USB-B to USB-C cable not working

The Lounge Other Gear
1

Stupid technical issue !
I wanted to connect my AKAI MPK 261 MIDI keyboard to my MacBook Pro that has only USB-C connectors.
I know I can use a Hub or a single USB-C/B adaptor, but wanted to avoid this in this particular setup. So I bought a USB-B to USB-C cable : UGREEN Câble Imprimante USB C Thunderbolt 3 Câble Type C Mâle vers USB B Mâle Câble Scanner Nylon Tressé Compatible avec MacBook Pro Air iPad Pro Air iMac Pro Chromebook Pixel XPS 17 15 (2M) : Amazon.fr: Informatique
It doesn’t work.
Is there some specification I need to be aware of for such a cable to work ?

EDIT :
It doesn’t work with a simple USB-C to USB-A adaptor, but works via the USB-C Hub you can see in the picture…

IMG_7482
IMG_74823024×4032 3.16 MB

2

Well, that’s strange.
I’ve tried with a second MPK 261 (I have a spare one) and got the same results : i won’t work either with the USB-C to USB-B cable or with a USB-B to USB-A cable + an adapter.

Then I tried plugging another keyboard (Roland A-49) with my brand new USB-B to USB-C cable. It works.

So there is something in the way the Akai MPK 261 is built that makes it incompatible with USB-C.

3

Found this :

Hopefully this fixes the issue.

4

Updating the firmware to 1.02 fixed it, although it’s supposed to fix connectivity problems with M1 Macs, and my Mac has an i7 processor…

5

My guess would be it was something to do with the USC-C spec, but it only got reported to AKAI via users of M1 macs.

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6

You’re probably right. I contacted the support nonetheless.

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