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mostapha
02-22-2012, 05:52 AM
In the vein of the threads in mobile and general, but production/recording oriented.

Mine:

(current, at the time) Mac Pro
Pro Tools 10 HDX 3 (or current equivalent)
2 Apogee Symphony I/O with X-HDX interface (doesn't exist yet) and a pair of 16x16 analog cards each.
Apogee Big Ben
some kind of rack-mounted MIDI interface
2 high-resolution, 24" matte displays on VESA mounts behind the monitors.
Apple wired Keyboard
Logitech Trackman Wheel Optical Silver
Big TT patch bay(s)

SSL Duende Native bundle

2 Genelc 1032a
Genelec 7071a
2 Yamaha NS-10ms
Bryston 2B SST2 Pro
Yamaha HS10W

Still deciding on the desk…current leaders are the A&H GS-R24M or SSL X-Desk + some X-Pandas if I go anlaogue or Avid D-Command ES24 if I go controller

Access Virus TI2 Desktop
Moog Minimoog Voyager Rack
Korg Radias-R
DSI Prophet '08 Rack
DSI Tempest

M-Audio ProKeys 88
Either Maschine or the MPC Renaissance depending on some of the MPC's details.

2 Neve 1073
2 Neve 1081
2 Slate Pro Audio Fox
4 Slate Pro Audio Dragon
2 vintage Urei 1176 black face
2 vintage Urei 1176 silver face
Fairchild 670
SSL G Series Master Bus Compressor (the rack unit)

1 Neuman U87
2 AKG C414
2 Royer R-121
2 Shure beta57
2 Shure SM-7b
shock mounts and stands as needed.
(The funny part is that the only things I want to record are voice and guitar.)

a couple of big, well treated, sound proof rooms.

I'm actually surprised at how little this changes when I think about it more…biggest differences are that I know more about pres now, have more experience with mics, and kind of don't give a shit about plugins.

Elliottt
02-22-2012, 06:37 AM
No need for the big ben.... The symphony's have newer improved clocking built it.

The downside to all that vintage outboard gear is that it's more prone to breaking down too haha

My realistic dream setup;

Apogee symphony 8in/out or the new ua apollo depending how it sounds (doubt it'll sound as good asthe symphony but I can dream)

Logic

2 great river pres (based on 1073)
2 API pres
2 sebatron tube pres (support Australian made haha)

Depending on how good plugs get in the not too distant future I'll reassess if I need outboard comps/limiters/eqs

Adams or gene's

Bittree patchbay (because pulled three out of a skip so I already have them haha)

Various synths, mics (def a u87 or two) and instruments.

Plenty of other nitty gritty things to add but It's getting annoying typing on an iPhone so that's the basics

Ps no desk...just a controller... Maybe euphonics. I'd buy a house with the money I'd save instead haha

login
02-22-2012, 09:20 AM
My set up today:

PC: i5 760, 4 gig ram, 21" monitor
Ableton live 8
RME Fireface UC
Novation nocturn 49 kb
Machinedrum mk2 UW
Yamaha HS80

What I would like:
Nord lead
Ableton 8 suite
Max for live
2 Ipads
Better monitors
Upgrade to a newest gen and high end CPU
SSD drive for OS and some important programs
Bigger PC monitor 23"
Fab filter plug ins
Omnisphere
Reaktor, razor and prism

Nothing fancy in reality

punky
02-22-2012, 03:01 PM
The Shure Beta57s are sweet, aren't they? I really like mine.

If I had my way, I'd probably switch to some kind of i7 desktop, maybe one of those Ivy Bridges that are coming out soon, assuming they don't have some awful fatal flaw.

I'd probably grab a Maschine as well, Komplete Ultimate to go with it, and wire it all into Ableton Live 8 Suite.

A matched KRK subwoofer to go with my KRK RP8s would be nice too.

Right now, this is what I've actually got:

Levovo Ideapad y560p i7 Sandy Bridge, 8 GB RAM
Live 7 Suite
Novation Remote SL25
Novation Launchpad (borrowed from friend)
Trigger Finger
KRK RP8s

I've got limited desk space, so these things sit off to the side, unused:

Akai MPK49
Behringer BCR2000
Akai APC40
Behringer FCB1010

mostapha
02-22-2012, 04:47 PM
No need for the big ben.... The symphony's have newer improved clocking built it.

The downside to all that vintage outboard gear is that it's more prone to breaking down too haha

You're probably right about the clock. I'd test them first, but newer doesn't always mean better.

Yeah…the outboard gear is worth it. And realistically, I'll never be able to afford the vintage stuff, and the newer stuff is both more reliable and fixable. But there are some good electricians in Atlanta. Also, Waves just announced a hardware clone of Jack Joseph Puig's Fairchild. It's limited edition instead of vintage, but it's probably awesome.

Elliottt
02-22-2012, 05:13 PM
Waves just announced a hardware clone of Jack Joseph Puig's Fairchild. It's limited edition instead of vintage, but it's probably awesome.

Yeah I saw that. It's basicly a $300 plug-in with a dedicated hardware controller. I think it's selling for around $3500. I dont know what Waves were thinking. I can see its uses for live sound, but that's about it.

