Man, MIDI dropouts mid-set are literally my worst nightmare. I feel your pain. Honestly, I used to rely on Satechi gear, but I had major issues with the Satechi Aluminum Multi-Port Adapter V2 lately. It got way too hot during a summer gig and kept dropping my controller connection. Definitely not as good as expected for the price. For a rock-solid live setup under 80 bucks, you need something that handles power distribution properly without choking. Here is what has actually worked for me:

• Get the Anker 555 USB-C Hub 8-in-1 Power Delivery. It is around $50 and has been my daily driver for live tracking. The power delivery pass-through is super stable, which is usually the main culprit when MIDI drops out.
• Always plug your laptop charger directly into the hub power delivery port. Don't run it bus-powered if you are running MIDI controllers, they draw more juice than you think when LEDs start flashing.
• Turn off USB selective suspend in your OS settings. Windows especially loves to try to save power and kills the USB port, which is unfortunately a default setting on a lot of new machines. Stick to Anker for the hub, they just handle power fluctuations way better than the cheap knockoffs. Good luck on Friday!

To add to the point above: the issue is likely a mix of thermal throttling and USB bus power management. If your hub gets too hot or the laptop limits port power to save battery, your MIDI controllers will drop instantly. Since you need something rock-solid for live sets under eighty bucks, I would suggest looking at these two options:

• CalDigit SOHO Dock 10Gbps USB-C
• This one is built like a tank. It uses dedicated lanes for data so your MIDI packets wont get bottlenecked by video signals. It runs cooler than most hubs but it lacks a built-in power supply, so you must use your own USB-C charger.
• Anker 555 USB-C Hub 8-in-1
• Extremely reliable pass-through power delivery up to 85W. It is highly stable, but be careful with the port layout as plugging in high-draw devices alongside your MIDI gear might still trigger power limits. For live gigs, you might want to consider running your MIDI controllers through a powered USB-A hub connected to one of these USB-C docks. Make sure to disable USB selective suspend in Windows power settings if you are on PC, or prevent App Nap on Mac. Safe gigging.

Re: "Man, MIDI dropouts mid-set are literally my worst..."

• Honestly, it might not just be the hub itself. Unfortunately, I've had issues with even expensive setups dropping connections because of OS power management. To narrow this down:
• Are your MIDI controllers bus-powered, or do they have external power?
• What laptop and OS are you running? Let me know so we can get this sorted before Friday.