My Home "Studio" Build: Part 3 - The Gear
Here's the third instalment in my occasional series about my so-called home studio. This time we're talking about my gear.
The previous instalments were:
If you'd rather watch than read then take a look at the following video:
If you prefer to read, keep going. I can't promise I'll cover everything that's in the video, but I'll try to give a good overview of what I've got. There may even be some extra info here that didn't make it into the video.
Background
As mentioned in the first instalment, for years I had nowhere permanent to house my gear, so I had to keep everything light so it could be set up and taken down after every session. That gear was simply a recording bundle from Focusrite comprising of their 1st edition Scarlett 2i2 interface with Focusrite branded condenser mic and headphones:
They were joined later on by a 1st generation Novation Launchkey 25 MIDI controller:
Unfortunately the constant plugging and unplugging caused the 2i2's USB port to become unreliable so it had to be replaced. Furthermore, one of the headphone speakers became detached also, so they also had to go. Although the replacements came along before the room was set up they got little use because the lack of a permanent base put me off recording and mixing.
Current Equipment
My current gear is sub-divided in the video into different groups, so I'll do the same here.
Interfaces & Monitors
My current interface is the one I replaced the 2i2 with before I had the room. It's a Focusrite 4i4.I upgraded from the 2i2 to get a couple of extra line inputs and a loop-back facility. This is a 3rd gen unit and so has Focusrite's improved pre-amps with the marvellous AIR feature that brings recordings to life. This version also has control software. Unfortunately Focusrite took the opportunity to make some functionality software-only (including the AIR switch) , meaning that some physical controls were removed. I don't like that - too much faffing about when a switch would be much easier to use! But I do like the more flexible routing that I get with the software, so it's swings and roundabouts really.
My headphones, bought to replaces the Focusrite branded ones, are Audio Technica ATH-M50xs. Like much of Audio Technica's gear, they're excellent value for money and punch well above their weight. I really like these things.
And the speakers are the staggeringly good Kali LP8s. They're a bit big for my room, though my seating position just scrapes inside their recommended listening position. The clarity and separation are excellent and at £180 each last Black Friday they're incredible value for money. There is a slight hiss when you get close to them. Although others have also reported such a hiss I can't be 100% sure it's them or whether it's coming from my DAW, interference or my interface. Whatever the reason it's quiet enough not to bother me.
Microphones
I don't exactly have a massive or expensive mic locker, as you can see from the image. I explain in the video that I don't use mics that often, so can't justify a huge expenditure on them. So I've got just one representative of three different mic types.
Staring at the left of the image we have my original Focusrite Scarlett Studio CM25 large diaphragm condenser mic. This is the one I got in that Focusrite bundle I mentioned above. I guess this is a rebadged mic made by a third party, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, to my ears it sounds OK and I use it for acoustic guitar and vocals.
In the centre of the picture is the mic I bough next, a RØDE M1 dynamic mic. I originally got this for live use, but most of the venue I played at provided their own equipment, so it got little use. However, it is useful when recording as a vocal mic when recording guitar and vocals "live", because it gives better separation than either of the other two, and it sounds OK on my voice.
Because I was impressed by the build quality, long warranty and value for money of the RØDE M1, when I decided to get a small diaphragm condenser to record my acoustic guitars I plumped for the RØDE M3. I wasn't disappointed - the quality is the same and the mic performs its role well. The low cut feature is also very useful.
MIDI Controllers
We'll start with the original MIDI controller I got - the Novation Launchkey 25 (top left). This is the 1st generation keyboard. I love it. It's got nicely weighted keys and a few control knobs that can be assignd to virtual instrument controls or DAW functions. There's also a double bank 16 pad drum controller. The only downside is that the pads and knobs can't have their MIDI note and CC number re-assigned, but I can get round that in my DAW using a MIDI mapper VST. The other issue was that updating to Windows 10 broke the Launchkey's drivers. However the excellent folks at Novation support sorted that problem for me - I can't praise them highly enough.
Next up is the SubZero CONTROLKEY49 from Gear4Music (top centre), a cheap and cheerful 49 key MIDI keyboard that I use whenever the 2 octaves of the other keyboards is not enough. It's by no means the best keyboard in the world, but it does what I need. I theory there are lots of useful functions available but the manual is one of the worst Chinglish documents you'll find and the controls are arcane, so I don't bother to do anything except change the velocity curve and occasionally split the keyboard across 2 MIDI channels.
The AKAI LPK25 (top right) is a marvellous little keyboard that I can use on its own with my laptop if I want to get away from the desk. It's got a nicely weighted keyboard and comes with a built in arpeggiator (that I don't use) and has four customisable modes which are set from software. This is a great quality device that was was under £50 when I bought it. If you're considering the Korg nanoKEY2 you should consider getting this instead. I learned the hard way! There's more info about that in the video.
