How to arrange your gear

Hi


I got back into making music about a year ago and I managed to aquire a few great instruments (sub37, two mother 32, 0-coast, Virus C, OP-1, MFB Schlagzwerg, volca beats, keystep pro and a bunch of effects). I am struggling now in how I should arrange my workspace. I keep on rearranging everything, but somehow it never fits.

Do you keep a fixed setup, everything cabled and set to play or do you arrange according to your needs?

My space is a bit restricted, so I would like to keep it as compact as possible.


Stefan

I found that unless I have everything hooked up, I am not likely to use everything I have as I would like to. I set up a U-shape with everything so I can sit right in the middle. At a maximum, I will swap an input cable on guitar pedals in order to start recording. MIDI and all other audio is set up and ready to go.

Or (to throw the cat amongst the pigeons) you could consider the complete opposite: to focus the mind more, putting all gear aside except maybe 2 or 3 pieces, then writing a single track with that scaled down setup. Sort of like gear roulette.

I have 4 set ups ,
(1)Super retro gear (with Atari St) see’s little action.
(2)Turn tables and Kaoss & FX racks in one mixer . (3rd) 2nd big mixer is filled with synth & FX/ decks return. Both mixers fired at each other . This is sort of U shaped and consistent ,so I remember what’s going on.
(4th) Now(new) I have a coffee table top of mobiles that interchange , including my Octatatack I’m investigating, but it consists of POs ,Volca,Monotribe/Trons and a KP2. I can switch outputs as needed and I have a @DarenAger hand built ,sending the lot to my main mixer.
OP-1 I use stand alone a lot and don’t need it for sequencing or rec my main gear, on the whole.
Working out your set up is major. There is a great thread on this , I’m on my mobile and can’t find it, but its “Photos/diagrams of your set up”.

I hook up my gear differently according to everything I do, and usually use no more than 1/3 of my gear at a time.

I wire things differently for production, recording, jamming with others, live performances, and for sampling. I wish I didn’t have to but I accepted that this the best method for me, since I like to keep things minimal and my space is limited.

If you’re trying to get everything set up in a small space, try arranging some things vertically. I occasionally use old guitar effects pedal boxes to raise things on my table.

I hook up my gear differently according to everything I do, and usually use no more than 1/3 of my gear at a time.

I wire things differently for production, recording, jamming with others, live performances, and for sampling. I wish I didn't have to but I accepted that this the best method for me, since I like to keep things minimal and my space is limited.

If you're trying to get everything set up in a small space, try arranging some things vertically. I occasionally use old guitar effects pedal boxes to raise things on my table.

I do this too ^. It have a few rolling shelves, racks, cubbies for unused gear… Sometimes it takes a day or more to setup the lab for my mad villain schemes but that is part of the fun. Once set-up, the creativity comes quicker. Small mixers and cable adapters come in handy big-time.

I hook up my gear differently according to everything I do, and usually use no more than 1/3 of my gear at a time.

I wire things differently for production, recording, jamming with others, live performances, and for sampling. I wish I didn't have to but I accepted that this the best method for me, since I like to keep things minimal and my space is limited.

If you're trying to get everything set up in a small space, try arranging some things vertically. I occasionally use old guitar effects pedal boxes to raise things on my table.

Yeah, I’m coming to terms with this as well, getting used to having an ever-mutating setup and recording every jam, rather than trying to set things up so I can replicate all of my patterns exactly with the same setup every time…