Battery Powered Midi/Audio Interface for Busking
Hi all,
I'm using a portable, battery powered Alesis Transactive speaker for busking. It has a USB charging port (5V, 2.1A). Can anyone tell me if I can plug a USB powered USB hub into that port and then plug in a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface into one port and a iphone or ipad into another port and have:
- The Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 be successfully powered
- The audio interface and the iphone or ipad successfully talk to each other? (from this thread, I gather this part would work)
The Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 specs state:
USB bus powered
Take your Scarlett 2i4 anywhere! With USB bus powering, your Scarlett 2i4 will work anywhere your laptop will, even when using 48V Phantom power. No mains power supply required.
What I gather is that the 2i4 WILL successfully run off the charging port, but what I'm not sure of is what happens when I plug an iphone or ipad into one of the powered USB ports (so it can talk to the 2i4). Will that then add too much power drain and screw it all up?
I just put an email into Focusrite and hopefully they can answer this. I will post their response here. In the meantime, if anyone has any experience or info about this, I'd love to hear it.
Thanks!
p.s. - The Focusrite iTrack Solo Lightning and USB Compatible Audio Interface would work well for this because I could just plug its USB connection into the charging port and then it has a separate "device link" for the iphone/ipad. However, the iTrack Solo doesn't do MIDI and has RCA outs (I'd prefer XLR for sound quality).
Comments
Short answer: yes, it's possible.
You need CCK Apple adapter and a powered USB hub. And everything needs to be connected just right.
http://www.amazon.com/XTPower®-MP-23000-Power-Bank-Notebooks/dp/B012NVN6IG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463429390&sr=8-2&keywords=power+bank+with+dc+output Plug one of these into your powered usb hub and you're good to go
@BluNoseReindeer do you know if that works with pedals as well??
My Digitech RP-500 (multi-effects pedalboard) USB Audio interface works into (and out of) Loopy (and Audiobus) via a USB hub.
You'll need the CCK adapter for your iPad (the one which has the extra port for the iPad power-supply).
@Ironlion I have a Presonus 2x2 usb interface, it works into Loopy/Audiobus but i have to use a powered USB hub.
Note, off the same hub I have an Akai LPK25 midi-keyboard and a USB pc keyboard (as a footswitch). Those, along with my pedalboard, is too much draw even for the CCK supply.
Hi...I need a light, portable digital piano that won't break my back carrying it around. At the same time - I don't want to compromise too much on what I got already. At the moment I have YAMAHA P-95 which has never let me down, but I use my own specially designed trolley to move it around when I busk. It weights 12kg and is a bit too heavy to carry around on your back.