Addendum: A better photo tour of my workspace is available here.
I've received a lot of e-mail asking me about my studio gear that I use to record my songs. Well I'll show you some pictures of my geekroom and the gear that's in it... well the gear that shows up in the photo at least. Granted I don't/didn't use this gear for the quick little goofy chat-room songs I post from here. This is what I use when I have to get serious.
There's my geekroom, more or less as it appears now. Sometimes things go missing, and sometimes the floor is littered with empty Diet Dr. Pepper cans but that's more or less an accurate depiction of my sanctuary. My "happy place" if you will. Now let's go through and show what all the items are.
(1) This is an Ensoniq Mirage. It's an old grungy sounding sampler from the mid 80s. It was actually the first "affordable" (under $2000) sampler ever made. The coolest thing about this sampler is it has analogue filters so you can get some really warm sounds out of it. This particular Mirage belonged to a friend of mine who had lots of cats and one of his cats sprayed all over the Mirage. As a result it stopped functioning and smelled really bad. I took the Mirage and removed the disk drive and powersupply from it and then disassempled every component and soaked them all in warm soapy water (I actually used a fruity smelling shampoo to help to eliminate the smell of cat spunk). I gently scrubbed the cat-goo off everything (it had gotten all over the inside of the thing) and after everything was bathed and dried (including the case and the keyboard) the machine was reassembled and tested. One of the filter chips was fried (luckily I just happened to have a spare) and the chip that scans the keyboard was fried (the keyboard itself worked fine when put into another mirage likewise when the keyboard scan chip from a working Mirage was put into this one it worked fine). So basically this mirage has just been reduced to a great big huge sampler MIDI module (which is why it is standing against the wall on end). I wanted to put it into a rackmount case but the fricken mother board is about an inch too big to fit. Damit!
(2) This is a Fender guitar amp. It's somewhere else now and the P-166 is sitting in it's place.
(3) This is an old Yamaha RX-27 digital drum machine. It sounds like crap (like most digital drum machines of the mid 80s)Right now I'm mostly using it to trigger sounds from my Moog MG-1. The output from the RX-27 goes to the coil of a relay. When the bass drum sound is triggered from MIDI it trips the relay. The contacts from the relay short out the trigger input on the MG-1 and the Moog plays whatever the last note entered on the keyboard was. Great when I want to use the MG-1 as a percussion or rythme instrument. I've got a better solution to that now (a Moog Song producer interface for the C-64) so I'll probably circuit-bend the RX-27 and see if I can get it to do anything interesting. This drum machine is about as vanilla sounding as it gets. You have to really throw a lot of effects processing on it to make it sound interesting. This can be a good thing though so sometimes it's still usefull. But for the most part I either use a custom built percussion kit for the Mirage or my TG-100 for drum tracks.
(4) That's my other Mirage. I bought this Mirage for $1000 Cnd back in the late 80s. You can now buy them for about $100 to $150 Cnd. This is my main MIDI controller too I'd like to get an 88 key controller, but non-weighted because of my arthritis.
(5) A Casio PT-80. It's a old toy keyboard from the 80s that has some really funky little rythmes built into it that are absolutely amazing with the right effects put on them. All analogue and very retro sounding. You can find these at yard sales and flea markets for $5 to $10. I was going to circuit-bend it, but it sounds so damn cool on it's own that I can't bring myself to hack it.
(6) That's a Yamaha SHS-10 midi controller. It's a piece of crap both as a keyboard and as a midi controller, but with the right effects thrown on it some of the internal rythmes are really cool. It cost me $15.
(7) Oooh! That's my Moog MG-1 analogue synthesizer. I love that baby. I traded an old dead moped for it. The Moog MG-1 is the very first synthesizer I ever played back when I was a kid. I used to always go down to the Radio Shack after school and play with it until I got kicked out and I would dream of owning one. Now I do. It has some really great, beefy analogue sounds to it and it very easy to program and change on the fly. I want to do a proper midi retro-fit for it someday when I get the time and cash.
(8) Kawai K5m. It's an additive synthesizer module. You have to be a fricken rocket scientist to program it because it's so damn complicated. I usually just hit the "random" generate function on my Atari ST K5 patch editor until something interesting comes up and then go in and tweak it a bit. Only twice have I ever gone in with a sound in my head and been able to get the K5 to reproduce it. One was when I wanted a particular bass sound and the other was when I wanted something that sounded like a Vox Continental combo organ. It really is a cool sounding synth but damned difficult to tackle.
