Just reading the last few comments in here…
Has this product been addressed here?
It seems that myVolts is giving the ultimate solution.
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Please do, this has been an interesting thread to follow. There’s a gap in the market for this I think, especially if you can make it more affordable than the current offerings (at least in relation to the huge upfront cost of adopting the MyVolts ecosystem).
Appreciate the kind words! This helps to ensure making this for the larger world is worthwhile. (As I’m sure everyone here knows just how difficult and risky it can be to launch new products. You definitely definitely want to ensure there’s demand for it first!)
Speaking of price–and I know this is difficult to estimate. But is there a vague range of pricing that makes sense to you for a device like we’ve been discussing?
And to clarify, I’m thinking of two different devices at the moment:
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One that is powered by an external USB-C power brick, so it’s just USB-C PD in, and ~8 programmable power supplies out.
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Another that has an internal international mains-ready power supply, so you just plug it into the wall. Still has a similar number of programmable power supplies out. But obv larger and more cost to build.
It seems that myVolts is giving the ultimate solution.
I think they get pretty close! As discussed higher up in the thread, I’m first and foremost really happy there are small companies like them making real solutions for actual problems. And for me I think they get closest out of all the offerings out there.
Where I think it misses the mark for me personally (of course I can’t speak to others here), is that I have enough gear coming through my live and studio setups that have an almost arbitrary level of power requirements at any given time. Yes the 9V guitar pedal and 12V Elektron world is sorta standardized, but that’s not the end of the story.
For instance, the power supply requirements for a handful of Roland devices like the TR-8S is a 5.7V 2A circuit. From memory, I believe the older Elektron boxes are an unusual voltage too (the Monomachine/Machinedrum mkI IIRC).
Add to that things like the in-ear monitor transmitter I use live, at 13.5V. Various audio interfaces can have unusual voltages/power/polarity requirements as well.
If I understand the MyVolts approach, it’s to standardize on the USB-C PD power output, and then create different smart cable adapters for different voltage requirements. If I understand this correctly, this could be expanded to support unusual voltages like the Roland line.
But–with absolute full respect to that team (really! making products is super hard, and I have nothing but respect for them)–I don’t agree with this design choice, primarily because it’s putting a lot of critical circuitry into a cable that can (and honestly, at some point, will) break or be damaged.
You really want multiple layers of overvoltage/overcurrent protection well behind the cable in my opinion. The cable should have one job–carry enough electrons to the device. It should not do anything smarter than that.
I recognize a bit of irony of my statement here, when we have extremely smart USB-C cables that have full circuits inside their plug. But this has been a spec in the making for decades. They’ve done the work to do things like add liquid-detection/protection, static electricity discharge handling, and the like to address potential failure modes and all that.
For me and my gear, I want all the protection possible designed and locked into the device itself, so I can trust my equipment to have minimal exposure from damage.
Especially when you think about the rigors of live music playing. Things are absolutely destroyed on tour. Load in, load out, set up, tear down, night after night. I’m already nervous about the USB-C ports on my laptop and take extra care in mounting it in a way where absolutely no stress occurs on the plug. I don’t also want to also worry about multiple power connectors to all of the other devices possibly damaging my equipment if they fail.
That’s the first concern I have. The second is, I believe the price point of that platform–if I read it correctly, at ~€400 for 65W of power, and ~€700 for over 100W of mains power, is just too high. I think it should be much closer to what you see in the guitar pedal power supply world, between something like $200 and $350 based on how many ports/how rugged you need.
But hey, these are just my personal opinions/needs. Almost sixty people backed the €700 one, so clearly there’s a need there that MyVolts is providing! Congratulations to them, I know it feels good to have backers supporting your vision, my hats off to them.
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If you haven’t worked on power supplies, it may be worth brushing up on CE and UL certifications as well as general liability. Generally, these are solvable problems, but you want to get the insurance premiums into your business model sooner than later.
I’m glad someone with a hardware engineering background is working on this because some of the proposals I’ve seen on this forum seem like obvious fire hazards. My favorite clubs have always been dark, crowded and literally underground. Not a good situation for a surprise electrical fire.
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There’s a lot that I’d like to respond to but unfortunately I don’t have the time, so I’ll just say this - I think for me it doesn’t matter which of the two solutions you’ve outlined below, as long as I could safely power everything without line noise for a reasonable price. I nearly jumped on the Silent Alchemist Kickstarter from MyVolts, but at 389 EUR (or $650 AUD) for the silent version with three cables/tips, where I’m looking at potentially another $150-200 AUD in MyVolts cables incl shipping just to get it off the ground, it quickly becomes unfeasible. If the ‘bring your own’ USB C PD power option could hit the $400-500 AUD mark I would buy it in a second. That’s off the top of my head so take it all with a grain of salt. If I saw real figures in terms of overall cost I could probably be swayed to go higher.
