Hey people!
I’m a professional sound dude who has been lurking on here a little bit. I decided it’s time to start getting more into the nuts-and-bolts side of things and do some work under the hood. I’m also a lifelong musician and creative type. I have a daw-less synth setup and am in the process of putting together a second one. I also have a computer-free setup for creative psychedelic visuals in a live setting.
I’m not always looking for the most streamlined or efficient setup. I’m in it to visualize what is possible and enjoy the process. I’m looking forward to gleaning some wisdom from you nice folks.
I’m a professional sound dude who has been lurking on here a little bit. I decided it’s time to start getting more into the nuts-and-bolts side of things and do some work under the hood. I’m also a lifelong musician and creative type. I have a daw-less synth setup and am in the process of putting together a second one. I also have a computer-free setup for creative psychedelic visuals in a live setting.
I’m not always looking for the most streamlined or efficient setup. I’m in it to visualize what is possible and enjoy the process. I’m looking forward to gleaning some wisdom from you nice folks.
Attachments
Thanks for the welcome!
My dawless keyboard setup #1 is centered around a Roland Juno-DS, which is a much more capable device than I originally gave it credit for. With all its layering, sequencing, arpeggiation, and midi control, it’s a great hub for controlling my other synths in the setup. A MicroFreak, Matrix-1000, and Evolver are tidy in the custom case I built for it. An Oxygen 49 keyboard and and MIDI Captain footswitch round out the peripherals, along with several midi-controllable effects units.
This setup used to be in a much larger case I built, which housed all of that plus an Akai Force and other pieces of rack gear. The Force was truly amazing for its MIDI I/O alone, with amazing routing capabilities and multi USB host functionality. The whole setup was too heavy though, a real pain to lug on flat ground and pretty much dangerous to take up and down stairs. My girlfriend, who is the one who plays it, couldn’t even lift half of it with me.
So we stripped it down and rebuilt it in a smaller case. Now I do most of the MIDI PC stuff with the MIDI Captain footswitch and can recall pretty complex scenes, with FX and everything. The leftover synths, controllers, and effects can now be cobbled together into a new setup in the old case just for fun. I love routing MIDI. And I spent time sequencing songs and DMX lighting shows on the Force, I have to utilize them in some way.
I also am in the position of having a ton of mid-grade rack synths from the 80’s-2000’s. I got a huge lot of them from an estate sale, along with other gear. I have some things I’m excited to try, like a Roland Vario-OS with a D50 card… And a lot I’m not excited about like low grade Kawai and Korg stuff. I bet I’ll be able to put together something decent for leads, pads, bass. The Force will be the brains of it all. It will also take care of all things percussion, and the occasional Mellotron.
And my psychedelic visuals - Roland P-10, two Roland V-8s, a V4, Panasonic mixer, BPMC premium cable, Opti-Glitch, Waaave_Pool, recur_boy, 6 video cameras, VCR, DVD. I use it to mix the live cameras with the AV inputs, heavily using luma key, feedback, colorization, corruption, etc. I try to keep it clean and legible, not scrambled and haphazard.
But I’ll skip the long description of that setup for now. Thanks for asking about it, I love my gear.
My dawless keyboard setup #1 is centered around a Roland Juno-DS, which is a much more capable device than I originally gave it credit for. With all its layering, sequencing, arpeggiation, and midi control, it’s a great hub for controlling my other synths in the setup. A MicroFreak, Matrix-1000, and Evolver are tidy in the custom case I built for it. An Oxygen 49 keyboard and and MIDI Captain footswitch round out the peripherals, along with several midi-controllable effects units.
This setup used to be in a much larger case I built, which housed all of that plus an Akai Force and other pieces of rack gear. The Force was truly amazing for its MIDI I/O alone, with amazing routing capabilities and multi USB host functionality. The whole setup was too heavy though, a real pain to lug on flat ground and pretty much dangerous to take up and down stairs. My girlfriend, who is the one who plays it, couldn’t even lift half of it with me.
So we stripped it down and rebuilt it in a smaller case. Now I do most of the MIDI PC stuff with the MIDI Captain footswitch and can recall pretty complex scenes, with FX and everything. The leftover synths, controllers, and effects can now be cobbled together into a new setup in the old case just for fun. I love routing MIDI. And I spent time sequencing songs and DMX lighting shows on the Force, I have to utilize them in some way.
