External device case. Is there such a thing?

whiskeyjack6058 · 13 Nov 2014 at 20:36

Hi, I'm hoping someone can advise me. I am a sound recordist and I have a home studio which has a problem. The problem is computer noise as I record in my home studio and the microphones that I use are very sensitive. I have decided to remove the computer from the room altogether, however this poses to be inconvenient in some ways as I often require the card reading interfaces, DVD drive and USB connections. I was wondering if there is such a thing as a case which resembles the front bezel of a tower case without housing the mother board, graphics card and PSU. All the cables will have to go through an external wall as the home studio is an extension to the house so it seems i'm going to need a core drill to get through, mainly because of the VGA & HDMI cables.
Any advice - Very much appreciated.
Thanks
Rob.

andy_mk3 · 13 Nov 2014 at 20:39

My suggestion would be a powered USB hub with a USB extension lead (maximum of 10 meters I believe). Then you can use a USB DVD drive, card reader etc.

jh30uk · 13 Nov 2014 at 23:11

Or bit further with an active USB extension cable.

Little_Crow · 14 Nov 2014 at 00:16

It sounds like you are looking for a KVM. So you can have Keyboard, mouse, monitor and a USB hub in your recording room, but the base unit off elsewhere?

We have a similar requirement at work for our sound proof hearing test rooms, and we use Adderlink boxes. This allows us to just run a single network cable from the room to the base unit elsewhere.
I'm sure there are other manufacturers making similar kit, but it should give you an idea of what's possible.