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Although I do agree with all of your points (specially the price, it is too much) it sounds a little optimistic to have all of that just taking caring by the power supply… Again I don’t know enough about the technology but just thinking sblut my previous experience with ‘traditional’ power supplies.
Most (if not all) ‘pedal’ power supplies rely a lot on user knowledge. If you connect to a wrong voltage your device is fried. If you connect the wrong polarity your device is fried. As a user I’d feel more comfortable having a ‘cheaper’ device where I have to buy different plugs or cables to adapt my voltage (for example) instead of leaving everything to just one very smart device. If that device fails I have to buy a full one, while If an adapter or cable fails it is a cheaper replacement.
In terms of surge protection and protection coming from the outlet I’d guess that’s standard on any of this type of devices, but idk if the myVolts one has this.
Finally, what (in my really subjective opinion) is way more important is isolation between the outputs to prevent ground loops, which is what the myVolts is mainly marketed for (tho I don’t think just that justifies the price). If it wasn’t for that I’d be fairly easy to use a multiple outlet from the ones already existing (Anker, Belkin, Ugreen, etc) but non of those will ensure a clean audio path like a traditional pedal power supply.
If you haven’t worked on power supplies, it may be worth brushing up on CE and UL certifications as well as general liability.
Absolutely. For the record, I’ve already spec’ed a UL/CE certified mains power supply sub-assembly. It’s medical-grade certified (60601-1) as well, so a bit premium, but a solid choice I think.
Learned a long time ago to leave the mains PSU sub-assemblies to those who already do it well (and already have the certs).
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It is a good idea to be careful. That being said, many more recent devices have protection against that, so if you do make a mistake, you might be be lucky.
Edit: more careful wording.
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I would flag this for moderator deletion if there was a good way to do that.
This is really terrible advice until every device has built in over and reverse voltage protection. That will never happen as long as old and DIY gear still exists.
Yeah this.
I use this, though admittedly not for many boxes. Use at your own risk.
I use it with a ripcord for my DT2. It has enough juice to power a few things but crucially, once you get the volts right, it will scale the rest. You can see the draw in real time to see how much “Headroom” you have.
This kind of synergy is not guaranteed across different devices, cable solutions, etc, so it will always be kind of a crapshoot and warranty void risk.
Still, a solid solution in the form factor of a pedal power supply, but with more options for volts/amps and ideally auto scaling would be sick AF.
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I edited it, also to make it more clear I wasn’t talking about old gear. I hope that‘s better.
But let’s not forget that these devices are made for people playing guitar in rock bands, often while high, and not for people with a degree in engineering.
Caution is wise, but powering devices is also not rocket surgery, it’s nothing to be afraid of.
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This is my power pouch:
It can power every Elektron known to date (plus most of KORGs).
It contains:
10K Energizer with PD
20K Anker
My Volts 12V for all modern Elektrons
My Volts 6V for OT mk1 and other discontinued units
Simple USB for 5V Models
Generic 9V for KORGs
At least 8 hours for any single device.
Up to 4 devices at the same time if you play your cards wisely.
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As a user I’d feel more comfortable having a ‘cheaper’ device where I have to buy different plugs or cables to adapt my voltage (for example) instead of leaving everything to just one very smart device.
This is an interesting take, I appreciate your honesty.
I do think there’s perhaps a misconception across the music-making community we all find ourselves in where we inherently trust the wall warts we get with our devices. Unless it’s a literal name brand printed on the wall wart (my Boss VE-500 pedal or Elektron devices come to mind), these PSUs are usually third-party offshore manufactured. While that in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I do believe that the quality within these varies significantly. Even my Kemper Player PSU is manufactured by someone else (you can see the “Made for: ” in this pic.)
All this is to say, we often trust our power supplies more than we probably ought to at times, since they’re often made by third parties. Certifications do go a certain way to ensure it’s not going to burn down your house or venue. But even then, I’ve lost count of the times people have measured the actual voltage vs the stated voltage on their manufacturer-provided PSUs, and saw quite a discrepancy.
I guess I’m just tired of deciding what to trust and not trust, and also trusting that the wall warts won’t fall out of the power strip attached to my live rig case. I use heaps of dual-lock to ensure everything stays in place, but still I check it on every setup.
I just want the power supply issue to be solved once and for all for those of us that aren’t just running guitar pedals. Guitarists have this solved, why can’t we?
