Studio Consolidation - Opinions needed!

Strauzzie · Post by **Strauzzie** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:47 pm

Okay - this is probably going to be a long post, so bear with me...

Around 2-3 years ago I assembled a small home studio with my limited knowledge of what I was doing, and ended up with a lot of equipment that either a) I don't need or b) doesn't fit my use properly. I'm looking to consolidate and upgrade now, to 'simplify' and increase the quality of my studio based on what I want to do.

Now, to begin with, I write mostly in the tech house / dub / ambient vein, with some live instrumentation thrown in sparingly. I rarely record more than 4 sources at once. My plugin usage is usually limited to PSP VintageWarmer, Korg Legacy Collection, Pluggo, and some freebies here & there.

Currently, my main boxes are a new Dell Inspiron 6000 (1.6 GHz Centrino chip 533 FSB , 512 DDR2 RAM , 60 GB 7200 RPM drive) and a custom desktop from IBuyPower.com (2.4 GHZ Pentium 4 w/ HT, 512 DDR RAM).

My audio interfaces: An RPC-1 w/ Roland SI-24 for the desktop, a M-Audio Firewire Audiophile for the laptop. A M-Audio Ozone I'm probably going to sell.

My studio monitors: 2 Roland DS-90 digital monitors.

My control surfaces: Previously mentioned SI-24. Evolution UC-33e. Korg MicroKontrol. M-Audio Radium 61.

Hard Synths: Korg Karma

So those are the variables in play here. My main goal is to replace the monitors, and the Roland Studio Package (SI-24 & RPC-1). The auxillary question is -- should I keep the PC? Would the laptop be powerful enough to run Ableton / Reason 3.0 / the mentioned plugins / record some audio?

Here are the possible replacements:

* Studio Monitors: *
Behringer Truths (B2031a) - $339 / pair
KRK RP6 Rokit - $399 / pair

* Mixer: *
mackie 1202-VLZ PRO Micro Mixer - $299.00
Behringer Eurorack UB2222FX-PRO Mixer - $249.00

* Audio Interface: *
RME HDSP Multiface / PCI - $768.00
Echo Layla - $499.00
Delta 1010 - $449.00

So, do I sell the desktop? I'm going to be using the laptop for my few gigs, so I kind of worry that if anything happens to it, my studio is SOL..

What justifies the RME's price if they use the same A/D converter as the Layla?

Any opinions on the mixers? or the monitors?

Any advice is truly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark Strauss

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 5:52 pm

Speakerwise, get the KRK's not the Truths, but I also swear by MSP5's and also Alesis M1's.

The mackie will give you better sound then the behringer desk. the behringer will give you more features than the mackie... perhaps look at buying a quality DJ mixer that you can use live and in the studio...

Layla's rock, so I wouldnt worry too much about the RME stuff.. in fact the Layla24 with ADAT can give you 16 outputs!!! REEEEOW!!!

Strauzzie · Post by **Strauzzie** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:06 pm

Thanks sweetjesus. What do you think about the KRK package w/ 10" subwoofer? Is it worth it?

Strauzzie · Post by **Strauzzie** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:14 pm

anyone else? buehler?

AdamJay · Post by **AdamJay** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:39 pm

throw some more ram in your Laptop, and it will be plenty capable.
It should be more capable than the desktop now. So you really don't need the desktop.

as far as the Monitors go. i like the KRKs
i also like the Samson line alot (the 5"'s with the sub are really nice for the money or the Resolv 65a with Resolv 120a sub is good if you have a little more to spend).
One thing with the KRK's though, make sure they aren't placed any higher than your ears, in my experience they start to sound a bit hollow if they aren't aimed directly at your ears or lower.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:17 am

AdamJay wrote:throw some more ram in your Laptop, and it will be plenty capable.
It should be more capable than the desktop now. So you really don't need the desktop.

as far as the Monitors go. i like the KRKs
i also like the Samson line alot (the 5"'s with the sub are really nice for the money or the Resolv 65a with Resolv 120a sub is good if you have a little more to spend).
One thing with the KRK's though, make sure they aren't placed any higher than your ears, in my experience they start to sound a bit hollow if they aren't aimed directly at your ears or lower.

the krk's make my ears so unhappy. they do sound really hollow if not aimed right, but they're also extremely unpleasant on the ears in my experience.

