Wireless WX5

My love for windcontrollers and the Synthophone has only been diminished by being tethered to a cord. When I played the Yamaha WX5 it was a relatively easy thing to go wireless. It was  expensive to go wireless 3 years ago. The only proven and reliable midi wireless device on the market was made by Kenton in the UK. The cost was about $700.00 for the receiver and transmitter. Unfortunately the cost didn’t stop there. In order to have adequate power for both the WX5 and the Kenton a battery pack was required. I experimented with different sizes until I finally arrived at a 2100mah battery pack. This was a compromise in weight and power.

Wireless Synthophone

Going wireless with the Synthophone presents a different set of challenges. The first hurdle is that the power supply plugs into an AC outlet. The power supply designed by Martin Hurni converts the 120 volts AC to around 12 volts DC and the DC voltage is sent via the 5 pin midi cable to the printed circuit board in the Synthophone, The power supply printed circuit board is not simply an AC to DC converter. If that were the case it would be a simple matter of supplying DC voltage with a battery, hooking up the midi transmitter and we would be in business. Unlike the WX5 the Synthophone requires a redesigned printed circuit board that would simply allow a battery hookup and and the midi connections. After numerous failed attempts to recruit someone smarter than myself to do a redesign, I opted for plan B. Here is the drawing I made of Martin’s Power Supply.

Since I couldn’t find a way to downsize the existing board myself I did  what I know how to do. I removed the AC components on Martin’s power supply, made provisions for a battery hookup and then mounted the Kenton Transmitter board in the same enclosure as the original power supply.

Although the project was successful, the power supply box and the battery pack are quite bulky to say the least. The only option with some practicality was to use a belt pack. Hanging this stuff on the Synthophone looked bad and is just to much weight. It makes the imbalance of the instrument undesirable for comfortable playing. The belt pack will do the job but it makes me look like a suicide bomber.

The advent of the Lithium Polymer batteries will improve this concept. Lithium Polymer batteries have a weight to power ratio that is perfect for this kind of project. They are expensive but it appears the price is coming down. An 1800mah pack and charger will cost about $75.00. The expensive charger is required to maintain a very accurate charging rate and maximum charge. These batteries will become a bomb if they are not charged correctly. Add a spare pack and you are now looking at $100.00.

Although this method works the ultimate wireless Synthophone would be having the transmitter built into the Synthophone. That probably will become a reality some day. The next best thing is that Martin Hurni is currently testing an add on kit that will supply battery power and allow for the use of  an external midi wireless transmitter. I would expect that he has figured out how to make this into a small package that will be practical for us Synthophonists. He is planning on making this available some time this year.