thawkins

How does your pile of stuff look like now? I had huge success just getting two IKEA tablet stands (I think it's called Rimforsa) and putting my gear on those.

On one hand I'm gutted because it was a full-size 76-key board with a nice size, everything else seems to be relatively gigantic if you want that many keys. On the other hand now I don't have to rebuild my desk and start selling the MicroKey which it was supposed to replace. Still want better keys though. Or that Akai S3000XL... GAS never dies.

It's not even that I needed to do this. The auction system e-mailed me that someone had outbid me and all I had to do was just keep my eye on the thing because it's the type that automatically extends if there's bidders. At least that's my understanding. At least the dinner was tasty...

Someone outbid me on the A33 by $1 in the last 10 minutes of the auction. I had been waiting for 5 days for it to end. Live & learn not to eat dinner while the auction is ending. Noob mistake.

Weird, I thought all the new models are touchbar - are you getting a refurbished machine? Mine is a refurb too, had to send it to the warranty once for some keyboard issues but now works like a charm. :)

Damn, that setup looks good and the recording you posted sounds good too. I hope everything falls into place and you have a great performance.

It is difficult but I will not open Yahoo Auctions after reading this discussion about rack effect units. At least not until the evening when I need to deal with hopefully winning the Roland A33 auction.

I have ordered all my Mac stuff from OWC (https://www.macsales.com/), they do a pretty good job of helping you match your Mac with what sort of components it supports so you don't really have to read through endless support threads or some manuals.

If the click is acting weird, you should check if your battery is up for replacement, because I had mine expand and push the trackpad up so it was actually not possible to click anything. I then bought some cheapo battery as a replacement, which worked some time and then failed again (so if you replace it, get the most official replacement as possible, don't be a dumbass like me who orders some rando stuff from Amazon). The SSD definitely gives a huge speed boost to the thing, so if you can get one for cheaps and also upgrade the RAM to 8GB (which is unfortunately the max) you should get a pretty usable computer actually. I'm not sure if the USB ports are easily fixable though - mine started to be weird as well, but I sort of solved that just by using a powered hub. So basically, if you can replace the battery, get it cleaned, get an SSD and more memory you can definitely get more life out of it, but the total cost of these fixes can probably be pretty significant as well.

Have you got an SSD in it and maxed out the RAM? Also if it overheats maybe go see some dude who will check out if the thermal paste on the CPU could use some refreshing (or just take it apart yourself if you are brave enough). Actually just opening the back cover and clearing out any dust bunnies may work wonders already. Last year I replaced my 2009 something MBP, and I think it was mostly because browsing the web was getting unbearably slow, which is a ridiculous reason really. I never had any problems with audio stuff.

I think the magic for me is in having an iconic instrument, have it take not a lot of room as it is a rack unit, having a nice sound (at least from what I hear on YouTube demos) and having a outboard sound module where I can send all of my MIDI, from synths to drums. I use my Korg MicroX in more or less the same way anyway, so the S3000XL appeals to me a lot (also the price seems unbelievably low). I think I'll let it simmer for a couple of days and if it is still for sale and I am in the area, I will probably end up getting it. After that I seriously have to sell some gear and stop checking the damn sites.

From my experience speaker damage results in some distortion always when the sound gets loud enough to make the broken membrane vibrate. My experience is only with a bass cabinet though, so ymmv. I think if I was you I'd run it through some testing sine waves and then A/B some songs with your known good headphones. I also think that if they're powered monitors (i.e. the amp is already in the monitor) you probably could not damage them anyway as line level signal that you send to the monitors by definition can't push the monitors beyond what the amp circuit allows. (Disclaimer - I have no actual idea if this is the case, I am basing this on my rudimentary knowledge of electronics)

Thanks! So far my stereo image experiments are 1) do the Radiohead Kid A way and duplicate the tracks and delay one just a little and 2) "ping pong delay!". Anyways, to get the topic back on the GAS, that Roland 100m went for around $2000 on Yahoo Auctions. I passed it by, because even though it would have been a fun project, I could not justify spending this amount of money. I did find an Akai S-3000XL with 32MB memory for like $60 that is beginning to seem like a good idea to buy. I should definitely listen to some examples of it today so I definitely will be turned off buying the thing. :)

Thanks, will try this tip out. In general it seems that I tend to use effects with LFO controlled filters or something that can generate some slow sweeping motion. It just occurred to me that maybe I need to broaden my palette a bit.

