mixers back together MY SETUP

[techristian]

A lot of old and second hand junk. We will see what kind of music I can make with this !!!!

Fairlight Mfx3, Mackie 32-8, Mackie 32-4, TWO Korg M3R modules, MicroKorg, Kawai k3 keyboard, Roland MKS-100, Roland U20 (not in pic), Akai S3000XL, Focusrite 8 channel to USB, Sony Stereo DAT, multi region CD with spdif, 2 commodore 64's with all of my custom sounds, Behringer Moog Clone. 3 midi interfaces each with a purpose, Roland TB-3, Korg Kaoss Pad

 

 

Overview

http://clutterpop.com/studio6.jpg

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Down for the weekend

http://clutterpop.com/studio5.jpg

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Dan

[techristian]

You may have noticed...a pseudo Timpani (which I made from an old washing machine drum) and a conga drum and did I forget the Vermona synth which I must still CALIBRATE. ALSO AN OPTIGAN

 

ONE OF THE BIG PROBLEMS WITH MIDI GEAR IS WHEN IT IS THIS OLD THE BATTERIES. It would make it alot easier if my midi modules would each STAY ON THEIR OWN CHANNEL !

 

http://clutterpop.com/studio2.jpg

[Anderton]

Let me take a wild guess here...you like hardware?

[Mike Rivers]

No banjos? It'll never work without a banjo

[KuruPrionz]

No banjos? It'll never work without a banjo

 

What is perfect pitch?

 

When you throw a banjo into the dumpster, it hits an accordion and they both break.

 

Quite the setup techchristian!!!! I am one of those lazy, worthless, in the box sort of guys, mostly. Except for guitars and basses and percussion stuffs and and and ....

[techristian]

Let me take a wild guess here...you like hardware?

 

My first CD was done with all midi modules, a PPS-1 to sync to my tape deck and it had a very rich sound.

 

The second CD, I got rid of all of those modules and tried to go with all plugin synths. Not the same. Computer wasn't fast enough. Sound was gritty so we are back here again.

 

Anyway , my grandfather had a horse an buggy and went down the streets looking for metal and other "junk" . I may have inherited the same gene.

 

Dan

[techristian]

No banjos? It'll never work without a banjo

 

But my wife ordered an AUTOHARP for me for Fathers day.

[Mike Rivers]

But my wife ordered an AUTOHARP for me for Fathers day.

 

How cool! I picked up the autoharp in the 1960s when Mike Seeger lived in the DC area and performed locally. As a fan and friend of the Carter Family, he helped renew interest in the instrument during the Great Folk Scare. A local high school science teacher and music fan, Howie Mitchell, showed that you could play other music than the Carter Family's on the autoharp (Howie also helped start the hammer dulcimer revolution) and pretty soon the autoharp became a minor hit both in the folk revival and in pop music. Hope you do likewise and not squeeze samples of a few chords into the sound of a building collapsing or a helicopter landing in your back yard.

 

Here's[video:youtube]

Kilby Snow playing his version of Earl Scruggs' Foggy Mountain Special on the autoharp

[Greg Mein]

 

What is perfect pitch?

 

When you throw a banjo into the dumpster, it hits an accordion and they both break.

 

I have a banjo but every time I pull it out it doesn't take long before my wife makes me put it away again! I sold the accordion. Some here may remember the rather remarkable story of how a woman in Chicago tracked it down via the thread I started in SSS. She was looking for that particular model to give to her father for Christmas (a sort of return to his youth), we sealed the deal and I met her in Moline for the transfer.

 

Studio looks like crazy good fun TC! At this point I've eliminated a great deal of my hardware and will rely greatly on software when I resume recording. I may live to regret it but with an upcoming move consolidating was essential and I've got some very good computer power.

[spokenward]

The combination of the Fairlight and the Beta cassette shows real devotion to the theme. Didn't you have a TG-33?

[David Emm]

Put your Optigan disks in upside down and they'll emit a hilarious, disturbing suckage when played. My first sampler, sort of.

[techristian]

The combination of the Fairlight and the Beta cassette shows real devotion to the theme. Didn't you have a TG-33?

 

Yes , The Beta got in the photo by mistake. I have a few old beta recordings that I want to keep.

 

How did you know I had a TG33 ? I got rid of most of my old midi modules from pre 2000 . My old setup was 2 FB01, 2 TX7, Akai S612, Ensoniq Mirage, Tg33, Roland Drum machine,, synced up to a TASCAM 38 , all going through a Kelsey 16 channel mixer. Don Slepian has my old Mirage. He bought it sometime after I separated all of the channels.

 

Dan

[techristian]

Put your Optigan disks in upside down and they'll emit a hilarious, disturbing suckage when played. My first sampler, sort of.

 

I will have to remember that.

 

 

Dan

[spokenward]

The TG33 stuck in memory because it is a delightfully oddball piece of gear that I shared and still have. (The FB01 went when there was a brief ripple of interest in hardware 4opFM. There is a path to convert those old FB01 patches to Dexed compatible files https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ using http://dxconvert.martintarenskeen.nl/ if you are looking for a project that doesn't require solder.)

[techristian]

As many of you know, I'm working with the Fairlight MFX3. Digital crosstalk noise from hard disk access and other internal computations sometimes leak into my audio channels. Simple 1970 cables with BRAIDED shielding don't seem to be sufficient , so I will be soldering some new BALANCED cables with twisted pairs and FOIL shielding and report if that kills the problem.

 

Dan

[Anderton]

As many of you know, I'm working with the Fairlight MFX3. Digital crosstalk noise from hard disk access and other internal computations sometimes leak into my audio channels. Simple 1970 cables with BRAIDED shielding don't seem to be sufficient , so I will be soldering some new BALANCED cables with twisted pairs and FOIL shielding and report if that kills the problem.

