Birdcord - A Big Thumbs Up

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Nothing new, just a big thumbs up - If you’re European and keep reading off-putting Ripcord experiences when trying it power your Digitakt, I want to point you at the company SongbirdFX and the Birdcord converter cable.

I have just spent the last three hours playing with my Digitakt off grid using an Anker 20000mah and a Birdcord. It barely uses any power and I still had 3/4 power left. No crashes, no loading issues. Works as though it was mains powered.

Dieter has excellent customer service, even on a Sunday - he is in Austria. I want to thank him by promoting his product to you - https://www.songbirdfx.com/

I’m very impressed. Powering expensive electronics with power banks is always worrying (warantees void, costly repairs), well don’t be. Digitakt is very happy with Birdcord.

6 Likes
Battery for digitakt and digitone
#2

The cables from Dieter are indeed very good. But they are called ‘Birdcord’ and not ‘Bircord’ :wink:

2 Likes
#3

Corrected!

1 Like
#4

I bought a birdcord 9v usb converter many moons ago and i got a hand written letter thanking me personally for the purchase… thats next level customer service.

And it’s been working without any problems!

5 Likes
#5

Ripcord on the other hand was dead on arrival…

#6

Yep, Birdcord is the real deal. Powered a DT, DN and OT with one, completely hassle free, from various USB power bricks. RipCords are a RipOff, they just don’t work unless you get really lucky and even then they have a habit of dying after a while.

2 Likes
#7

To be fair here, i’ve had 2 Ripcords since they were released and never had any issues; I honestly don’t even think about them anymore

#8

Today I’ve got a PD=>12V Birdcord for my Elektrons and a PD=>15V for my Maschine+ (both center positive)

Some weeks ago I had already got a PD=>9V for my pedals (center negative!)

Short test: All devices are booting and running without any hicks.
I was curious about the open circuit voltage and measured it with a simple multimeter: 9.1, 12.1 and 15.1 V
To me that’s excellent because many power adapters show an open circuit voltage that exceeds their nominal voltages by far.

EDIT: I allways check whether they are actually center positive oder center negative as claimed on the homepage…

1 Like
#9

Just ordered a USB-C PD > 12v cord. I like the idea of it starting with a nice fat chunk of amps and volts, and I already have a PD battery pack.

#10

I got one for my 404mk2, works perfectly, plus the nice handwritten note. Great company!

2 Likes
#11

Anyone tried the splitter for plug ST (2A) + DT (1A) with a Birdcord (since it provides 3A max)?

#12

I wouldn’t try that because the Songbird Birdcord could be working on its 3A limits.

IMO for a stable operation I prefer two of them on two different powerbanks (sorry, I don’t know a powerbank with two PD outputs).

2 Likes
#13

I finally ordered a Birdcord. Deiter is a really nice guy he made sure I ordered the right one before he shipped it out.

3 Likes
#14

Hey guys, I purchased my 3rd Digitakt because of the 1.5 update.
I bought some birdcords a while ago for MPC One, Maschine+, and got a 12V one for “other gear” :smiley:

The thing is I have 2 Anker batteries with USBC PD (10k and 20k MAh) and they won’t power up the DT although they have 4 LEDs full.

The cable does work when plugged to a 100W USB charger. It’s not working with the iPhone 18W charger either.

This is weird because I remember powering the DT with a RipCord and it went fine for hours. I don’t think it’s that power hungry.

So the question is… did anyone encounter this?

1 Like
#15

I had the same issue. The Birdcord needs 12V USB-C PD and the Anker battery I had doesn’t support that, so I swapped to the Baseus battery. For more context:

#16

Oh. So that’s why Maschine and MPC works. Makes sense now. Thanks.

1 Like