Project creep. Checking out the rack I found the Korg NS5R’s two rear rubber feet turned to fluid. Even Goo-be-Gone had trouble cleaning this up. Did the feet melt, were they of poor manufacture, or were they broken down by a poor choice of cleaner? These or some combination of them are the most likely causes. Given this and other tell tail signs I have decided to make air flow the King objective for the racks. To do this I now require a 1U space above and below any component that has any exothermic properties like an amplifier or processor. Judgment by analysis of the thermal impact is also used to maximize space usage. The only non-exothermic component is the switcher. It has a front and back panel, is held together with four bolts with tube spacers, and allows air to pass. I sandwiched it between the MV4 and the MOTU XT. The bottom of the Mackies is a label rail so no lower isolation space is required and better yet if direct contact can be avoided. The typical rack unit illustration on this page shows the ½” meet-me space. Some poor manufacturers encroach other good manufacturers provide a slight gap. Mackie provides a slight gap. The Korg MS2000s are narrow at the bottom and are designed to be shy of the rack space meet line so I am allowing no lower isolation space. I didn’t need to apply this now and ended up using 1U with 90° audio and MIDI connectors so I can make and change connection from the front of the rack. The Crown XLi 800 power amp has good interior thermal design so I allow it to be on the rack floor but it still requires 1U isolation at the top. The rack rails do not rest on the floor of the cabinet so there is a slight gap providing no surface-to-surface thermal contact. FYI. in a traveling rack always use a rear rail support for heavy components like power amps. To continue with air flow only perforated rack shelves are used with components. Also, for the components on the shelves, I installed tall feet to provide more thermal isolation. The short cabinet has rack rails on both the front and rear. Equipment was mostly interleaved providing air gapping front to rear. Some components require other components to be floated temporally when making connections. Not a show stopper.

More project creep. The Korg NS5R and X5DR both fried and died. I'll send them with a Korg MS2000R into the repair shop. Maybe its just a capacitor or other replaceable component that need fixing. I had already replaced the MS2000R for recording Up to No Good with like, and now the X5DR with like, and the NS5R with a NX5R.

More project creep again. Get audio from computer synths into mixer for composition setup. Configure to allow the computer audio to be routed to stereo and 5.1 surround for mastering bypassing mixer.

For the Mackies, 90° IEC C14 to C13 AC plugs are added to reduce the minimum clearance. There are two kinds, those that turn down at the female ground and those that turn up at the female ground. Do these create AC noise? This always needs to be evaluated after installation. I found none initially but later found one of them to be a loose connection. Will purchase replacement..

I cleaned all the synths with Endust for electronics, Safe even for plastic and monitor screens. Don’t use on electrical contacts and it may act as an insulator.

After all the components were arranged the powering was set up. The wall warts and AC cables were connected. The two MOTUs have a USB type B connector. This means they are USB type 2.0 compliant. That’s a cable length limit of 5 meters or about 16.5 feet. The MOTU 128 is only powered through the USB so I decided to install a USB 2.0 powering hub in the cabinet. With a combination of Type A to A, an extension cable and two type A to B cables with the hub the components were powered and the data link setup. This resulted in a 15 ft. run.

All the MIDI cabling was done keeping the cables as short as possible. The location of the MOTU MIDI interfaces in the cabinets was chosen with this in mind. All the synth fronts were labeled as to their MIDI port assignments.

All the audio cables were routed to the Mackies for the composition setup. The audio contacts were cleaned with Deoxit D5. Cable lengths were kept short. All the mixer channels were labeled with the synth names. These will change and the labels updated as necessary.

Cakewalk by Bandlab. This DAW is free and as I have been using some version of Cakewalk since forever so I’m starting with it in the Win 10 environment. One thing is for sure if you have real synths don’t lose your Instrument Definition Files and maintain copies of these and your Master.ins file. It is getting more and more difficult to find them on the net. Even Bandlab has made it difficult and no longer maintains any access to them on their web site. I performed a find operation for Master.ins and found in in three locations.

I’m using general MIDI for the Yamahas and a Proteus/01 for the Proteus/03. The Korg MS2000R and BR are using the same R type instrument file. I have never found any instrument files for these. In a perfect world I need to create instrument files for these. At a minimum the voice names need to match. That’s a lot of typing and transcribing. I understand that a SysEx file can be downloaded from each synth and it contains the names. I’ll be trying that first if i can't fine a digital list as there a 1000 plus voice names involved.

The Clockworks app has to be setup. I visited the app and didn’t do much as I’m not setting up the clock and SMPTE/MMC yet as I’ll do this when setting up and testing the recording process. The Presonus is on backorder it won't arrive until early November,

I backed up the Win 10’s initial Master.ins files and replaced the three of them with the Master.ins file from the Win 98 environment.

Then in Cakewalk the MIDI output/input configuration needs to be set up. To do this navigate to Edit/Preferences/instruments and work with the right side of the menu. If you are not chaining your MIDI connections each of the 16 MIDI channels for each port need to be connected through its corresponding MIDI connection to the synth.

I then performed a synth-by-synth test of the system. Everything worked fine except the two synths that did not have their In/Outs transposed. At first blush the audio quality is very good and noise free. I did not test each synth for its knee of the curve noise point. All amplifiers at some point go into overdrive. I will be doing this when I fine tune the system. And when I record. I don’t want any amplifier overdrive noise when composing or especially when recording. When I want noise it will be part of the programmed wave inside the synth or inside the computer with a VST FX app.

