The Icrontic home studio discussion

Norman Witte III 12 Apr, 2011 at 4:45pm ET Article published in Life

I’ve been telling Prime I want to do this for a while now. The purpose is to start a discussion about music production technology. I figured we could start off with this post and then expand from there and see where it goes.

I think the biggest difference between this site and other music production forums will be that there are a lot of informed PC users here, which will provide for very interesting discussion that, at the very least, isn’t laced with misinformation about the “limitations” of a PC with Windows or Linux over a Mac. This will be the only place I know of where thoughtful debate on the different platforms will not be plagued by the typical “ZOMG Your music is the SuX0RS Because you don’t have a Mac!!!” bullshit.

If you’re into music production at any level, please join the discussion! I’m actually somewhat of a beginner myself, and this will be a great place for us all to get an education and who knows, maybe one of us will be the next Deadmau5!

Let’s start off by bragging about our equipment, software, etc.

My home studio

This is my rig. Thinkpad T400, 2.24ghz Core 2 Duo, 8gb DDR3, 60gb OCZ Agility II SSD, 320gb 7200 RPM Seagate HDD. My speakers are M-Audio Studiophile AV20. BEST DESKTOP COMPUTER SPEAKERS EVER. No sound conditioning, great range, simple and small. Just two RCA inputs and a speaker wire that goes between them.

My sound interface is a Hercules Deejay Trim 4&6. It is very limited. For example, you have to choose whether you want to use it in 4-in 4-out mode or 2-in 6-out mode. There is only a single balanced input for a microphone, with no phantom power, but it does have two balanced outputs.

My midi controller is an Akai MPK61. This thing rocks! It uses the same drum pads as the original MPC2000, 8 knobs, 8 launch buttons, 8 sliders, fully programmable and customizable for any interface. There are a lot of things I need, but a new midi controller won’t be one for a long time.

Software: I use Ableton Live 8.2.1 and Adobe Audition 3.0 primarily. For VSTs I use Massive, Addictive Drums, Basic64 for chiptune, and Guitar Rig 4. Still working on building up my VST library.

Let’s rock!

Comments

10 Apr 2011 ~ 6:02pm RootWyrm My setup here is pretty "eh" by most standards more or less. My big badass desktop and my HP Envy17, with a two channel USB - MIDI.

Controllerwise, I have:
Roland FP7 Digital Stage Piano

Yes, I actually know how to play the piano.

Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08

True analog synth whaaaaaat?

And a crummy Korg nanoPad.

Software wise: Sibelius, Ableton Live, ReBirth, Reason + Rewire, Fruity Loops, and more VSTs than you can shake a tree at.
10 Apr 2011 ~ 6:17pm djmeph I remember you telling me about that synth at Oktoberfest, that is so dope. My buddy has a Virus TI, and I would love to get a Virus product someday, but for now I'm straight up all digital.
10 Apr 2011 ~ 6:50pm djmeph Root, are you familiar with the Tweakbench VSTs?
10 Apr 2011 ~ 7:22pm NullenVoyd Oh tits!
I was wondering if I'd see a thread about home/micro studios/music making rigs on here some day.

Swift setup meph, and all running off of a laptop. I love how dynamic and small-scale one can make decently powerful rigs with these days. How are you using FL, as a workplace or as a plugin?
RootWyrm, that Prophet looks like it'd be an absolute hoot to play with.

My ventures into a home studio haven't produced any great music, but I've been having fun with it for the past few years. Finally got together a fairly decent setup (even built my own desk for it) but not long after moved two times, had 3 crap jobs, wife's job blew up, finished a degree, rig drive blew up and had to be rebuilt, and just generally dealt with life being in the crapper for awhile, so time playing on the rig has been minimal. Back on our feet though and doing well, so we'll see if I can get back to playing around.

This info and picture are from before things blew up (and are skagged from my f3music.com account), but it is very similar to what I've got running now.

