Studio setups - whats yours?

[mdp]

I have a classic amiga in a music studio corner I use, and since it just can't be possible that I'm the only one with a retro computer in a studio , I wonder how many of you have retro computers in your studios? What setup do you have?

My setup is fairly simple. In the studio I have an A500 as an electronic instrument, running protracker on it. I'm open for other ways to honor the retro machines, so later on I might try more ways.

 

[lopos2000]

Looks great mdp.

 

[mdp]

Thanks lopos2000

 

[salaxi54]

Nice setup there mate! My first A1000 used to be hosted in a music studio for a couple of years in the late '80s running Aegis Sonix, mostly for its "dirty" sax samples..
Later on at home, setup with Mimetics SoundScape Pro Midi Studio and sampler, various midi interfaces and a CZ230 keyboard. However it's been a while now that stuff have been decommissioned sort of speaking, until my lab is reorganized. Gotta build my cockpit first, and then tidy up things again..
Here's my gear in the '90s when the A600 was my primary machine:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm242/salax54/Magazine1.jpg

 

[orb85750]

At the moment, I'm using an A3000 with Music-X and a Kurzweil K2600S keyboard (along with Amiga internal sounds).

 

[commodorejohn]

Currently all my music endeavors are VST-only, so I don't so much have a studio. I do have a Core 2 box with a nice sound card hooked to decent speakers, which I really need to get around to putting all my VSTs on; I've got a couple MIDI keyboards (an M-Audio 49-key model with a handful of controllers and a comical little thing called a MusicStar Reveal that I figure can drive my Minimoog VST,) but I need space to set them up :/

 

[lopos2000]

I too have the MusicStar Reveal keyboard. It's nice little keyboard.

 

[morcar]

using my old Casio WK-3700 and fairplay its holding up really well. I am also using the VST's in the programs like fruity loops and reason.

 

[commodorejohn]

I too have the MusicStar Reveal keyboard. It's nice little keyboard.

I'll say this for it, I got it at the dump filled with sand and dead insects, and after a quick cleaning it works like new...

 

[mdp]

@All: Thanks for all the answers so far. Nice setup guys, it's interresting to see what others have (or have had) in their studios.

Nice setup there mate! My first A1000 used to be hosted in a music studio for a couple of years in the late '80s running Aegis Sonix, mostly for its "dirty" sax samples..
Later on at home, setup with Mimetics SoundScape Pro Midi Studio and sampler, various midi interfaces and a CZ230 keyboard. However it's been a while now that stuff have been decommissioned sort of speaking, until my lab is reorganized. Gotta build my cockpit first, and then tidy up things again..
Here's my gear in the '90s when the A600 was my primary machine:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm242/salax54/Magazine1.jpg

Thanks man I must say the setup you showed is very impressive. Nice! It must have been very expensive back in those days. Cool gear! I assume you've been in the music scene for a very long time? Do you work on any music projects at the moment?

Currently all my music endeavors are VST-only, so I don't so much have a studio. I do have a Core 2 box with a nice sound card hooked to decent speakers, which I really need to get around to putting all my VSTs on; I've got a couple MIDI keyboards (an M-Audio 49-key model with a handful of controllers and a comical little thing called a MusicStar Reveal that I figure can drive my Minimoog VST,) but I need space to set them up :/

There is no shame in using VSTs or whatever software plug-ins in the studio. A studio with only software is still a studio in my opinion, since it does what one with only hardware does. And a positive side-effect of using software is that it takes up less space, which is good if you have little space. Another is that it's - in my opinion - easier and more expandable to use software plug-ins than hardware units. Sure, hardware units takes the processing burdon off the computer, but it also uses up space and might cause more work to be setup in a project to in order to achieve the same result as with software plug-ins. Hardware contra software plug-ins is really mostly a taste decision in my opinion. The most of my synths are software plugins. The only hardware synths I have is a Korg microX and a Yamaha PSR-730.

 

[commodorejohn]

There is no shame in using VSTs or whatever software plug-ins in the studio. A studio with only software is still a studio in my opinion, since it does what one with only hardware does.
[...]
Hardware contra software plug-ins is really mostly a taste decision in my opinion.

