| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1590.1 | | MIZZOU::SHERMAN | socialism doesn't work ... | Tue Aug 02 1988 17:13 | 21 |
| My speaker setup is not good. But, since I'm in an apartment and
the setup is in the living room, I'm usually confined to my headphones,
anyway. I prefer to work on stuff standing. That way, I can reach
all the controls easier. I have the CZ on the first tier, the S-10
on the second tier, and the rack, GE, sequencer, and drum machine on
the third tier. The sustain pedal is on the floor. The amp
and tape deck sit behind me on the floor. Nice thing is I can power
up and begin work within seconds. I have very easy access to
everything but the CZ and the drum machine. I sit down to
diddle with the CZ (which I haven't done much of lately). And,
I usually pull off the drum machine and diddle with it on the couch
when I'm doing heavy stuff with it.
One problem is, when my equipment turns on it messes up the TV
reception on WGBH channel 2 (the antenna is behind my equipment -
only place in the living room we could put it). So, when my wife
wants to watch Frugal Gourmet or whatever, I can't play with my toys.
But, I usually have to come to the couch and rub her feet then, so
it's no big deal.
Steve
|
| 1590.2 | Stacked on a rack | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad ... DTN 433-2408 | Tue Aug 02 1988 17:39 | 16 |
| I racked everything I had. Put the KX76 on the top tier of 3-tier USS
and OB-Xa on bottom tier. Rack is immediately left of stand, and ST
sits on top of rack. Minimal movement required (normally between ST
and KX). Use headphones out of M160 (in rack). No amp/speakers
to deal with (yet).
Gripe - rack mount stuff is great for compactness and portability, but
stinks for programming or patch accessing. I need to write a pgm that
will print out listings of the patches currently contained in the
modules so I don't have to remember KX -> ESQ mappings.
My studio is usually organized like Mitch's . . . but it's been so
blasted hot that I moved all my gear downstairs into wifeland for a/c
access. Dues paid daily (she's a pretty good sport, actually). 8-)
-b
|
| 1590.3 | I have a plastic saxophone on the wall... | JAWS::COTE | SuperBowl '89 OR YOUR MONEY BACK! | Tue Aug 02 1988 17:47 | 61 |
| This works for me... (aerial view)
+------------------------+
| |
| U S S |
| |
+------------------------+ +---+
+----+|QX |
| HR |+---+
+----+
+------------+
| |
| XR1200 |
| |
+------------+
+------+
| |
| AKAI |
+------+
The USS is assembled over my Rhodes 73. From top to bottom the
tiers are Rhodes, Mirage, DX, and on top I have my 8 space rack
with the MKS-30, TZ, 6 ch submix, and 1 MIDIVERB. Top left is
a little RS/Moog unit.
One stereo pair runs from the submix to the board. 4 HR outs go
to the board, so I get 10 outputs worth of function outta 6
channels of board. The remaining 6 XR1200 channels get used for
whatever I need them for; mikes, FX, tape...
Speakers are mounted on the walls on either side of the USS. The
second MVII sits on the back of the 12 ch board.
Everything is away from the walls so I can easily get behind it.
The sequencing units (HR & QX) are located just to my right (I'm
right handed) making it easy for me to always reach in the correct
place to kill the music. The are located on a stand that holds all
my manuals, sheet music, etc...
A shelf directly under the mixer holds 1 TEAC cassette dec. A second
shelf holds coffee cups, etc. Just to the right is my AKAI 4-track
reel-to-reel. Having all the "production" gear (mixer, FX, DEX)
located near each other makes mixdown a lot more convenient.
Powerup is essentially 2 switches, the mixer (1) and a distribution
panel (2) which all the MIDI gear is on. The dex are run from their
own on/off switches so as not to keep them running for hours on
end when I'm not recording.
The room has an over head light that's fine for everything other
than editing on the DX's non-backlit LCD. For that I've got a
battery powered clamp on book light that I use on gigs. Just clamp
it and aim it. Batteries last forever.