"The PC is now a quad core AMD I found laying around with 2gigs ram and 250g sata hard drive. It has a USB hub, multi flash card reader and CD/DVD burner all external on USB mounted right under the dual screens (how handy!)

The screens are an old ViewSonic 15" that I had to make a power supply for, and a fairly new Hanns-g 19" widescreen which has been awesome and very inexpensive.

Switched from an old M-Audio Delta 66 PCI input card to the newer all-black Line 6 UX2, which has impressed me so-far despite a few glitches with the mic amp. Monitors are the Samson Rubicon R5a's with ribbon tweets and they are sweet as hell and pretty affordable for what you get.

Input-wise we have an M-Audio Axiom 61 midi keyboard using USB to the DAW and on the side an M-Audio Trigger Fingers pad controller which is absolutely a hoot for drums if you're used to tapping out a beat with your fingers.

Mics are both MXL, a 990 on the table and a v67 on the boom, which does amazing things for vocals."

Also, been using FLStudio 7 and up for some time, but now trying out Reaper and finding it awesome and powerful. Guitars are an Epiphone T-bird Bass, Washburn generic stra-alike 6 string electric, and a couple wally-mart specials I got for $30 apiece. Also have a few harmonicas laying around, an old basic acoustic fender 6-string and a very pretty mandolin someone nice gifted the wife. None of it I can play with any skill, but again, this is all just to have fun with.

Was also trying to put together a website to host some of my tunes, but it didn't get to far. Did end up making an account on f3music.com though (http://www.f3music.com/22), which has a scant few of my various crappy music things up on it, but the free account only gives you about 30mb so whaddayawant.
10 Apr 2011 ~ 8:21pm djmeph That's a lovely setup, I'm sure it does the trick. It's funny how our project PCs usually just get thrown together from a boneyard of parts and ends up more than serving its purpose.

I just try to use my laptop for everything, so instead of having a home studio PC I just make sure that the RAM is maxed out, added the SSD (by removing the optical drive) and I have a nice docking station that gives me more convenience when I'm home. But I love the mobility of my setup, it's nice to be able to pack up my MIDI controller and sound card and take my whole beat lab over to someone else's house.

I also have another computer with a Core 2 Quad that I use for TV, gaming, folding and other stuff. I've been known to use that computer to record audio from out of my laptop. There is a 32" screen attached to it, which makes it nice to show my waveform while I'm recording.

I'm very familiar with the Axiom keyboards, I used to have an Axiom 25, but opted for the larger Akai MPK61 instead. It's a nice keyboard, but the drum pads on Akai instruments can't be messed with.
10 Apr 2011 ~ 11:05pm RootWyrm

djmeph wrote:

Root, are you familiar with the Tweakbench VSTs?

Indeed I am. To be honest, my hearing is shockingly intact for my age (tested to 30kHz) so I can actually hear the difference between Tweakbench and real. I've played around a lot with the Tweakbench stuff, but just not really finding what I'm looking for in a sound still. Really though, part of that is that I'm not pure electronic either. I'm just weird.
11 Apr 2011 ~ 12:08am djmeph My next project, I want to make ungodly noise with my guitar. I want to run it through a dozen filters like Justice and Daft Punk and make something that sounds like Truckasaurus.
11 Apr 2011 ~ 9:20pm djmeph Today I checked out Sample Logic Cinematic Guitars for Kontact 4.

http://www.samplelogic.com/cinematicguitars.html

Very cool. I recorded this demo with the Les Paul Power Chords instrument.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30387/Cinematic%20Guitars%20Demo.mp3
12 Apr 2011 ~ 4:55pm djmeph Alright, we've moved this thread to the appropriate area now. Let's get this thread rockin!
12 Apr 2011 ~ 6:00pm Gate28 I don't really have a studio or anything, I have a drum kit and a Casio keyboard, but I do like to play around in Siballeus and Cubase. If I can find some of my stuff, I'll post them here.
13 Apr 2011 ~ 12:55am NullenVoyd Another note to how simple home recording can be, the iphone and ipod touch units have become some impressively capable devices for making music. They might never rival a good real interface, but they can still do some impressive things.