For the Tascam DA-38 I use a Behringer MDX-1800 Protector. This component acts as a transient peak limiter before the audio goes through to the DAC. This allows the average volume to be hotter while preventing the transient peak amplitude from over saturating the digital converters and creating the unpleasant noise. These are no longer being made. The one I have is dedicated to the DA-38 and I now need another for the eight Presonus channels. I have decided on getting two of the Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600 V2s. This will provide eight limiters in front of the Presonus DACs. I am expecting coloration differences. I will deal with that on the front plane and in the DAW environment. There is not enough rack space for these with 1U spacing for all hot components. More racking required.

As Cakewalk is free I thought, because it's my MIDI and music notation software of choice, I would start here. I have been using 1998/99 Cakewalk from the beginning and did not upgrade through the iterations of Sonar. There are a couple of things that were changed for the worse and the remaining is real fine, I would pay for it. The one thing I hate is the big X that appears when using the pointer to choose the location on the staff where the pearl is place. Right like I w2ould want a big blackout that obscures the visibility of the point of pen. How could I be the only one that thinks this big X is a good thing? Maybe no one likes notation as a primary source of input any more? Maybe it can be turned off somehow... on a search now!

Oh found another. When active in Staff, Console, Event List or more quick saves using keypad not accessible.

This is a screen shot of my normal work space. I'm using four LG 24UD58 B 4k monitors 2 by 2. So when you click on this picture below you will see its a giant desktop. The right two screens can be toggled from staff to, console to, event list...usually. This setup only shows the external synths so far. For internal I'm looking for a real good grand piano, a Wurlitzer and more strings, horns and synths. Plus lots of processors and effects with low noise.

For the DAW voices I need to route them to the mixer for composition. Testing all the options; the USB audio device, the digital audio band in the video HDMI stream, and the optical audio output of the motherboard through the SPDIF optical connection and two types of downstream DACs that turn the digital sound to analog, to find the best sounding and lowest latency path.. There is also the ASIO (Audio Stream In/Out) for sound cards. The Win 10 HP 871040si CTO has no video card and no PCIe slot for one so its the USB, HDMI or SPDIF. Planning to achieve the minimum latency I narrowed the choice set to the HDMI or the optical SPDIF. I also need full and balanced sound frequency with low noise. I have a small HDMI break out box with headphone and SPDIF, It works but the headphone is not designed for full balanced frequency generation. Lack of low and mid range. Using the SPDIF requires another component that has a DAC because the optical is still digital. The Nvida GeForce RTX 2080 video card is great for video and the HDMI audio should be very good and do 5.1 surround sound but it isn't ASIO compliant. The SPDIF should have all the information the HDMI has except the LFE channel. That's the low frequency effect channel Sony standard for movies. I also have a Sony Multi Channel Receiver STR-DH800. It can do everything including Video, 5.1, stereo plus everything in between, using HDMI and SPDIF. The question is which component the video card or on board audio have the lowest latency. I'm betting the i9-9900K processor will be more than enough for audio. I like this better than the video as I would have to route a long HDMI video cable to the rack and back again to a monitor. I prefer to route a Toslink fiber cable from the computers to the STR- DH800 getting the analog in the rack allowing me to do stereo and 5.1 with some additional speaker setup. The optical routes in the studio are up to 30 ft. With fiber optics this is not a lossy limitation. Those photons move a little faster than electrons do with this type of fiber at these distances.

The Rocker Switch Is Retired 07/2023. The last function was bridging the oscilloscope. Now the scope is bridged via the headphone output of (the new, 3rd) Mackie 1402 summing mixer.

Technically optical sound should be better than USB or analogue out of the computer. The following paths were tested; optical port from the i9 Win 10 board, HDMI optical breakout box off the Win 10 computer through a Nvida GeForce RTX 2080 video card, optical port from the i5 Win 7 system through a Creative Sound Blaster Z card. Destinations of the optical SPDIF to convert the digital to analogue stereo; a Sony STR-DH800 Multi Channel Receiver and a low cost optical SPDIF to stereo DAC box. The post DAC to analog paths tested were through the Mackie to the dbx crossover to the Crown power amp to the Yamaha NS6490 bookshelf speakers and the stereo Sony SA W2500 subwoofers and bypassing the Mackie straight to the same analog chain.

There is practically no audible difference between all the SPDIF paths and DAC components. None of the optical SPDIF alternatives tested as shown in the above diagram provided acceptable audio quality for composition or for final mixing. There was no comparison between the SPDIF and the HDMI audio path. HDMI is the winner! I'm more than little disappointed. I'll never use optical SPDIF. I'm disappointed because I use to record eight channels of uncompressed audio into the Win 98 computer over a optical Toslink with ADAT specification components. Conclusion- SPDIF is a wholly inadequate protocol... a real POS. USB audio sounds better than optical SPDIF. If there is a good way to use the SPDIF I don't know about it I tested it as far as I could afford to. I was going to test all for latency now I find that would be a waste of time. If I end up with any latency issues I'll actually have to get another computer. Crap.

This provides versatility for stereo and 5.1 surround sound mastering. Exactly on point for the Synthmind Studio requirements.

