USB seems little understood.

If your USB device is not *class compliant* -- which means that it needs its own drivers installed in order for the system to recognize and use it rather than an instant "plug and play" situation that uses the generic windows drivers, you should always plug that device into the same USB socket every time. If you don't, your OS is likely to install new instances of that device, one for each of the sockets. This can lead to problems down the line.

There are other issues, too, with USB, for example, when using PGMusic softwares -- and most other softwares that need to address the sound device -- you must have the USB device connected and up and running *before* starting the software or it won't be seen or listed by the host software. You can't start the software and then plug the USB audio or MIDI device in and get the software to "see" it because these softwares run through a routine that looks for the available devices when the software starts up. It cannot list what is not there at that time.

That said, let me say this about USB audio -- there are certainly instances where it is desirable to have the USB audio device. For example, someone with need to use the device on a modern laptop may have little choice if all the laptop has is USB connects on it (No built in FireWire, no pcmcia slot, etc.). Don't fall prey to the "digital thought" process when reading what I have to say, this is not a Boulean situation, not a one or zero, or the thinking that, "Mac says, USB = BAD" that I'm sure someone will take away from this thread. *grin*

All I'm trying to do is lay all the options and the situation out so that someone can make an *informed decision* as to the type of device they consider and purchase.

This is not a one-input problem.


--Mac

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