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studio

Studio

Music

Info on my music gear and setup, in case this's useful to someone. I'm not an expert at this, stuff here's a combination of bumbling and too much research ;3

Equipment

  • Keith McMillen K-Board
    Little USB 25 key keyboard/controller I find handy for playing stuff in a DAW.
  • Roland TR-8
    Really like using this. Sequencer is straight forward, no messing in menus. Was the first electronic instrument I bought having never messed with anything aside from some cheap keyboards. A good intro.
  • Arturia Matrixbrute
    Feel like this is a bit wasted on me. Would probably be good to replace it with a keyboard and other MIDI controllers, and/or something gnarly like a PWM Malevolent.
  • Korg Electribe ES-1
    Sampler that loads from SmartMedia cards. Limited capacity, but fine and cheapish. Main downside is it can't play samples chromatically.
  • korg_electribe_ea-1
    Haven't used it much. It's fun to make weird sounds with it?
  • Korg Electribe ER-1
    Thought this was a kinda bland drum machine, but you can actually make some really cool sounds.
  • Yamaha PortaSound PS-3
    Good op-shop find! Lovely colour.
  • Yamaha QY100
    Was a fun thing to take on holiday. Nice to sit outside and play with, but normally I'm a bit too impatient to want to mess with the UI.
  • Mackie Onyx 1640i
    Big mixer I got a good price on. Was hard to find one that could work with a useful amount of effects sends. Maybe in hindsight should've got a matrix mixer.
  • alto tx132
    Powered PA speakers. Way too big and too powerful for a studio, but they were only $10 more than the next size down :3
  • Sony TC-124
    Tape recorder I got at a carboot sale, doesn't work right anymore.
  • Chromatone CT-312
    Got one when they were giving them away. Feels really plasticy. I don't have the room to keep it setup, but would use it as a MIDI controller if I did.
    Ended up selling it, keys felt too yuck to use it as a controller.
  • Zoom H5
    Field recorder.
  • Livingstone E10 AD Delay
    Some delay pedal I got at Cash Convertors ages ago. It's all sticky for some reason, spilt tea on it maybe? https://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/livingstone/2009/e10ad
  • Some dinky generic spring reverb box. You need a little amp to drive it out of a mixer, so haven't been finding it useful now it's not attached to my bass amp.
  • M-Audio M-Gear EX-P
    Two expression pedals I have plugged-in to the Matrix Brute.
  • JLCooper MSB Plus Rev 2×2
    90s MIDI Router that has all the features I need. Love it. Would love to replace them with one of the big 16×20 routers they've made, but they seem real hard to find—finding a second one of these was hard enough.
  • Roland UM-ONE mk2×2
    USB→MIDI cable for connecting my computer to other MIDI hardware.
  • Yamaha TX81Z
    FM synth for a reasonable price. Haven't tried making my own patches yet, but having fun with the stuff included and stuff I've found online.
  • Roland DEP-5
    Effects unit. Don't really understand my way around it yet, but been enjoying the stereo delay.
  • Roland JV-880
    Sounds really nice. Some real nice crystally sounds, and some big orchestra hits. You can DIY your own add-on cards, which might be a fun alternative to a sampler (for my use case)?
  • DigiTech TSR-12
    Another multi-effects rack unit I've been using a lot, though really just using the presets so far.
  • Novation 61SL MKIII
    MIDI controller keyboard. Sequencer is real nice and easy to use.
  • Waldorf Blofeld
    Was looking for something wavetabley and say a real good price on one of these. Feel like I was missing real cold digital sounds and this fits that. Before that was after a 01R/W but never see them for sale.

Practical Wishlist

Trying to be realistic with this :)

  • JL Cooper Synapse
    I really like the two MSB+s I have, but even better would be be one of these 16 input 20 output units by the same company. Would save me me a slot having to link two units too. Have never seen one for sale, just old ads. on Reverb.
    They also made a 16/20 one with the MSB branding, like the MSB versus the Rev 2 there are some differences in functionality.
  • Still trying to decide on a sampler. Problem is ones that have a gritty sound I like don't have a great workflow. I really just want to prepare the sample son my computer, put them on an SD card, and plug that in. Recording with the line-in isn't that useful to me, apart from maybe using my voice.
    I guess a bit of an update to this is that I think I'll save up for a fancy granular one like the GR-Mega, as that takes care of regular samples and manipulating them in interesting ways. Still tempted by 12-bit stuff, but more as a thing to sample straight into. For now I'm fine using the korg_es-1 and using recording changes on the pitch knob.

See Also

studio.txt · Last modified: 2025/04/02 16:38 by rjt