Studio Pics

  On 4/28/2017 at 6:17 PM, auxien said:

 

I looked up that K1m and there's some good sounds possible in it for sure, programming it looks like it could get old quickly, but for the right price it could be a good buy. They're going for way more than I'd pay on eBay though ($200 average it seemed), and I'm not looking into buying anything for the time being anyway. Maybe in a few months once I get really comfortable or done with the stuff I'm working on now. 

My current set up.

 

Programming looks like a hassle but I've found it really quick, although I'm usually using it for pretty simple sounds.

I wouldn't pay anywhere near $200 but if you wait they show up at better prices.  I got mine for around $60  I think (it was in the high 70s after shipping - if I said $40 earlier I was thinking of the post-shipping cost of the Alesis Wedge I got a couple years ago) on eBay last spring and it's in great shape.  For $200 there are more exciting things out there. I think you can still get a Wavestation SR for around that much.

What are those two smaller boxes behind your computer keyboard in that photo?

Yeah, the cost of those sorts of boxes versus what you can get out of them is very important as the sounds are rarely worth huge spending if you're already working with a DAW or other versatile equipment...at least to me.

Those boxes are the Faderfox SC4 and UC4. Great little devices :)

  On 4/18/2017 at 12:28 PM, Chris Toffer said:

Relocated from the cupboard to the bed

 

haha I have both a TG33 and a bass station. What's the thing way up on the left in plastic wrapping? Looks kind of waldorfy but obviously it's something else.

^I think that's a Roland A01.

wow, that's a lot thinner than I expected, I still kinda want one despite it not doing anything at all that my other gear doesn't do, lol

Over the weekend I jammed with a dude who had one of those new Rolands. I have absolutely no lust for them but the thing sounded pretty damn good.  

Yep it's a Roland A01. Got for $99 off amazon, intend to use as controller for the DW8000. 8bit sound engine also looks interesting :)

Currently on hiatus due to other commitments but look forward to cranking out all the gear in near future!

How's the Portastudio holding up?  Back in the day I "upgraded" my Mk I to a (new) Mk II and traded the Mk I to a friend.  The Mk II failed in a few years of pretty gentle use, I traded back for the Mk I, which had gotten food all over it in my friend's care, cleaned it off, and it still works great almost 20 years later.

  On 5/4/2017 at 7:01 PM, RSP said:

How's the Portastudio holding up?  Back in the day I "upgraded" my Mk I to a (new) Mk II and traded the Mk I to a friend.  The Mk II failed in a few years of pretty gentle use, I traded back for the Mk I, which had gotten food all over it in my friend's care, cleaned it off, and it still works great almost 20 years later.

What went wrong with the MKII? Got one that's running good so far but you're giving me the fearz

  On 5/5/2017 at 6:35 PM, Leon Sumbitches said:

 

  On 5/4/2017 at 7:01 PM, RSP said:

How's the Portastudio holding up?  Back in the day I "upgraded" my Mk I to a (new) Mk II and traded the Mk I to a friend.  The Mk II failed in a few years of pretty gentle use, I traded back for the Mk I, which had gotten food all over it in my friend's care, cleaned it off, and it still works great almost 20 years later.

 

What went wrong with the MKII? Got one that's running good so far but you're giving me the fearz

 

One day it just lost power and wouldn't turn back on, probably the power supply failed but I knew nothing about electronics back then so once I opened it up and made sure there wasn't a blown fuse inside I couldn't' get any farther. Could have been a fluke.

Anyway, I actually came in here to share a Portastudio preservation tip that I never hear mentioned:

Don't leave it turned on when it doesn't ahve to be.  When I was in college, one of the labs used the MKI version as mixers and headphone amps for their workstations, since cassette was well on its way out at that point (all the up to date portastudios were now using Minidisc, the format of the future!) so they were relatively cheap.  Anyway, the capstan motors would consistently fail every 8 months or so and have to be replaced and it turned out the reason was that people would leave them on when they were done working, and Tascam's design kept the capstan spinning at all times when the machine was powered on, even if there was no cassette in it at all.  So any time you have the power on the capstan is spinning and you're putting wear on the motor, which isn't exactly military spec part to begin with.

Any time you wont' be using it for more than a few minutes, turn the power off and your motor will last longer. I have no idea how hard it would be to find an aftermarket replacement today, it might be no big deal or it might be like trying to find a motor for a Space Echo.

I really want a cassette-based recorder, but I've had so much bad luck with finding them in the past few years. I guess if I really want one I should actually be prepared to spend more than $40 and get one from somewhere other than a junk sale where the guy at the stall says "it works! test it!" without any power outlets nearby and then I take it home and it doesn't fkn work

maybe I should just save for a nice nakamichi deck or something..

I spotted a perfect condition 424 in a music shop for USD10/JPY1000 last time I was in Japan. Actually it might've been less than that.

  On 5/8/2017 at 1:30 AM, modey said:

I really want a cassette-based recorder, but I've had so much bad luck with finding them in the past few years. I guess if I really want one I should actually be prepared to spend more than $40 and get one from somewhere other than a junk sale where the guy at the stall says "it works! test it!" without any power outlets nearby and then I take it home and it doesn't fkn work

 

maybe I should just save for a nice nakamichi deck or something..

