Syntakt power consumption

Hello!

I am starting this thread to document the power consumption of the Elektron Syntakt.

This can be useful for those who are looking for custom power supplies.

During the measurement I power the Syntakt with a lab power supply set to 12 volts and measure the current with a bench-top multimeter.

I will try to repeat the measurements when a new firmware version comes out.

DISCLAIMER: These measurements come as-is without any warranty or guarantee for correctness. I take no responsibility for damages. Use at your own risk!

Firmware version 1.0.0

The current consumption seems to peak at about 1.1A. Playback or using the analog effects seem to make about 10-20mA difference.

The average current consumption is just below 1A with some spikes here and there.

Some remarks

  • USB power supplies such as the Ripcord that works with the Digitone/Digitakt will likely not work with the Syntakt
  • A CIOKS DC-7 - at least on paper - cannot provide enough current for the Syntakt. Even with a parallel adapter, at 12V it can only provide 1A which might work but there is little to no headroom

Graph of the current consumption from power-up and nearly a minute of playback

current_graph_fw100.bmp

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Since the unit has bunch of analog components, my guess is that power draw will be highly dependent on what exactly you play. What did you play when doing these measurements? Might be useful to go through all the factory patterns and write down low/high measurements based on those, as they are likely to make use of most of the features.

Or, write one pattern yourself that doesn’t necessarily sounds good, but makes use of as many features as possible at once, like a stress-test of the device, and use that pattern to measure the powerdraw.

In any case, thank you for the scientific approach, will help me and others for sure :slight_smile:

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Yep - maxing out all voices (especially the analog ones) with maximum BPM and triggering each voice at every step should make up a pretty good testcase. Turn up the volumes and similar controls to “11” and route all voices through all effects.

Just don’t listen to the resulting audio … :wink:

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AKA - Pump up the jam :laughing:

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I went through all the factory presets, played around with the effects and such but the difference was negligible so I didn’t try to test further. Connecting my Sennheiser HD600 headphones also didn’t make a measurable difference.

I didn’t a “torture” test where everything is turned all the way up.

I will do something like that sometime next week and post the results.

Well, this explains the background to my machine’s labelling a bit more (see photo in link) - but i do believe that powering on load is an important aspect when specifying the psu - then there’s running OB/cans/DinSync simultaneously i guess

also linking a related topic for people landing here

HI, I am interested in the power consumption in WATTS that the Syntact uses? By comparison I have a plugin meter and I can see that the Digitakt uses 5.6 WATTS when running. My concern is that the Syntakt power consumption could be higher because of the reports I am seeing of the case getting very warm during use . . . .

If you want to get watts from volts and amps, you multiply them.

In this case the peak consumption would be 12V x 1.1A = 13.2 watts.

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I think 1.1 A x 12v = 13.2 W, says someone who passed second-semester physics on the wings of the unit conversion feature on the TI-86…

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Hi, I am considering a Syntakt but I have heard it has a tendancy to get rather warm to the touch - does anyone have any idea of the power consumption (in watts)? I am concerned that if it heats up, it could use a lot of energy. Thanks

Thanks, By comparison I have a plugin meter and I can see that the Digitakt uses 5.6 WATTS when running. My concern is that the Syntakt power consumption could be higher because of the reports I am seeing of the case getting very warm during use . . . .

Without wishing to dismiss your concerns, the device will use whatever it needs, so given it has active analogue electronics it will be generating more heat than a DT and may well need more power to run - but it is specified with a 24W power supply with a huge safety contingency over its maximum needs.

If the Syntakt (on average) consumes more energy than the DT then this would likely be viewed by most as an arbitrary fact, why is its relation to the DT value you quote materially important ?

The Syntakt has undergone extensive testing (basically in an oven iirc) and it posed no concerns to the engineers. I’m not sure i understand the thrust of your question, unless you have rather specific green concerns


PS : iirc the peak power consumption is at boot time and it was just briefly eclipsing the original 1Amp specification printed on the chassis (since changed to 2amp), but basically it is maxing out in normal run mode use less than 12W

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So using the above charts of amperage, knowing that the syntakt uses a 12v power supply, you could say that it uses at peak consumption 13.2 watts, but seems like it settles into a relatively constant state of pulling 982 mA, x 12v = 11.7 watts. So it definitely uses more power than the Digitakt. But it also does a lot more than the Digitakt. And like Avantronica mentioned above, it has all been tested extensively by Elektron, as denoted by the FCC and CE markings on the device. I am curious as to why you are concerned.

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Thanks so around 12W normal and could peak to maximum 24w as the PSU is rated. Yes I have specific green concerns, I have a studio full of equipment, electricity prices are through the roof here in the UK and I wouldn’t want to buy a piece of gear that gets hot to the touch and is like using a lava lamp for hours, that’s all. Elektron don’t quote power consumption on their specs which is why I asked.

To be fair, 12 watts is not exactly a power hog. That is less than most laptops, and if you only turn it on when you want to use it, it will probably end up using an almost imperceptible amount of energy compared to your lights, even LED ones, your refrigerator, heating or air conditioning. Generally speaking if you are looking to use less power, turning off your synths isn’t going to have very much impact compared to the rest of the things in your house.

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12W is fine, similar to other small synths such as my Moog Minitaur etc but I had no way of knowing that without asking as all I saw was a lot of reports of users saying it gets hot so wanted to ask for more details . . . Thanks

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No, the peak is about 13W during boot only

Otherwise it will be under 12W at all times

If you’re using your average LED bulb to light up your house then they probably draw around 5 watts.

If you assume the absolute worst case scenario (which is also unrealistic) of constant 24W power draw, with a electricity price of 34p/kWh (hopefully “p” means something for you), your cost for running your Syntakt for 24 hours straight would be about 20p.

The formula is POWER_DRAW x HOURS_OF_OPERATION x KWH_PRICE / 1000.

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When considering a power supplies designers usually leave a headroom that allows PSU to work continuously without overheating. Digitakt uses around 500 mA normally so 1 A PSU is fine. If the Syntakt uses as someone mentioned 900-ish mA then 2 A PSU is a good choice by the manufacturer.

I have a Talentcell battery, the “Chinglish” specifications are a little bit hard to figure out “Nominal: 12.8V (14.6-9V) /5A Max. In one of discharge cycle, more than 90% of the time, the output voltage is about from 12V to 13V

I guess I will measure with a multimeter to read the max volts this thing but assuming it would be outputting 14.6v… i’m gonna go ahead and assume the extra 2.6v isn’t going to be a good thing as the syntakt is already getting warm at like 12.2v or whatever? Unless someone from Elektron or something is like it’s within limit but yeah… I’m a bit worried about running it on 14.6v if indeed it does put out that much. I do have an adjustable DC-DC voltage regulator but in terms of chunkiness of setup that would really start pushing it… Anyone know what the absolute MAX v-in of the Syntakt and Analog Heat+FX is? Strictly strictly 12v? :thinking:

Edit: Actually I measured the voltage out at 13.3 v and that was after charging it up, anyone have any experience with running a slightly higher voltage? Normally with electronics I would think a slight overvoltage is okay but with this thing i don’t want to be the guinea pig :crazy_face: