maybe bad usb cables at faultā¦
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I think it was clearly your swapping of the hub.
When I perform, my last two or three rehearsals are with exactly the equipment Iāll bring to the venue. This includes everything down to the audio cables to the house, stands, my table light, and even my merch. I put all the other equipment in my studio out of the way to ensure Iām working with the live setup. The last rehearsal I start by packing it all up, and rehearsing the load-in. Then I rehearse the music, and after I run through packing it all up again. Now Iām good to go and know I have exactly what works for the set.
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I had a similar issue with the Rytm Mk1 live. Itās RARELY if ever frozen on me practicing, but locked up live once. Even with just Digitakt+Rytm.
Maybe powerā¦ in my case.
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Iām claiming that!
Yes as others have said the hub is almost certainly the culprit.
1 nugget of wisdom for future reference, never change out any components of a working system just before a gig.
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I have a friend that DJs with Traktor on a Mac and the last two shows Iāve heard her play itās crashed and required a reboot of the Mac.
What I think the issue is is that she does sound check before the show, two or three DJs play before her, then when sheās up., her Mac has gone into a sleep or power suspend mode. I donāt think the Mac recovers properly from a suspend/sleep mode. Iāve advised her to reboot shortly before she goes on to test this but she hasnāt played since the last time this happened.
Just a thought but if you did do a sound check and had the system up for a long period of inactivity before you went on then perhaps the suspend/power settings might deserve some scrutiny. I could be way off though.
Just some thoughtsā¦
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Damn, that sucks. 
Probably Overhub indeed, as this is the factor that changed. Ideas:
- USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0: Did you use the correct cable in the correct USB port?
- Did you use it without an adapter? If so, you might have been pulling more power than your laptop provided. Try with a suitable adapter ( see Overhub PSU? )
- Did you use it with an adapter? Some adapters are wrongly labeled, not providing the correct amperage for example. See Overhub PSU? again for more information.
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where did you play in toronto?
I would suspect overbridge. it worked well for me too, I only gave it up because of the difficulty of syncing up prog ch, but it would also very occasionally give me quite a disastrous audio glitch.
also worth mentioning the rytm mk2 seems to be not as rock solid reliable as other elektrons. sometimes it just doesnāt turn on lol.
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I would indeed investigate Overhub.
There are a bunch of threads about Overhub issues, Overhub PSU and even alternatives multi-transaction translator usb 3 hub.
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I agree, this is a good practice. We really thought the hub would not affect thingsā¦ such a bummer.
Thanks darenager. I totally agree, Iām just so surprised that this little element could have caused an issue.
But wait, was the culprit USB, or power?? what even IS ādirty powerā? Is there a way to clean it before it reaches our setup?
This is good advice. However Iāve always had my machine sleeping for minutes / hours or days before firing up the rig and itās never been a problem before the show.
We closed the night at Frequencies - an excellent monthly series of all live electronic music in Kensington Market. Thankfully the room was mostly loving friends.
Pro tip - if you want every single person to give you a hug and say that things sounded great, try having these horrible crashes.
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" ā Dirty power ā is an abnormality in the power quality that is being delivered to a system. These abnormalities can include low power factor, voltage variations, frequency variations, and surges. All electrical systems are based on a supply of power at a certain voltage and frequency."
I think you can get power line conditioners to address this. Maybe even an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) as any fluctuations should be buffered by they battery.
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Thanks LyingDalai.
I am getting convinced that it was the Overhub. I will try to replicate the crash tonight at home. Alot of the past thread posts would report a consistent non-functionality. But my situation was more of an intermittent non-functionality. Still, it seems if my Rytm was plugged into a port with shitty soldering, the connection could go in and out as I observed.
My rytm mk2 froze the other night. It was before a band practice. It had been sitting in the cold for a few hours. Could it of been that?
Thank you labpop,
I learned that my Rytm only requires USB2. I believe I had the right cable.
if any of the cables were incorrect as you suggest, would it not result in NO functionality? I was experiencing intermittent functionality.
I will attempt to replicate the crash tonight and keep these comments in mind.
Good to know. Thank you.
Never trust computers
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Yes its a power problem ā¦ had this multiple times but never in my studio.