Environment

Music is a hobby for me -- fun, and an important part of my life, but I made a conscious decision to not make a living from music, which is why I have so much cool stuff. After my marriage collapsed, I threw whatever extra I've made into trying out different synths, and learning as much as possible about music production, which has always been a passion.

The lo-res environment is in less chaos than before since I've finally taken some time to set things up properly. However I'm in the process of selling off gear I do not need or want any longer -- some 30 synths will be on the block in 2008 -- but I plan to keep the most important pieces. I have ended up cutting down to a single Mac running 2 MIDI interfaces and 16 physical devices, and a PC for doing sampling and working with other apps.

Left Side -- orchestration:

• Kurzweil K2500XS - rescued from Guitar Center for $500, then rebuilt for $1800. Contains great AD/DA converters and a zillion patches, including a host of 50-64mb pianos (Bosendorfer, Steinway, etc.)
• Roland VK-8 organ - the best tube sound on a Hammond clone
• Korg Triton Rack - having 2 arpeggiators is fun
• Yamaha EX5R - great for pads, very expressive but flaky DSP
• Korg TR-Rack - I got it cheaply because the display is missing a few lines. Sounds good but I'll likely add a Korg MOSS board either to this or the Triton Rack or the Karma to add more variations
• Yamaha TG-500 - so far I haven't played with this too much
• Yamaha TG-77 - needs a new LCD but has sounds unobtainable anywhere else because it blends AWM with 6-operator FM
• VariOS + VC-1 - I use this as a 1U D50 with more presets and cleaner audio. I've got tons of D-50 sounds, and sometimes it can provide the fairy dust to a track
• Emagic Unitor 8 MIDI's these synths to the Mac via USB
• Audio for all units is connected to a Behringer RX1602 then to an M-Audio 1814 for recording and to a Yamaha submixer for monitoring through a Hafler reference amp, an active Sony Subwoofer, and Audix Studio 1A reference monitors.
• Emu 1820 breakout box for my 1212m audio card on the PC.
• I may eventually install my Yamaha TG-33 (the stationary joystick is very cool) and connect it into the Emu card to use it as a controller for Korg Legacy Wavestation.

Right Side -- composing, modern sounds:

• Roland Fantom X8 - I could do almost everything on this instrument, but have loaded it with the 128MB William Coakley Hamburg Steinway samples which are very very good. I have zillions of sounds for the Fantom and it's an inspirational machine.
• Korg Karma - super inspirational
• Novation KS-4 - flaky OS but lots of fun. i love the nasal tones from this
• Access Virus Classic - will not leave my dead cold hands
• Korg MS2000R - makes angrier and fresher sounds than I expected judging by how little I paid for it. Much fun to play with. I should figure out a way to get the vocoder going too.
• Waldorf Microwave XT - sick sounds but the MIDI out is disconnected because I cannot figure out how to prevent the arps from going out via MIDI and bringing down this rack
• Emu Proteus 2000 + 4 ROM cards
• Roland JV-880 - I've got 4 ROM cards for it but may upgrade to a
  JV-1080 or JV-2080 to fit in all the cards at once.
• All this is midied to an Emagic AMT-8 that connects to my Mac
• Audio through a Behringer RX1602 then to the left side of the studio for recording through the 1814 and monitoring through the Yamaha submixer

Middle -- Mac and PC DAWs
I've been a long-time Mac user but am still pissed that Apple's products cost double what their pc counterparts cost. The Mac DAW is a dual 1.2ghz G4PC DAW for running Logic Pro 7, Cubase 3 SX, and ProTools M-Powered 7.3. The PC DAW is a 2.2ghz Celeron D for running Cubase 3 SX, ProTools LE 7.3, and Emu X version 2. I may replace the Mac with a Core 2 Duo Mac Mini when they come out, but I might miss having the ability to jump back into OS9 to check out my first MIDI love, Opcode Vision as well as Rebirth, which Propellerheads really screwed up on by not bringing to OSX or re-coding to be a part of Reason.

No, I don't usually keep the Novation Remote25 on top of my monitor. I had been hoping to get an Ikea Jerker and shelf, but I'm not sure it will fit in this space - but I could sure use a little room for 2 mice. Plus none of the local Ikeas keep them in stock. The PC DAW needs a keyboard tray to give me more desk space. If you'll note the 2 pine boards under the desk, that's because it's got this big aluminum support that makes me unable to set the computers underneath and facing me.

In March I purchased a couple of 22" LCD's and a backlit keyboard for my PC. Note the Logic Pro keyboard for the Mac. Now I have more desk space! It still looks horrendous though because of the plethera of cables and the fact that my PC is still being upgraded. I have GOT to finish work on that damned pc. Been fighting with Protools LE 7.3 installs... ARGH!

I've since sold off my Mbox 2 which I used with the PC and my PC Laptop / Mobile DAW. I may eventually get another Mbox as something I can take with me when making presentations or recording mobile.

Click the photo below to see how things are connected to the G4. Only the Novation Remote25 will be connected to the pc daw. I'm having some MIDI difficulties with the Waldorf Microwave XT so I may remove it from the AMT-8.