The iRig lets you use the idevices as a guitar effects processor, and the results are better then I ever would have given the unit credit for:

Akai even took the docking concept to a whole new level:
http://www.akaipro.com/synthstation25

Something I've been having fun with when not at home but with some idle time is Music Studio for the idevices:
13 Apr 2011 ~ 1:24am djmeph

Gate28 wrote:

I don't really have a studio or anything, I have a drum kit and a Casio keyboard, but I do like to play around in Siballeus and Cubase. If I can find some of my stuff, I'll post them here.

Cubase is no joke. A lot of producers I know use it.
13 Apr 2011 ~ 2:13pm BuddyJ I don't do much with music but it's something I'd like to dabble with. Got a Kaossilator for Christmas (wanted the Pro but oh well) and have enjoyed making beats with it. I also love messing with basic stuff like Monkey Machine. Maybe one day I'll figure out a way to record the noises and mix them. I haven't done anything like that since college playing with Acid Studio 3. In the mean time, I want a miniKP.
15 Apr 2011 ~ 4:50pm djmeph I would really like to get a kaossilator-style midi controller. You see now that more and more, software has x and y axes that can be assigned to different effects and controlled through a touchpad surface. I even have an app on my phone that acts as a Kaossilator that emulates a Roland 303. It has distortion, filters, pitch, attack, release, speed, cutoff, resonance, oscilator type, and phase controls that are controlled by the touch screen. That's one thing that's missing from the Akai midi controllers, but Novation has them.
15 Apr 2011 ~ 4:52pm djmeph

NullenVoyd wrote:

Another note to how simple home recording can be, the iphone and ipod touch units have become some impressively capable devices for making music. They might never rival a good real interface, but they can still do some impressive things.

The iRig lets you use the idevices as a guitar effects processor, and the results are better then I ever would have given the unit credit for:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTP3dZEaFhM&feature=related

Akai even took the docking concept to a whole new level:
http://www.akaipro.com/synthstation25

Something I've been having fun with when not at home but with some idle time is Music Studio for the idevices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPFOZWfAu_8&feature=player_profilepage

This is why I'd like to eventually get an iPad2. However, for now I'm actually really happy with the synths and beat tools that are available for WebOS.
19 Apr 2011 ~ 5:14pm kryyst I've just started dabbling. But I've gone the Apple router (since I had the stuff anyway) Garage Band on the iMac with a few sample libraries. Also I have Garage Band iPad and just waiting for my Apogee Jam to come in so I can connect my Guitar to it (iPad and iMac that is).

I suck at the music and that's probably sugar coating it. But still with this simple setup I have a very large array of tools at my disposal. The things I like about this setup are that it's simple and pretty intuitive to get into. But the tools regardless of where I'm recording are the same and the files I'm generating are easily transferable back and forth. Next thing I'm planning on adding is a simple midi drum kit because using drum samples gets kind of boring.

Though speaking of samples for anyone with Garage Band if you haven't got it yet NIN has put out a bunch of fully sampled tracks for it (as well as some other music software). They are great tracks to really cut your teeth with mixing things around because they have a lot more diversity then most sample packs that you can get.
20 Apr 2011 ~ 10:11pm djmeph I don't know a whole lot about Garage Band. I seriously doubt it would meet my needs.
21 Apr 2011 ~ 9:12am kryyst I'm not trying to suggest Garageband can compete with Ableton. But for starting out and not really knowing anything it's fairly full featured and covers the basics, multi-tracks, multi-instruments, multitudes of ways to tweak sounds etc... Does what it needs to do, especially for someone who really doesn't know what it is they need.

