You’re on the go. And those wonderful USB power banks will charge your phone – so why not audio gear, too? KOMA Elektronik’s new Strom Mobile makes it possible.
Here’s the problem: USB power banks (mobile batteries and whatnot), while plentiful, only output 5V power for phones and USB, and they’re anything but “low noise” (meaning you’ll hear garbled interference when you plug a lot of them in).
A lot of your compact audio gear is probably running on 9V or 12V power, and it’ll make you happier if it’s low noise. (Some gear is 5V, of course, but that’s another story.)
Enter Strom Mobile, a small accessory from KOMA that adapts power banks for your gear. Specs:
- 9V/12V DC power compatibility (clean, low noise)
- Two power channels – plug in to one or both, and set each channel to either 9V or 12V
- Indicators to show you which power is connected, and how much current you’re using
- Four outputs for gear – or connect more via daisy chaining (until you run out of current, anyway)
- Cables and manual in the box: 1x USB B, 2x DC-DC, printed guide
The USB B cable is especially designed for this application.
There’s also a Strom Mobile Cable Pack you can buy as an add on, which includes another of those special USB B cables, a 1-5to-5 daisychain DC cable, 2 more DC cables, and 1 polarity changing DC cable.
And of course, this is intended for use with the Field Kit and Field Kit FX from KOMA, but the list of 9V/12V drum machines, recorders, samplers, effects pedals, mobile synths, and the like is very long.
Pricing: 175EUR suggested retail, or 35EUR for the Cable Pack.
Check the intro video:
Artists Hainbach (known for his lovely cassette tape videos and ambient creations) and Wouter (KOMA founder, here with his ODD NARRATIVE project) play and record using the gear en plein air at Berlin’s former airport-turned-park Tempelhofer Feld.
Product page:
https://koma-elektronik.com/?product=strom-mobile-portable-power-solution