So….where I have I been? I’ve been in the studio working and getting treated for crippling anxiety brought on by…well…LOOK AROUND.

With that out of the way, I have also been making progress in my studio. I managed to get a piece of music out which you can find on my soundcloud page (here). It’s an interesting little track, and I plan to clean it up a bit and put it out with a collection of tracks revolving around the same subject matter. No rush to get that out, though. I’ll put a more complete blog piece on the process and creation of that track shortly.

One thing that’s been really hampering my work has been the continued disintegration of my Mackie LM3204 mixer. I bought this old dog used on Reverb at a bargain and, well, you do get what you pay for. While the mixer is wonderful and really almost perfect for someone running an old school MIDI setup like mine, this one has seen more than a little abuse in its day and it’s definitely showing it’s age. It could really use a run through by a service tech to bring it up to spec and fix a few defects (a couple channels have intermittent connection issues, and crackling pots)..and sometimes the right output channel just goes completely dead, even at the meter). The problem with doing that is that the studio will be dead while its away getting serviced. Not what I’d like to happen, so I’m looking for a mixer.

The solution I’m leaning toward would be to replace my Mackie and my audio interface (a MOTU 828x that isn’t exactly brand new either) with a Presonus StudioLive 32r. While the 32r offers absolutely no control surface outside of software (something I would miss), it has 32 analog inputs and 16 output that could handle my entire rig and have room for expansion (any ATP compatible device could be networked to it). It would also cut the rack space I need for my audio setup down from 8u to 4u by combining the functions of the Mackie (5u) and the 828(1u) into a single 2u rack (I’d still need two patch bays to manage all the connections). I think it’s a good way to go and I’m almost certain enough to sacrifice to the credit gods to get it.

On the synthesizer front, I am (as always) looking at my next add. I’ve narrowed myself down to either a Waldorf Iridium or a Novation Summit. The Summit is a keyboard and, on speck, looks fantastic. I’ve really liked what I’ve heard friends do with the Peak, and Novation’s track record of improving instruments post release has me interested. I’d like to know about how its dual filter system works, though. That could be a deal breaker. The Iridium, on the other hand, sounds like a deep ocean of an instrument similar to the Korg Kronos, but perhaps even deeper. It has the unfortunate distinction of being a table top unit, though, and I tend to much prefer instruments with attached keyboards. Decisions, decisions.