OK, been playing with my 3 Korg Nano devices and MyDMX. Haven't really discovered anything fascinating. Not saying I haven't had new discoveries, but I have made some rather more definitive answers.
Specs:
Apple MacBook Pro, 17" with 4Gigs RAM, Mac OS 10.5.8 and BootCamp 2.1. Running XP Home and booting as a PC. This has run fine for MyDMX for 2+ years.
2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo
Upgraded screen option, but not using gloss screen, using the matte screen.
USB MIDI devices:
Korg nanoKONTROL fader/knob surface
Korg nanoKEY keyboard controller
Korg nanoPAD percussion/pad oriented controller.
D-Link 7-port POWERED USB 2.0 hub.
MyDMX with March 2009 release(latest from web site)
1: Running MyDMX off a USB hub works. It doesn't want to talk to any USB MIDI devices off the same powered USB 2.0 hub.
MIDIOX reports valid MIDI data from all 3 Korg devices.
By working, I have a DMX tester plugged in and it appears to light up and appear to be passing data. I do NOT have a light connected as it's not convenient or practical right now.
Working: Will define MyDMX as working as being "it shows up as running in USB mode by the software, lights up properly and is making the basic DMX tester/terminator I built appear to be lighting up properly".
2: Plugged the MyDMX hardware into a port right onto the computer.
Plugged nano devices onto USB hub.
MyDMX working. MIDIOX sees valid MIDI data from all 3 Korg devices.
MyDMX only sees one MIDI device, which is the nanoKONTROL, but may be because it was the first device I tried to program a MIDI trigger or control to.
Figured there might be an issue with the korg drivers, so re-applied those. No changes. But, I was able to get the korg nanoKEY to work, but then it won't respond to the naoKONROL. The nanoPAD wasn't working too good, I'm fairly sure I need to set it back to factory fresh.
Interesting thing:
You can assign a MIDI note to a DMX channel. Velocity will determine channel value. Very silly. But, the Korg nanoKONTROl isn't designed to be as sensitive or precision as say a regular 61-note keyboard, or even some of these $225+ MIDI controller keyboards. One must consider that with most keyboard, a fair amount of the cost is in the keyboard itself. For $55 or so, the Korg nanokontrol is great for working alone for songwriting and creating, but isn't an ideal controller in general. Velocity sensitiveity isn't that great, and the mini-keys don't help much either. For what it is though ad for the money, it's still a great value.
I will be doing attitional tests tonight involving a wireless USB numeric keypad. I will also move my wireless mouse to the USB hub as well as move some of the Korg devices to various port to see what's going on. I DO NOT have a wireless keyboard, at least not yet. I'm debating getting a set of Apple wireless keyboard and mouse, but I can't justify the price right now. Also, I'm not terribly convinced how well BlueTooth works on the MacBook Pros under Windows. I also have a third-party BlueTooth dongle that I could use if necessary.
Right now, MyDMX is wonky in regards to USB. I don't expect to see much change.
I may plug a korg device into each USB port(I have 3) and not connect the MyDMX hardware at all to see how it responds. I can also attach a MIDISPORT 2X2 MIDI interface and a JL Cooper CS102 hanging off of that, as well as a M-Audio Firewire 410(because it's firewire and has a MIDI interface).
My ultimate goal is to be able to continue to use the korg nano controllers with MyDMX, as well as incorporate something like the Novation LaunchPad or the Akai APC-20 or APC-40. I'm leaning towards a tag-team of the nanoKontrol for fader/knobs, and the LaunchPad for scene triggering. Other devices might make their way in as well. For shows, wireless mouse is necessary, as well as the fader surface(the nanoKONROL is used realtime to control fog machines and incidental over-rides on follow sports, as well as fine tuning programming on-site. The The LaunchPad is to help avoid mousing around, but the numeric keypad is for some remote triggering. I may have to mess around until I find the magic combination, but I'm in no mood to buy a LauchPad until I can get the 3 Korg nanos working. If multiple USB MIDI devices work at once, then that leaves hope for the Launchpad. With 64+ light-up pads, it will look cool at FOH along with the video switching and all the other goodies I've got over there.
This still supports the theory that MyDMX isn't friendly to USB hubs. Chances are on these sub netbooks, to save costs, they are using USB-type connectivity for onboard devices like the mouse and keybboard, but isntead of dedicating a "port", they are treating all USB connectivty as if it were a hub instead of ports.(which makes a BIG difference in the big scheme of things). It's less stuff to cram in to treat it all as a hub instead of ports.
Right now, this testing is superceding all other testing, including evaluating newer lighting software offerings from Elation.
Original Post