Where the debate could go is in comparing Ableton Live to Logic Studio, which is Garagebands bigger brother. Still though that's not the real purpose of this thread. I was just voicing up.
21 Apr 2011 ~ 11:30am djmeph Logic is great, although only available for Mac OS, I know people who swear by it. The program I use in lieu of Logic is Adobe Audition, which is the next evolution of CoolEdit Pro. I mean, there's also Pro Tools and other multi-track editing software, but the key with these programs is to have good sound quality and Audition definitely delivers that. Ableton is not necessarily a great program for recording multi-track songs, it's better for its sequencer and samplers. So, the debate really comes down to what equipment you're using. If you have a ton of analog synths, rackmounted synths, etc. Logic is going to be your best bet for a Mac, and probably either Audition or Pro Tools for PC. Most people I know use Ableton for sequencing and MIDI tools, and use other programs for higher quality recording.

I could see someone using GarageBand to kind of get their feet wet, and I think it's a great stepping block. I see more value in using garage band on the iPad though where you could use it as a live instrument, which is what I'd like to do eventually. But, I think I also like the idea of just using an iPad as a simple instrument, like a kaosillator-style pad. I've also heard you can download an MPC emulator for them, and that would be really tight.
21 Apr 2011 ~ 2:05pm kryyst Last piece of music software I used on the PC was Cakewalk 8 I think. I'll take the simplicty of Garageband any day.

Where the ipad version of Garageband shines is that not only can you use it as a simple instrument for guitar, drums or keyboard. You can connect a real guitar to it and then use it's various peddle tools on a real guitar which is very cool. You can even set it up to use as a pre-amp so Guitar -> Ipad -> Amp. Lots of fun.
21 Apr 2011 ~ 6:00pm djmeph Yeah, I've seen that and it's really neat. I would love to see an Ableton concept for iPad. Because I love all the guitar effects and processors in Ableton. I have played live before with my guitar running through my laptop. Would much rather run it through a portable device.

Software has come a long way since Cakewalk 8, both on Mac and PC. With the advances in software and controlling devices, it isn't much more difficult to produce with professional software than it is with garage band.
22 Apr 2011 ~ 12:44am NullenVoyd Garage band is a great piece of software from what I've heard, and simplicity and ease-of-use are total bonuses if it helps you make music. Much as I like tinkering with settings and controllers and midi sends and receives, it can be frustrating to have to program up a set of instruments and effects if all I want to do is lay down an idea.

On a separate note, no matter how you make music, as long as you can get it into the computer, you can capture it and share. One excellent free and very capable utility is Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). Open-source and full of awesome, it can do a great many things for capturing audio. Almost no matter what platform you use, it has a version. Check it out, record something and share it with us!
22 Apr 2011 ~ 5:07am djmeph I've used Audacity. The problem is that there is no inherent ASIO support without using ASIO4ALL or compiling your own binaries. This is probably not the forum for complaining about having to compile binaries, but Audacity also lacks a lot of features. For instance, I don't think I've ever recorded any piece of audio without some kind of post-processing. Pro Tools, Logic and Audition all offer a wide variety of simple, but powerful tools for removing noise, pops, normalization, compression, amplification, vinyl restoration, time stretching, pitch stretching, etc. Great tool for beginners, but I feel that creating an entire song is actually more difficult than it would be with mid-level or professional software.

Also, when comparing Garage Band to mid-level and professional software, it's really not fair to say that it's any more simple than a program like Ableton. One of the great things about Ableton is that it's pretty much a shovel-ready program. You may not even have to setup your audio hardware, depending on what you're using. (ie. built-in sound on a laptop or MBP) A MIDI controller isn't even required to make a full song, but as long as your MIDI controllers are connected before you startup the program they are automatically mapped and assigned to new MIDI channels. And you can start dragging, dropping, chopping and arranging samples without having to even figure out the tempo of the samples, in most cases. I would argue that Ableton gives you every bit of simplicity that you get with Garage Band, but has an entire suite of studio functions, instruments, effects, and samplers that are both powerful and intuitive.

