Studio Pics

I use Soundsource, it works flawlessly. I use it to avoid / reduce volume discrepancies between sofwares, and to use Goodhertz CanOpener when monitoring with headphones. Maybe a bit expensive for such an utilitarian piece of code, yet I don't regret the purchase.

I've only messed with it superficially on Linux, but there are MacOS and Windows builds of Jack available:

https://jackaudio.org/downloads/

You'd still need something to host the VST but it could help with routing. Maybe something like the standalone version of Kushview Element would be a more practical option than Reaper, although it doesn't get much lighter on the resources than Reaper.

https://kushview.net/element/

Yeah JACK is great.

I still need to get something like a 4P8T rotary switch and caps to add the sidechain highpass filter and insert, and get some better knobs, but the GSSL is sounding really, really good. So glad I finally finished it.

If I was doing it again I'd have the front panel made with the markings around the knobs spaced out more, I'd really like some big, chunky .75" or even 1" knobs for the threshold and makeup, and chickenheads or something similar for the rotary switches. As it is, even those green knobs are pushing it. Also I might not have bothered with the fancy illuminated push switches if I'd realized the LEDs aren't actually switched and stay on all the time, so they don't actually show the state of the switch at all. Still look and feel nice, but not really worth the extra hassle and cost (plus with toggles there would have been room to put the power switch on the front panel).

  On 4/14/2020 at 3:34 PM, Nil said:

I use Soundsource, it works flawlessly. I use it to avoid / reduce volume discrepancies between sofwares, and to use Goodhertz CanOpener when monitoring with headphones. Maybe a bit expensive for such an utilitarian piece of code, yet I don't regret the purchase.

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Turns out Soundsource does not find my ARC 2.5 AU component so basically I can not use it for this purpose.

Maybe I will give a try to Element as well, but it seems that just running Reaper is the best solution because it is not monkeywrenched custom software like the alternatives seem to be.

Minimal stylee lol.

Studio tour lol.

You’ve got some potential there bro. If you have the chance I’d definitely try to invest in various audio, midi and extension cables so you can actually hook it all up. Seems like a shame to let the d110 go to waste because of lack of an extension cord. I always find it tempting to buy new gear but the boring bits are usually what make it all come together, bit of a platitude there, but yeah. 
 

  On 4/19/2020 at 10:44 AM, TheBro said:

Minimal stylee lol.

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Where's the 303? 

  On 4/19/2020 at 6:38 PM, yekker said:

Where's the 303? 

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In the cupboard. I need a longer cable for it which is coming in the post.

  On 4/19/2020 at 5:12 PM, user said:

You’ve got some potential there bro. If you have the chance I’d definitely try to invest in various audio, midi and extension cables so you can actually hook it all up. Seems like a shame to let the d110 go to waste because of lack of an extension cord. I always find it tempting to buy new gear but the boring bits are usually what make it all come together, bit of a platitude there, but yeah. 
 

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And ffs bro, get some microfibre cloths to clean whatever that white stuff is off your d110 and md recorder and for maybe some general dusting. While tidying up a bit today I found my studio dusting cloth collection extends well into the high 20s, I can mail you a couple if you want.

Maybe l’ll do a microfibre studio tour and rundown first through, explaining which colours and fibre density I like to use on what gear. 

 

 

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Yeah man I'll give them a dust lol. I think it's like paint on the D110 or something. I only bought it for like £35 though ha ha.

echo the sentiments about actually connecting everything - you can't really call a collection of dusty electrical equipment stacked on top of each other a "studio". there is indeed loads of potential there and you've got almost everything you need for a pretty nice setup - a mixer and monitors would help though.

maybe sell the things you aren't ever going to use though? that akai sampler for instance, get rid of it mate, you're never going to use it.

Yeah, some of the best gear investments I've ever made were patchbays.  Not the cheapest patch bays, the slightly less cheap ones that are actually nice to use - I have one of those entry level Neutrik ones and the Neutrik jacks are so stiff and awkward to use that it has actually damaged 4 or 5 cables over the last few years.  When I needed a second one a couple years ago I spent a little more on a Samson S-patch plus and it's still inexpensive by patchbay standards

If you don't mind doing a lot of work you can get old high end used patchbays for next to nothing, but you'd probably need to literally submerge them in some kind of contact cleaner (I used to have a couple that someone was throwing out years ago and the old long-frame Switchcraft jacks in them are pretty indestructible but they get pretty oxidized) and do a LOT of soldering. The Samson is still cheap enough that they'll make fun of you i you mentio it on Gearslutz but it's a lot more solid than the Neutrik, plus you can change the normalling with front panel switches.

But yeah, a modestly priced patchbay and some cheap snakes from Monoprice got a lot of stuff that I'd picked up over the years and didn't use often enough to keep permanently hooked up but couldn't sell for enough to get rid of back into regular use.

moved into a house in a beautiful place out in the coutry yesterday  this is just a rough sketch of how I want to set up things, but it's already so so lovely here

  On 4/20/2020 at 2:21 PM, TubularCorporation said:

Yeah, some of the best gear investments I've ever made were patchbays.  Not the cheapest patch bays, the slightly less cheap ones that are actually nice to use - I have one of those entry level Neutrik ones and the Neutrik jacks are so stiff and awkward to use that it has actually damaged 4 or 5 cables over the last few years.  When I needed a second one a couple years ago I spent a little more on a Samson S-patch plus and it's still inexpensive by patchbay standards

If you don't mind doing a lot of work you can get old high end used patchbays for next to nothing, but you'd probably need to literally submerge them in some kind of contact cleaner (I used to have a couple that someone was throwing out years ago and the old long-frame Switchcraft jacks in them are pretty indestructible but they get pretty oxidized) and do a LOT of soldering. The Samson is still cheap enough that they'll make fun of you i you mentio it on Gearslutz but it's a lot more solid than the Neutrik, plus you can change the normalling with front panel switches.

