Using a guitar pedal power supply for synths?

Рет қаралды 2,962

2 жыл бұрын

I've been trying to find a flexible desktop PSU that I can use for my studio to help avoid having to look through a big box of cables every time I want to use a different synthesizer. People talk about using guitar pedal power supplies for this... but can you actually do that? Well, maybe. Have a watch to see.
Here's the one I bought (this is not an affiliate link. I am not being sponsored or paid for this video, and I didn't get it for free!) - www.musicstore.com/en_OT/EUR/...
Here's the Ripcord cables (again, not being paid for this - but I am open to all bribes) - myvolts.co.uk/page.php?xPage=...
--
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Пікірлер: 64

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

*Has anybody found a better solution for powering/switching out multiple different devices?*

@Rhyotmusic 4 ай бұрын

Banger video - nice work here

@StephenMcLeod 4 ай бұрын

I'm glad it was useful!

@PacifierMusic 2 ай бұрын

I’m using the Black Lion Audio PG-2 Rackmount Power Conditioner. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve made. LOVE the 4 delayed zones. It’s fantastic!

@StephenMcLeod 2 ай бұрын

That's a sexy looking beast.

@LabRatWarfare 2 жыл бұрын

As my collection keeps growing this is only something I've recently became curious about. I haven't taken the time to look into that yet and your video just took care of that!! 😁 Thanks for making this one man, very helpful!! 🎹🙌🐀

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

The whole question of power is a GD nightmare!!

@jamesbaynton1881 2 жыл бұрын

First dungarees, now power supply! The top tips just keep on coming... Nice one.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Dungarees are clearly the apex though tbf

@allanroney 2 жыл бұрын

Really useful video.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I aim to please.

@jdanielcramer 2 жыл бұрын

I use a similar, carefully crafted, system 🤔 my system uses medium sized re-closable Tupperware boxes. Each box holds only one unit and they all stack neatly in the fridge, allowing easy swapping, and keeping each baked potato nestled in yummy safety 🥹

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

In the fridge?!

@jdanielcramer 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod yes! I’m keeping them all for ‘the uprising’ 😬

@DoktorApe 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for bringing Ripcords to my attention - those would work well in my Eurorack setup because I'm planning to include a beefy 5V supply in a case and several USB-A power jacks as I have a few devices that are USB powered already. I'm also investigating powering the racks themselves with USB-C, where you can get higher voltages and a lot more wattage if plugged into a laptop power supply. There are now some easy to use (in theory) USB-C power sink chips that you can pull a few amps of 12V or 20V with, and the switching power supply I'm using will take inputs of 9-36V and convert it to +/-12V and 5V, so I just need the USB-C power sink. So, standardizing on USB power seems feasible, which would mean power supplies are interchangable not only with music gear but laptops and phones and all the other crap. (I am more of an engineering dork than a musician and for me music is an excuse to fuck about with electronics.)

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

They are incredibly useful! I wish the Ripcord cables were a bit cheaper, as I'd just buy tons of them.

@7177YT 2 жыл бұрын

Super useful! Thx!

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@I.O.M. 2 жыл бұрын

I tried the powered guitar hub and as you stated never worked with synths, samplers, etc. I am trying to stay mobile so have invested in SongBIrd (same as Ripcord) both 9V and 12V with extension cable for multiple devices with 2 power banks. No more reaching under or behind my desk. Also made sure the Eurorack power module also has USB :). This works great for audio, still stuck with walwarts for video equipment.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Yeah I wish they were a bit cheaper as they are so handy!! I've never heard of SongBird before now.

@RadekPilich Ай бұрын

Just received Rockboard V9 today and this video poped up. Did you know, there are "doubler" cables, that allows combining of 2 500mA outputs into a single 1A output? I'm curious to test it. Besides that, I would be happy enough if the guitar power supply powers all the fx, midi boxes and some of the small digital synths. Everything else will keep running from the original adapters.

