where do you live jase? im wondering how you had moisture probs and im guessing that you live somewhere with high humidity... ive moved from brisbane to melbourne and my gear is loving me for it :wink:

so hopefully we wont have any probs with the nt5's....

its funny you suggested the compact mackie mixers as an option - the vlz series has recently been superceded by the ONYX range - there is a 12 channel version that is very competitvely priced....
....and there is an optional firewire card which allows for simultaneous recording of all seperate channels :D
ive found quotes in the us for the 12 channel version:
$545US($700AUD)
and the card as well:
$399US($510AUD) - seems a little overpriced when the mixer is only $190AUD more.... i guess mackie figure most people who buy the mixers will want the card as well - then price it accordingly :?

still, im very interested to see some reviews on this product - could be my solution jasedee :D

Hmmm......Onyx?

I dunno.....seems a bit unnecessary to me. It all depends what you will be using the mixer for. I bought a 1402VLZ and realise now it is far too big for what I need it for. I only use the stereo line channels for monitoring my synths, and the control room outputs for controlling level to my monitors.

If you already have a soundcard, as well as Ti USB, why the f*** do you need another 12 channels of firewire??? Especially at that price!!!! Bloody ridiculous. The MOTU 828Mk2 has 8 channels of ADAT anyway, so if you need to you can get something like a behringer ADA8000 or similar product from Mackie or presonus, or focusrite etc...8 channels of mic preamp via ADAT into the 828mk2.....plu if you have a small 1202, you got another 4 preamps, direct out to the 828 analogue ins. Thats a whole lotta I/O

Think hard about exactly what you will need a mixer for, and if you even need one (Mackies Big Knob looks cool), and then choose an appropriate size

well lets see...

currently i personally dont have a decent sound card - im using a powerbook with dodgy onboard sound... the lappy is going soon so take that out of the equation.

my flatmate and i are slowly piecing together a project studio:
-amd2800/audiophile2496
-g4800 powerbook/(dodgy onboard as mentioned before)
-tapco s8 monitors
-crap behringer mixer that i dont want to talk about
-virus kb
-novation basstation
-mc505
-vestax pmc-50
-rode nt3
-matador congas
-african perc djembe
-sl1200x2 + cdj500s

i wasnt talking about getting this as well as the 828 - i meant INSTEAD OF. depending on which of the onyx i might purchase, it could take the outputs of the kb, the ti and the basstation, as well as making use of the phantom xlr's for the nt3/(eventually nt5s as well) - and sending it all seperately over the firewire card for processing within the PC.....

is that so over the top? mate if i dont have to spend the money i wont - like you say you have to seriously think about the application for the hardware that you buy.... and im trying to allow for a couple of future purchases.

the only thing the onyx lacks is s/pdif in/out :?

thanks for your input

well they are great
bit boost on the mids but you just need to learn how to mix on them like just on any other monitor...

Ahhh....I see!

And at the same time make the Behringer mixer redundant

Sorry, didnt mean to come off too harsh. No personal attack :)

Yes.....that might be an issue

No probs.......

i thought that you might of assumed i was buying both - cmon mate give me some credit!

yeeeeehah :D

no offence taken. in fact i found it quite funny that you were criticising me for overkill, because my friends have been giving me shit for a couple of years for not selling my shares and upgrading my gear :wink:

s/pdif would be great, but i think i could make do without...

i'll let you know how i go mate
:wink:

Blay.....Any studio pics?

not a current one - ill put some up when the TI gets here :wink:

its no 301 :lol:

Neither is mine!!!!

i couldnt even afford to build a room big enough to put one of those ssl desks in :oops:

It's a Neve....... ;)

But yeah, I know what you mean. The desk we are using at school (Euphonix CS2000) is a large desk (48 channels), but still small enough (2 channels per strip) to fit in a small to medium sized room. It is so damn cool....

that sure does look nice....

picture1
picture2
picture3

I just sold many hardware synths away and I will mostly use software in the future. I still have some analog synths left. The computer is a PowerMac G5 DP1.8 running Logic Pro 7. Also 2x TC Powercore cards are running plugins like Virus Powercore, Sony Oxford Eq, TC Master X5... (V-Station coming).