Testing the video through the HDMI switch I find after its been on for a while short blackouts and flashes occur. This is latency. Its caused by a clocking discrepancy that creates rippling errors resulting in jitter and blackouts. This switch is not bi-directional and works very well with two in and one out. I'm getting another switch that says its bi-directional as the network requires one in two out. So the next computer has two must haves; a Video slot, a PCIe slot for a sound card, and HDMI video off the motherboard. This will allow for four monitors plus the ability to acquire audio from a ASIO compliant sound card and through the processor from the HDMI off the motherboard. If the i9 Omen by HP had HDMI on the motherboard I would not need a switch or the return path to a monitor. The audio plan commits me to bring all the surround speakers into the studio from the TV room and moving furniture. Putting Surround in the studio is going to be fun, Not. I may need to hire help to move the micro mount mineral collection cabinets. The room has a half bath in one corner, Its the best bass trap. I actually sit in there when auditioning a mix to evaluate the bass and sub-bass registers. Switch found to be buggy. Replacing to see if it can be bettered.

Studio Wisdom... For every device that's added a half dozen or more cords are required.

Establishing volume balancing default setting includes the following correction points, The MIDI Note Value, The synth's Volume Control Setting, the synth's Internal MIDI Volume Setting, ton the mixer he Gain Control setting the Three Frequency Band Pots, the channel's Volume Slider, and the Mains Out volume setting. When keeping all the components unchanged down the chain to the speakers, I'm looking to even out the shy and the monsters. I can always make a voice a monster say like the bass force of a rap song or make shy the hairpinning of a sound the studio needs to start at a even baseline. Some synths are hot like the Waldorfs some are shy like the FX and some gain noise at louder volume.

I use an external and an internal oscilloscopes to test for wave cancellation due to out of phase waves colliding. For my external scope I bridge it to the final audio path to the preamp. I loose a decibel just enough to be perceptible. I set the scope to a ring rather than the sinusoidal form and set it centroidal to the center of the quadratic grid. if the ellipse is in the lower left and upper right quad the sum is in phase and if the ellipse is in the upper left and lower right quad the sound sum is out of phase.

During the rebuilding of the studio the keyboard went wonky. A few keys would only play fortissimo. I disassembled the keyboard. Lots and lots of #2 phillips. First place the keyboard keys down on a padded table so the controllers are just beyond the edge of the table to insure no resting weight is exerted on them. Remove all bottom screws first. Holding the top and bottom halves together flip the keyboard 180° so the keys are up. Pull the stretched "U" shaped parameter piece that includes the two controllers off and disconnect the two flat cable connections then set carefully aside, Flip the keyboard again with the same care so the keys are down. Remove the two sets of two screws holding the key assembly to the bottom shell lifting it up while tilting 90° and disconnect the two flat cable connections and remove. Flip the key assembly. Inspecting this I saw white precipitate in the same area as the bad keys. To clean away any foreign contamination the specific contact strip had to be partially lifted. First I removed the whole contact board. Inspecting the underside of the board there are tiny rubber cylinders penetrating the board. Some, the smaller size, are flush and the bigger (still tiny) cylinders are proud. After flipping the board over evaluated which contact membrane needs lifting gently lifted it up at a corner by picking at it with a fingernail then did the same to the adjacent corner so as to not put any undo stretching force on it. Continue to lift up the membrane as needed to reveal the contaminated area. Using Deoxit F5 and Q tips cleaned the board and membrane contacts, twice. Let dry and repeat. To reassemble the membrane first align a set of the smaller nibs with their corresponding holes align and press together. After aligning and penetrating some smaller sets using the eraser end of a pencil insert the larger nubs, After all the nubs are inserted flip the board over and using fingernails like tweezers gently pull the larger nubs through the board snuggling up the membrane. Reassemble. One issue is there are rust spots on the springs. I'm considering an application of phosphoric acid. The springs would all need to be pulled, treated, and re-installed. Probably a whole weekend.

You can see the small gray flush nubs and the larger proud nubs holding the contact membrane to the contact board. Remove the phillips screws to remove the boards.

Works dope! Gets rid of MIDI cables. The MIDI cable the studio needs to do away with is from the key board controller to the MOTU In port. The MOTU 128 number 8 port is the only device and port configuration that works with these. But, its just perfect. Plugged them in and they worked. These in their native state these won't work on the back plane of a MOTU as the in and out ports are separated. Maybe a 1 ft. female to male cable with the proper connector sizes would work.

In addition to Cakewalk Steinberg Cubase Pro 11 is being added to the studio. Cubase Pro 11 is an extremely powerful music DAW. It also is a huge package made by German minds. Its a big bite that requires much chewing. I'm very excited to use this monster. I purchased the boxed set.

The box got here. Low and behold- just a thumb drive. Three hours later the basic software was installed. I'd prefer a cd, dvd, or bluray.

The next day I downloaded all the VST's that I didn't already have. About four hours.

Cubase Pro requires a driver setup and a Audio Setting configuration. There are three audio drivers: ASOI4ALL, Generic Low Latency ASOI, Magix 2016.

Turn on rack. Re-boot computer. In the Windows 10 Sound settings choose Sony, button OUT on HDMI switch. Select HDMI 2 in monitor control. Select HDMI 2 then 2 chnl. on Sony.

In Cubase Studio/Studio Settings choose ASOI4ALL and include HI-Def. In Studio/Audio Settings choose 4.1 and 4.2 for stereo. The USB audio works too. All the MOTU MIDI ports show up without the driver & audio setup.

After launching Cubase web based over the top TV and services like Netflix won't work.

I will upgrade HALion SE 3 to HALion 6 and to Spectral Layers 8 after I get up and operational.

The MS2000 patch list shows page H as a second F. I modified this list as MS2000B and input the patch names for the Black. .