@iamboody 2 жыл бұрын

One thing to consider about ripcords is that the body of the USB connector is quite big, which means they can block neighbouring usb sockets on compact power supplies that have their USB connections stacked vertically ( I I I I ) rather than spread out ( _ _ _ _ )

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it's a good point, but you can remove the wee tab thing which helps!

@iamboody 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod I still had some issues even after removing the tags. Picked up a cheap pinepower 120w power supply which has worked well for me. 5 spread out ports, 1 QC3.0, 1 USB-C and 3 USB-A

@cnfuzz Жыл бұрын

These 5 v to 9-12 volt pcb's can be had for 7 pound for 10 pieces, you can easily make an enclosure that contains multiple outputs

@StephenMcLeod Жыл бұрын

What about 15-18v? I will 100% fry myself.

@paulr5610 2 жыл бұрын

Ripcord is great - I use the 9v plug and crazy chain to power 3 volcas and 2 Boss DR220's - the crazy chain lets you switch polarity in the chain. Good idea to use ripcords to power the synths. I've a 12 plug outlet that's 2 degrees short of melting.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I looked at the daisy chaining, but I would 100% mess that up ha. Whenever I buy a house I'll pay an electrician to come in and install proper power strips...

@PeterClotworthy 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod the inverter chains are colour coded, and since we live in a world where x brand does centre negative and y does positive, MOST decent ones have reverse polarity protection so you're _probably_ not going to do any harm

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I have 100% blown up things in the past unfortunately. I have too many weird things which don't have reverse protection!

@dinogoldie9716 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for making this video. I too am searching for a safe, efficient and convenient method of powering various (mostly 9V but a couple 12 and 15V) synths. I saw a promising Rockboard peddle block on Thomann. However, I'm not sure about the additional cost and electrical risk of having to attach polarity inverters to all the sockets. Are multiple polarity inverters safe?

@StephenMcLeod Жыл бұрын

The only real risk that I am aware of with the polarity inversion adapters is that you accidentally plug them into the wrong gear. Other than that, they shouldn't cause a problem.

@CNTRRNDM 2 жыл бұрын

thank you so much for sharing this! I've been looking for a portable power supply solution for my synths, like, for years...erm, at the moment, I'm using the "Strom Mobil" by Koma Elektronik...really cool device but they don't make these anymore, I believe🤔

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

That looks awesome!!

@paulmc341 2 жыл бұрын

Ah great video this will be ordering that fame power supply the one I have now barely runs three pedals. And I’ve just added a model d to my set as well(no idea why you needed to know that lol) have you got a bandcamp? I’m doing really well on there at my moment under my Dogstare guise, my acid stuff and back catalogue is doing great. 😊🕺

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Nice one! The Model D is sweeet. I share music on Spotify etc, but also on Bandcamp at cowtonguetacorecords.bandcamp.com :)

@daviestar 8 ай бұрын

Greetings from Glasgow, bawbag! I've been looking into this and found your video. Did you ever think about USB PD/Power Delivery? PD is pretty new but natively supports different voltages over USB-C. Check out the Satechi 6-Port USB-C PD Charger, for example. With something like that (granted, expensive) you can end up with cheaper cables. Linus Tech Tips has a video on how to power loads of things this way via USB.. I think he even powered an old SNES.

@StephenMcLeod 8 ай бұрын

Hiya! That would be great, but I'm not sure how USB-C outputs would help with synths/devices that require DC input. Some support USB power obviously, but not all. You could get those RetroKits USB to DC things (which are great), but they are expensive and end up more complicated in the end.

@daviestar 8 ай бұрын

Google 'USB PD to 12v barrel' for example. As I understand it there's a small inexpensive chip in the USB-C end that performs a 'handshake' with the USB-C PD hub allowing it to ask for eg. 12v 2A or 15v 0.5A or whatever. There are very cheap cables around.

