risky. the output current is much too low! that’s only 500mA
Following since I have looked for a solution like this for some time. I find it strange that there is not a single solution readily available that can power different voltages, polarities and provide enough mA per output.
Surely many pros out on the road should have a use for these kind of solutions? Or what am I missing?
I wouldn’t use PSU which is specific for LED lights or cctv. They’re different than a the general type used for electronics.
If all units shut down when the load is increased that’s reason not to use it.
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The cioks is compelling since you can daisy chain two 500ma 12v outs into one for 1A. I have one on my pedal board but hadnt thought to power elektron boxes 
I’ve got a Cioks DC7 recently for the purpose of powering synths. I need to get their parallel flex cable that combines outputs for more current before I try higher draw units such as electrons. There’s the cheaper Cioks 8 which has 1 more output that is an expander for DC7 but can also be run separately with a power supply.
Looked into the Cioks thing a while back but ultimately found it’s almost as much of a wire terror as using the original PSUs. Also found that if you want to run, i think, 4 elektron boxes you’re already running short on either outputs or power (can’t remember).
It’s indeed strange that there’s no solution for synth heads yet. It’s a whole in the market that someone ought to jump into 
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i’m a senior system administrator with super strong job conditioning, and i’m going to put my 2 cents here:
single power supply unit for multiple devices is THE single failure point for multiple devices.
i wouldn’t rely on it e.g. in a live situation, even despite its advantages.
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This with a USB-C Multi PSU would be an option
Not for all the devices. It depends of the power consumption.
Here what I could gather from the user manuals (for all the devices that use the same 12V power supply) :
| Device | Power | Current |
|---|---|---|
| Analog Four mkII | 15 W typical, 20 W maximum | 1.25A (max ~1.667A) |
| Analog Rytm mkII | 14 W typical, 20 W maximum | ~1.167A (max ~1.667A) |
| Analog Heat mkII | 12 W typical | 1A |
| Syntakt | 12 W typical | 1A |
| Digitone Keys | 9 W typical | 750mA |
| Digitone | 7 W typical | ~583mA |
| Digitakt | 7 W typical | ~583mA |
| Octatrack mkII | 7 W typical | ~583mA |
| Analog Drive | 5 W | 400 mA typical |
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The adapter cable has 3A Max what at 12v is approx. 36Watt.
Yeah. I have to get with my electrical engineer buddy to see if we can come up with something good that will work.
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I see we’ve moved on from possibly destroying our expensive gear to burning down the house.
Please reconsider this abomination if you have neighbors, roommates, or family.
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This model seems to have some 12v/1A options :
http://www.voodoolab.com/pedalpower_3plus.htm
Since these devices are made to make pedals less noisy, could it also have a similar impact on samplers & synths?
I mean, it’s a bit of a different risk profile - If any one of your power supplies fails, you are pausing the show regardless while you address it. More power supplies and more devices = more chances for this pause to happen. It’s not like the IT world where you have two power supplies into a system and if one fails things keep going.
And if you are really planning for live, you should have spare power supplies. Would you rather carry two larger power supplies that can do it all, or multiples of smaller power supplies?
You could keep going down this path to extremes, down to having a spare of any device you’d use — which if you are a really big name selling out stadiums, you probably actually do.
There’s always a trade off between budget, risk, and convenience here. Personally I’d be fine with this particular trade off, certainly for studio use. But people use pedalboards with single power supplies all the time in live shows. This isn’t much different.
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bingo! i always do.
luckily, these days gear typically has some kind of standard PSU.
inevitable only if master clock machine fails.
actually, fast recovery scenarios is something that i try to work off at rehearsals.
and that’s why i prefer having 2 grooveboxes in a setup.
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I always have some vinyl with me when I’m doing a live set.
If something happens I can switch to it.
And then I have a suitcase with spare parts to get my live set up and running again.
There are only two rules: keep calm & the show must go on.
I reckon maybe it’s just magnitudes harder to build power supplies that big cos there’s more heat to dissipate and stuff? Plus, safety/ one point of failure stuff as above.
the current examples of say, a 10amp power supply with switchable voltage is one of those massive desk power supplies for testing… or a big power slab for an LED array…and we’re asking for that PLUS it has to have multiple outputs that are all switchable and then you’d kinda want it to have switchable plugs in case your stuff has a different barrel jack…
Like… the version for pedalboards exists because the power drain is lower and absolutely everything is 9v negative centre with the same barrel jack.
I think maybe it’s one of those things that sounds useful… but would end up being so expensive and heavy and case specific that hardly anyone to no-one would actually buy it.
Sorry in advance for a long post, my ADD gets the better of me and I sometimes say a bit too much.
It’s actually not that hard and expensive - we’ve already been doing this with the USB chargers that support several different quick charge standards, with 4 ports out being really common. Lets say you wanted to run the DT, DN, ST and OT all at once. You are looking at, what, 6 amps of 12V if you include all the headroom the power supplies want? That’s only 72 watts of power, including overhead- Realistically it runs <40W. We have plenty of chargers that exist today are in the 100W and larger range with multiple ports out. QC 3.0 is capable of 12v/3a over a standard USB-A connection, and there are chargers that support multiple QC 3.0 ports.
USB Power Delivery is extremely capable here - the spec allows for 5v, 9v, 12v, 15v, 20v, with up to 5 amps at 20v. Powering multiple displays over USB-PD is not uncommon, but you usually see that in a high end PC, not so much a standalone charger. You can already buy “trigger cables” that are hardwired to select one of these voltages and deliver it to various forms of barrel cable without any additional bulk, as they aren’t doing the conversion themselves - They are just telling the power supply what to deliver.
The different barrel sizes are also somewhat of a solved problem, although in an annoying way… You can already get plenty of cables that have a 2.1mm x 5.5mm generic one one end and a variety of different sizes and polarity combos on the other.
I say ALL of this to say that the technical barriers aren’t the problem here… but let’s be honest, this is really only something that us gearheads with a lot of hardware synths would like, and that’s not an enormous market - so it’s more about it not being a profitable device to make than it is any sort of technical barrier. The fact that every maker seems to use a different barrel size - even when they are the same voltage/amperage rating - doesn’t help here. But more of them being powerable over USB DOES help us.
As USB-C PD adoption grows, we are seeing a lot more chargers that support USB-C PD over multiple ports - Most have traditionally had one or two at most, or have some pretty sad limits on the power they can deliver to multiple devices at once. I’m hoping for one to come up that supports at least four ports of 12V 2A power delivery, so I can just use the 12V USB-PD trigger cables - I think something USB based is the closest we’ll find to a mass market device that can do this.
(Regarding the bench power supplies - Different use case entirely. A good desktop power supply is extremely stable and high precision, and usually linear and not switched, which leads to a much larger design in general. These are usually big and expensive… The ones that aren’t expensive are usually cheap Amazon generics that are really just standard small switching power supplies in much larger enclosures, and gain you nothing over the typical cheap adjustable wall wart other than a fancy display, maybe more precise adjustment [for as much as it matters on a switched power supply] and “looking impressive”.)
The upshot of all of this is that USB-PD chargers and trigger cables are basically commodity products that should be widely available, so having spares doesn’t become a super expensive or space consuming proposition. Assuming all this works without any added noise, which has traditionally been the problem with USB chargers.
Bought to take the PD plunge with some Birdcord PD→12Vs and this: (165W USB-C 4-Port PD GaN Charger)
Will report back when they are delivered!
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