The Presonus 1824c appears to work. I connected it to a dedicated type 3.1 USB port. Cubase sees it with the AOSI4ALL driver. The Behringer Multicom Pro-XL MDX4600 V2s are installed in a rack stand sitting on top of the four foot wood rack case with the 1824c. Part of the test plan it to verify all 8 channels of the 1824c and using the DA-38 through a TDIF to ADAT converter routed through the 1824c.All six of the converters will be tested.

I have power supplies for every component after an order from Ebay for the Tascam. Patched all the compressor limiters channels to the Presonus 1284c and the Tascam DA-38.

I pulled the Proteus /3 from the rack so I could audit the table and build a matching patch file for Cubase. I find it won't save a user defined voice. My first guess? It requires a new battery. Working on electronics always involves the secrets of the manufacturer. Even in their repair or maintenance manuals they leave out details like how to open the case. It took me over 24 hours to dismantle the E-MU Proteus /3. Did not want to break it. The soft plastics have a few tool marks now. It's mine so I can if I want to and I don't like it. I put a voltage meter across the battery and it reads 0.2v not the 3.0v required. Moving forward with battery replacement. I ordered a near match battery I may be able to use. Due to the pin soldering I ordered a new Weller iron with appropriate tips the one I have is very old and the tip is ragged. It's better sized for bigger soldering applications. Working on a board, not so much. OK nearly justified. I found two working p/3's on EBAY. They are running $365 - $465 range now. Between the battery and the iron I'm at ~~$100~~. Got the wrong battery and need the fine solder $140. This better work. I got two batteries so I can replace the P1 or FX when they die.

This is an audio design processing application that uses Fast Fourier Transform and is made by Steinberg. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an algorithm that computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a sequence, or its inverse (IDFT). Fourier analysis converts a signal from its original domain (often time or space) to a representation in the frequency domain and vice versa. The DFT is obtained by decomposing a sequence of values into components of different frequencies.

I first encountered this algorithm when reading about it in the Bell System Technical Journal. I had a thirty year subscription with them and their successors.

For example if you have a noisy audio clip you can sample the noise and then it can remove the noise. It can remove a voice from a track. Good for karaoke. And it can do much more.

Proteus 3 World 32 Voice ($125 eBay)
These are real fine rack mounted synthesizers. Powerful and elegant they support orchestration for most of my compositions. I like having multiple synths from the same family, it insures sound compatibility when layering and for voice substitution when I ask for more than one synth can deliver.

known for their good service and low cost products. My first signal processor was an Alesis MIDIverb-1. So when it died I purchased the Alesis MV4. This device is versatile and very powerful. The LCD went out in 2010. Not good. The MV4 can still be used. I have eye strain to see the readings sometimes. I found another working MIDIverb-1 ($95 eBay) this 16 bit, preset, effects sound processor only has a 10kHz bandwidth. It only works on one side. There is a fix for that but I don't know how. It still has a place- say sound from the Yamaha Txz81z through one side of the MV1 to a Korg MS2000 as a wave form or controller. This combination provides a edgy sound quality that is useful. The Alesis EQ-230 a 1/3 octave graphic equalizer is a helper used to balance out the monitoring system. I use the Radio Shack SPL meter and prepare a 3d graph of the room sampling 20 to 20,000 Hz in 1' squares in the listening zone. I then use the equalizer to balance out the fundamental and harmonic resonates in the sweet spot. It's a lot of work but worth it. Headphones are fine but not enough for me always.

The MV4 was real fine when it was new. It still works but some settings have more noise than when it was new. Mastering inside the computer will allow the use of software effects so this should be optimal and noise free. I'm not there yet. In the meantime, I found another New Old Stock MV4. Then I got three more. Front and rear 1402 mixers sidechain 1 & 2.

It's nice to have a smaller keyboard especially when I'm working on voicing a synth a nearby controller is handy. I got this to update from the Fatar by including mod wheels and velocity sensitive keys. Because I use MIDI not USB, I require the DC transformer (wall wart). The wall wart doesn't come with the keyboard. Multiple emails to Alesis went un answered. They spec the DC volts, amps and barrel connector outside diameter, they do not spec the inside diameter. I'll ended up ordering a 9vDC 500ma transformer on line and splicing in a barrel connector that fit as they used a larger than normal pin. This pin size is normally only used on larger voltage transformers. The day in the life of a musician trying to work with a vintage system.

I use this device to measure the audio resonance of a room related to a tonic note. After locating the speakers measurements are made throughout the room. The results relate to the frequency, room dimensions, room’s surface types and, acoustical properties. I use this SPL dB tool to map out locations in the room where the louder and lowest dB’s (volumes) are. For example; a rectilinear room having surfaces of low absorptive will result in a very symmetrical x-y-z grid of alternating low and high dB’s. At this point listening locations can be balanced and re-measured until you get the best results.

FB-01 8 voice. No longer supported
This is the first Yamaha MIDI rack synth I owned. Purchased it at West LA Music in 1986. It is over 30 years old and still fully functioning! This is a ½ wide shelf unit and not very versatile. But, these older FM synths can have a warm, fat, or fuzzy sound that can cut through a mix. These synths can round out the sterile quality of other digital synths by adding a sound quality color to the audio palette. Alone the FB-01 sounds warm fuzzy and somewhat thick but when used in contrast with PCM synths it becomes fuller and richer like a single red brush stroke on a busy oil painting. These FM synths can produce some fat bass.

I'm using the On-Stage KSP100 Universal Keyboard Sustain Pedal with the Yamaha because of the polarity switch.

Retired 07/2023. It works but a cap is going out and I want to preserve it for a repair effort.