(9) It doesn't show up to well in this photo but that's a Casio CZ-101. That was my first MIDI synthesizer. I think I paid $300 Cnd for it. You can find them now easily for about $50 Cnd. They are like the Atari 2600 of MIDI synthesizers, almost everyone has owned one at one point and they're as common as dirt (kind of like the Yamaha DX-7). In the hands of a skilled programmer these things can really make some great analogue-sounding bass lines. I love this thing.
(10) That's my Atari Mega 2 ST hooked up to an NEC multisync monitor. I used to use a 1040ST but then I found the Mega 2 ST for $15 at the Goodwill. The Atari ST is the MIDI computer to get. You can find them in thrift stores for $5 alone to $15 complete with monitor. Most of the high quality, professional MIDI software for the machine has been released into the public domain and is easily available on the internet for download. This machine was built for MIDI. The timing on it is rock solid. When it comes to MIDI sequencing it will run circles around my PCs. Not bad for an 8Mhz machine with only 2 meg of memory and no hard drive. The best thing is, as long as your disk doesn't become corrupted the thing will likely never crash on you. I wish I could say the same for the PC. I can't stress enough how great this machine is for MIDI sequencing. It's a pity Atari was run by a family of brain-dead fuck-wits because if they had concentrated on the MIDI market and kept improving their machine designs they'd still be around today. It also has a lot fo excellent patch/sample editors and librarians for midi Synths and Samplers. Did I tell you how much I love this computer?
(11) Not really a piece of studio gear, but that's my Vectrex. It's very cool none-the-less.
(12) My Behringer MX 1804x mixer. Hell of a nice little mixer. Good size for taking out to live gigs, good sound for working in the studio. Has a built in digital effects processor put the reverbs are the only effects on it I find that useful.
(13) Yamaha TG-100 General Midi Synth Module. It cost me $145 Cdn about 10 years ago. Has some nice accoustic and synth sounds on it and some very nice drum sounds. I use it for all my GM composing whenever I get work doing GM compositions for multi-media, webpages, or games.
(14) Way back there in that corner is my PII-333. It was a present from my little brother who is a web designer. He upgraded his system and gave me the old one which I used to replace my aging P-166. That's where I did my CD mastering and digital multi-track recording but it's been replaced in that task by my Tascam 788. It's also where I do my computer graphics work and web design for my comic and where I surf the internet for porn... I mean anthropological research.
(15) That's a Commodore 64 with a Moog Song Producer MIDI interface that I use either as a synthesizer (using the C-64's remarkable SID chip) or as a MIDI-to-Trigger converter (8 trigger outs, woohoo).
(16) Another Commodore 64, this one with a Pitchrider Pitch-to-Midi converter on it. I use this to control MIDI instruments from guitar or woodwind instruments. Mostly I use it for a synthesizer.
(17) That's actually a Tascam PortaOne 4-track analogue cassette recorder (it's under the case for my Studio Projects C1 large diaphram condensor microphone, a hell of a kick-ass microphone). I got a hell of a lot of use out of that piece of gear. It has a remarkably clean sound and I actually produced a lot of professional work from it back in the days before computer digital recording became available. To be hounest I preffer working with it much more than I do a computer. I'll probably use it for recording rehearsals and other such things because it's so small and portable. It'll make a pretty good 4-channel sub-mixer too. It has since been removed from that spot as that is where I put my Tascam 788. That ol' Tascam PortaOne was quite the piece of gear. I've owned it for 16 years and only needed to get it repaired once (two years ago). It's going a little flakey again but all in all it's holding up fine. *sniff* I love you, man! Incidently, Tascam has come out with a new product called the PocketStudio 5 which replaces the ol' cassette based multi-tracks. It looks like it's one hell of a little machine. There are a lot of companies coming out with these tiny little pocket multi-track digital recorders but this Tascam one looks like it blows the rest of them away. Part of me really really really wants to get one and I don't have a freaking clue why. I mean the 788 is portable enough for me to take to record gigs and what not and it's sure as hell a lot more powerful, but this PocketStudio 5 thing is just so god-damned cool that I want it, want it, want it!!! I mean look at it! It's so god damned cute! It's... it's... it's like the L'il World Of Meekerz of digital multi-track recorders. God damn it's so cute! I just want to be able to hold it in my hand and go, "koochie koochie... who's the cute widdle multi-track recorder? who's the cute widdle multi-track? You are... yes youuuuu are..." like a brain-dead moron. That's just how damned cute this thing is!
