I have a home "Blue Slash Studios" as a hobby.
Anyone that can think of a blue slash icon? lol
Quick History:
Went from cassette, to 4 track tape, 8 track tape, Yamaha 1600G, Akai DPS24 (the best), PC, to now Mac.
I finally have a computer setup vs the old easy and fun standalone way, that is less frustrating than PC.
So I decided to share my gear, what made a big difference this year, whats still great from the past, or is just sitting there, what's gone, gone, gone, etc.
Game Changers:
Apollo Twin: This has been a huge plus for me. Not a fan of the company model or pricing, but their gear is amazing and plugins are too. The mix software has been easier than most to use, but not the easiest (Focusrite and Audient are really easy) It works, I don't have to hassle with it.
Mackie Big Knob: This ties in my 2 sets of monitors, phonograph, playing from iPhone, line from drums or motiff rack and Apollo. Really nice distributor. (sorry, I'm better with soccer terms)
Slate VMS: A big wow. Totally replaces my little mic locker. The best part, I can record now, and weeks later, just drop in a quick change seamlessly. Like I can with the Kemper.
iMac 2011: I was always a PC fan, but the simplicity of the macs for music are obvious once you use one. Sometimes the lack of tailor-ability is frustrating (they like to control the user) but the performance is solid. The one time I had a problem with it, it was a peripheral I/O from OWC that was the cause.
Macbook Pro 13" 2015: I just got this from eBay. Its similar in power to the iMac 2011, so I can go seamlessly between them (I have to swap a UA satellite or Apollo if I am using UA stuff, grr) but it's just a joy to work on and the 11.5 hours battery time is sweet.
Sennheiser HD600: This has been a nice step up from the AKG K240 (which is great bang for the buck) and for me, worth it. A PIA with the leads going down both ears (the cord always seems to get in the way vs side leads) but it sounds great. Only issue is it's difficult to judge the low-end w/o much practice and feedback. I'm working on it.
Roland VDrums TD15: Got it used for a good price. This is SOOOO much fun. IDK what instrument you play, get a set of these and you'll wonder why you never played before. Even if you suck, they are So Much Fun. But they do help me get a better idea of what kind of drums I want for a song I write.
Still Amazing:
Kemper Profiling Amp: This is why we are here, so we know why it's so great. For me, that ability to record in a minute is the major plus. The second is seamlessly dropping in a fix weeks or years later. Like wow. No more messing with amps and pedal boards.
DESKTOP: First cheap one I ever say. Was $200 like 7 years ago. I have one of those recording desktops that are trapezoidal, has a shelf for monitors and speakers (although I use stands since I have 2 sets) and 2 rack mount sets that can hold. Kinda looks like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00…_hps_bw_c_x_3_w
AKG K240: can't beat the price or mix use of these open cans. Headphones opinions are like talking politics, but there is a very firm high opinion of these for the price. They beat anything under $300 I've tried. There is diminishing returns at some point with headphones, and it's one of those musical journeys I haven't taken like I have for quality guitars.
Mackie Uno: easy peasy MIDI in/out
Yamaha KX88: Midi piano trigger. Hey, it's over 25 years old. that's amazing in itself.
Reaper DAW: I'm back to this one, v5. No complaints. It is more powerful than ever, easy to use, and just more fun than other DAWs I've tried when it comes to cutting and splicing. Maybe because it's tracks don't care what you drop on them.
Neutral:
Mackie MR8's, Yamaha HS5 and HS8 sub: I know nothing about monitors. These are what I have, they kinda work ok. It's something I'll need to journey through more in the future. Always interested in opinions on monitors to learn more for home recording.
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro: I use them for drums or iPhone listening but they are ok I guess.
Sitting There / Jury Out:
Behringer X-Touch: I wanted a hands on peripheral and this is a decent one. Just not really using it much. Don't know why.
Trio+: Superb practicing gear. Just not using as much as I wanted to, or thought I would. I write on Acoustic mostly is probably why and don't think of putting that to a pedal, lol.
H9: Supeb pedal. But so far, the tracks I lay down with this are beat out by a dryer Kemper fx track. I'm probably not taming it enough. It's in the signal chain though.
Sennheiser HD280 64ohm: Maybe these are DJ headphones only. I can't stand them personally.
Logic Pro X: Since EX2 Drummer made third party MIDI sorting, I don't really use the Drummer here. This is a good program, but frankly, just not stable compared to Reaper ON THE MAC for god's sake. It's still a great software, and runs fast. For me it was more that Reaper makes intuitive sense to me, and just like they do on their hardware, Apple likes to hide deep features from you, or control things. Reaper is tailorable, so I like the freedom of walking all around. Some people like the sand box. No right or wrong.
Studio One 3: This is a fun DAW. And having Melodyne built is is fantastic. But I simply forgot how to use it one month away so gravitated back to Reaper. If I could get all my money back on DAWs I bought and don't use.
Ableton Live: I'm a very weird guy. So I know weird when I see it. This is one weird DAW. Too weird for me. It should get an award for that. I'm not a live performer of electric music, nor a looper extraordinaire either.
Pro Tools 9,10: Got this with 11R. It was just a dinosaur compared to other DAWs. I didn't like having to define tracks up front. It's sure not a plug-n-play DAW. I'm sure it's all kinds of powerful, but I doubt I've ever heard the word "Fun" associated with it. As a hobby, I need the fun-factor.
GONE:
-All amplifiers (except a few cabinets for the Kemper)
-About to sell all microphones
-All pedals except the H9
-All guitar modelers except the Roland Mini Cube because its a fantastic foot stool.
-Microsoft Office: I'm done with disc registered licensing (too many drive failures or changed in computer to be screwed by licensing restrictions) so I've moved to OpenOffice for my studio documents.
Documents:
In the interest of sharing:
- I keep all purchase receipts in a box. Sometimes to have the pertinent info or proof for warranty. Mostly because I'm a pack rack with receipts (I keep my gas receipts for months, lol)
- Some real, some digital:
- Spreadsheet list of Plugins (in case I need to start a new computer from scratch and don't remember them all)
- Spreadsheet list of Audio Website logins (so many IDs n Passwords to remember)
- Spreadsheet list of Studio Gear (for insurance and info for descriptions) not just guitars, down to the speaker stands & chairs
- PDFs of Appraisals for guitars over $1000 since most insurance policies don't cover you past that or for multiple guitars. I have to carry a separate policy, and suggest others do that never thought of this.
- Spreadsheet list of Registrations for software purchased
- File cabinet, draws, labelled folders of song names and their Lyrics and if I was smart, chords & dates and crediting any help. I should digitalize them. That's a project since so much crap I've written. Maybe some of it is actually good! lol
- Paper sheets of musical notation (mostly classic stuff I wrote in college on piano)
-I keep the digital stuff in on Google or sometime Dropbox, spreadsheets are password protected, but I'm sure this is rather weak and rather pathetic security, but there is a crossroads between absolute security and easy of access when I can't remember how to log onto Kemper.