Cikira's "Mushrooms" Studio and gear
For sale items, click here
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2001
Here's part of the OLD gearpile in 2001. It had become a fortress!
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Current layout
Here's the present layout, and a glimpse of my "minimalist studio" phase:
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Spring 2002
Setting up again in the new house...
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Today....
...and here's the studio today...with elbow room!
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About the studio...
My approach to computer-assisted music making has become, these days, eccentric and unfashionable! I'm a devotee of Opcode's software and MIDI interface hardware--long discontinued, but ever satisfying. Look for other Opcode diehards here.
Studio Vision Pro receives the output of my self-authored composing environment, called maxWerk. maxWerk has taken shape slowly since about 1995, thanks to the addictive programming language MAX, now available through Cycling '74. Until I decide to make sweeping changes, my muse is happy to have stepped off the treadmill of never-ending upgrades and updates.
My beige G3 Macintoshes are dedicated to the job of MIDI processing, and audio goes to an array of Akai and Roland full-featured hard disk recorders. The master Akai machine drives Studio Vision, and specialty sub-mixes on the Rolands are added according to the demands of the project.
I'm an eager collector of hardware synths that cover all synthesis types, effects processors, and MIDI control devices, and I have fun considering them all carefully in the context of my creative methods and the rest of my studio gear. I haven't acquired soft-synths or effects plug-ins--I'm inspired by instruments that stand alone and are not dependent on other system elements.
A few more for gear-spotting
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And here's the toy list:
Main Workstation
- ADAM P22-A active nearfield monitors
- Omnirax ProStation workdesk with 4 equipment bays
- Omnirax Pro316 and Pro20 slanted rack systems
- QuikLok 699 triple-tier keyboard stands and various double-tiers
- Alesis RA-100 amplifiers (2 units) with Alesis Monitor Ones and Monitor Twos
- Mackie HR824 active reference monitors
- Power Macintosh beige G3 300MHz serial port minitower
- 4 networked Opcode Studio 4 interfaces for 512 MIDI channels
- Anatek 8-Way StudioMerge and MIDI Solutions QuadraMerges
MIDI input and alternative MIDI controllers
- Hardware MIDI Sequencers
- genoQs Machines Octopus (2 units), Legacy and Black Sea editions
- Manikin Electronics Schrittmacher (2 units)
- Roland MC-80EX with hard drive and GS sounds
- SND SAM-16
- Yamaha RM1x
- Anatek Wind Machine with Yamaha BC2 (2 systems)
- Buchla and Associates Lightning II wand controller
- Buchla Thunder with back-up memory cards
- E-mu Launch Pad
- Interactive Light Dimension Beam (3 units)
- used with Anatek Pocket Transpose & Mappers
- Keyfax Phatboy controller
- Korg KAOSS v.1 and KP2 multi-effects/controller pads
- Kurzweil ExpressionMate ribbon controller
- MidiVox voice-to-MIDI-Converter, used with Anatek Pocket Curve
- Oberheim Cyclone arpeggiator
- Oberheim Drummer pattern/fill generator
- Oberheim Strummer guitar simulator
- Peavey PC-1600x fader box (2 units)
- Roland HPD-15 HandSonic Percussion Pad
- Starr Labs VRX-II black guitar controller with trigger bars
- Starr Labs VRX-III blue guitar controller with string triggers
- Yamaha WX5 Wind Controller
- uberHamster-Pro Kung Fu master MIDI timing source
Synths and modules
- Access Virus C Indigo2
- Access Virus C Indigo2 limited edition "Redback"
- Alesis D4 Drum Module
- Alesis A6 Andromeda (2 units)
- Alesis Ion
- Alesis Micron
- Alesis QuadraSynth Plus (2 units), all Quadra- and Q-Cards
- Alesis QSR
- Alesis SR16 Drum Machine
- Big Briar signed early Etherwave theremin with CV-out and Moog TB-15 amplifier