I also am in the position of having a ton of mid-grade rack synths from the 80’s-2000’s. I got a huge lot of them from an estate sale, along with other gear. I have some things I’m excited to try, like a Roland Vario-OS with a D50 card… And a lot I’m not excited about like low grade Kawai and Korg stuff. I bet I’ll be able to put together something decent for leads, pads, bass. The Force will be the brains of it all. It will also take care of all things percussion, and the occasional Mellotron.
And my psychedelic visuals - Roland P-10, two Roland V-8s, a V4, Panasonic mixer, BPMC premium cable, Opti-Glitch, Waaave_Pool, recur_boy, 6 video cameras, VCR, DVD. I use it to mix the live cameras with the AV inputs, heavily using luma key, feedback, colorization, corruption, etc. I try to keep it clean and legible, not scrambled and haphazard.
But I’ll skip the long description of that setup for now. Thanks for asking about it, I love my gear.
You may be interested in our own Christopher Taylor.
https://badgerherald.com/news/campu...-finds-keys-to-success-through-new-invention/
https://badgerherald.com/news/campu...-finds-keys-to-success-through-new-invention/
Hey thanks man!
And yes, I have seen that video. Love it. It’s been a while though, I should rewatch it. Since I got all of their video stuff I’m officially a fanboy now.
Just a few years ago I only kind of cared about synths. Honestly I was keeping myself away because it’s a super expensive road to go down. And I tone chase endlessly with guitar, I didn’t want to condemn myself to that same fate with vintage analog synths. Then I got that Matrix-1000. And I got a deal on a DSI Evolver. And now I really NEED a Poly Evolver rack… or wait I should get a proper analog poly synth first… OB6 or Prophet? Wait Novation is better? Is there a place I can rent them all for a week or two first?
So I’m not enough of a fanboy to own a real Juno. But I do have a Roland drum throne.
I bought something from them called motion dive.tokyo that is a controller for remixing video. It uses very old software that I bought an old Lenovo laptop to use. I found the software but I can’t get it to work. Massive disappointment. I look at the controller sometimes and imagine the sweet video remixes I would make.
And yes, I have seen that video. Love it. It’s been a while though, I should rewatch it. Since I got all of their video stuff I’m officially a fanboy now.
Just a few years ago I only kind of cared about synths. Honestly I was keeping myself away because it’s a super expensive road to go down. And I tone chase endlessly with guitar, I didn’t want to condemn myself to that same fate with vintage analog synths. Then I got that Matrix-1000. And I got a deal on a DSI Evolver. And now I really NEED a Poly Evolver rack… or wait I should get a proper analog poly synth first… OB6 or Prophet? Wait Novation is better? Is there a place I can rent them all for a week or two first?
So I’m not enough of a fanboy to own a real Juno. But I do have a Roland drum throne.
I bought something from them called motion dive.tokyo that is a controller for remixing video. It uses very old software that I bought an old Lenovo laptop to use. I found the software but I can’t get it to work. Massive disappointment. I look at the controller sometimes and imagine the sweet video remixes I would make.
It was a couple of years back… Mac is my main ecosystem, I’m pretty sure I categorically would have/ did try Mac first. I bought that computer from eBay specifically to run the motion dive, I’m sure I’d try what I had on hand first. It was the demo software and it simply wouldn’t recognize the controller even though the computer did. I would have no qualms cracking software that is unavailable for purchase if I could find it somehow. Or I would purchase it secondhand if I could find it and I knew it would work…
It would be worth taking another stab sometime if other peeps in the world had interest in helping me. I really slog through a lot of this stuff alone. Good for the mind to pour endlessly over obsolete technology, keeps you sharp.
Did you see motion dive.tokyo software for Mac downloadable somewhere?
It would be worth taking another stab sometime if other peeps in the world had interest in helping me. I really slog through a lot of this stuff alone. Good for the mind to pour endlessly over obsolete technology, keeps you sharp.
Did you see motion dive.tokyo software for Mac downloadable somewhere?