As someone who used a lot of workstation setups in different studios and looking to rebuild after a move, I've zeroed in on what I want which is minimalist.
I do a lot of workshops from home now so my core setup is as follows:
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34" widescreen monitor
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8" studio monitors
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iPad + mount for monitoring stream activities
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MOTU-M4 interface
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Macbook
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A bunch of desk-mounted key lights
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A mounted DSLR
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Mounted fancy mic
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Nord/76 key controller
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A few odds and ends midi controllers
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kb + mouse
After much ergonomic experience, I had my last desk custom-made and built my own shelf to set monitors on and all that. It was the first time I realized I need to have a desk about 29" in height, or else I get terrible neck and back pain that was not workable.
The Problem
In my last setup, I just pulled my keyboard out from the shelf on top of the desk when I needed it, but it could have been more convenient and stifled my motivation to use it since it was a nuisance. I could stash it on top of the desk and get a rollout drawer or stand for the keyboard and mouse which makes the height problem not an issue for the mouse and keyboard but then makes the keyboard controller way too high up and definitely will cause pain if used for extended periods if the reachable key height is about 32" or more (height of desk + height of controller).
There are a lot of good studio desks with rollouts for keyboards, but there's always a tradeoff. You can stash your keyboard controller under the desk and keep your typing keyboard/mouse on top of the desk, but it seems too high up. A lot of what I see online are desks with keyboard trays that start above 31" tall for the desk height.
Is there such a desk sold/manufactured with a main height of 29-30" and an adjustable height keyboard tray? Perhaps I'm looking for an adjustable height rolling shelf for the keyboard?
TIA!
https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-dz9m26zqtzab1.jpg?width=1216&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=896699d1fe6dfbc99d95b005908b491fceebfcab https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-rgwv5ogrszab1.jpg?width=512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5052f923a5d034722f62cc4cd73274c9f2efeafe https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-yz8ofp2jszab1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9815b77c1015cfb738c2a3685b295ce8d1dd1eb6 https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-a3xw8pj4szab1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c1dc2df39fd0ba470230c5e085dd225c29b4eb54 https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-mdn46fmt30bb1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3ce6f8ab45e7c55dbc92fb14d7bca5529c1c0a8 https://preview.redd.it/from-bedroom-to-dedicated-room-v0-yjx0snffqzab1.jpg?width=1705&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b594783d28045234c2a35de25086e791073a8ea
My current setup:
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First floor room (tiny, but not my bedroom anymore luckily)
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Millenium SD-180 Desk
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Samsung 34" Curved, Iiyama 24" Touch
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Adam Audio A7X, Sennheiser HD280 Pro
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iCon QCon Pro, Akai MPD218
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M-Audio Air 192|14
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Nektar Impact GX61
Have any of you mounted an articulating arm to hold a bigger keyboard?
Looking for ideas.
Just wondering what your chain of commands are? I used to use a pre amp which would then go into an interface to PC.
What do you guys use?
Hi all,
I'm planning out the design of my new home music studio, I'll have a spare bedroom for this in our house. My gear is mostly synths + drum machines, guitars, pedals, and rack effects. I have two large-format analog mixers (16CH + 24CH) and a couple 8CH analog mixers. Each mixer of course has aux sends, returns, etc.
Due to the arrangement of this new studio, my cable runs will be somewhat lengthy. My intention is to be as organized and thoughtful about cable management + quality as I can. I want to utilize XLR patch bays, though the normal + half-normal advantages of TRS patch bays (Samson) are quite appealing, so maybe both(?)
In previous setups, I've ran 10 FT 1/4" TS cables from my synths to DI racks, then 10 FT XLR runs from the DI racks to XLR channel inputs on the mixers. When I ran out of DI rack inputs, I would just run 10-20 FT 1/4" TS cables straight to the mixer. For aux sends + returns, inserts, etc. I would also use unbalanced cables. This mostly sounded great, though I would deal with a good deal of cable noise/hum to work around.
I understand if I want to do this "right", I ought to use balanced cables and connections (1/4" TRS + XLR) as much as possible (and to run these separately from power cables, and to intersect paths with said power cables only perpendicularly).
It recently dawned on me that all the inputs + outputs on my mixers accept both balanced and unbalanced connections (XLR/TS/TRS for channel inputs, TS/TRS for routing jacks). I was already using balanced connections for my instruments via DI rack over XLR, but now I see I could use TRS cables for aux routing instead of TS, or TRS->XLR cables (right?).
I also like the idea of routing every connection (in + out) for each mixer and instrument to XLR (or TRS?) patch bays. This way I could patch and modify all connections centrally, near my actual racks and not the mixer locations. However... we're talking about nearly 100 XLR patch points, which would need about six 16CH XLR patch bay rack units and ton of XLR cables. Not to mention the four or five 8CH DI rack units for getting all instrument unbalanced outs to XLR/mic level!
When considering:
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Synths + drum machines 6-10 FT 1/4" TS cables into DI racks
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DI rack outs - 10 FT XLR cables to XLR patch bays
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All mixer ins + outs - 30 FT XLR cables to XLR patch bays
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Rack effects ins + outs - 10FT XLR (or TRS->XLR) cables into XLR patch bays
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Guitar pedals over aux channels - re-amp boxes (send) + DI (return) likely required if trying to achieve maximum balanced connections(?)
...Is it worth the considerable effort to have everything ran as a balanced connection like this? Perhaps I could save some space if I went with 48-point Samson TRS patch bays instead of XLR patch bays, or a combination of both? Is the ease to patch everything centrally worth all the XLR cabling? Do I really need to be this much of a nut about keeping everything balanced and such? LOL.
Apologies for the long read. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! The way I see it, I have an opportunity for a fresh start, and want to do it right.