Yeah. Off the top of my head, what I have is a utility gain, saturator, ping pong delay, auto filter (modeled band pass + lfo), compressor and I have it feeding back both in the delay itself and also the whole chain is feeding back to itself. However I use it almost everywhere, even to just widen the stereo image of an instrument and this is probably not the correct way to use a dub delay. Or maybe I am just overthinking it. :)

I used to teach at a small place in London that had one and it was fucking lush. The frequency response was gorgeous. Definitely on my list of things I'd automatically buy given the chance. Yeah it seems something like only a dumbass would pass. If it ends up going for dirt cheap (under 100 bucks) then I figure even having it professionally repaired by the guys at Five G is still going to be cheap enough to make it worth it. I wonder if it's compatible with Eurorack...

Yea I found a 76 key Roland A-33 for like 10 bucks starting bid so I'll just see if that is any good. I have no interest in getting into yet another synth and I am running out of physical inputs anyways. Just wanted a keyboard with better keys for my large butterfingers and also those sweet sweet dynamics.

Thanks for the input on the CS2X, Chesney. I'm probably not going to get it although it is cheap enough for me - just around 220 dollars for both a synth and a good keyboard (assuming the keybed is good) is in my regular gear budget, athough I decided to go on Yahoo Auctions to check if there's any better deals.

Found a Roland 100M modular on sale on Yahoo Auctions. It probably needs a lot of fixing, but what a way to get into modular.. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r253068138

I have owned a Novation Nocturn 25 key keyboard a while back - I really liked the keys there as well even though the rest of it was bulky as hell and not even close to fitting in my backpack (which to me is the benchmark for small 25 key knobby controllers), so I sold it. Speaking of 90s ROMplers though, today I saw a Yamaha CS2x on CL, which is something that might almost fit my desk physical-dimension-wise - although the 85cm MicroKey is already a very snug fit, I am pretty sure I can make room for the CS2x (even though the internet tells me it's roughly twice the height - not a surprise on Yamaha synths). However the internet also says that it's got a synth action keyboard, which I am guessing is not even semi-weighted? RSP, if you ever get to know what sort of keyboard your friend likes, would be nice to know. I think having a good weighted keyboard is something I will definitely be interested in having as I seem to like playing with dynamics.

Yeah my spider-sense also tells me that even though the M-Audio is cheap and gets me 88 keys and also some neat program change facilities, in the end it will be a cheap piece of plastic that will leave me wanting. I should just stop by some brick & mortar place to just play on different keybeds, no point in replacing one cheapo with another. Besides the Korg Microkey I have now is ideal for having 61 keys on my cramped desk anyways. Thanks a lot for the advice!

My unit is an Ableton Live rack from a "how to make a dub delay" tutorial I found many years ago. There is a used Space Echo pedal on sale, but I am too much ITB with my sounds to be able to route things outside enough. This is probably not good for vintage aesthetics. I have been GASing for a M-Audio Keystation 88 that's on CL, but I just got my desk sorted and the thing is so huge that I might just pass. One day I will get a "real" keyboard but I feel it has to be either some more sturdy hammer action thing (while the Keystation is a cheap piece of plastic) or come with an attached synthesizer already (like the Yamaha V50 which is also on CL, but I don't have room for either).

Riffing on the artistic choices and deliberate lo-fi production and whatnot, I think it's still somewhat important to have a good monitoring setup, just to be sure that you are hearing what you are doing as best as you could. Knowing how reference tracks sound in your studio will help make sure that your music does not end up on depending on some quirk or (for lack of a better word) "soundstage" that's only present in your studio. My thanks to all the guys who said that it's not so much important to have the perfect golden ratio equilateral triangles, foam sculptures on every vertical surface and flat frequency responses as far as the eye can see, but it's more down to you being comfortable making music and enjoying listening to others' tracks as well in the space where you create. I am sure when (if ever) I get to a place where I start playing live more often, I will care about more professional monitoring but at the moment the need just isn't there.

I got to find time to try this.

Volca Sample. 10 channels of sample goodness. http://filipe-teixeira.com/electronic-music/volca-resources/volca-sample-tutorial-5-midi-and-external-automation/ I'm only saying this because I got the Sample, but reading that article makes me wish I was not at work now. :)