I added this TX81Z FM synthesizer to my lineup in 2012. It is a full width 1U high 8 voice FM synth that has 128 ROM slots and 32 RAM slots. I can't wait to use the Unisyn Patch Editor and Librarian to sculpt some new sounds from this baby. Its a better version of the FB-01. ($135 eBay)

Multi Sampled (PCM) Waveform Synthesis (AI2 synthesis), analog modeling, and analog.

Well, where do I start? Many years ago I had a MiniKorg 700s. This was my first Korg. More recently, the first time I heard the X5DR I knew I had to have it.. The Korg MS2000R (rack mountable) is a used virtual analog synthesizer that I obtained in early 2012.

When the NS5R came out I was first in line. Remember I like to have multiple synths from the same family for layering and substitution. If you could only get one synth I would suggest the NS5R. This fully programmable 64 voice polyphonic synth just won't stop giving up new and interesting sounds for your music.

If your LCD gets set so bright or dim it can't be read what do you do? You can't see the screen to navigate through the menu to adjust it!

The Korg MS2000R (rack mountable) is a used virtual analog synthesizer that I obtained in early .2012. Real cool. I like the way this sounds better than the BR. I have been going through this testing each controller. I find the BANK/OCTAVE DOWN and the KEYBOARD switches don't work. I'll test later to see if I can affect these functions via MIDI commands.($300 eBay)

The MS2000BR was added in late 2014 to supplement the first one. It broke and I purchased another on eBay in 2019.

This is a true analog synthesizer. Monophonic. The SQ-1 sequencer is CV and the MS-20M can use MIDI note on and off commands. Korg products web page.

Korg SQ-1 Instructions I assembled it in a couple of hours. Lots of nuts. It takes a 12mm nut driver- not in the instructions. I am considering tapping out the mod locations off the motherboard. When I connected the USB from The Tyan Tiger to the SQ-1 an interesting thing happened. Even with the MS-20M and the SQ-1 turned off the Tyan creates some processor activity or video activity sounds that move through the USB to the mixer. The MS-20M is connected to the Alesis MV-4 with a setting that only takes a little sound to excite it.

Here I have painted white latex paint with a two horsehair brush on to the indents of the pitch controllers of the SQ-1. I think they read a lot better… at least I can now see where they are pointed to because before I could not. This paint shows up well when they are lit-up red or not. A real improvement.

The 1212I/0 is a great piece of hardware bringing 8 tracks into the computer without the signal to noise ratio issues at the electrical connections of the micro buss interface of the computer as I use the ADAT optical cable. The Korg 1212I/O lives in the Tyan Tiger 100 Pentium Windows 98SE.

Polyphony - 25 voices, 3. - 5 oscillators per voice (Pulse with Pulse Width Modulation, Saw tooth, Triangle, Sine, 2 wavetables with 128 waves each and sub-oscillator per alt-wave); Noise generator. - MIDI In/Out/Thru (16 parts). ($450 eBay)

Two wavetable oscillators plus noise generator and ring modulator. Oscillator Sync and FM.10-note polyphonic, 8-part multitimbral.256 User Patches, 128 Multi setups. The arpeggiator forms part of patch meaning up to 8 simultaneous arpeggiators can run in multi mode. Arpeggiator and LFOs can sync to MIDI clock. Two filters with a total of 12 filter types. DSP effects -- the first three parts in a multi performance can use their full effects settings, the remainder are limited to chorus. External signal input to filters/effects.65 wavetables plus 32 user wavetables.44 knobs, 9 switches, 2 x 40 character display, shift key, alpha dial. All major parameters have a dedicated MIDI controller numbers. Knobs send MIDI controllers. 5 rack units. ($700 eBay)

2021 Updated MIDI to USB via Win 10 replacing the parallel connection from a Win 98 system.

The October 2023 the studio has one Express XT and two Express 128s. The system crashes occasionally when the sort order of the MOTU devices scramble. The first and second scramble took 8 hours to repair. This was before I figured out what was really happening. Now I go over to the hub and swamp the two 128 USB cables, clean up a few In & Out channels in Cakewalk, and the system is up and running. My guess is Windows 11 is the bad actor. Its a real PITA. Maybe three Express XTs would be more stable.

Eight MIDI channels all channels appear on the back except MIDI In chnl. 8 which appears on the front with a MIDI Out chnl 8 out. The back plane has the 15 MIDI connectors, USB type B, SMPTE, In and Out and AC.

Eight MIDI channels all channels appear on the back except MIDI In chnl. 8 both In and Out which appear on the front and back, USB type B, no other connections. This component is powered via USB. I placed a powering hub in the rack for these two USB type B connectors.

This is an eight port MIDI in/out hub that connects to the computer via a parallel interface cable. The SMPTE, ADAT, video, or audio click coding and sync capabilities are a necessity. With two keyboards and seven MIDI devices this device is working at max, necessitating daisy chaining of some MIDI devices. Acting as my hub controller, my setup needs to be flexible. I can use the tremendous flexibility this device has to offer. I need it. Mark of the Unicorn is on top of the driver issues for all new OS releases. I know this investment will be useable for many years. There is no direct support of the model I have. I have the model with the RS-232 parallel printer interface. 02/01/2012: I acquired a second MTP AV parallel MIDI hub. With these two devices networked together the rack will be capable of interfacing with 16 MIDI devices. This will be much better and easier to use than dealing all the problems that happen when MIDI devices are daisy chained. 04/01/2012- Ordered ROM chip update from MOTU I will replace the CR2032 batteries at the same time because these won't save any configuration settings. It now looks like I can't network two of these and use W98 as the OS due a W98 limitation. So fine, I could just up grade the computer (dual boot) to XP. But then the Cakewalk won't work. The Pandora's Box scenario that I'm trying to avoid will begin to happen resulting in me having to upgrade everything. I'm trying to stay vintage and limit investment and write off costs. So, I'll tinker at the upgrade but 99% of my effort will be used to reconfigure the MIDI to share MIDI ports between the devices. It will be a little harder to configure and will probably result in some limitations but nothing I can't handle. Without a doubt, I'll end up thoroughly understanding this aspect of these synthesizers.