How is that Andy6?

Yes, it is. A bit complex at first but I like it very much. :)

Nice photos FD5. Nice mp3's.....and welcome to the virus forum!

Im interested......you have an A6.....why do you want softsynths? What do they bring to your music/style?

DS

Thanx. Nice to hear that you liked the mp3's. :)

The reason why I want to use more software is that I like to work with them and it's great that when I open my earlier project, everything is up and running within seconds. I don't have to setup all my external gear, search for right patches and settings for every channel. Of course these settings could be sent via midi but I don't like to work that way. I always store my patches to the synths not to the sequencer with midi dumps.

I still don't use that many softsynths because they're not all good but I like the plugins which come with logic pro and a few others. Logic's plugins are of very high quality (most of the effects too). I specially use the ES2 for many sounds like basslines, some arps and secondary leads and effects. The most important sounds still come from hardware and from dsp powered synth plugins like Virus Powercore (I have the unlimited license) and Powercore01 synth. I'm also waiting for the V-Station Powercore. Basically it's a direct K-Station code with additional multi-mode filter. The K-Station uses the same standard motorola chips than the powercore so it's easy to import to powercore platform as was the Virus. TC Powercore has also been very important in my production. I can't live without those reverbs. There are also very many other high quality plugins available for it.

Virus is the most important digital synth for me. I use the leads and pads alot. I earlier had a Virus B and then a Virus KC. However I wanted to go on with the virus plugin and sold the KC (I still hate that I sold it :wink: ).

I have had many other digital and analog synths too but what is left in the rack are the Novation Super Bass-station and Waldorf Pulse. I like them both very much. Little beasts what come to the sound! I also miss many other synths which I have sold. I may have to buy a JP80x0 again and maybe a nord rack2 too. But I want to keep my setup as compact as possible and connect every synth directly to the computer's audio interface that I can use software effects for the external synths too.

And yes, I get very many good sounds out of andromeda and the others but I also get more multitimbrality with software. I can make many not that important sounds with software. Sometimes I also get very interesting results by using the logic's own effects without much thinking. :lol:

Virus TI sure is interesting but I want to see it in action before I'd buy it. :)

Well, I've had my sister-in-law in my house for the last two weeks and she took over my office/studio to work on her doctoral dissertation. She's leaving tomorrow morning at 4am and I've finally cleaned all of her crap off of my laptop and, to celebrate, I'm going to post studio pics.

I'm a bit self conscious because my gear isn't very exotic and I'm a rank hobbyist, and -- worse yet -- I have little flowers on my wallpaper, but here goes:

Nice looking setup there MC. How do you find the Z8 out of interest?

Well, it's a sampler. It can be switched to 96khz, but I don't bother. 64 voices, 512MB RAM, and a 60GB HD. The USB interface and their utility lets you (basically) drag-n-drop .WAV files to the device -- .WAV is its native format -- though it doesn't mount the hard drive directly.

Their PC utility allows for easy on-screen editing of multis, assignments of samples, effects, etc., but the front panel is tolerable. I use its front-panel USB jack to power my MDP16, and you can stuff a usb mass storage device inside and face it out the back (zip or jaz drive, etc.).

The stock Z8 effects are good, very clean. Not the slightest hint of grunge, which isn't for everyone. The filters are pretty strong. The faceplate detaches and the unit comes with a cable so you could remote-mount it. The controls don't feel very manly, but they haven't puked yet.

Other than a lot of capacity, it's a pretty utilitarian unit.

It's strengths are that it is an effective, durable outboard sample playback and (quite especially. with a 60GB HD) librarian device. Supposedly, streaming of samples from the HD is/was to come as an update, but the Akai organization in the states is a mess right now and it may not happen.

It has a sequencer, of sorts. It might as well not have.