FL Studio is a bit different. It is capable of doing just about anything a professional production suite is capable of, and has some unique features that can be difficult to replicate in other programs. It's really easy to use with the built in instruments, loops and effects, but not as intuitive when it comes to sampling. I know a couple of drum n bass producers here in Detroit that swear by it, but they both say the same thing. That the key to using FL Studio is to use it in a way that your end result doesn't sound like a song that was produced in FL Studio.

I think there are two key things to think about when you're trying to decide which software you're going to use, and even if you're going to use software at all.

1. You should be able to sit down with the program and create music right away. I had this experience with Ableton, moreso than any other program I attempted to use. That isn't necessarily going to be the same for everyone. For instance, someone who is used to using analog equipment might be more comfortable with Reason.

2. It shouldn't be easier for you to make the same music in another program. So even if you know how to use a program well and can hit the ground running with it, you're not wasting your time doing complicated tasks that are automated in other programs.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 12:29pm djmeph Turn the Akai APC40 into a step sequencer.
http://www.ableton.com/pages/max_for_live/apc_step_sequencer

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26 Apr 2011 ~ 8:05pm primesuspect <div align="center"><object width="600" height="600" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=5,0,0,0" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param value="http://www.sembeo.com/media/Matrix2.swf" name="movie"><param value="high" name="quality"><embed width="600" height="600" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" quality="high" src="http://www.sembeo.com/media/Matrix2.swf"></object><br/></div>
26 Apr 2011 ~ 8:23pm ardichoke Okay, that needs a clear button. Also, I want to play with it on a touch screen.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 9:36pm djmeph

ardichoke wrote:

Okay, that needs a clear button. Also, I want to play with it on a touch screen.

F5?

I have something similar to that on my phone. Would definitely be cool to get that going on a tablet device.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 9:40pm djmeph Do this.
26 Apr 2011 ~ 11:48pm Ryder

ardichoke wrote:

Okay, that needs a clear button. Also, I want to play with it on a touch screen.

click a square again and it goes away.
27 Apr 2011 ~ 10:16am kryyst That is cool. Reminds me of Soundrop for iOS. Love that ap.
27 Apr 2011 ~ 12:08pm ardichoke

RyderOCZ wrote:

click a square again and it goes away.

I know, I was saying I wanted to be able to clear the whole screen easily (without reloading the page). :P
27 Apr 2011 ~ 9:52pm NullenVoyd Meph, great vid. I love how dynamic and "do almost anything" control surfaces can be with some programing and ingenuity.

Excellent link Prime! A nice example of how simple but enjoyable music can be. I love to see these little flash sequencers and music games as they're a fun bridge to get folks who might not normally create musically, to experiment and be creative, even if just with one instrument or in a limited space.

It might be fun to do a little non-contest with basic and free music making toys like that. Provide a link to one, everyone records themselves playing on it for 1 or 2 minutes and submits it for the week, then next week another music thing is provided to play with. Not sure we have the interest built up for something like that yet though.
27 Apr 2011 ~ 11:54pm djmeph Could that include software for phones? I would love to see what people can do with their iphones and stuff. Also would like to know what's out there for Android.

I have some REALLY good stuff to share with you guys over the course of the next year. Right now I'm ordering the parts to build a replica Roland 303, that will eventually be modded to shit and even have it's own USB port. I am also embarking on a project in the near future where we will be experimenting with different types of control surfaces using open source hardware.
27 Apr 2011 ~ 11:56pm djmeph More info on the x0xb0x. (Roland 303 replica)

http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/
28 Apr 2011 ~ 1:26pm kryyst For iOS you probably just want to check out iSequence
30 Apr 2011 ~ 9:11pm djmeph That's not bad. I know there's a lot more out there though.