The 2408 is not in use. This may be compatible with the Presonus 1824C as a DAC to ADAT path. Will it work passively without drivers? ... testing required, fun.

Its a backup that uses Firewire has a Clock connecter as well as SMPTE In & Out and three 25 pin connectors for cabling to a patch panel, MIDI mixer, or whatever.

Behringer
https://www.behringer.com/EN/Home.aspx
Protector ( no support) MDX 1800
As the Tascam DA-38 is a digital recorder, its AD converters can't saturate and absorb extra energy like an analog tape recorder can. Instead these AD devices clip and screech making the recording unusable. A dB limiter must be inline between the mixer and the digital tape recorder to prevent this and is an absolute necessity in the digital recording realm. I like to use the limiter to control spikes while allowing a very hot recording. The Protector is an eight channel limiter that is cabled channel for channel with the eight track DA-38.

This mixer is going to make my recordings clearer, cleaner, more accurate, and provide more versatility and options.

This Mackie 1402VLZ was purchased through EBAY 11/2014. It is very quiet and works well.

The DA-38 is an 8 track 16 bit CD quality digital recorder. When linked up with the MMC-38 the recorder can sync up with other devices. I set Cakewalk to external SIMPTE Sync and then can mix my six synths down to two tracks and do this four times without having to bounce tracks. This allows a setup, say for a trap set, where each drum and cymbal has its own mixer channel. If I forward Cakewalk to measure 30 the DA-38 forwards to the same position and vise versa.

The MMC-38 is designed to offer MIDI control over the DA-38. This will convert MMC to DTRS transport commands, and convert tape time (ABS) to MTC and SMPTE time code. This is ideal for giving sequencers, or basic digital consoles transport control over the DA-38, and synchronizing MIDI equipment.

The picture below shows settings as 24 FPS and ID#1 and MIDI connection with MMC.

Great little digital tape recorder. Records up to 4 channels, has phantom power, and can work off of USB buss power as well as three AA batteries.

After The Crown DC150 blew out the studio monitors and fried, I needed a new power amp & mix speakers. This is the one I picked. I hope it will serve me well. It puts out more power than the speakers can handle. So it will never be turned up above the mid mark of 10dB of attenuation.

${\nabla^2 u -\dfrac 1{c_0^2}\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial t^2} + \tau_\sigma^\alpha \dfrac{\partial^\alpha}{\partial t^\alpha}\nabla^2 u - \dfrac {\tau_\epsilon^\beta}{c_0^2} \dfrac{\partial^{\beta+2} u}{\partial t^{\beta+2}} = 0.}$

Attenuation expressed in decibels of relative power. A 3dB pad reduces power to one half, 6dB to one fourth, 10dB to one tenth, 20dB to one hundredth, 30dB to one thousandth and so on. For voltage you double the dB's so for example 6dB is half in voltage.

These are passive bookcase sized speakers. For day to day working I need a well balanced speaker size like these to limit hearing exhaustion. The range of these speakers is 45 Hz - 23 kHz. The energy rolls off in the lower frequency naturally so the mind can estimate it's true force. The high end does the same but at a slower roll off rate. These provide really clear highs. Enough to hear what is going on above 9kHz well but not cause fatigue. That's an 8" low range speaker. Most bookcase are 5". These are good low impact work speakers. I have never been dissatisfied with Yamaha anything. That said, I almost never listen to these with out the subwoofers. Add a of subwoofer to the Yamaha NS-6490's 8" Cone Woofer, 4" Cone Mid-Range, 7/8" Balanced Dome Tweeter and you have a real fine 4-way crossover sound system.

Sub woofers are great like a cigar in a non-Freudian way. As in the way a cigar is only great if you are the one smoking it! So are subwoofers great only if it is connected to your sound system. Those big subwoofer systems in cars playing a LF bass line; my first thought is I don't like it cause its some other person's sound system. At least most the kids in the neighborhood won't get run over because they can hear them coming. I love working in the lows and these allow me to hear what I'm doing. The oldest of the two SA W2500 burned out 06/15/2023 probably due to the coils. I'll do repairs later. I replaced it with the newer model Sony SACS0 10". Exact same size and they moved the green LED pilot to the rear where it is much less user friendly so they could use a square front grill that covers the entire front.

The studio is a rectangular room with a half-bath in one corner. I've said this before; small corner rooms act as base traps. I use the bass trap to monitor certain aspects of the bass frequencies in a mix. The best way to use a stereo set of subs in a rectangular room is to have one facing forward and one backwards where they are not in the centroid area of the room. This allows the sound from the sub facing the wall to have to reflect off that wall so it reaches the other speaker traveling a longer distance than the other sub's path length to it. This reduces the wave canceling effect that occurs when the sound paths are of the same length. So it works for both subs. This has no effect on resonating and canceling zones in a room. It just stops frequency cancellation at the speaker cones. Try it, the low frequency gets much more clear and precise.

