USB-Power Works, Light Flashing

Hello everyone, I purchased an UR44C. My pc doesn’t have a USB-C Port, but it has a USB-A with USB 3.0 (superspeed). When buying the unit, I thought that it simply needed USB3.0 (regardless of the A or C type) to power the unit without the power adaptor…

…so, without having read the manual, I connected it to the pc, and it worked! I recorded and made music for a good 60 minutes without any problem, no audio dropouts, no recording glitches, nothing at all. The power indicator on the volume knob was blinking all the time though.

Well… is this normal? I thought that the device was not usable without a USB-C port on the PC, or a USB-A type and the power adaptor. Is it something that will be harmful for the device?

I repeat that the driver works like a charm, adding DSP FX too, and I recorder and made music on Reaper with no problems.

So… any thoughts?

Voltage from the USB port is too low. See the manual, this is discussed.

Hello there! I’ve read the manual, and the posts in the forum discussing this issue.
I bought the unit without realizing that it needed a USB 3.0 Type C - that’s my bad, I should have done more research. My PC doesn’t have a USB-C type port. But I was wondering why it worked, even if the voltage is low, and if operating it that way would harm the device.

No idea if it would harm your computer. I imagine that if you tax the device enough something bad will happen to the sound.

Your computer has a bunch of smaller computers in it to protect itself, so it will be interesting to see what happens. :mrgreen:

Yes… not a great thought to do :neutral_face: I was wondering more about the UR44C though. Any thoughts on that?

Anything I might say would be speculation, so I won’t say anything, Contacting to company is the only way to get a proper answer.

I was hoping to avoid that. I guess they’ll give me a very brief answer like ‘‘manual says so and so’’ and ‘‘you should operate it as the manual states’’, just so they can focus on more pressing matters, or because they think this will cover me. Which I understand, but it won’t answer me in the way that I wan’t. Because I want to understand how this thing works, and more importantly, why it works even though the power is insufficient. And if operating it for some time like this will harm my interface.

Anyway, thanks for your time Steve. It’s very much appreciated :slight_smile:

Update: I was messing around with it - I am a fool, I know, but I can’t resist it. I noticed that powering it via usb only makes the DSP unable to load amp models, or load anything in the second slot. The REV-X Reverb works like a charm though - the Chanel Strip too. I also tried switching on the Phantoms, and the device still worked - no power down. Strange thing.

I wonder whether the only thing that requires the power is the DSP Chip. It would make sense - UR242 has DSP effects and it needs a PSU to work, but UR22 hasn’t, and it operates via usb power.

I was also wondering that, if the DSP is the power consumer, whether a firmware update would allow the users to switch it off, and use it as a usb-powered unit via a USB3.0 Type A Port, without the insert fx’s. This would be nice! But I’m just speculating here, I don’t know the ins and outs of the thing. Anyone who knows here?