One thing that scares me a little is when I see a sequencer with squares. It makes me wonder if that limits you. For example, with dubstep it's important for a track to be able to switch from 1/8th and 1/16th notes to triplets and back. Also, almost every time I lay down a drum track I have drums that are slightly offset to give them a more full sound. Does that program allow for triplet grids, and does everything always snap to the grid, or can you turn the snap off to place a note wherever you want?
4 May 2011 ~ 9:25am kryyst I don't know if iSequencer can do that. I don't own it myself, I just actually stumbled across it during the course of this thread. Looking at it I imagine it is trapped to the grid. You could be able to do time changes possibly but I don't know. One way of overcoming that is to allow you to lay down separate tracks in different time signatures. But again i don't know if you can with that particular program.
7 May 2011 ~ 5:53pm RootWyrm Hm, maybe one of you know. Lately been having some nasty, NASTY delay on my Uno to my system. We're talking on the order of 750ms+ and rather erratic. I checked and triple-checked and quadruple-checked and there's nothing going on in the USB controller that I can find to explain it. Same with the OS. Same behavior when I swap it between systems.

Anyone seen the behavior before? Any ideas what's up?
7 May 2011 ~ 5:55pm djmeph What programs are you using? A lot of them have a software delay too.
7 May 2011 ~ 6:05pm RootWyrm

djmeph wrote:

What programs are you using? A lot of them have a software delay too.

I took the programs out of the loop and looked at raw MIDI input with some debug tools. It's definitely not the software, especially since it occurs in all programs. The delay's bad enough that I can't possibly work with it; a 16th at 80BPM doesn't register until after physical key up.

EDIT: Problem found. My old Roland EP9 (now 22 years old by manufacturing date) had a shorted key switch at D#7+D7. Being as old as it is, it does not fail graciously, and instead abused it's position in the chain to do stupid things.
11 May 2011 ~ 7:46pm Trumandrummer My brother is hugely into recording. Hes going to school for it.
Hes spent thousands on his equipment over the past couple years.

Here is his setup:

Monitor speakers - M-audio Bx8a's
Mixers - Yamaha MG12/4 FX, Alesis Multimix 8
Interface Controller - Behringer BCF2000
Keyboard - Casio privia PX-310
Main Recording Software - Cubase 5
Other software - Superior drummer, drumagog 5, FL studios 9, Reason 4, SSL plugin suite and lots more plugins.
Along with various other equipment which would take forever to write up.

In his main rig.
Intel i7 930 OC 4ghz
6gb DDR3 GSkill 1600
Geforce gtx 460
1tb 7200 rpm Western digital black.
500gb 5900 rpm western digital green
M-Audio Delta 1010 internal sound card.
Asus 20" dual Monitors.

His rack setup:

Furman PL-plus c
Recording Interface - Focusrite saffire pro 40
Patch bay - Behringer Ultrapatch pro
ADAT - Behringer Ultragain Pro 8 digital
Graphic EQ - Behringer Ultragraph PRO
BBE Sonic Maximizer
Power Amps - QSC Gx3, Mackie FR-2500

And this baby is mine...... With his mics of course:

And these are our speakers. The reason there are so many here is this is all of our bands guitar cabinets. And He also DJ's on the side. So the JBL JRX-125's (dual 15's) and the JBL Soundfactor SF15's (single 15's) are his DJing speakers.