Roland
https://www.rolandus.com/
A-30
As I am a recording artist and not a performance artist, I am not frustrated by this keyboard's limitations. The A-30 is 1/2 weighted, 76 key keyboard. Very Good Keyboard.

A minimal 49 key keyboard. No after touch, mod wheels, or MIDI in. It is very fast and transmits velocity info. A real keeper. Except the MIDI connector is loose and can't be connected to reliably. Its off line.

Twelve Tone Systems
https://www.cakewalk.com/
CW- Pro Audio 9
This program is the main composition application that I use. It is easy to configure and is a powerful composition and arrangement tool.

What is happening to Cakewalk?

As of November 17, 2017, Gibson Brands, Inc, has officially ceased new product development of all Cakewalk branded software.

After 30 years Cakewalk has stopped new product development. Their website says their servers will be maintained for us users. I grew up with them and their products and am not moving to any other developer.

SEK'D
https://pro.magix.com/en/samplitude/overview.459.html
Samplitude Studio 4.0

Test Drive Samplitude 4.0

Samplitude 4.0 FAC

With SEK*D Samplitude Studio 4.0 I bring in the eight tracks from the DA38 to the SCSI hard drive and can process and mix-down to two tracks.

Now I'm using Cubase Pro 11

Sonic Quest

https://www.squest.com

MIDI QUEST 9 Editor Librarian for all the synths.

Apogee
https://www.apogeedigital.com/products/
FC-8. No longer supported and nearly forgotten by Apogee. This product won awards at NAMM in 1997. I'm guessing it didn't sell like hot cakes and barely a mention on their website. Almost impossible now to find any data on the web about the FC-8 now. It still works great.

S/N 01362 rev b3

This is the interface format converter from the Korg 1212IO to the Tascam, ADAT to TDIF-1 via an ADAT Lightpipe fiber optic jumper (data is ADAT Optical) with Word Clock transport via coax from the DA-38 and through the ADAT Lightpipe to the Korg 1212i/o .

Click on the picture to see full size

While there are lots of possible configurations for my normal setup where I have recorded from the mixer to the DA-38 and are copying music from the DA-38 through the FC-8 through the Korg 1212 i/o to the hard drive on the PC using SEK*D, I setup the wiring like this block diagram. Then set the Korg 1212i/o Word Clock to "Internal" (using the Korg 1212IO Utility on the PC) and push in the "Word In" button on the DA-38. With the optical connections made, the bottom green light (Lock) on the FC-8 is continuously green. When data is transmitted the top two green lights (ADAT RCV and TDIF RCV) are continuously green.

Apogee FC-8 Block Diagram

https://www.synthmind.com/lightpipewordclock.htm

https://www.synthmind.com/interconnecting_apogee_fc8_and_Korg1212io.htm

Tenma 72-320 Oscilloscope

This oscilloscope will do fine for monitoring a mix.

XYZs of Oscilloscope Link to Tektronix

Click on picture to see full size

Connections

CABLE,6',RG59U,BNC MALE TO
RCA MALE

Part no. 683059
Manufacturer	JAMECO VALUEPRO
Manufacturer no.	11X1-02106

JAMECO ELECTRONICS

Digital Music Corp

www.voodoolab.com

MX-28 MIDI Patchbay/Merger Plus

I used this to drive an array of synthesizers prior to the MOTU MIDI Timepiece AV. Power supply is 9v 300ma. I have used this as a MIDI Mixer on the backside of a MOTU merging MIDI streams from two different paths. It also can do inversions of chords somhow.

Manual

MX-28M

Applied Research and Technology

www.artproaudio.com

Tube MP Studio

I use this tube pre-amp for DI applications with the Fender Rhodes 73 Stage.

Specifications

Click on the picture to see full size

This is how I set these Tube MP amps from the Rhodes to the Tascam DR-40X. The output of the Rhodes is very hot and overloads the DAC's. These amps allow for the reduction of volume while allowing for the overdrive, like a compressor.

STEREO ROCKER SWITCH
-

I made this router switch to enable some basic routing functionality for monitoring and recording. See the Studio Schematic for details. The switching of any circuit requires moving two DPDT rocker switches, one for each channel. I wired this parallel, without a common ground, to eliminate the potential for ground hum or bucking battery. In the center position, the circuit is dead ended. Pushing up or down directs the source to the destination chosen. This switch saves a lot of hassle getting into the back of the rack and moving cables around all the time. This device introduces no measurable loss, no bandpass filtering, and introduces no noise into the audio spectrum.

Fender Rhodes

Fender Rhodes Repair Information.

The Fender Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase and Stage 73 Key Electric Pianos

I purchased my first Fender Rhodes at Broadway Piano, on Broadway a few blocks south of the Denver Art Museum. I think Joe Onofrio owned the store. Fender Rhodes Case 73 in 1973.

I spent my all my spare time, after the main day gig, working my licks. I learned about music theory with the help of this wonderful instrument in my one room apartment and with the help of my elementary orchestral music instructor at night and on weekends at the theatre four blocks away. There I had to do the clean up of the burnt rods and lunch bags, every night, in that old-town theater in North Denver where I learned to run a projector, change reels, replace rods and splice film too!

The quality of this particular piano was very good. Every key was balanced and of equal weight. Wonderful light action produced a mellow vibe thing, yum and restful. Forceful staccato strikes produced a real funky tonal effect. Simply explained as sexy and expressive like man in the machine age. The vibrato effect was pulsing and complex like a Leslie Speaker. Great with rhythmic and funk pieces and expressive with soulful slow pieces.