While we have Korg in mind the next controller is the Korg nanoKONTROL2, (centre) which is a MIDI control surface. It's got a quality feel (unlike its nanoKEY cousin!) and I really liked it. Notice the past tense there? I liked it when it worked, which was occasionally, and is now not at all! This thing and Windows 10 don't get on. Windows has a ridiculous 10 MID device limit and the nanoKONTROL won't work if it's numbered above 10. I can't get mine to staty in that top ten anymore, so I'm reluctantly letting it go.
Finally, there's my little Stagg SUSPED10 sustain pedal. It sends a MIDI sustain CC message when you press it and that's it, which is OK because that's all it's supposed to do. It's been reliable and have no complaints, but I would pay more for a sturdier one if I was a piano player who was stamping on it the whole time. But I'm not so I didn't!
Computer Hardware
I'm going to skip through this - you can get more more from the video if you want it.
The centre of the whole system is my HP Envy 17" laptop with a core i7 processor and 16Gb of RAM. It's about 15 months old at the time of writing and starting to suffer from the usual Windows slowdown. Originally it fair hurtled along, handling all my audio software with aplomb. Now it could do with a re-install the next time of got 4 days to waste!
The fact that the laptop has an irritating keyboard and truly crappy trackpad means I bought a wireless Logitech MK570 keyboard / mouse combination so that I never have to use the laptop keyboard and trackpad again!
Eventually I decided to stop peering at the laptop's 17" screen and added an Acer KA222Q 21.5” full HD monitor. I had to keep the size down to 21.5" to make sure the monitor fits on my desk between the speakers.
I use an Atolla 7 port powered USB3 hub to plug all my numerous MIDI controllers and other peripherals into. This has recently replaced a 4 way hub by the same maker.
Of course, being the spawn of the Devil, the iLok dongle that I very reluctantly wasted nearly £50 on refuses to work with the USB hub, thereby wasting a dedicated USB port on the laptop. If you['re getting the impression I don't like the iLok dongle you'd be right. Quite why that is will have to wait for another video and / or blog post!
Software
I'll only cover the main software I use here, along with only two of the hundreds of plugins I own.
First and foremost must be the marvellous REAPER DAW. This is the best value for money software I think I've ever come across. It costs me $65 + UK VAT for two full versions worth of support. And it still keeps working after that - I just have to pay if I want more updates. And that's for the full version. None of this tiered functionality you get from other vendors - with each tier being staggeringly more expensive than the previous one. There are two prices for REAPER, but they depend on how much money you make out of using it - the version is the same for both prices. REAPER is a full featured DAW too. It's also almost infinitely customisable, has a small footprint, is rock solid, is scriptable, and has decent docs and a great support forum. What's not to like?
The first of the VSTis I want to feature is the Kontakt sampler. I took the plunge and bought the full version 6 in last year's sale - there's no way I could justify the full price. The software is pretty much the industry standard sampler. Owning the full version helps me to create my own sampled instruments (which I've yet to do) and, crucially unlocks the door to hundreds of third party. often free, samples created by the likes of the marvellous Pianobook contributors. But there's no bloody undo in the editor - WTF?
The other VSTi I'm featuring is Spitfire LABS. This is a superb curated collection of instruments made available for free by Spitfire Audio. You no longer need Kontakt to use this collection because Spitfire provide their own, free, player VSTi. OK, some of the instruments are a bit bonkers (Trumpet Fields, anyone?), but the quality is high (check out the superb Soft Piano if you don't believe me) and I'm always reaching for one instrument or another.
Other than the above, in the video I give honourable mention to:
- Musescore 3 for scoring.
- GuitarPro 6 for guitar tab. I'm not keen on v7 though so I'm not upgrading.
- I did use VCVRack for modular software synthesis, but I've given up because it falls over all the time on my system.
- MIDI-OX for troubleshooting MIDI messages and devices. This has been invaluable for working out why the Korg nanoKONTROL2 wasn't working.
- The Loopbe1 software MIDI device that let's software communicate via MIDI without hardware.
Bits & Bobs
Mopping up various items that I've not mentioned I've got:
- A Belkin surge protection power extension block with equipment damage warranty.
- A Yamaha KX-493 cassette deck that I use for making archive copies of my extensive cassette collection. I'm also considering using it as an outboard cassette saturation effect, but haven't tried that yet.
- Various pop filters, shock mounts and mic stands
- A drawer full of leads and power supplies.
Instruments
Nah, I'm not going into them here - maybe in another video or blog post sometime!
Coming Up
The next instalment is going to be about acoustic treatment. But, before I can produce that I need to actually buy some!
Financial constraints mean I'm going to be building the acoustic panels from raw materials, which should be entertaining for you, given my awful DIY skills!
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