But yeah, a modestly priced patchbay and some cheap snakes from Monoprice got a lot of stuff that I'd picked up over the years and didn't use often enough to keep permanently hooked up but couldn't sell for enough to get rid of back into regular use.

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Have you guys seen this?

It's a pretty goofy/awkward chassis, but the idea is kind of brilliant because you can route stereo signals with one cable, and 1/8" plugs are just easier to deal with. Plus if you use volcas, pocket operators, iPads, etc. you don't need to get a bunch of converters or custom cables. I picked one up a few months back and didn't use it much, but now that lockdown has made my studio my home office, I think I'm going to start using it across the room from my mixer just to get the fuck away from the chair I sit in 8-12 hours a day.

I've seen those but for what I'm doing, standard 48 point 1/4" balanced patchbays are what I need. I guess for a tabletop setup that could be pretty useful (I'm not a fan of 1/8" jacks myself) but for a rack based setup that wouldn't work at all. I'm mostly set up like a late 90s TV jingle studio or something, rack of synths on one side, rack of effects on the other, computer in the middle with the interface broken out to a patchbay with a couple of keyboards and my most-used reverb normalled to them so I can use them without any patching. I hardly have anything that uses 1/8", jsut a few eurorack modules I've built recently and use mostly for processing guitar.

Definitely a god design for a desktop based rig, though, and as much as having the 1/4" jacks around the edge like that seems like it would waste some space, the more I look at it the more it makes the actual signal routing more intuitive to follow.  Definitely a cool idea, but not right for my workflow.

As far as custom cables, I hate making cables so I definitely appreciate that.  I've been trying to be better about building format converter boxes instead but I don't usually have enclosures lying around so most of the time I end up needing some random cable right away and making it.  I've made a eurorack to banana box and a DIN MIDI to MMA-format 1/8" MIDI box but I still haven't made a big 1/8" to 1/4" box or a 1/4" to RCA box yet, which is what I really need most of the time.

Not studio exactly, but things are finally really progressing on the DIY front.

Last week:

Main board, i/o board and power board done, control board done exceot for a couple diodes, one capacitor, and the controls and screen.

Today:

half of the spacers I've got on order showed up over the weekend, so I was able to temporarily mount the front panel so I could get the pots, encoders and switches aligned well.  All I need to do is install the OLED, power switch and headphone jack tomorrow and then assuming it all works I can install the firmware, test and calibrate all the controls and the MIDI i/o, and hopefully be ready to start making voice cards.  Been working on collecting parts for this thing since the end of March last year, can't wait to finish it.

doooooope

  On 4/21/2020 at 2:50 AM, sweepstakes said:

Have you guys seen this?

It's a pretty goofy/awkward chassis, but the idea is kind of brilliant because you can route stereo signals with one cable, and 1/8" plugs are just easier to deal with. Plus if you use volcas, pocket operators, iPads, etc. you don't need to get a bunch of converters or custom cables. I picked one up a few months back and didn't use it much, but now that lockdown has made my studio my home office, I think I'm going to start using it across the room from my mixer just to get the fuck away from the chair I sit in 8-12 hours a day.

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yeah those look cool but I prefer the aesthetic of having a nest of (mostly) 1/4” cables twisted and wrapped and sprawling everywhere. 
 

but honestly mostly just prefer being able to see and trace which cable is going where (since I change them up regularly)

  On 4/21/2020 at 3:45 AM, TubularCorporation said:

Not studio exactly, but things are finally really progressing on the DIY front.

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re: 48pt patch bay.. the behringer PX3000 ultrapatch or whatever it's called.. is actually decent. i've had several of them for 10 years and so far so good. very easy to go from non-normaled, half normalled, full normal. 

i hated to support behringer but there really wasn't anything else out there that was any good for that price w/those features. the APC ones w/the plastic cartridges that you flip around are crap. and i wasn't about to solder connections on a real 48pt studio grade bay. 

  On 4/20/2020 at 9:07 AM, BCM said:

That akai sampler for instance, get rid of it mate, you're never going to use it.

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Noooooo!

Haha I was given one of those and am determined to believe it's the coolest piece of gear I own.  I will never get rid of it.  But I also probably won't ever hook it up.

Got the screen and socketed ICs in but I can't safely connect the main board to the control board to test it until the last of the spacers arrive, so for now I'm stalled. 

That's one of the coolest blip blop machines on the planet so I bet it's worth the wait (and hassle)...

  On 4/21/2020 at 3:45 AM, TubularCorporation said:

Main board, i/o board and power board done, control board done exceot for a couple diodes, one capacitor, and the controls and screen.

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Whats the quality of the pcbs like for soldering?  This is still on my possible list as next big diy project.