Recording - May 2010 - 38

In this month’s Keyboard Column, Devon Brent teaches us some startling numbers on just how little a great studio synth rig can cost!

A K E Y B O A R D R A C K ON A BUDGET
Is the following statement reflecting fact or fiction? “It is more expensive to use hardware synthesizers than to use software synthesizers on your DAW of choice.” The answer might surprise the heck out of you! Synthesizer software runs the gamut of prices, from freeware to multi-thousand dollar packages with hundreds of Gigabytes of samples. So does hardware—except, “F-R-E-E” may have to mean that your buddy is feeling generous, or it may mean “practically free” at a garage sale where they don’t know what they have. Still, the hardware market has hundreds of used makes and models from the last few decades that are not considered ‘classics’, and many were never emulated in software. Underappreciated as “yesterday’s news”, they often have prices right in league with what I’d say is the “average” commercial softsynth price, somewhere from $99 to $299. And being cheap doesn’t have to mean ‘you get what you pay for’—with a well-maintained instrument you may actually get a lot more than what you paid for. Just like software, hardware takes is a little planning up front and a little know-how. With a little patience, you can get your own hardware rackmount studio together for a fairly affordable price. The sounds First, ask yourself what kinds of sounds from what type of synthesizer you need that you never got around to buying: FM, Analog, Virtual Analog, Sampler, or ROMpler (sample playback keyboard)? Do your homework here. Below is a short list of long-discontinued rackmount synthesizers, with approximate sale prices I’ve seen on Ebay in early 2010. (Caveat: I’m no appraiser, and Ebay “solds” are constantly in flux.) ROMPler – Korg NS5R/NX5R, $125. Alesis QSR, $150. VCO Analog – Oberheim Matrix 1000, $300. DCO Analog – Ensoniq ESQ-M, $250. Kawai K3m, $100. Roland MKS-50, $200. Virtual Analog – Korg MS2000R/BR, $300-$350. Novation A-Station, $200. FM and FM/ROMpler combinations – Yamaha TG77, $225. Yamaha TX81Z, $80. Yamaha FB-01, $30. Sampler – Emu ESI32, $100. Akai S1000, $100. Planning the rack For most of us, our gear collection is always in a state of flux; what interested you yesterday might not catch your ear today, or you end up having a bad bout of G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome). Still, try to build a roadmap to an endstate of what you want in your studio, by considering the following about the items you’re looking to acquire:
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RECORDING MAY 2010

By Devon Brent

• How many synthesizers and/or other rackmount ‘goodies’ do you wish to buy? • How tall are the rack unit(s) in U (1U = 1.75”, 2U is 3.5”, etc.)? • What kind of outputs do they have or how many do you plan to use? Next comes the rack itself, and issues of power, MIDI, and audio interface. The rack: Pick the right rack, by how many spaces you think you’ll need, and by how deep your deepest rack item will be. Consider leaving open spaces between items, not only because they may run warm and need circulating air, but also because you may need to reach in from the back, and that’s where the depth matters: Plan on mounting the deepest at the bottom and the shallowest on top, so that your rack, in back, forms a ladder, with the inputs and outputs of each item visible and reachable. The deepest is probably also the heaviest, so if you have a portable rack, it will be more stable if the weight is at the bottom. Seem silly? Wait until you try to swap cables on the rear panel of a 3" deep module mounted between two 15" deep modules... and good luck! Prices should run around $60–$80ish for a small 4U rack, and $120–$140 for a 20U rack. The price variance isn’t huge, so allow some space for later additions if you’re not sure of your final setup. You can pay a lot more for a ‘better’ rack, if you like, but we’re going cheap here. Power: While you can go all out on power with UPSs (uninterruptible power supplies), line conditioners and the like, nothing stops you from using the $5 home improvement store power strip. Remember, we’re after price over ‘what’s the best thing to do.’ If you can’t stand to live on the edge, you can invest in a power conditioner later, but note that a cheap model may be functionally equivalent to no protection at all. MIDI: Most of the large 8in/8out interfaces have long been discontinued, which makes them an awesome bargain. For example, my favorite old Emagic AMT8 typically goes for $80–$150ish and works well with Windows XP and prior, along with even the most recent versions of OS X. More modern interfaces have a more modern price tag, but will have updated drivers for Windows 7/Vista. Audio: An affordable favorite of mine is the Behringer RX1602 16-channel 1U line mixer. They go for about $109 street price. Other compact keyboard mixers I’ve seen go for used in the $50–$100 range. Nothing stops you from using a cheap patch bay (typically $100 or so) too. Final option is either having or buying a large audio DAW interface, or patching in each synth as you need it to your DAW. The buying process Buying used gear can be problematic; poorly described conditions, non-working gear, dead/leaking battery backups, versions

Recording - May 2010

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