Rack gear

More questions from the needy. I'm wondering about rack equipment as opposed to armies of keyboards, tabletop modules, etc... I've seen some lovely glowing racks in the 'post pics of your gear' threads, so I know there's some folks here using them.

So the question is, apart from the obvious portability, perhaps cleanliness and hopefully security of a rack setup, are there any other advantages? Any straight out necessities if you're going to build a rack setup, such as power conditioning?

I was browsing mixers and ran across a eurorack 12 channel that made me think of this. As well as the rackmount Nord Lead 3, uBer tits. But I was thinking that a rack with power conditioning, possibly a patch bay, and a rack mixer would be quite an effecient setup, and highly expandable should i want to go that way with synths and effects.

Anyway, please jump in and educate me.

I just throw my shit in there. It's all good. I have to keep the spring reverb at the bottom cos it's a spring reverb and it'll pik up hum from just about anywhere. Part from that, all good.

  analogue wings said:

I just throw my shit in there. It's all good. I have to keep the spring reverb at the bottom cos it's a spring reverb and it'll pik up hum from just about anywhere. Part from that, all good.

Word.

Any thoughts on the eurorack mixer? Ever used it? I think it's quite clever how they maintained a long throw on the faders in spite of the small size- very economic use of material/space. I do harbor some hesitancy about Behringer though, as I've had some very hissy equipment from them before...

I actually have a Eurorack, but it's for the chop, as it only has 8 ins and my synths have a total of 22 outputs. Will probably be repurposed as a front end to cassette 4 track or pa mixer for band practices.

They are great value for money, even if you look at them as an interim buy (and you'd better!). Nice simple layout, all the basic features, etc. If you actually kick in the gain on the mic pres you will enjoy some nice hiss, so I hope you have an external channel strip or something for clean gain when needed.

Mine has has a bit of a hard life and has some majorly dinged up faders, but only one of the faders has had its function impaired, so I guess they aren't quite as flimsy as people make out.

I wouldnt rack mount one though. The portability is where a lot of the value comes from, IMHO.

Excellent! Thanks a lot for the info!

No worries.

I should add that I think rack synths are a good way to save money and space. You can only play one keyboard at once, right?

Sometimes the rack version of a "name" synth is called the SQX-345B or some shit, so it falls under the rader of everyone searcing on the name. Another good way to save money.

Plus, with all the indie nerds buying up the wooden side panel analogues for their poser value, the ugly black box with the SAME synth inside is gertting even cheaper in comparison.

Finally, with all your synths in one place, and all MIDIed and patched up ready to go at a moment's notice, you're much more productive than if you have to break your back hauling 5 keyboards out of the cupboard and then hook them all up before you can jam.

EDIT, with rack synths, you'll want something ike this so you don't miss out on the knob twiddling fun:

  analogue wings said:

No worries.

 

I should add that I think rack synths are a good way to save money and space. You can only play one keyboard at once, right?

 

Sometimes the rack version of a "name" synth is called the SQX-345B or some shit, so it falls under the rader of everyone searcing on the name. Another good way to save money.

 

Plus, with all the indie nerds buying up the wooden side panel analogues for their poser value, the ugly black box with the SAME synth inside is gertting even cheaper in comparison.

 

Finally, with all your synths in one place, and all MIDIed and patched up ready to go at a moment's notice, you're much more productive than if you have to break your back hauling 5 keyboards out of the cupboard and then hook them all up before you can jam.

I've often thought the same. Based on that, would you recommend any controller keyboard over another? I guess this is all going into the long range area for me, but I love what I'm doing and want to contiue about it smartly...

I have a Roland/Edirol PC70(?) that is quite nice. It has 5 octaves but no aftertouch. About $US270 I think.

Basically, get the best one you can afford.