I don't even know what half this crap does. He tries to explain it to me, and I just get lost.
11 May 2011 ~ 7:49pm djmeph Wow
12 May 2011 ~ 1:30am RootWyrm I'm actually surprised; why'd he go BX8a's over say, BX5a's? Though I'll admit a personal preference for Behringer and Alesis.
12 May 2011 ~ 1:32am djmeph I have Behringer 15" self-powered speakers. They are meh. Definitely no Alesis.
12 May 2011 ~ 1:38am djmeph When I'm ready to drop a grand or more on monitors I will probably go with Akai.
12 May 2011 ~ 1:41am djmeph http://www.akaipro.com/rpm8
12 May 2011 ~ 2:29am djmeph Honestly, I can't sing the praises of my M-Audio Studiophile AV20 speakers enough, and I could see myself going with more M-Audio products because of their cost value. I don't get paid for this shit yet.
12 May 2011 ~ 2:37am RootWyrm

djmeph wrote:

I have Behringer 15" self-powered speakers. They are meh. Definitely no Alesis.

Wrong model. Like all monitors, very specific models sound very different, even though they shouldn't. The Behringer TRUTH B3031A's sound COMPLETELY different, courtesy the ribbon tweeters. (They're also $250+/ea.) You couldn't pay me to try and work on 2031P's by the same token, I don't care what you drive 'em with. Frankly, they're bog standard passive monitors I can build better at half the price.
Alesis, same deal. M1Actives, meh. However, the Monitor 1 MkII's aren't that bad; rather good when you consider the typical price.

Given any choice, I'd go Genelec. But seriously? Only if I hit three lotteries and build a proper soundproofed studio and pay them to set things up. :P
12 May 2011 ~ 2:46am djmeph I just haven't seen anything of quality come from Behringer. Most of their products are usually a mock of something else that's available at a higher price and quality. I didn't even know that monitors was something they were known for, but admittedly I'm an amateur when it comes to this stuff.
12 May 2011 ~ 3:31am RootWyrm

djmeph wrote:

I just haven't seen anything of quality come from Behringer. Most of their products are usually a mock of something else that's available at a higher price and quality. I didn't even know that monitors was something they were known for, but admittedly I'm an amateur when it comes to this stuff.

There are three parts that make up a monitor: the box, the components, and the amps in an active monitor. Most manufacturers make a wide range of all three, then occasionally mishmash them together or cross-breed to save costs. The end result is that sometimes, you get some brilliant designs and some complete crap. Why? Because building crap is (surprise!) "cost effective."
For example, Ribbon Tweeter + Paper Cone versus Silk Tweeter + Paper Cone in the same box produce completely different sound. (In part because you don't need to worry about air chambers w/ribbons or electrostatics.) A lot of the stuff you find in Guitar Center and such? Is "cost effective."
Really with monitors, the goal is flat consistent response and reproduction. You don't want monitors to color the sound; you want them to give flat predictable response, so you can adjust your levels based on a common denominator.
12 May 2011 ~ 3:34am djmeph That's what I look for in speakers, I want them to have no sound conditioning and maybe a basic set of EQs. I don't believe there is any sound conditioning in M-Audio monitors, they just aren't as good at reproducing a full range of sound.
12 May 2011 ~ 4:39pm Trumandrummer

RootWyrm wrote:

I'm actually surprised; why'd he go BX8a's over say, BX5a's? Though I'll admit a personal preference for Behringer and Alesis.

Actually he was going to buy the red version of the BX5a's. But it was black friday weekend. and Guitar Center had the BX8a's on sale for the same price as the BX5a's normally are, and seeing how the 8a's had better stats he settled for those.

And they don't have any sound conditioning or add any EQ. Which is why he bought them.
In my personal opinion his M-audios do a great job at reproducing the true frequencies recorded. He was gonna buy JBL's but the price and sound quality of the M-Audio, you can't go wrong.

He loves Behringer and Alesis.
I myself have an Alesis dm5 drum mod, which I used to use on my old drum set, when I would use triggers. Great product. Though I quit using triggers when I finally got a better set.
13 May 2011 ~ 12:15pm djmeph You guys have an amazing setup. Tell me more about what you do, any good projects that you can share with us?
13 May 2011 ~ 1:36pm Trumandrummer

djmeph wrote:

You guys have an amazing setup. Tell me more about what you do, any good projects that you can share with us?