It takes me about 10 minutes to pull the keyboards and rack, crate
the synths and get it to the car. 15 minutes to set it all back
up. Acceptable.
Edd
|
| 1590.4 | | SALSA::MOELLER | DECblocks Product Support | Tue Aug 02 1988 17:50 | 19 |
| My setup.. 12x14 room
+--------+ +-----+
| spkr | |spkr|
+--------+ +------+
+----------+
|Yamaha 8x2|
+----------|mixer w/fx|----------+
|KX88 +----------+ |
+--------------------------------+
Rack: +----------+ +----------+
Midi sw,fx, |18-hi rack| | Table
Emax,Kurzweil | | | w/MAC
EQ, ster.Amp | | +-----------
+----------+
Recorder HiRise+----------+
tEAC 3340 | |
Fostex A8 | |
Nakamichicass +----------+
|
| 1590.5 | Computer Accessories? | HPSRAD::NORCROSS | | Tue Aug 02 1988 18:19 | 8 |
| Does anybody use a "trackball" instead of a mouse with their computer?
...or any other computer accessories?
I was using a "copy holder" to hold reference sheets and scratch music
paper, but it ended up just getting in the way, so now I just use the
second desk.
/Mitch
|
| 1590.6 | The Ugly Zone | CTHULU::YERAZUNIS | Just a puppet who can see the strings. | Tue Aug 02 1988 18:38 | 41 |
| Here's mine (setup in one corner of dining/stereo/video room).
It's an aerial view; the stand is a 3-tier USS with mucho extra
clamp-ons, and is NOT shown. It's (mal)adjusted so the back tubes
are vertical, up against the wall. Everything except the big
speaker and the cheap mixer are clamped onto it (Boses via the bose
clamp arms, Octapad via a modified APC-66 clamp).
======================WALL====================================||
||
Sheet music ||
--------- ----------- _____ --------- ||
|Bose | ___________ | | | / \|Bose | ||
| rmmate| | | | | /clamp | rmmate| ||
--------- DX-100 | | | | \ lamp --------- ||
|_______________| | | | \_____/ ||
| | | --------- ||
------------------- |_________| | | ||
| | | ||
| | | HR-16 | ||
| Oberheim Xpander | _ | | ___ ||
|____________________________| |_______| | ||
| ||
| | ||
| ESQ-1 | ||
/\ |___________________________________________| ||
/ \ \ \ | ddl ped| / \ ||
/ \ \ \ ---------- /sus\ ------- --------- ||
/ \ \cv/ped \ / | | cheap | ||
/ \ \/ \ / | | mixer| ||
/ Octapad / /\ USER HERE v | --------- ||
\ on / / / XXXXX | big ||
\ slant / / IR XXXXX | speaker | ||
\ / \/ link to ------------------ ||
\ / / VCR control
\/ /
/
/
/
L
|
| 1590.7 | Maybe my pickup is crummy? | PANGLS::BAILEY | | Tue Aug 02 1988 20:23 | 17 |
| Speaking of studio layouts, does anybody else have problems with
all that electronic junk interfering with the guitar?
The FCC qualification of equipment seems to keep the RF interference
to a tolerable level (people can watch TV in the other room), but in
the audio frequencies, there is still tons. I have to turn off my
computer and most of my synths to get a clean take on my guitar. Even
then, I sometimes get noise from other sources (the TV that people are
watching in the other room, I think).
I suppose I could just crank up the distortion and chalk that incessant
BrrrawBrrraw up to a point of style.
I can never find a good place to put my computer so that I can
alternately use it for music and hack on it...
Steph
|
| 1590.8 | I back-off | HPSRAD::NORCROSS | | Tue Aug 02 1988 20:27 | 9 |
| > Speaking of studio layouts, does anybody else have problems with
> all that electronic junk interfering with the guitar?
Yes, My computer introduces interference when I sit facing it with my guitar,
but I can make the interference go away by just turning away and moving my
seat back a few feet.