The only thing that gets under my skin about it is that the midi-to-program assignments in multis are kind of a pest to adjust when you are trying to experiment a bunch with sequences running, etc.

Small, but I know my way around it. Just waiting on the TI to complete it all. :lol:




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It's not the size that matters, but what you do with it!!!!

Even with limited resources, a little creativity can go alot farther than the latest, high tech gizmos

Cool studio!!

That is defenitely the truth. I've known many to have 2,3,4 or more synths or hardware gear and still not have completed a song. I find that limiting myself in writing my songs goes over well. For instance, I will only write in logic, using its own plugins and thats it. It also helps you get to know your gear better too.

Sweet Somebody else from Seattle. How is it going Merlot I am awaiting my TI as well. I am in the middle of building my new house and studio so pics won't be available till summer and server is down so Website will be up again soon hopefully. The down time is rough but it definately gets the creativity flowing to overflow levels can't wait to get back to writing some tunes. Interested in collaborating on a track or two I have another close friend in Seattle (Greenlake area) We jam all the time or at least until I just recently moved to Gig Harbor to build my house and studio I also have an 8month old so now it is kind of a once or twice a month deal. What type of music do you make? any place to hear it?

i just pm'ed you.

Hey merlot, are those M audio studiophile SP-53?

yeah, they are the sp-5b's! Damn you got a good eye. Most people mistake them for the new BX-5's. THey are pretty much the same thing except the SP were maudio first product in the monitor area. They sound great. A little small on the low end, but nothing a woofer cant take care of.

I feel like a poser after looking at all of your studios, here is mine:

Nigel,
Pic is not showing up on here.

where can I get (website wise) to host a picture?

u can try freewebs.com

Thanks!

Gear:
3 wetsuits
Electribe ER-1 mkII
Virus B
Soundcraft Spirit FX8
Behringer BCR2000
Zoom 1010 Multi-Effect
Crappy laptop, which works from time to time

-diskonext

Well here it is, fairly basic but it more that does the job. :)

Here's mine....

http://members.lycos.nl/ladiges/hobbies.html

It is not completely up to date, but it will be soon (I hope)
The mixer is replaced by a 2442FX, the pc is replaced by a Laptop and I added a Microkorg to this setup.

regards

Tom

wow variOS,hows the jup emulation on that one?
roland set it to be an open cod system with future updates of new synths,fx etc

did they keep their word on that one?

Man, some nice looking setups since last time I looked here.

Looks pretty bloody good from this side of the screen. :wink:

yea. you guys are totally out blingin' me.

how am i supposed teh get da girls now?!

Forgot to tell that the Korg Legacy Collection is also a part of our studio and the MS20 controller looks really nice (got to place new photos ;) ).

The Varios8 (jup/jun emulation) is a very nice (soft?)synth.
I don't know how it performs compared with a Jupiter 8 since I never touched a real jupiter. However I happen to like the Varios emulation a lot. The only thing I miss is self oscillation.

About other applications on the Varios.
On this moment there are several available.
First there are the Varios 8 and the Varios 303 (tb 303 emulation).
They are completely free and they do a good job on what they suppose to do.

Then we have the commercial applications that are available.
There are 2 of them, VC-1 and VC-2.
The VC-1 is a Complete D50 on a PC-card. It comes complete with a computer based editor and that works fine. It also comes with 384 preset patches, 512 user patches and 28 new waveforms.
For sound examples http://www.roland.com/products/en/VC-1/demos.html

The other application is the VC-2 Vocal designer.
A demo can be found at harmony central http://trio.harmony-central.com/ramg...Roland-VC-2.rm

Sure I hope there will be more and interesting applications for the Varios, but so far I am pretty happy with my Varios.

Um, HairyStainer... TURN YOUR MONITORS OVER DUDE!!!!!!!!!

You are sending all the most directional sounds (high frequencies) directly at your hands and chest.

Unless you have ears down there you are gonna end up with some bloody bright mixes