I now own two of these, a Stage 73 and a Suitcase 73.

Studio Monitor Series Stereo Headphones

I'm now using Yamaha HPH-MT8 headphones. One thing I really like about these; the cable plugs into the headphones. They are not hardwired. So when I'm finished where I'm sitting on a stool working with a component low in the system auditioning with the headphones and get up not realizing I have a foot on the cable they don't break or rip my ear off. They just come un-plugged. NICE!. What I don't like is that they are too heavy for the amount of padding on the crown. They can bother my noggin top. Not a show stopper. They reproduce sound accurately in the high and midrange but roll off in the low frequency like all small diameter plates do. They are great for practice, composing, and a part of mixing.

Owners Manual

Datasheet

Batteries

Alesis MV4= CR2325, Holder

EMU Proteus/01

EMU Proteus FX

Korg X5DR= CR2032? Soldered

Korg NS5R

Korg MS2000R

MOTU MTPAV (two)= CR2032, Holder

Yamaha FB01= CR2032, Soldered

Yamaha TX81Z

Waldorf Micro Q.

General MIDI Information

Controllers

SOME MIDI CHARTS

MIDI Implementation Chart

Reason MIDI Implementation Chart

Waldorf MIDI Implementation Chart

Library of Hard Books and PDFs.

I'm just not going to rip apart the bound books. Here is what I have or have found. All others I have scanned, found on line, or have yet to scan.

...Manufacturer….	..Equipment/Title..	…….Name……..
Alesis	MIDIVerb 4	Reference Manual
Alesis	Q49	Quickstart Guide
Alesis	Q49	Product Overview
Apogee	FC-8	Operating Guide
Behringer	Protector 8 Channel Recording Limiter	Operating Manual
Cakewalk by Bandlab	Cakewalk by Bandlab	Reference Guide
Cakewalk	**(Pro Audio 4.5/5.0)	User's Guide
Crown	Xli800 Power Amplifier	Operation Manual
dbx	223xs Crossover	User Manual
dbx	223xs Crossover	Data Sheet
Dokorder	Dokorder 7140	Service Manual
E-MU	ProteusFX	Operation Manual
E-MU	Proteus	Operation Manual
E-MU	Proteus	Application Notes
KORG	NS5R	Owner's Manual
KORG	X5DR	Owner's Manual
KORG	**(SoundLinkDRS 1212 I/O)	Owner's Manual
KORG	MS2000R	Program Change List
KORG	MS2000R	Manual
KORG	MS2000R	Easy Start
KORG	MS200BR	MS2000BR Addendum
KORG	MS20M	Owner's Manual
KORG	SQ1	Owner's Manual
Mackie	1402-VLZ	Owner's Manual

Mackie	1402-VLZ3	Owner's Manual
Mackie	1402-VLZ3	Spec Sheet
Mackie	1402-VLZ3	Hook Up Diagram
Mackie	1402-VLZ3	VLZ3 is Better
MIDI Quest	**(MIDI Quest V9)	n/a
MOTU	MIDI Express XT USB	User Guide
MOTU	MIDI Express 128	User Guide
MOTU	**(Unisyn Patch Editor and Librarian)	User's Manual
MOTU	**(MIDI Timepiece AV)	User's Guide
PreSonus	Studio 1824C	Owner's Manual
PreSonus	Studio 1824C	Interface Comparison
PreSonus	Studio 1824C	Warranty
Roland	A-30 Keyboard Controller	Owner's Manual
Tascam	DA-38	Owner's Manual
Tascam	Are You Ready For Multitracking	Information Brochure
Tascam	IF-TAD	Manual
Tascam	MMC-38	Owners Manual
Waldorf	Micro Q	Owners Manual
Waldorf	Microvave II XT	Owners Manual
Waldorf	Microvave II XT	Controls
Waldorf	Microvave II XT	sysex
Yahmaha	FB-01	Owner's Manual
Yamaha	FB-01	Service_Manual
Yamaha	TX81Z	Service Manual

Yamaha	TX81Z	Product Manual
Yamaha	NS-6490	Owners Manual
JBL	G 500	Owners Manual

Boot Sequence: Korg SoundlinkDRS 1212 I/O

See the Rack before the 2012 rebuild.

EQUIPMENT RACK

Dimensions

Rack 3

This is a mid-sized equipment rack with 42" rails.

I'm using pre-finished birch plywood, pocket screws, and Baltic birch plywood. The casters are from Harbor Freight. The plan is to build one more of these and a two to three more of the two footers. The objective is, with these and a table I can set up a more user friendly workspace. A four sided open box isn't strong. Install the equipment in it and it's a five sided box, very strong. I have installed two power strips, in series, for all the equipment. The rule is you will always run out of electrical outlets. The top switch in the rear turns on everything in the studio.

Deeper

O' the joys of vintage gear.

To be able to get to the point where maintenance of vintage gear is possible it takes, luck, care, and MOVs (metal-oxide varistors).

All the devices that have user ROM allocation for user settings to be saved in have batteries to retain the information. Usually lithium type coin batteries. Some have battery holders and some are direct soldered. All of these batteries need to be changed out. The devices with batteries in battery holders are a piece of cake. The devices that require de-soldering and re-soldering are, of course, more difficult and have a higher risk of beflamadoodling which renders them knackered and useless. I'm looking into what it would take to insert a battery holder to eliminate more soldering in the future.

Homepage

Reboot Synths

:
My Trap Set

Sound On Sound SOS

Keyboard Mag

Vintage Synth Explorer

Joe Paradiso