(18) That's an old Casio MT-200. It actually sounds like a cool electric guitar when run through the right effects pedals. Other than that it's not much use. I'll probably circuit-bend it someday. I used to use it as a combo organ atop my Hohner Pianet-T electric piano when I played with I Love My Shih'Tzu but now I have this bizarre Viscount organ that I've chopped into a road-worthy combo organ and my Hohner Pianet now sits on top of it when I play with Big Fake Heart Attack.
(19) That's some Yamaha PRS-something-something-something piece of crap. I bought it for $7 and I plan to circuit-bend it if I ever get the free time.
Now for some assorted gear pictures.
This is a picture of my Hohner Pianet T. It's a really funky sounding electric piano that kicks ass run through guitar effects pedals.
This is a close-up of my Moog MG-1. One cool little analogue synthesizer.
This is a weird machine. This is a Casio SK-1 sampler. It was the first sampler to ever cost less than $1000. I bought this the very week they were released back in the 80s and the price tag was a whopping $200 Cnd. It has about 1.5 seconds of 8-bit sampling at, I think, 11Khz or so. Sounds very grainy. I've seriously modified this SK-1 by hacking off it's mini-keys keyboard and replacing it with full-sized keys from an old dead Intellivision music keyboard. The rest of the changes are cosmetic only, but the SK-1 is a favorite amoungst circuit benders for modification. As well the instrument can be modified for MIDI input (something I keep saying I'll do someday but never, ever, get around to doing). I've gotten a hell of a lot of use out of this instrument in the many, many, many years that I've owned it. It's even found its way into a number of recordings. The machine has some really cool, really funky analogue rhtymes built into it that can be really freaked out with some effects processing but also sound really neat left vanilla. You can find these now adays at garage sales for about $5 to $10. They're common as dirt. Casio later released a number of "upgraded" versions of the SK-1 keyboard. Some had more samples, etc. As well the SK models were also sold by Radio Shack under the Realistic name. These things are everywhere, man!
Here's my Tascam 788 digital multi-track recorder. It replaced my old Tascam PortaStudio 4-track cassette recorder which was actually really replaced by my computer some time ago. I'm the kind of guy who likes real knobs and buttons, plus the 788 is portable so I can take it to record live shows. I tell you, it's a lot easier (at least for me) to do digital recording on the 788 than it is to do multi-track digital recording on the computer. Plus the 788 lets me record 6 tracks at once which is nice.
My Atari Mega2 ST computer. It's old but it kicks my PC's ass when it comes to MIDI. It also has some really cool games on it too. It's hooked up to an NEC Multisync II monitor so I get all three resolution modes. For the most part it's only used in high resolution mono mode because I rarely do anything other than MIDI work with it. I bought it for $15 at the Goodwill but it didn't have the keyboard. I built it a keyboard from a spare Atari 1040ST keyboard.
Here's a closer photo of my Behringer mixer. I'm quite pleased with this mixer. I know a lot of Mackie users get their rocks off by flaming Behringer users but I don't care. It's a damn fine mixer at a reasonable price.
Here's a close up of that little toy casio PT-80 keyboard. The thing really has some amazing built in rythmes on it. Very cheesey analogue sound. Run it through the right effects and it will blow your mind.
A better picture of my Casio CZ-101 (well as better as it gets with my $30 Polaroid digital camera). This was my very first MIDI synth. Someday I want to see if I can hack it into a rackmount case (yeah I know, I say that about everything but I never get around to it).
Here's my Casio LD-80. It's pretty cheesey if you're using it as a drum machine (which can sometimes be a good thing if cheesey is what you want). It sounds like early 80s digital. 8-bit, heavily compressed samples. It's great for a MIDI controller which is what I bought it for because I hate recording MIDI drum sequences with the keys on a keyboard. This machine makes sequencing drum patterns much easier. So it's good when used to control superiour drum machines but if you were looking for a set of MIDI pads and you wanted it to be your primary drum machine you'd be better off with the Yamaha DD-55. It's $100 more expensive but it sounds much better. I already have the DD-55's drum sound sets in a Yamaha GM synth module so the sound quality wasn't an issue when I bought.
Well that's it for now. There will probably be more photos of some of my gear added from time to time as well as descriptions of new toys I come across. Enjoy, and please feel free to post any questions you have about my gear or my music to the Forum.