/Mitch
|
| 1590.9 | | PAULJ::HARRIMAN | Why won't this thing record???? | Tue Aug 02 1988 20:40 | 34 |
|
My setup:
+--------+ +----------+
| | | |
|deck/ | | computer |
|stereo | | |
+--------+ +----------+
+------+
|rack |
| |
+------+
+------+ +-------------------------------+ +------+
| speak| | keyboards | | speak|
+------+ +-------------------------------+ +------+
notes: Everything is within arm's reach. I have a rolling chair,
too. speakers are suspended from ceiling to reduce mechanical
vibrations and keep neighbors happy during the day (commercial space)
Task lighting is used on keyboards and computer/deck areas. There
is a separate room for miked sources (to the left of the picture)...
This has been the most stable setup. My configurations tend to last
about two to three weeks, and I constantly reconfigure for whatever
project I am doing. Now that I have enough patchbays, this may happen
less... maybe.
/pjh
|
| 1590.10 | BMB | FREKE::LEIGH | | Tue Aug 02 1988 20:40 | 10 |
|
> I can never find a good place to put my computer so that I can
> alternately use it for music and hack on it...
How about a big metal box?
:-)
Chad
|
| 1590.11 | Not a USS in site | MINDER::KENT | I can't Dance to That | Wed Aug 03 1988 08:05 | 30 |
|
This is an issue which causes me perrenial (Sp?) problems. Bear
in mind that my sudio is in an attic which has walls that slope
inwards so the floor space is not the same area as the ceiling space
and consequently I have no Shelves. SO everything is floor mounted.
The easy answer is to change rooms but this would be a waste of
a good attic so ergonomics and good design is the answer. The other
problem is that the whole for getting in to my "studio" is about
3 foot by 2 foot. So no big pieces of furniture are available.
I can't draw one of those pretty pictures but I have never been
able to get a good ergonomic design that meets my requirements.
Which are 1 Neat and Tidy.
2 Everything Accessible
3 When I put in or take out a piece of gear
I don't have a major rebuild on my hands.
4 Pleasing to the eye !
5 I don't knock something over everytime I get
up to walk across the room
6 I can invite people into the room without
risk of electrocution.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Paul.
|
| 1590.12 | Have guitar, have noise | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad ... DTN 433-2408 | Wed Aug 03 1988 15:35 | 14 |
| 1590.13 | Another loft studio | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad ... DTN 433-2408 | Wed Aug 03 1988 15:39 | 12 |
| RE: PK's studio probs
I have the same problem. The loft I use has floor space of around
8x12, but it only 6' high at the peak. The roof angle is severe enough
that I can't setup the USS without eating half the room. At least I
have a real door instead of a chute.
Do what I did, PK. Move your stuff into the downstairs. The wife will
understand (won't she?). Of course when the hots weather's over, back
up I go.
-b
|
| 1590.14 | Not a Chance ? | MINDER::KENT | I can't Dance to That | Wed Aug 03 1988 15:52 | 11 |
|
I thought of that and am at the moment trying to make a takeover
bid for the garage. This means that wifey's car has to sit out in
the cold and rain. It may be interesting to come back to this note
in a year or so to see who won. The car ? or the Studio ?
Any Bets ?
PK.
|
| 1590.15 | | MTBLUE::BOTTOM_DAVID | behind blues eyes... | Wed Aug 03 1988 16:04 | 42 |
|
+---------------------+ +------------------------------+
|Soldering table | |2ea. 4 tracks/cassette deck |
|wire storage etc. | |side by each, cheezy patch bay| <--ye olde
| | | HR-16, mixer, gobs of cable | rats nest
+---------------------+ +------------------------------+
+--------+
| |
| |
| |
| |
| JX3P |
| on a |
| table |
| |
+--------+
+---+
| |
| | <---guitar amp
| |
+---+
+-+
+-+ <--guitar on stand
/-------------------montior speakers------------------\
/ \
+---+ +---+
| | power amp | |
| | +----+ | |
+---+ +----+ +---+
not easily functional as patching and repatching is anightmare of
tangled cables all over the place...
re: Steph and guitar noises, are you using a strat with stock pickups?