- Big Briar 91C concert theremin, black finish with gold-plated antennae and smoked plexiglass speaker
- Casio CZ-1 Phase Distortion synth
- Clavia Nord Electro2 rack
- Clavia Nord Lead 1: 12 voices, Clavia library cards
- Clavia Nord Lead 2X
- Clavia Nord Lead 3
- Dave Smith Instruments desktop Evolver
- Dave Smith Instruments PolyEvolver Keyboard
- Dave Smith Instruments PolyEvolver Rack
- Elektron MachineDrum
- Elektron SidStation
- E-mu Procussion
- E-mu Morpheus Z-Plane Synth, all E-mu PCM/library cards
- E-mu MPS Plus Orchestral KB, all E-mu library cards
- E-mu Orbit V2 the Dance Planet
- E-mu Planet Earth (2 units)
- E-mu Planet Phatt
- E-mu Turbo rack shell with 4 synth & World ROMs
- E-mu UltraProteus, all E-mu PCM/library cards
- E-mu Vintage Keys Plus
- Ensoniq Fizmo Transwave Synth with regulator fix
- FutureRetro 777 monophonic analog synth
- JoMoX Airbase99 analog drum synth (2 units)
- JoMoX seXbase09 TokTok limited edition analog beatbox
- JoMox SunSyn analog polysynth
- Kawai K5000S, memory-expanded with Kawaii sound library
- Korg Electribe-A
- Korg Electribe-R
- Korg MS2000
- Korg 03R/W (2 units), all Korg PCM/library card sets
- Korg Prophecy Solo Synth
- Korg Wavestation A/D (2 units), all Korg PCM/library card sets
- Korg Wavestation EX
- Korg Wavestation SR (2 units), all Korg SR-PCM card sets
- Korg X5DR module
- Korg Z1-EX with Korg memory card
- Kurzweil Micro-Piano
- Manikin Electronics Memotron, charcoal Limited Edition
- Modulus Electronics Monowave (2): #12 & #30 of 30 units made
- Moog Music customized Signature v.3 Minimoog Voyager (KB)
(not for the faint-hearted!) - Moog Music Anniversary v.3 Minimoog Voyager (KB)
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- Moog Music Little Phatty Tribute and Stage Editions
- Novation A-Station (2 units)
- Novation BassStation Keyboard
- Novation BassStation Rack
- Novation DrumStation v.2
- Novation K-Station
- Novation SuperBassStation
- Novation Supernova II Pro/X Rack (48 voices)
- Novation Supernova II Pro/X Keyboard (48 voices)
- Novation X-station25
- Oberheim Matrix 1000 (3 units)
- Oberheim Xpander (2 units, latest updates, 1 with external audio input mod)
- Quasimidi Polymorph morph-sequencing synth
- Quasimidi Rave-O-Lution 309 rhythm synth with expansions
- Roland D-550 L.A. Synthesizer (2 units) with PG-1000 Programmer
- Roland JD-800 with all 8 Roland PCM/library card sets
- Roland JD-990 with Vintage Synth expansion board
- Roland JP-8000
- Roland JP-8080 with memory card
- Roland MC-505 Groovebox with memory card
- Roland SC-880 Sound Canvas (2 units)
- Roland SH-32 Wave Synthesizer
- Roland U-220 with all 15 Roland PCM cards
- Studio Electronics ATC-1 with cartridge selector and 4 filters
- Studio Electronics CODE-8 polysynth: four filter sets, OD, op amps
- Studio Electronics SE-1x (2 units)
- Vermona Drm1 MkII: chrome knobs, wood sides
- Viscount "Oberheim" OB12
- Waldorf Micro-Q (blue)
- Waldorf Microwave 1, v2.0 (2 units)
- Waldorf MicroWave II
- Waldorf Microwave XT
- Waldorf MicroWave XTk
- Waldorf Pulse Monosynth: 7 Pulse units and 1 Pulse Plus
- Waldorf Q (32 voices): blue with wood ends
- Waldorf Q+, Phoenix edition
- Yamaha AN1x
- Yamaha FS1R
- Yamaha VL-70m with Patchman TURBO-VL ROM upgrade
- Vermona Drm1 MkIII: chrome knobs, wood sides
Effects and special-purpose processors
- Alesis Ineko Desktop Effects Processor
- Alesis Quadraverb 2 (version 2) multi-effects (2 units)
- Alesis Wedge desktop reverb (2 units)
- Antares Systems ATR-1 Auto-Tune Intonation Processor
- BBE 882 Sonic Maximizer
- Boss SE-70 multi-effects (2 units)
- Boss SX-700 multi-effects
- Boss VF-1 multi-effects
- dbx 386 Dual Vacuum Tube Preamp with Digital Out
- dbx 1066 compressor/limiter/gate
- dbx 1086 mic processor with analog and digital I/O
- Digitech Studio Vocalist v.2 with digital I/O
- Electrix FilterFactory analog filter
- Electrix Mo-FX time synchronized effects
- Electrix Repeater loop/phrase Sampler
- Electrix Warp Factory vocoder
- Empirical Labs EL8SX Distressors with British mod
- Empirical Labs Fatso, Jr.
