's nothing to be gained by shelling out extra money for USB cables.
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While I agree in general, there's one thing to avoid, though: using age old dirt-cheap printer cables.

I've had nothing but trouble with them. Drivers would fail, noise issues and eventually after recording for 20 minutes or longer the Axe would start to "crackle", etc.
It took me months to figure out that the problem was the USB cable and nothing else, because it would simply not come to my mind that USB cables are not created equal.
 
Ouch.

USB cables have to have clean contacts, have no broken or intermittent conductors, and have dimensions that are within spec. For one or more of these reasons, your old cable wasn't doing its job. It's rare to find even an inexpensive cable that doesn't meet those requirements, unless it's suffered abuse sometime in its life.
 
I had a similar problem when my old 15' USB cable wouldn't reach so I bought a cheap 25' USB extension cable to use with a shorter 5' USB cable and it's working fine. I thought it would have trouble going that far but so far it works great.
 
retnuH said:
I had a similar problem when my old 15' USB cable wouldn't reach so I bought a cheap 25' USB extension cable to use with a shorter 5' USB cable and it's working fine. I thought it would have trouble going that far but so far it works great.
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Good luck with that. Part of the USB spec is a length limit of just over 15 feet. Any longer than that, and you're out of spec. All bets are off.
 
Rex said:
Ouch.

USB cables have to have clean contacts, have no broken or intermittent conductors, and have dimensions that are within spec. For one or more of these reasons, your old cable wasn't doing its job. It's rare to find even an inexpensive cable that doesn't meet those requirements, unless it's suffered abuse sometime in its life.
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The thing is: digital data transfers usually have a checksum applied to packages (I think in USB 2.0 it's CRC16). If a data package does not match the checksum, the USB host knows that the package has been damaged and basicly asks the slave device to re-send that package.
This is why there are buffer settings and why you never notice a "semi broken" USB cable. The USB specs themselves basicly prevent faulty cables from showing symptoms of being faulty. It's like when a pipe has a leak, you just send MORE water through it to compensate for the loss.

The problem arises as soon as USB data is used in a time critical domain like in audio processing. Now we have to deal with very limited buffer sizes to keep the latency low. If we apply that to the above comparison, then now we have a pipe that has a fixed size. Suddenly, that small leak of water in your pipe matters, as you can't just push more water through the pipe to compensate.


This is basicly why you never encounter a faulty USB cable in everyday applications. In reality, more than just few USB cables are broken. You just never notice.

Hence why I said not all USB cables are created equal. Cheap cables might have much lower effective data transfer rates because of that. This is not a problem on a printer, but is a problem for any audio interface.
 
CRCs work for the occasional dropped bit, but it's the equipment that causes those dropped bits, not the cable—unless it's dropping so many bits that the connection becomes unusable (think "broken wire" and such). If your cable is within spec and the connectors are solid, the cable will do its job at 100% capacity. If it's not within spec, the results are usually catastrophic—nothing works at all.

If your connections are solid, the only situation in which you might experience intermittent weirdness is if your cable is so long that you start to get timing issues. In that case, your cable is out of spec. That's why there are length limits in the spec. (An exception to this is if there's a break in the cable, and the ends of the break are being flexed in and out of connection.)

The buffer is there to help the hardware/software keep up, not the cable. An audio stream only uses about 1% of the USB cable's capacity.
 
Rex said:
CRCs work for the occasional dropped bit, but it's the equipment that causes those dropped bits, not the cable—unless it's dropping so many bits that the connection becomes unusable (think "broken wire" and such). If your cable is within spec and the connectors are solid, the cable will do its job at 100% capacity. If it's not within spec, the results are usually catastrophic—nothing works at all.

If your connections are solid, the only situation in which you might experience intermittent weirdness is if your cable is so long that you start to get timing issues. In that case, your cable is out of spec. That's why there are length limits in the spec. (An exception to this is if there's a break in the cable, and the ends of the break are being flexed in and out of connection.)

The buffer is there to help the hardware/software keep up, not the cable. An audio stream only uses about 1% of the USB cable's capacity.
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Package loss can be caused by numerous things. Keep in mind that every digital signal is still an analog signal at its core (+5V and 0V). It's possible to have cross-talk or the occasional flipped bit. Digital is by no way immune to data loss. A faulty shielding and interference can still happen, even if it is less likely compared to pure analog audio signals. That's why we have checksums, after all.
Also, electrical current heats up metal. Especially on intermittent connectors, this can be a big issue. Laptops like to heat up A LOT over time.
The problem is that Audio data is isochrone transfer. Any loss of data might fuck up the receiving end of the signal big time, even if it's just a single package.


As I said; I had this issue in the past with driver dropouts. I could resolve it by using a different cable. Both only 1.5 meters in length.
So whatever it was that caused the drivers to fail, no matter if it was the jacks or the cable itself; the fact remains that changing to a different cable solved it.


And with printers being as dirt-cheap as they are; it is almost guaranteed that they cut corners even on the USB cables that ship with them, however that is even possible.
 
Bottom line is use a longer cable or re arrange the studio "again" to make shorter cables work. Everything else is just fulffilled fodder.... ;)
 
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