What it feels like seeing all these cool product announcements today.
Looks like it just a huge power adapter to me.
Device only has power and headphones plugged inā¦.
Canāt really trace the other end of the cable tho
Feels like Xmas with just software updates also
Think in the last few days ive had OP-1F, Iridium, Oxi One and Ableton all updated!
Yeah that thing looks crazy good.
Thereās a breakout topic on this
breakout box btw ā¦
makes more sense to ask/answer questions over there
Quick round-up of the info I got from looking at the three new Elektron utility boxes.
Overhub 2
Nothing particularly interesting to me. Itās a usb hub with usb-c ports it has an SD card reader built in.
Powerhub
Whatās so interesting about a 6 port usb-c power supply? Why not buy something from Anker or UGreen? Well the ports on the Powerhub are isolated, so it wonāt introduce the noise you get from the standard ones. MyVolts are the only other company I know of who have a product that does this. Theirs costs ā¬299 this costs ā¬89. Itās out in June I think. If it works as advertised itās a no brainer for those setting up a compact live rig or even a desk rig and you want to consolidate your power supplies.
140W total, up to 30W per port. Tonverk pulls 15W for point of reference.
Elektron are also going to sell nice usb-c to barrel plug cables.
Outbox 8
8 x Mono balanced 1/4ā jacks, one usb-c data port, one usb-c power port.
Works with any Overbridge compatible Elektron box, including the Tonverk by the time of release. They showed it with the Digitone II which had a new menu you select how you configure the outputs and what tracks you assign to each output. You can assign multiple tracks to the same output. You can use the existing menu to add/remove tracks from the main deviceās master out. Outbox8 has no inputs. You can combine pairs of outputs into a balanced stereo outputs (max four), you can carve off outputs from the right hand side to be CV instead and there was a menu to select the specifics for CV.
Also out June, I think. There seemed to be a little confusing at the booth whether they release price will be ā¬249 or ā¬299.
I asked what the Outbox8 latency was like and I was told itās exactly the same as the deviceās own stereo out. So if you record both the output from Outbox8 and the stereo out and compare the waveforms they would be perfectly syncād. I was really surprised by this and if itās the case Iām impressed. I double checked that Iād understood correctly on this point.
As far as I know you canāt use multiple Outboxes on one Electron box, so think of this as buss outputs rather than individual track outputs. That way you wonāt be disappointed by only 8 mono or up to 4 stereo outs. Itās nice that theyāre balanced 1/4ā outputs.
I was told the Outbox8 is essentially an output-only audio interface with Overbridge drivers built in. So you can also plug it into a computer or an iPad and youāll have 8 outputs for that.
Obvious use cases are to have separate output busses for drums, lead, bass, pads, etc. You could separate the kick on a mono output, but also have it in a stereo drum buss with your other drums, so youāve got an isolated kick for side-chaining into a master compressor. You could use Outbox8 outputs as FX sends off to pedals and then bring the returns back into your deviceās audio inputs.
They did say they might do an Inbox8 if this is well received and could see the utility of that for the Tonverk.
I mused over how the new menu for assigning tracks to Overbridge outputs for the Outbox8 is the foundation needed to enable, for example a Digitakt II, to send audio over usb-c to the Tonverk acting as an Overbridge Host. They were interested to hear why Iād want to do that and my intuition is that I wasnāt describing anything they hadnāt already been thinking about. I asked if they were playing with this already but it was something they couldnāt talk about.
These strike me as very well thought out boxes and the built quality feels good. I hope they live up to the info I received.
Wow! Thanks for the info!
Yeah, great info! This is exactly what I have been asking for, perfect to separate a kick from a Syntakt or a bass from the DN2. Beyond that, summing tracks per device is part of the charm with dawless ![]()
4 stereo outs from the OG DN would be super cool!
Thatās the dream right there!
8 DT1 tracks would be awesome as well.
Thanks for the info. I wonder if it will have gain controls? The USB audio signal normally needs a gain boost as it is comparatively lower than the stereo outs of the sending device. Sounds like they did a proprietary connection protocol here.
this is where it gets super interesting! so the regular ins & outs of the connected elektron device are still available?
Totally spitballing here obviously but I wonder if they could be adding a few milliseconds of delay to the outputs of the main box to stay in sync with the expander when itās connected?
Yep. Completely still available and you can use the existing menu to choose if you want to remove any tracks from the main mix, or you know, leave them in.
Basically itās the same as if youāre using Overbridge with a computer - it doesnāt affect the physical outs or ins on the device itself.
Power hub would be nice for the Roland boutiques Iāve got ⦠though some/all usb audio needs drivers for mac ⦠so Iād guess it would definitely be āpowerā only .
I think utility boxes are a decent way to get in new cash without launching another device based on Tonverk hardware ⦠leaving them to focus on Tonverk bugs for much longer ![]()
Removing bugs ⦠not adding more ⦠obviouslyā¦
I didnāt see any gain control. They had the Outbox 8 plugged into a normal mixer which had individual channel gain. I will have a play tomorrow and try to work out how hot the signal is coming out of the Outbox compared to the stereo outs.
My guess is it will be at the same level if youāve not got compressor or master overdrive engaged.
I think that must be how itās done, but no official info on it. My guess is if thatās going to fly they must have got the Overbridge latency down pretty low though.
I think I know how I can test this tomorrow with the recording gear I have with me so I will report backā¦
If it isnāt this approach, Iām really interested in how they made a zero-latency audio interface. To my knowledge, itās not possible, but what do I know?
Powerhub is 100% power only, there no data involved with this utility box at all.
This is the Powerhub, in that picture youāll see itās being used to power all the Elektron devices on that table. The Tonverk is connected to it with a normal usb-c to usb-c cable. All the other devices are using Elektronās new usb-c to barrel connector power cable (yes MyVolts and Birdcord arenāt going to be too happy)