 

But...but...that's what makes it authentic!!

 

I was using Arturia's Farfisa virtual instrument on a song. There was a lot of low-level hum and noise. I went crazy trying to trace down connections with my setup and audio interface...until I realized, this is a FEATURE, not a bug! Arturia had totally emulated the expected noise from a Farfisa.

 

Fortunately, they also had the option to get rid of it

[Groove On]

No banjos? It'll never work without a banjo

What is perfect pitch?

When you throw a banjo into the dumpster, it hits an accordion and they both break.

And remember, never leave your accordion alone in an unlocked car or you might end up with two.

[Mike Rivers]

I'm working with the Fairlight MFX3. Digital crosstalk noise from hard disk access and other internal computations sometimes leak into my audio channels. Simple 1970 cables with BRAIDED shielding don't seem to be sufficient , so I will be soldering some new BALANCED cables with twisted pairs and FOIL shielding and report if that kills the problem.

 

I applaud you for making your own cables, though given what I think an MFX3 is, the analog I/O is on a D-sub connector, so all of the cables are "custom," so you probably

made the ones you're replacing anyway. At least the outputs are balanced so you'll be taking advantage of their common mode noise rejection with new balanced cables, assuming they're going to balanced (differential) inputs. But are you certain that the noise as you hear it now is due to crosstalk through cables? It's possible, given the age of the equipment and what the designers had to work with at the time, that they did their best to keep all the stray noises bottled up inside the case, but that some made its way to the output connector and is getting into your system the same way the music is. Like Craig says, "It's authentic."

 

Have you discovered a way that you can predictably make the noise occur? By executing some function? Loading a file? It would be good if you could do some testing like that - make the noise, move a cable, make the noise again and see if it's still there.

 

A new balanced connection will guard against some noise, but not all, so your work won't be for naught, but it might not solve your problem.

[techristian]

I applaud you for making your own cables, though given what I think an MFX3 is, the analog I/O is on a D-sub connector, so all of the cables are "custom," so you probably

made the ones you're replacing anyway.

 

Most of the cables were partly made for me, but the original owner , Dan from Pittsburg , had a different setup with 2 MFX3 synced together and I had to buy 48 stereo phono plugs. He gave me a ton of cable and everything goes through a patch bay.

 

The real problem came from a few C64 cables plugged into the mixer. Even with the C64 off , it made some hum and when re-wired THE PROBLEM WAS GONE.

 

Now as to the noise from the C64 itself, with only 42 db s/n ratio....I will use some gating with the MFX3 where necessary, but some people like that !

 

Dan

[KuruPrionz]

I take it all back, what I said above about being in the box. I just reconfigured my rack (photos soon) and my space and both things are going to make a big difference.

I've started thinking that a mixer is an accumulation of individual units that may or may not have any function beyond pure mono output.

 

Photo coming soon, I've got some refinements to make first. Little by little we move forward.

[Mike Rivers]

 

The real problem came from a few C64 cables plugged into the mixer. Even with the C64 off , it made some hum and when re-wired THE PROBLEM WAS GONE.

 

C64? Commodore 64 computer? Computers and audio until fairly recently have always had a hard time co-existing. Most of the noise problems stemmed from the power supply and computer chassis that didn't have a solid ground connection, That's why you can still get hum with the device turned off, Proper grounding through cables can help, but they as long as there's any connection between grounds of the computer and anything connected to it, there will be a problem.

 

Now as to the noise from the C64 itself, with only 42 db s/n ratio....I will use some gating with the MFX3 where necessary, but some people like that !

 

Whatever works.

[Anderton]

Hums are so mysterious. I added an Xfinity set top box to my setup that had a DVD player. There's also a power conditioner, and a PreSonus Monitor Station that routes audio from a CD player (remember those?) and the TV sound to a set of speakers, a well as headphones for private listening.

 

When I first set it up, there was an annoying hum. I tried ground lifters, connecting grounds, disconnecting grounds, plugging into different outlets...nothing really seemed to help. The hum wasn't too bad, so I just lived with it.

 

Then one day, I moved a couple AC connections around on the power conditioner to tidy up the rat's nest of wiring. The hum stopped. I guess some of the outlets are filtered and some aren't, but there's no hum now...and I'm not touching ANYTHING. If it ain't broke,,,just leave it alone.

[techristian]

I have had to juggle a few items to make things run smoother. I managed to get yet another video monitor on the main desk so I can edit AKAI S3000XL samples at my comfortable desk using MESA II. So It is a little tighter now but totally functional.

 

I wasn't able to get MESA running on an old Windows system, thus the need for an Apple running OS 9.2...dedicated for this one purpose.

 

Danhttp://clutterpop.com/stdioaftrmesa.jpg

[Anderton]

I predict that within 5 years, you will pop to the top of Google search when people search on "dedication to a cause that defies all odds"

[techristian]

I predict that within 5 years, you will pop to the top of Google search when people search on "dedication to a cause that defies all odds"

 

 

 

And just think. I'm doing my part in keeping landfills empty !!

 

And yes MESA II is not as easy to use as CoolEdit 2000, but easier than looking at a tiny backlit LCD. I may be porting some sounds from my old files. I sampled a bunch of 16/32 bit before I sold my TX7.

.....and the Apple CDrom stopped working.......USB KEY had to be reformatted for Mac .......samples had to be edited and converted to 16 but first

ALL THIS ,JUST TO GET A FEW DOZEN "ORIGINAL" SOUNDS.

 

The AKAI is still in the rack tower to the left.

 

DAN