I understand that trust is a big deal in this sort of product for you. It absolutely is for me too, though we may be coming at it from opposite sides.
In terms of surge protection and protection coming from the outlet I’d guess that’s standard on any of this type of devices, but idk if the myVolts one has this.
Depends on the set-up. If a system is being powered by an external USB-C PD power brick (like the Anker ones), then surge protection will be up to them. Definitely want to choose a good brand here. If the system is being powered internally by mains power like in this product we’re discussing, then the surge protection is up to this device.
The one I’ve spec’ed has over-voltage, over-temperature, and overload protection, and can withstand up to a 4k AC voltage spike. Each of the channels in my design also have additional protections that you probably won’t find on a wall wart: over-voltage, under-voltage, over-current, and temperature protection, per-channel. If something shorts or goes wrong after the PSU (or not enough voltage is available before the PSU in the case of under-voltage), it will shut off that channel immediately in an attempt to protect the connected device.
Finally, what (in my really subjective opinion) is way more important is isolation between the outputs to prevent ground loops,
Couldn’t agree more. By nature of the programmable power output per channel of this device, they will by definition be isolated and separate per channel. That’s a nice side benefit of doing it this way.
You can of course daisy-chain off of a channel if you wish (and in many cases it’s completely fine to do so). It’ll be especially easy with this one because each channel will support many amps of current.
Unsure yet exactly what max current any particular channel will support, internally each channel can support a surprising 8A of current. Real-world max could be as high as 5A–as it’s limited by the specs of the barrel jack itself.
crucially, once you get the volts right, it will scale the rest. You can see the draw in real time to see how much “Headroom” you have.
I love this. having it auto-scale is key, and seeing what headroom you have is essential too. Was originally going to forego a small display on this thing, but I think it’s really critical to glance and see where you’re at (in addition to better fault status communication.)
Still, a solid solution in the form factor of a pedal power supply, but with more options for volts/amps and ideally auto scaling would be sick AF.
Yaaas, agree!
Is it at all possible to integrate a usb hub to facilitate holy grail of data and isolated power over one cable?
Coming back around to this as, after having an incredibly interesting DM discussion with one of the people on this list, and rethinking some of the core requirements, I think this product will end up supporting some form of an integrated USB hub.
I was originally avoiding this as it does add complexity to the product. However, this realization led me to reconsider.
As I’ve spec’ed it over the last day (preliminary, mind you! Still need to confirm these!) We’d end up with 3 or 4 USB A downstream ports, supporting USB3 @ 5Gbps. So you could connect medium speed stuff like SD cards, hard drives, etc. It of course would be all to spec, so MIDI/Audio over USB should all work fine too. It’s data, in addition to power.
Power availability will appear to be 2.2A per port, so well above the 900mA required minimum available. Current protection per port, so if something misbehaves, that port shuts down, but the rest of the USB ports (and all barrel jack ports) continue to operate, all isolated.
Here’s why I’m reconsidering:
There are a number of devices on the market today (Roland ARIA Compact, OXI One, Dreadbox devices, 1010 devices, etc) that are powered only via USB. And this only seems to be increasing.
If one plans to design a PSU to be friendly to the future of electronic music, it occurs to me that USB power must be a part of that. I really prefer not to go down the road of barrel jack → USB specialized cables, for reasons already expressed.
And if you’re going to invest in the slightly increased physical size, and the cost of the USB A jacks, and the power to support it, it doesn’t add much cost to just make it a hub instead. (Yes, there are some considerations with high-speed data differential pair layouts and some increased risk of EMI management, but nothing ridiculous like USB4 @ 40Gbps. It’s an acceptable risk increase IMO)
Thank you @karkwai for the original question! It enhanced the device a lot I think. 
So, in short, I’m reconsidering this. Still need to spec a few things, and will certainly set me back past the October goal I originally had. But I’d prefer a properly designed product that serves the most needs, than to rush something that isn’t quite right functionally.
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Consider me subscribed!
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I just installed this solution for less than 8 bucks on Amazon that allows me to share 1 power plug with 3 power supplies. Doesn’t simplify things too much but it means I have more sockets left for other gear and a bit less cable spaghetti.
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Cool, just make sure to get 2.4 A outputs!
The digitone really glitches and sometimes doesn’t work with anything less then that…
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In this case the 2.4A apply to the USB ports. The barrel connectors were Elektron machines are supposed to be connected can deliver up to 5A.
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Cool, just make sure to get 2.4 A outputs!
Good to know. I’ll make sure each USB port can source 2.5A continuous then. Appreciate the tip!