My main cassette deck is an entry level, last generation Nakamichi I got for $9 or so at a thrift shop about 10 years ago and it sounds great, one of the nicer 3 head ones is probably fantastic and worth the eBay prices if you can afford them and really like cassettes.

Anyway, most of the time when they don't work it's just the belts, most of them are old enough that the belts started falling apart years ago, but it's usually something that you can probably do at home if you're mechanically inclined, and could probably get someone else to do if you aren't.

I've never actually had to do it so far, but I've done some VCRs and it isn't too different.  A hassle but definitely doable if you're careful.

yeah, finding the belts is a pain though. I tried doing it with the last deck I bought, but ended up ordering the wrong size of belt.. even though I measured it, I stupidly didn't account for the belt stretching, and the replacement was too big, gah.

  On 5/8/2017 at 7:54 AM, modey said:

yeah, finding the belts is a pain though. I tried doing it with the last deck I bought, but ended up ordering the wrong size of belt.. even though I measured it, I stupidly didn't account for the belt stretching, and the replacement was too big, gah.

That's a good point, the only times I've had to get belts I just paid the extra $5 or whatever to get a pre-selected set on eBay but I guess those probably aren't available for a lot of decks.  The record store spoiled me that way, the owner had a big cardboard box full of belts in the back so we'd just try them until they fit.

You probably already found this stuff if you've shopped for belts before, but in case anyone else is looking these sites all have pretty good selections:

http://www.vintage-electronics.net/beltkits.aspx

http://www.wjoe.com/vintageandantiques.htm

http://www.studiosoundelectronics.com/cassette.htm

This thread is reminding me that I should really change the belts in the two tape decks and portastudio I've got now, before they rot and get caught up in the transport or something. Good, well maintained decks just don't seem to show up in the trash much at all anymore, and even in thrift shops they're drying up.

EDIT: belt measuring tutorial.

Almost ready for next Tuesday's show, just have to write a few more patterns and program a few more CZ patches.

  On 6/8/2017 at 5:23 PM, RSP said:

20170613 live rig web.jpg

 

Almost ready for next Tuesday's show, just have to write a few more patterns and program a few more CZ patches.

Just moved.Pretty much my new set up.

Ax73,Jx8p keyborads on the left.With Mopho desktop,Tetra ,pedals and boss dr660 and alesis sr16 drum machines under them.

Dx7 on the right.

Electronic Piano on the bottom.And loads of paintings.Gonna be lush.

nice, always wanted an AX73 :)

  On 6/8/2017 at 7:02 PM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 6/8/2017 at 5:23 PM, RSP said:

20170613 live rig web.jpg

 

Almost ready for next Tuesday's show, just have to write a few more patterns and program a few more CZ patches.

Ooh how's the BAM?

 

Amazing. I was pretty hesitant to spend that kind of money but it was absolutely worth it.  Good enough that I don't have any concerns about tracking stuff through it without printing it to its own tracks. I've never had the opportunity to use any of the classic nits that it's inspired by but it is easily better than any ITB reverb I've ever used.

  On 6/8/2017 at 9:25 PM, fxbip said:

Just moved.Pretty much my new set up.

Ax73,Jx8p keyborads on the left.With Mopho desktop,Tetra ,pedals and boss dr660 and alesis sr16 drum machines under them.

Dx7 on the right.

Electronic Piano on the bottom.And loads of paintings.Gonna be lush.

DR 660!

Yo here's my latest addition to my set up although its actually all in the cupboard at the moment he he.

Nice.  I had one of those for a long time (a friend of mine gave it to me in high school) and I traded it away 4 or 5 years ago and kind of regret it.

Yeah its a fun little drum machine. Actually my first Roland TR drum machine. Got it for just £50 so bit of a bargain really!!

Nice, 505 was like the 2nd piece of gear I ever got. Nowaday's it's sorta replaced by 505 samples on the volca sampler, though.

In other news, maybe it's time for me to invest in some kind of mixing console/patchbay type thing.

Nice Thinkpad.  I've had the casing from an unrescuable one sitting on a shelf for a few years now waiting for some kind of project that I can build in it, but what I REALLY wanted to do with it was set it up as a standalone Seer Systems Reality machine just for fun. 

  On 6/10/2017 at 4:14 PM, TheBro said:

Yeah its a fun little drum machine. Actually my first Roland TR drum machine. Got it for just £50 so bit of a bargain really!!

If you want a hard copy of the manual for any reason, send me a PM, I couldn't find it when I traded it but I have it now.

EDIT: th555 you don't even want to hear about the mes I had to dig through this morning to patch the D-110 I got from a friend the other day in to the 12u rack I use.  There are 5 synths, a sampler and a Lexicon Vortex in it and none of them are using more than two outputs so it's really about the same size setup as what you've got going, but having a patchbay and a MIDI router in there actually made it a lot more of a mess.  Easier to use, but about twice as many cables as there were before when it was all just daisy-chained MIDI and a little line mixer.