If so your noise problem will go away or be reduced considerably
by using stacked pickups.
dbII
|
| 1590.16 | Wifey wins. | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad ... DTN 433-2408 | Wed Aug 03 1988 16:11 | 10 |
| RE: .14
20 bucks on the wife/car combo. Experience talks.
RE: .15
I don't have a Strat (Hagstrom Swede) ... noise seems to be worse on
one pickup than the other. Is it possible that my pickups are hosed?
-b the_non_guitarist
|
| 1590.17 | | MTBLUE::BOTTOM_DAVID | behind blues eyes... | Wed Aug 03 1988 16:17 | 12 |
| re: Brad's guitar
If you figure out how to get to to stop humming/buzzing/whatever when
you're not touching it let me know....all of my guitars do that at high
gain and so some small degree even at low gain, but touch them and it
goes away almost entirely. I've had phone conversations with folks like
Semour Duncan trying to eliminate this....the only cure I know of is to
use EMG low impedance pickups with the active electronics....and that
isn't perfect just nearly so....explains why so many guitarists like
noise gates...
dbII
|
| 1590.18 | Don't let equipment exceed ability, much. | PANGLS::BAILEY | | Wed Aug 03 1988 20:14 | 7 |
| Actually, I'm using an acoustic with a Deam Markely Pro-Mag pickup.
It's supposed to be a hum-bucker (that's what the so-called literature
says) but it doesn't buck the hums all that well.
So I should just buy a Steinberger and get it over with? :-).
Steph
|
| 1590.19 | Fat Hands... | DRUMS::FEHSKENS | len, EMA, LKG2-2/W10, DTN 226-7556 | Fri Sep 14 1990 20:50 | 9 |
| re 2450.9 - only three tiers on my USS stands - I needed some clearance
for the keyboard, so I could get my hands in over it, and the racks are
8 space (about 16" high), and the keyboard has to be at a reasonable
height, so all that could fit were three. I suppose I could have put a
few *under* the keyboard, but I chose to put some low cheapy Sears
steel shelves underneath instead.
len.
|
| 1590.20 | well, not just once ;-) | MILKWY::JANZEN | | Sun Sep 16 1990 01:34 | 10 |
| I actually went into a music store that had little Steinway and measured
the keyboard from the floor: 29 inches (no rolling stand).
So eventually I will put the keyboard at that height (that's to the top
of the white key surface from the floor).
Once in college at 19 I said something stupid; I met a nice young woman
and my friend introduced her, saying she was stuyding ergonomics, so I
said, "oh, do you measure people's noses?" and she was justifiably
upset and said "most people get the wrong impression."
darn.
Tom
|
| 1590.21 | | RAVEN1::COOPER | MIDI rack puke | Mon Sep 17 1990 14:12 | 28 |
| RE: Interference from computer or TV.
Happens to me all the time.
Well, the old trick with Stratocasters was to "Pot" the pickups
by dipping them in wax. Perhaps you could dip the computer
and TV in wax. That may tend to squelch the noise. ;) (sorry).
On Ergonomics:
One of my problems is that I have a four space rack for my guitar
gear. One single space power amp, one DSP128+, One Rocktron Hush
(to 'hush' the TV noise) and a MIDI Tube preamp.
When I go to use the DSP128+ for FX with the studio, I'll have to turn the
rack around and reset all the bloody wires. This is going to get really
old. I also have a 6 space rack (it's a heavy brute) with an EQ in it.
Is there an easy way to get around this ? Keep in mind that I'll
be carrying that guitar rack around with me to rehearsals and
gigs. I need some way to do that also, without tearing apart my
room, also without blowing out my hernia from hoisting the old 6sp
rack.