AbstractQuality
02-22-2012, 06:30 PM
Hmm...so many choices. I'd go with:

Hordijk Modular: (3 OSC HRM, MiniBay, 24db multimode filter, dual phaser, Node Processor, triple LFO. dual env generator, then a Moon 569 to sequence it)
Euro Modular: For purely esoteric stuff (Maths, Pingable Envelope Generator, Rene, MakeNoise oscillator, Korgasmatron, uFold, etc etc)
Korg Mono/Poly
Minimoog Model D
Vermona DRM1 mk3
MFB Schlagzwerg
Elektron Octatrack

That should cover synthesis/sequencing/sampling :)

For effects:

Eventide H8000
Ensoniq DP/4


TBH as far as hardware compressors/EQs/boards go I'm not too knowledgeable. But if I had an infinite about to spend I would certainly go all hardware as I'm quite sick of using the computer.

mostapha
02-22-2012, 07:10 PM
Yeah I saw that. It's basicly a $300 plug-in with a dedicated hardware controller. I think it's selling for around $3500. I dont know what Waves were thinking. I can see its uses for live sound, but that's about it.

Hmm…I assumed it was analog.

Elliottt
02-22-2012, 08:27 PM
That's what I thought when I first saw a pic of it. Then I watched this; http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=11882 and thought it was a plug... I'm sure it sounds great, but I'm a bit suss on it

drop1
02-22-2012, 09:28 PM
Unless I'm missing something its actually 2 separate models. A plugin version and an actual hardware version. About 2 weeks ago my curiosity got the better of me and I dropped the $300 for the plugin version. I like it but I believe there are a lot better ways of spending $300 in your studio. I can't speak for the hardware version.

Elliottt
02-22-2012, 11:19 PM
Unless I'm missing something its actually 2 separate models. A plugin version and an actual hardware version. About 2 weeks ago my curiosity got the better of me and I dropped the $300 for the plugin version. I like it but I believe there are a lot better ways of spending $300 in your studio. I can't speak for the hardware version.

That's correct, but the hardware version is still digital

mostapha
02-23-2012, 04:31 AM
That's what I thought when I first saw a pic of it. Then I watched this; http://www.waves.com/content.aspx?id=11882 and thought it was a plug... I'm sure it sounds great, but I'm a bit suss on it

I didn't watch the video, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the converters work the opposite of the way you'd imagine…that the DAC is on the input and the ADC is on the output…meaning the hardware is analog and it's made to incorporate into a largely digital studio while providing you with good converters in case you're running short.

I could be wrong, but that's what I gather. Please correct me if I'm wrong.


The downside to all that vintage outboard gear is that it's more prone to breaking down too haha

I can't believe being drunk reminded me of this, but there are ways of dealing with that. The biggest reason analog gear fails is dust. So, dedicate some of your rack space to fans, and make the box basically sealed with a positive pressure inside…blows the dust out. Then, just never turn them off. Analog gear is (usually) most likely to fail on power-up and power-down because of the way tubes warm up and capacitors discharge.

At least, that's how I understand it.

But………awesomeness costs something.


About 2 weeks ago my curiosity got the better of me and I dropped the $300 for the plugin version. I like it but I believe there are a lot better ways of spending $300 in your studio. I can't speak for the hardware version.

The real fairchilds have a reputation that can't be all snake oil. But I'm sure there's a lot of it. The difference between a $5000 vintage compressor and the plugins that come with any DAW are smaller than most people can imagine. IMHO, the difference is mostly a combination of snake oil, awesomeness, history/inspiration, and having dedicated controls that work the way you expect.

The last two are by far the most important.

I always liked the BF76 plugins on PT LE 7.3 and loved them on the PT10 demo (which I really do have to get around to buying). But actually using vintage Urei 1176s is an awesome experience. They're so incredibly intuitive. They're just like every other compressor…they squash sounds and can make things sound like utter shit. But it's so hard to do compared to any plugin I've ever used, including emulations of the 1176 that are probably based on cleaner, "better" models than the ones I've used…just because the knobs with basically meaningless labels and huge analog GR meters force you to think about what you're doing.

In a dream world…that's worth a lot of money. In the real world…it's definitely worth something…more if you're recoridng/producing for other people and don't have time to deal with bullshit.

Along those lines, I like my Epiphone Valve Junior (a $100 5-watt tube guitar amp that's honestly pretty crap) way better than any amp modelling I've tried that costs more and has more capabilites. And I've used some of the best (most of them, I got as NFR copies in exchange for setting up demos when I worked at guitar center…don't have them installed anymore and can't even sell them because of the NFR thing). Guitar amps are weird. I think they're the one thing that digital audio may never catch up on. But, still…a POS budget $100 amp kills $400 plugins, even when the $400 plugs are based on good examples of some really nice big-budget amps from the glory days of blues, rock and metal.

IMHO, DJ and Pro Audio hardware is almost moreso that way because of the control structures.

I'd be the first person in line to buy a dumb midi controller perfectly mapped and labeled to a soft synth I didn't hate.

At some point, it's not about bang for your buck…it's about bang for your buck for you and how you want to work. I listed in my dream setup a $10,000 analog mixer…that IMHO sounds worse than the summing inside pro tools or Logic or anything else…has more restrictions…takes more ridiculous extraneous hardware to run…has to be cleaned…has to be repaired…and basically isn't upgradeable. Why? Because I really like flying faders and this whole one knob->one function thing has me completely sold. That and I hate mice almost as much as I hate mapping controllers, especially with something as expansive as a DAW.

BTW, if you have the native AU/RTAS version of the puigchild and want to sell it, PM me in a few months and I'll probably take it off your hands (only if you have the AU and RTAS versions…I wouldn't mind having a TDM version as well, but I can't use it yet). That's one of the best things about iLoks…really easy to sell licenses.