Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

USB Port Powered Controller/Soundcard Combinations. Risky?

Hanginon 12:03 PM - 26 March, 2017
I run two different PC Laptop/Vestax Typhoon rigs. One has a USB 3.0 port on it, so I power the Typhoon from the port. The other only has USB 2.0 ports, so I use a wallwart to power the Typhoon.

I was using the USB port powered combination yesterday and Serato DJ locked up.

Is it possible that using USB (only) port powered Controller/Soundcard combinations is a bad idea (electrically)?

Look at the complaints about the Pioneer DDJ-SB2. There are legions.

The Rane SL2/SL3/SL4 are only soundcards, yet they have to be wallwart powered - and everyone swears SSL was reliable using them. The SL1 could optionally use just USB port power, but I wonder how many were actually used that way, and again, it's only a soundcard.

Is anybody running a USB Port Powered Controller/Soundcard combination (no wallwart) that has NEVER had a problem with Serato DJ?
Serato, Support
Jordan L 10:32 PM - 26 March, 2017
Hi there,

It should be completely possible to use USB powered devices without needing AC power including the SL boxes.

Please send us a help request so we can look into this issue more in depth.

support.serato.com

Cheers.
Hanginon 11:12 PM - 26 March, 2017
I think you may need to re-read what I wrote.

I know it's possible - my question is "Is it reliable?".

A controller like my Vestax Typhoon has lights, midi, sound card output, microphone preamp, headphone amp, etc., and ABSOLUTELY has had connection problems on USB 2.0 ports (which are limited to 5 volts @ 500 ma). Serato DJ sometimes would not recognize it - which is why I use it with a wallwart or a USB 3.0 port (on my other laptop). I have two Typhoon's, both react the same.

The USB 2.0 laptop / wallwart / Typhoon combination runs good. Yesterday the USB 3.0 laptop (that I don't use a wallwart with) locked up running Serato DJ, which got me wondering, especially considering the large number of problems being reported with the Pioneer DDJ-SB2 (which is USB only powered).

I realize many other factors could have caused the failure. However, my question remains - is anyone running a USB powered controller (not using a wallwart or a powered USB hub) reliably?
Serato, Support
Jordan L 1:48 AM - 27 March, 2017
Hi there,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Plenty of USB-powered controllers work flawlessly for a large number of users. It would be cool if you created a help request from the link below so we could investigate further into what could have caused Serato DJ to hang.

support.serato.com

Cheers.
Laz219 2:43 AM - 27 March, 2017
It may be worth testing each USB port you have available as well, sometimes they don't all receive the same amount of power due to the way they are wired.

If you've got a power pack anyway, may be worth just connecting it up where possible.
I've always run my SL3 with a power pack even though it's not really required.
Hanginon 3:38 AM - 27 March, 2017
Quote:
It may be worth testing each USB port you have available as well, sometimes they don't all receive the same amount of power due to the way they are wired.

Not easy to do for th average person to do

Quote:
If you've got a power pack anyway, may be worth just connecting it up where possible.
I've always run my SL3 with a power pack even though it's not really required.

I agree - if you have the option, use external power, seems to me it can only help with reliability. You also hear complaints that the XYZ controller doesn't sound good. Could that also be an all-in-one controller/soundcard strangled by a 5V at 500ma USB 2.0 port, that has to run the whole thing?
Laz219 4:23 AM - 27 March, 2017
Quote:
Quote:
It may be worth testing each USB port you have available as well, sometimes they don't all receive the same amount of power due to the way they are wired.

Not easy to do for th average person to do

I only meant in the sense of running the hardware connected to different ports and seeing if any works better than others.