Fortunately, since I'm moving to Colorado this weekend, I get to kick
back now and scribble out a plan. I'd like to have an idea of what I'm
going do with all my stuff (mostly guitar equipment) when I arrive.
jc
|
| 1590.22 | In defense of patchbays | PAULJ::HARRIMAN | Deb in Air | Mon Sep 17 1990 20:30 | 52 |
| > One of my problems is that I have a four space rack for my guitar
> gear. One single space power amp, one DSP128+, One Rocktron Hush
> (to 'hush' the TV noise) and a MIDI Tube preamp.
>
> When I go to use the DSP128+ for FX with the studio, I'll have to turn the
> rack around and reset all the bloody wires. This is going to get really
> old. I also have a 6 space rack (it's a heavy brute) with an EQ in it.
>
> Is there an easy way to get around this ? Keep in mind that I'll
Have you tried a patch bay?
I now have three, two in my studio rack, one in my stereo rack.
Using prepatched (nc) patchbays, I was able to set up a default
patch for everything (i.e. fx sends/returns, mixer line inputs, etc).
When i want to do something twisted, I just use patchcords on the
front side - I almost never venture inside the rack anymore. Moving it
isn't that much of a problem - everything is labeled on the front of the
patchbay, and I left an empty space in the rack to get my hand in
from the front so if I had to pull something I could get it back in
without climbing around in the back of the thing.
They aren't cheap ($125 per, plus cabling costs), and cabling costs
can be stupefying - I bought cables this last time, since I didn't feel
like making 32 1-meter cables. But I got a volume discount and it
ended up costing half what I expected, and I didn't have to spend
hours with a soldering iron making cables (just hours wiring the rack,
which I would have had to do either way).
Planning was as tough as planning the studio layout. I swear I spend
as much time planning, wiring, cleaning, labelling, and copying as I
do making music. I wrote out a schematic for all of the connections
I wanted to have, and made judicious edits of the schematic to decide
which patch points to make. I then labelled the patch bay, then made
the patches. I ended up filling up two patch bays - a 32 point Tascam
and a 40-point Furman. Cost about $400 by the time I was done, but I'm
probably an extreme case, and I wanted to be able to move FX boxes
to different FX busses on two different mixers (and prepatched the
M-160 out to the tascam 388 stereo buss), and I also wanted to have
my spare inputs on the M-160 available on the front of the rack. And
much of the 388's backside is patched into the patchbay too.
Like I said, I'm probably an extreme case, a smaller rack might not
need more than 20 patch points, but if it saves you from crawling
around changing wires and tracing things in the dark, maybe it's
worth it to you. It has certainly made my life easier since I got
done wiring. Now it's a matter of taking little 2-footers and
patching them from label to label.
/pjh
|
| 1590.23 | | RAVEN1::COOPER | MIDI rack puke | Tue Sep 18 1990 16:03 | 8 |
| I've heard (and maybe even seen) a patch bay, but never used one.
I *did* have a MIDI Patch Bayette (from Kitty Hawk), but I think
it's a different animal.
How do these things work ? How would I use one to over come my
ergo-problems ?
jc (Thanks!)
|
| 1590.24 | | AQUA::ROST | Rockette Morton takes off into the wind | Tue Sep 18 1990 18:45 | 15 |
| Re: .23
A patch bay usually is wired up like an FX loop on a guitar amp. That
is, if you don't plug anything into the jacks the signal is routed
"through", but by use of patch cords, you can route the sources to any
destination you like.
What it *looks* like is a row of pairs of phone jacks one over another,
kind of like a telephone switchboard used to look like.
So you install the thing and wire it up for gigging. When at home, use
patch cords to route things differently.
Brian
|
| 1590.25 | rathole rathole alert | KEYS::MOELLER | DEC-rewarding successful risk takers | Tue Sep 18 1990 21:03 | 7 |
| re .23
There is a topic, # 404, on audio patchbays.
There is a topic, # 1871, on MIDI patchbays.
karl
|