Oh, true enough - I just have a nostalgy soft spot for analog audio and physical instruments (if only I were any good at playing them...) But cost and space are too much of a factor for me...I used to have a nice little Hammond (not one of the true greats like the B3, sadly, but a pretty nice drawbar model,) but I had to get rid of it simply because I had nowhere to put it in the new apartment...

 

[mdp]

There is no shame in using VSTs or whatever software plug-ins in the studio. A studio with only software is still a studio in my opinion, since it does what one with only hardware does.
[...]
Hardware contra software plug-ins is really mostly a taste decision in my opinion.

Oh, true enough - I just have a nostalgy soft spot for analog audio and physical instruments (if only I were any good at playing them...) But cost and space are too much of a factor for me...I used to have a nice little Hammond (not one of the true greats like the B3, sadly, but a pretty nice drawbar model,) but I had to get rid of it simply because I had nowhere to put it in the new apartment...

It's nice that you have a nostalgy soft spot there I'm have some interrest in physical instruments and analog synths. But I have no time to dig into these areas today. Would love to play violin again, but there seems to be no time for practise. I understand your space problem also. We have a small apartment, and there is not much space left for anything more in my studio corner there. The other studio is larger, but then I would be more bound to that one, and I want to be as able as possible to sit in any of them, when needed. But on the other hand, that could be solved with some planning of recording maybe.

 

[salaxi54]

Thanks man I must say the setup you showed is very impressive. Nice! It must have been very expensive back in those days. Cool gear! I assume you've been in the music scene for a very long time? Do you work on any music projects at the moment?

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, i've been involved since '87 but not personally in a professional way. I assisted others, mostly in sequencing, synthesis, and had a few experimental video clips for a group or two just for fun. Now that i'm retired, i thought i would have all the time in the world to do my own stuff, but health has betrayed me!
Long story short, i really dig actual gear most, but soft synths and such are a must nowadays. Still got the CZ 230, a few more MIDI keyboards, and a recently acquired JD-800. Other gear would be a few old Macs, ProTools 882 Studio, Akai S3000XL sampler, and a couple o Behringer consoles. That's not all, but just the main stuff. Main platform is a Hackintosh with Digital Performer 7.

 

[mdp]

Thanks man I must say the setup you showed is very impressive. Nice! It must have been very expensive back in those days. Cool gear! I assume you've been in the music scene for a very long time? Do you work on any music projects at the moment?

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, i've been involved since '87 but not personally in a professional way. I assisted others, mostly in sequencing, synthesis, and had a few experimental video clips for a group or two just for fun. Now that i'm retired, i thought i would have all the time in the world to do my own stuff, but health has betrayed me!
Long story short, i really dig actual gear most, but soft synths and such are a must nowadays. Still got the CZ 230, a few more MIDI keyboards, and a recently acquired JD-800. Other gear would be a few old Macs, ProTools 882 Studio, Akai S3000XL sampler, and a couple o Behringer consoles. That's not all, but just the main stuff. Main platform is a Hackintosh with Digital Performer 7.

Nice! That's a long time. You must have seen a lot of gear develop during the years. Nice that you have so much gear to work with. The JD-800 looks very cool, how is its sounds and functions? THe CZ 230 had a (for me) different way to set a drum sequence. I've only seen a video on it, so I have no experience at all. It looked like the programming of the patterns are set with the keys on the keyboard as pattern position chooser. Cool. I haven't seen very much at all of the analogue synths during life yet (have only had one keyboard before 2009, and it was a fairly simple one), so maybe it's a discovery from my side that everybody else already knew about.

I started to make music using protracker in the early 90's and bought my first Amiga (an A1000) in 1993. I still have that one, at the moment in a box, but I will never let it go. I used Amiga until the beginning of the 00's but a sad chain of events led to som quiet years. In 2007 I started using Cubase on PC and in 2009 I started using Mac and Logic instead. I don't use the A1000 in the "new" studio setup due to it's different serial port setup and that it's audio filter is hardwired to ON. Last year a friend on another amiga forum gave me an A500 and guess if I was happy! I put it in the studio and there's where I am today

---------- Post added at 16:07 ---------- Previous post was at 16:00 ----------

At the moment, I'm using an A3000 with Music-X and a Kurzweil K2600S keyboard (along with Amiga internal sounds).

