We’re at a tipping point with battery density/cost. I’m seeing more and more situations where people are putting battery packs together with electronic devices that you wouldn’t assume could be mobile.
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@TRAINTRACS is a user here - and they’ve posted about building that setup as well. Should be easy to search for. Fantastic stuff.
Now if only I could arrive at a situation where I’m also typically in a hotel room by the beach where I can jam on my octatrack… 
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Cheers! Yeah it’s been treating me well. I’m working on the mkii of my box right now. Planning on building a custom battery pack with li-ion cells and integrating a small, single board computer, like a raspberry pi but probably a bit more powerful. I’ll also likely de-case the virus and Octatrack, and integrate it all more cohesively into one unit. It’s going to be a big step up!
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Been using this for almost 2 years now to power either DT, DN, or OT on the go. Usually lasts for about 24 hours of use before needing a recharge (when using one elektron box at a time).
I can also plug a short extension cord (https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-12-ft-16-2-Green-Cube-Tap-Extension-Cord-KAB-1-KAB-10F/304904563) into the 120V plug and run all three at once on-the-go! I’ve only done this a few times and never for more than 4 hours, but no issues. The power is very clean and I haven’t heard any noise, etc when using it.
I agree that we are in a new world when it comes to battery price/features and capacity.
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Is there anything to be done with the massively long power cords? Specifically with the OT? Carrying this and an OT would be difficult enough without a 12 foot power cable… I guess zip ties or something would help, but just wondering if there’s a more elegant solution… Sorry if this is off topic.
Just replace the AC cable on the power supply with a shorter one? It’s a standard cord, nothing special. Would cut the length in half, anyway. I use those light weight, 100-for-$7 Velcro cable ties for all of my power supplies and cables.
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What role is the raspberry pi going to fill?
The reason I ask is I rigged a big JBL bluetooth speaker in the frame of my road bicycle. I pump that bad boy to 11 and crank out Paula Temple - DeathVox while coming up on a group of cyclists. But I’ve been thinking I’d like to have a bpm switch or play sample button on my handlebars that I can execute while pedaling instead of faffing with my phone. I want to be able to quickly play a sample like “We are the warriors…” or cue something equally dramatic like the ET theme song without unlocking my phone or pausing whatever song is playing in that moment.
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Hah nice! You should totally do it. I think an Arduino could probably handle that.
In my case, I ended up going for an Intel Nuc instead of a pi, as it has a lot more beef and can run a proper desktop OS. I’d like to have it running Linux. It’ll do various things. Mainly, I’m writing some code to automatically bounce individual tracks as audio from the Octatrack, so I can record myself performing something, press a button and let it run, resulting in a bunch of audio stems that I can mix later. Aside from that, I’ll also use it to display meters such as loudness and frequency spectrum, act as a USB MIDI host to control the Octatrack with USB MIDI controllers, and I could use it to run software synths controlled by the Octatrack. There’s loads it could do tbh - I also have an idea for how it could add midi scenes for example.
The idea is that the Octatrack remains the central brain of the setup, and the computer is just there to augment it with additional functionality.
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Yep. Especially a powerful small box like an Intel NUC opens up the wormhole of VCV rack.
It’s so nice to slap a few modules together, map a bunch of module parameters on-the-go to a Korg NanoKontrol2 and use it as send&return effect for the OT.
It’s my poor man modular setup. Not really hands on, but at least it can save patches and the costs are very, very nice to my wallet … 
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I was just about to link one of these image posts from you … 
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just hitch up a trailer of speakers and you’re the most popular kid on the block.
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Now that’s a good idea!
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Which NUC did you pickup? Curious if the i5 low power variants can handle some more modern VSTs without issue. I, sadly and without forethought, bought the Core i3 variant to host some Linux stuff but that wouldn’t run too many modern soft synths. I’d love to have an i5 one but I’m not going to spend the bucks for that.
I have a small form factor Asus one with a proper desktop i5 (6th gen I think) that I’m thinking of having Reaper host one or two nice VST synths. Save myself dropping several hundred (or thousand) dollars on a poly synth (which was the motivation to do all that in the first place).
Our Bike Jams here do that! They use like a car battery to power some car audio stuff on the back of a recumbent bike/trailer setup. It’s brilliant! One on each end of the pack (200+ cyclists) playing the same playlist!
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Yeah, I also want to build a Raspberry PI or similar little box to complement the DT or OT. But I want it connected to a projector, and I would use the Elektron MIDI sequencer to trigger video clips and modulate video effects.
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It has an i5-5250U in it. According to benchmarks it should do a very good job. It benches not far off my old i7-4700MQ which can handle a ton of stuff.
Paid £120 for it on eBay. If it works as well as I hope, it’s a steal.
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I do not have OT mk2, but I recently bought the A4 mk1 used. I like it a lot. For me having 9 years of classical music studies I may have an advantage for learning the OT. And also, I work as a software programmer so diving into the OT with all the button clicks will bring me joy. It will be as I am programming, but nothing will crash, and music will return:)
So I will buy the OT mk2.
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Hello and welcome! OT is (for me) pure fun (and, sometimes, a small little bit of frustration!). Enjoy!
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Welcome. The OT Mk2 is a beautiful machine, packed with depth and more than a couple of ways to do every task. Sounds like you will love it 
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