@daviestar 2 ай бұрын

This is what I was on about: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hbddpbeFu5acn3k.html

@droussel7359 2 жыл бұрын

Ripcord works great in some instances but suck in others because they can't supply the proper amperage. For example, they advertise their 19v as compatible with the MPC One but it just overheats and shuts down in the first minute. I heard people had the same problem with the new Electron Syntakt. Make sure to verify your device power draw and that the ripcord you plan to use can supply it. I read that some people used and liked the Blind SPOT - USB to 12V Adapter, which needs USB-C PD to work, instead of the ripcord 12v. It should thus be able to provide more power. I haven't tried it personally so can't vouch for the quality, but I am planning to look into it.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

That's annoying. Their support is pretty good, and since they specifically say the Ripcord supports the MPC One, I'd give them a shout if it isn't working.

@droussel7359 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod They reimbursed me but I searched a bit more afterward and it seems to be very well known that it doesn't work properly for the MPC One. No idea why they keep advertising it as compatible. It can only provide a few 100's milliamps at 19V :(

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Ah man I'm sorry to hear that! Glad you got a refund sorted. That's weak.

@droussel7359 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod No worries! BTW, I have an M8 on preorder and your tutorials are gold. Should get my Teensy this week to start playing with headless :)

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Ah amazing! I'm glad they have been useful :)

@dracorex280 10 ай бұрын

So you connect all your synths/drum machines into this power supply brick and then plug that brick into a wall outlet?

@StephenMcLeod 10 ай бұрын

Bingo! I don't connect them all up at once though. I just plug in a few at a time depending on what I want/need to use at one point. So sorta like a desktop psu.

@dracorex280 10 ай бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod I see! Does every machine use the same type of powering cable? I’m thinking about buying some Elektron machines as well as some Korg, Moog, Roland machines as well.

@StephenMcLeod 10 ай бұрын

@@dracorex280 a lot of them do but you'll need to check the polarity, current etc to make sure you choose the right port and that each one provides the right kind of connection. For larger devices this won't be an ideal solution. It's better for multiple small ones.

@dracorex280 9 ай бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod Thanks for the info I really appreciate it!

@jthek2000 2 жыл бұрын

I use a variety of portable power banks with splitters, just because I prioritize having all my synths ready to take to the park.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Smart! What kinda DC connection do you take out of them? Are they wall sockets or usb or?

@jthek2000 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod You can buy cheap 5v to 9v/12v usb converters and they do the trick. I have a separate 15v power bank that powers my eurorack case. For pedals I bought a cheap reverse polarity connector for the 12v required. Any 5v power bank should work with the converters.

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I'll have a look! I've got a few cheapos but haven't found all the combos I need.

@jthek2000 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod Once you do, You might never want to use wall warts ever again for mobile and compact setups.

@SISKworks 2 жыл бұрын

Are the different output isolated from each other? Have you tested audio while multiple synths powered and wired for audio? Any buzzing? I tried a similar thing with my Korg Volca synths and got buzzing when more than one connected. I suspect the power was just daisy chained and not isolated in the one I first tried. So I built my own that was isolated. I took apart four wall wart power supplies and one USB power supply and rehoused into a small box. Now one power cord plugged into the wall can power five synths. I'm not saying my way is any better. This is my video showing how I did it. But to be honest the Ripcord option seems pretty cool. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b7CUkrBkkt6saYk.html

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

Hey if you can build/rehouse your own you're a step ahead of me at least! A few of the supplies are isolated, but not the main ones. I can power a few devices without any issues I've noticed, though a lot of my gear is also old and weird and has its own noise and troubles anyway.

@SonicVibe 2 жыл бұрын

Omg yes it would be amazing if somehow there was a standard

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I'd love even just a multi synth supply with different outputs that I could buy and keep on my desk!! Anything to avoid all of the cable chaos.

@marzbitenhaussen 2 жыл бұрын

they should standardize the power consumption on synths etc, just like guitar pedals and effects, no reason why to have a carnival of requirements

@StephenMcLeod 2 жыл бұрын

I'm sure there must be some kind of technical reason for why they are all different... but I'm no electronics guru. The real pain in the arse is when you get the odd pedal which requires reverse polarity. Nightmare!

@marzbitenhaussen 2 жыл бұрын

@@StephenMcLeod true lol