- Eventide Eclipse v.3
- Eventide Princeton Reverb 2016
- FMR Audio RNC--Really Nice Compressor
- Korg KAOSS KP2 multi-effects pad (also listed as a MIDI controller)
- Lexicon JamMan Digital Delay/Looper with full 32s. memory
- Lexicon LXP-1 and LXP-5 effects
- Lexicon MPX1 Multi-Effects
- Lexicon MPX-550 Multi-Effects (2 units)
- Lexicon MRC Controller
- Lexicon Vortex multi-effects with a custom-built desktop controller
- Moog Music MoogerFoogers (with custom black-finished wood):
- CP-251 Control Processor
- MF-101 Lowpass Filter
- MF-102 Ring Modulator
- MF-103 Phaser
- MF-104 Analog Delay
- MF 104SD Super Delay
- MF-105 MuRF Multiple Resonance Filter Array
- MF 105b Bass MuRF
- MF-107 Freqbox
- VX-351 Voyager CV Expander
- Mutronics Mutator with MIDI board
- Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro with 198s. memory and foot controller
- Roger Linn Designs AdrenaLinn (with version II upgrade)
- Sangean ATS 909 AM/FM/SW radio with Rec/Line output
- Sherman Filterbank 2 analog filter unit
- Sony HR-MP5 multi-effects
- T.C. Electronics Finalizer Plus mastering processor
- T.C. Electronics FireworX multi-effects
- T.C. Electronics M-One dual effects processor
- T.C. Electronics D-Two multitap rhythm delay
- T.C. Electronics Triple-C stereo compressor
Recording equipment
- Akai DPS24 MkII workstation with SCSI backup system
- Audio-Technica AT4050 and AT4033 large-diaphragm condenser mics
- Marantz CDR420 HD/CD Recorder
- Roland VS-1880's (3), 2FX cards each and CDRW-II
- Tascam DA-30 and DA-30MkII DAT decks
- Tascam 122mkIII high-performance stereo cassette
- Tascam 202mkII dual cassette dubbing deck
- Tascam PortaStudio 5 for direct-to-mp3 recording
- HHb CDR-800 compact disc recorder
- HHb CDR-830 Plus compact disc recorder
Composing Corner - Collected components
- Apple Powerbooks: 300MHz G3 "Wallstreet", OS 8.6
- Opcode Studio 2, 3, 4, and 5LX MIDI interfaces
- various late-edition Roland GS-series modules
- Original "maxWerk" composing/arranging software described below
Other studio equipment
- Array Instruments Mbira with stereo pickup systems
mahogany and koa--90 tines
mahogany and paduak--150 tines - Mackie LM-3204 mixers (3) with 1 Expander
- Mackie MS 1202VLZ sub-mixers (3)
- Behringer RX1602 Euro-Rack sub-mixers (8)
- Boss MX-10 and miscellaneous other sub-mixers
- Mackie CR-1604 mixer fed by line mixers and all playback equipment
- Rane SM26B (mix mode) routing audio to Monitor Two's for room listening
- Roland PMA-5 Personal Music Assistant with power supply
- Open phones: Beyer DT990 Pro, Sennheiser HD580
- Sealed phones: AKG 270S (2 pairs), Audio-Technica ATH-M40, Beyer DT770 Pro, Sony MDR-7506
- Wireless phones: Sennheiser RS-80
- Alesis RA-100 reference amplifier (2nd unit) with Alesis Monitor Two's
- Re-an 48-point balanced patchbays
- Anatek Pocket Products galore, 5 Ensoniq MIDI-bugs
- and Wally the authentic Norwegian rack troll
Most-used software (various synth editors not listed)
Interactive MIDI
- RedMoon's maxWerk: a 16-track composing/arranging program by Amanda Pehlke, written in Cycling '74's MAX graphic programming environment and featuring realtime keyboard and fader box control.
Sequencing (MIDI features only)
- Opcode--Vision and Studio Vision Pro, integrating with Galaxy Plus Editors
What's on my wish-list? Click here for a tale of temptation!