Thanks, Well like 90% of that is his. Other than my drum set, and our friends (bands) guitar amps.

After he graduated, he decided that he wanted to go to school for recording and audio engineer.

He was going to go the Chicago Art Institute. They have a pretty big recording program. But he couldn't get the student loans.

So he now goes to The Recording Institute of Detroit. And he plans on still attending Chicago Art Institute when hes done here, and can finally afford loans.

He has recorded a bunch of stuff over the past couple of years. Mostly just of us or himself as practice along with a few other people. He has just now started to get a lot of people wanting to record with him.

And he also has a ton of DJing equipment. And DJ's graduation parties and stuff every summer.

Im actually working on a little website and business cards for him. Hes still got friends in school, that pass out the business cards to get seniors interested in his DJ'ing services for their grad parties.

Im sure he has some stuff that I could share. But ill have to wait for him to get home, because I have no idea where he saves all his work.

Hes recording somebody right now who is doing an acoustic song for the troops. He wants to release it on, or the weekend of Memorial Day. Its sounding pretty good so far. When hes done ill post it here.
2 Jun 2011 ~ 1:54pm Trumandrummer Well Memorial weekend has come and gone...
He did finish the acoustic song he was recording.

The Artist is requesting a few changes in the final mix down though (Louder vocals)

I just uploaded the .mp3 file, instead of the full .wav file. The .wav file was pretty big in file size.

http://www.aionprovisions.com/recordings/natejones.mp3

There are some very slight timing issues with the snare drum at the end of the song.... The Snare drum track should have been laid down first with a metronome... and then the other tracks following. But they weren't going to do the snare originally, so it got added after the rest was recorded.... I played the snare part for it, and did the best I could to stay on timing...
2 Jun 2011 ~ 7:54pm djmeph Fantastic job. #like
2 Jun 2011 ~ 7:57pm djmeph Seriously, I'm in tears. The lyrics are so powerful. You guys did a great job. I can understand when you make music and you want to get it to sound exactly a certain way, and specific details need to be changed, but overall the song and production are amazing.
2 Jun 2011 ~ 11:56pm Trumandrummer

djmeph wrote:

Seriously, I'm in tears. The lyrics are so powerful. You guys did a great job. I can understand when you make music and you want to get it to sound exactly a certain way, and specific details need to be changed, but overall the song and production are amazing.

Thanks a lot man,

I agree, the artist (Nate) did a great job on the lyrics.
He was also very happy with the results, and he is talking with my brother on recording a full album, which is exciting.

I can't take any credit for it, the song was all his and the recording was all my brother.... I just played the snare drum part. But I was impressed with both of them, and how easily they worked together on it.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 12:48pm djmeph Has anyone ever used Vizzie?
17 Jun 2011 ~ 12:55pm djmeph I have been very intrigued by some of the demos I have seen lately for using Max with Ableton Live. I always wondered what "Export Audio/Video" meant and now I guess you can use Vizzie to create your own live VJ sets with Ableton.
17 Jun 2011 ~ 4:01pm djmeph Here are two good examples of artists using Max.

<iframe width="773" height="440" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M9vpVEP5ooU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="774" height="610" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oeOT3to_Y5o?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
8 Jul 2011 ~ 5:53pm djmeph I am staying with a friend of mine for a few months, while I continue to search for a place to live in Detroit. He has a Virus TI. As soon as I got here, he hooked it up to my Akai MPK61 which has a preset for the Virus. This thing is a blast to work with. Hopefully I'll be able to post some demos soon. I really just need to sit down with it and discover for a few hours.

While I was at Electric Forest, I saw Future Rock and noticed that he was rocking something very similar.

Which is the Virus TI with an integrated keyboard. Costs about $1000 more, whereas the Akai was $300. If I were a touring musician, I would probably go the integrated route.

I'll let you all know if I make any sense of this equipment.