This song is called “My studio is broken”
(click play above to hear it)
My QuataFire 610 firewire audio/midi interface is broken, so I can’t record stuff from my microphone. I can, however, turn on the built in microphone of my Mac Book Pro.
I’ll noodle about a bit in Renoise to see if I can get the PadKontrol set up to mash down some beats (I’ll use the 808-tape samples). The PadKontrol is a USB device, so it might be possible to use the AN1x synthesizer as a midi keyboard and the line in to record audio. That way I get to use my fancy Rode microphone.
Fuck. Getting all the wiring in the studio is not gonna happen. The mixer is kinda blown, the audio interface makes strange clicking noises while flashing all it’s red lights. The Korg PadKontrol is pretty and randomly flashes it’s illuminated pads. On one screen is Plogue Bidule, that I use to wire all the devices together to make noise. On the other is Renoise, and Ableton Live: the two contenters as I’m trying to decide which route to go down when it comes to noise-making software.
All very pretty, all very retro-high-tech. And it’s not working.
Just to get to the point where I can make that assertion I had to do some serious rewiring. This is the kids room, and the computer here is the one they use for gaming. It runs TinyXP, but it’s still Windows. The machine was kinda hot when I put it together. Some snazzy Athlon processor, a high-end audio card, a fanless Radeon graphics card and whisper silent fans and hard drives.
The mixer is a 24-channel Samson PL2404 that I bought used. It’s a dinosaur, ready to be scrapped. It kinda ties the studio together though, because all the devices in the room gets a channel. The kid’s computer, the synthesizer, the little bundle of mp3-players get one each.
Those channels can then be tweaked in level and stereo position or pan. Each channel can be soloed and muted, and also has a three band equalizer where I can adjust the level of high, mid and low frequencies independently. Each channel can also be fed to one of three auxiliary busses where external audio processing gear can be inserted. On top of the mixer is a Behringer Composer. It’s a compressor that essentially adjusts the levels of the incoming audio to smooth it out. Too much compression means you loose dynamics, but just enough on the output bus, means you can make your music louder. Louder is good right?
But who uses outboard gear like analogue mixers and compressors these days anyway? Isn’t it all done digitally in Pro Tools or Ableton live?
Yeah, that’s the way I’m going. I’ll just scrap the mixer, get something more modern. I need a new audio interface anyway…
… maybe I’ll build an aurora …
Oh yeah, I still haven’t bought Ableton Live so I can’t save the stuff I come up with, except by grabbing audio tempfiles of re-recorded channels. Kinda hard …
(p.s. yeah, I suck :-)
