I wanted to share my experience as it might help others. I’ve read posts about USB connected peripherals randomly cutting out, or not working properly.
I think most people get the importance of a good quality physical contact for analog connections, but perhaps many overlook the same for digital connections, because, well because it’s digital. It carries data, not “sound”, therefore the zeros and ones should be able to “get through” more easily right? Wrong!
Recently my USB midi controller foot pedal randomly stopped working. If i unplugged it and plugged it back in, it would start working again. At first I thought it may be a driver issue, or some other OS related. Then I thought it might be bad cables. But I had just gone through so many new cables!
I play out about 4-5 times a week. Sometimes dusty or humid conditions. Even though I had cleaned my connections about 6-8 months ago, I cleaned it again with my favorite cleaner DeoxIT. Bingo! All my USB woes went away! The controller never cut out again! I decided to clean all my connections. Every port, every cable. Even my wireless midi stopped glitching so much, which I had thought to be wireless signal interference.
So, if you’re having weird behavioral, connection, glitching issues (or even crashes), try cleaning all your connections with a high quality cleaner before buying new gear!