minimal · Post by **minimal** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:59 am

as per my personal experience my advice is to go for the yamaha boxes, they really are well built and I'm using a pair since 4 years now, and they still are 100%.
One of them is even falled on the ground during a studio move (silly me) and nothing happened, onlya little mark on the side.
As for the mixer I would say go for the mackie, also built like a tank.
SOme people are happy with other and cheaper mixers too, but I think mackie is a good investment, and the onxy series with optional firewire interface is pretty nice, as it turns your mixer in a good audio interface, with up to 16 inputs depending on the model you choose.
Both yamaha and mackie are a bit expensive but hey, you get what you pay for.
If you can, keep the desktop, it can always be used for secondary purposes.

all the best and stay groovy

stockbender · Post by **stockbender** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:54 pm

personally i stay away from anything samson,behringer...my ears bleed from their products.

instead of KRK's check Bluesky's Media desk 2.1 or Prodesk 2.1 , www.abluesky.com ,much better... or the Yamahas msp5's<--very good

as far as mixers, Mackie's are cool, but id suggest hunting down a used Allen&Heath Mix Wizard 16:2dx, same price...much much better

Echo(layla,gina,etc) cards are ok, but Emu has better cards at the moment for around the same price range.. i would shell out for the RME though if your serious about beatz.

good luck.

randyh · Post by **randyh** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:27 pm

Boycott behringer! They steal all their designs from other companies. Their stuff is junk anyway.

RME stuff is the best but for the average dude it's probably overkill. I agree with the others that the layla is the way to go. I should mention that I own an RME digi96/PST and I've been happy with it for years. I also run an Indigo I/O in my laptop and it is great as well.

I don't think that more RAM is going to help much although it can't hurt. I'd put that money into the other stuff for the time being.

The KRK's are bright and maybe even harsh, but the point of monitors is to get you a good mix, not to sound nice and pleasing. It is a HUGE mistake to choose monitors that sound the best. That is how you choose home speakers, hifi speakers, car speakers, whatever. Studio monitors are a tool for mixing and sounding "nice" isn't the least of their concern. They should, above all, reveal the details of your mix and respond to the changes you make. They should also not wear out your ears. This might be where the KRK's fail. For some people they wear you out after an hour or so of working with them, myself included (although my experience is with an older model). YMMV. A good friend of mine swears by KRK's (and he previously owned mackie hr824's and found them to be too "sweet" for monitoring).

Of course you should also treat your room. That'll make the biggest difference in monitoring (bigger than new speakers).

-r

computo · Post by **computo** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:58 pm

If you dont like Behringer, you'll be glad to know, they have all their stuff assembled in sweatshops.

Unfortunatly, there arent any other options for a $50 submixer!

thats as much as I buy from them...

you should also know that all of the companies profit from slave labor...its a pathetic truth, that most chemicals used in electronic and computer components are mined by slaves in Africa. They may be assembled in the US (mackie) but the components come form the same place...the dismembered arm of a child slave laborer.

sorry if thats a little to realistic!

randyh · Post by **randyh** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:22 pm

It's a sad state, I agree. The cause being the governments who allow slave-made goods into the contry in the first place. You can't blame the companies because if they took the moral high-ground they'd quickly be put out of business by the competitors who are willing to do whatever is just inside the boundries of the law to get the edge. The government must step in and disallow it for ALL the companies - that's the only way it will change. Then add in the fact that these companies are operating on a global scale and it gets really complicated.

-r

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:19 am

Regarding corporate use of slave labour;

It's impossible to avoid, but it can be minimized. Awareness of the issue and applying pressure on corporations by "dollar voting" is key.

Regarding the studio; Is the Korg Karma really necessary? I mean, it's got a lot of goodies for solo live performance, but in a studio setting all of those features are pretty redundant. I mean, who's going to program a Karma patch, including modulating the sequencer and all that, when you just wanna write a song?

You have a bundle of money sitting in that synth / sequencer that could go towards your monitors and a half dozen WICKED soft synths of various types. You have the processing power, a 1.5 centrino is pretty good.

just a suggestion - I still own hardware synths myself, and I can't bring myself to dump 'em (yet) so I guess this I'm the pot calling the kettle black...