It's a nice setup orb85750. I've never used Music-X, how is it to work with?

---------- Post added at 16:10 ---------- Previous post was at 16:07 ----------

using my old Casio WK-3700 and fairplay its holding up really well. I am also using the VST's in the programs like fruity loops and reason.

Good that it's holding up well, morcar. Reason and FL seems to be good programs. I've never tested them, but Reason I would like to test some day.

 

[Harrison]

That is a great little setup you have there. Any music you can share with us so we can hear the result of your Amiga influenced creations?

I don't currently have any retro systems linked into my work setup. Many years ago I had my A4000 and an A1200 setup alongside 2 Panasonic NV-HS1000 edit SVHS edit stations for titling and genlock work using Scala and some stop frame animation software I forget the name of. Also used to use a Vidi Amiga RT capture device on my A1200 hooked up to a Sony camcorder that was mounted on a vertical home made stand for stop motion capture.

 

[bber]

I still use my C64, Amiga 500 and Atari STe alot. While making plain tunes on all these platforms, also using all of them for sample making.C64 and Atari are great for bass and percussions, Amiga for some mad arpeggios.
Using Renoise on Windows and or OSX depending which machine is working

Some examples of what i do with them:

http://soundcloud.com/rebb

 

[mdp]

That is a great little setup you have there. Any music you can share with us so we can hear the result of your Amiga influenced creations?

I don't currently have any retro systems linked into my work setup. Many years ago I had my A4000 and an A1200 setup alongside 2 Panasonic NV-HS1000 edit SVHS edit stations for titling and genlock work using Scala and some stop frame animation software I forget the name of. Also used to use a Vidi Amiga RT capture device on my A1200 hooked up to a Sony camcorder that was mounted on a vertical home made stand for stop motion capture.

I'm sorry to say that I have no music using the A500 setup available for listening yet. I'm only at the experiment stage with this setup. I've been working in protracker earlier in life and made a bunch of modules during the years, but now I'm looking at drawing/generating my own samples to use, and use it in a much larger setup than in my old classic amiga time in life.

Cool setup you had back then. So you worked with both audio and video? Really nice Did you create/edit both stop motion videos and videos filmed the usual way?

I still use my C64, Amiga 500 and Atari STe alot. While making plain tunes on all these platforms, also using all of them for sample making.C64 and Atari are great for bass and percussions, Amiga for some mad arpeggios.
Using Renoise on Windows and or OSX depending which machine is working

Some examples of what i do with them:

http://soundcloud.com/rebb

Nice I would like to have a C64 connected in the studio. If I only knew how to use a music program on it, I never tested back in the days (I never had a C64. I saw and played a little with one at a friends house)

I've never tested Renoise, but it seems interresting.

I've listened a little and I like your music

 

[Harrison]

Yes, I worked with both video and animation. I was a college/uni in those days so most of the stuff was experimental. I had a Sony Hi-8 Camcorder, so the image quality was pretty good at the time for doing both stop motion capture and live video recording.

I remembered the name of the stop motion software. Was called Take 2. Was great to use the Amiga as a pencil test system. And when I got to university in 1996 I was very pleased to find an A1200 setup with the same software for exactly the same purpose.

Take 2 was renamed later in its life... can anyone remember what it was called?

 

[Akira]

My Amigas are crucial in my music production work of today as it was 17 years ago.

 

[mdp]

Yes, I worked with both video and animation. I was a college/uni in those days so most of the stuff was experimental. I had a Sony Hi-8 Camcorder, so the image quality was pretty good at the time for doing both stop motion capture and live video recording.

I remembered the name of the stop motion software. Was called Take 2. Was great to use the Amiga as a pencil test system. And when I got to university in 1996 I was very pleased to find an A1200 setup with the same software for exactly the same purpose.

Take 2 was renamed later in its life... can anyone remember what it was called?

Cool I would like to test such gear, video and animation would be fun to test using an Amiga. And nice that they had an A1200 with the same setup at the university.