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How to Build a Personal Studio on Any Budget

Jul 1, 2002 12:00 PM, Steve O

The Portable Digital Studio - $6000

By Marty Cutler

ITEMS PRICE
AKG C 3000 B large-diaphragm condenser microphone $520
Crown CM-700 small-diaphragm condenser microphone $290
Korg EXB-SMPL sampling option $260
Korg Triton Le keyboard workstation $1,600
M-Audio SP-5B powered monitors $400
Sony MDR-7506 headphones $125
Yamaha AW2816 portable digital studio $2,400
Yamaha CRW3200SXZ external SCSI CD-RW $349
TOTAL $5,944

My $6,000 studio will be a personal creative tool rather than a studio for commercial use. I want a deep but direct way to combine synthesis with acoustic instruments, so I'm going to build the studio in part around a sampling synthesizer, with as much communication as possible between synth and recording unit.

Portable digital studio.

As I strolled out of the bank with my newfound funny money, I contemplated the merits of the Roland VS-2480, the Akai DPS24, and the Yamaha AW4416. Those well-equipped power tools offer features and expandability galore, but sadly, the price tags of my first picks would leave little headroom for a decent synthesizer and the rest.

On the other hand, Roland's VS-1824 and the Yamaha AW2816 sound great, they offer enough simultaneous recording and playback tracks, and they provide automated mixing. The Roland unit provides two more tracks than the AW2816, but ultimately, I opted for the Yamaha unit's superior expansion capabilities and the remarkable synergies that it opens up with my synth workstation.

The Yamaha AW2816 can record simultaneously to 8 tracks and can play back up to 16 tracks. Recording is at 24- or 16-bit resolution, with sampling rates of 48 or 44.1 kHz. Internal processing is 32 bit. The mixer offers 28 channels with 4-band parametric EQ for each channel. The unit writes to a 20 GB hard drive but can address drives with capacities as large as 64 GB. The drive sits in a convenient bay, allowing you to swap drives with ease.

You get a generous complement of inputs, although I would have appreciated four XLR mic inputs instead of two because I want to record multiple acoustic instrument and vocal tracks simultaneously. Fortunately, there are eight balanced 1/4-inch input jacks, and I can always get an external mic preamp or two when the occasion arises. The two XLR-input channels provide defeatable 48V phantom power and 1/4-inch TRS insert jacks, which will come in handy when I can afford to add external processing. A dedicated 1/4-inch high-impedance input lets me plug an electric guitar or bass in to the unit without requiring a direct box or amp.

In addition to left and right RCA mix outputs, the AW2816 sports balanced 1/4-inch monitor outs. Four unbalanced 1/4-inch Omni outs can serve as effects sends, direct outputs, bus outs, or duplicate stereo outs.

The effects section delivers excellent-sounding mono-in, stereo-out effects and includes libraries of patches that draw from reverb, chorus, delay, distortion, filters, and more. Some effects offer MIDI parameter control, such as MIDI Velocity for shaping frequency cutoff on a filter. You can assign an effect as an insert or send it to an auxiliary bus or a return channel.

It's nice to know that the AW2816 features motorized faders for dynamic mixing; if my project is not MIDI-driven, I can create automated mixes without a computer or my synth's onboard sequencer. In addition, the 2816 transmits MIDI CCs for fader moves and the like. That provides serious synergy with my keyboard workstation, allowing me to create and use templates to automate synthesizer parameters. Once I have mixed a project, I can burn masters to the built-in CD-RW drive, back up song data, import or export WAV files, or import Red Book audio.

In order to communicate better with the external world, the AW2816 offers a slot for its proprietary YGDAI cards, which add an 8-channel ADAT or TDIF interface, eight additional 1/4-inch analog inputs, 8-channel Apogee A/D/A, or the formidable Waves Y56K DSP card. I can't afford any of these now, but it's good to know they're available.
Keyboard workstation. I am not a skilled keyboardist, and my budget doesn't allow for a computer, peripherals, and sequencing software. My keyboard is therefore going to need an onboard sequencer with a decent set of editing tools.

I didn't have to think twice. Korg's Triton Le features the same 62-note polyphonic synthesis engine, 32 MB sound set, and 16-track sequencer as the Triton. The main compromises (for my purposes) are the Le's single insert effect, compared with the Triton's complement of three, and the lack of sampling features for the base unit. Most importantly, I love the Triton's sound set, and its strong synthesis features provide the sound-shaping abilities I need. I'd like to spring for the 76-key version of the Le, but the additional $200 hit isn't worthwhile for me.

The Le workstation's 192 ppqn sequencer can record a hefty 200,000 events and 200 songs. Coupled with the unit's linear sequencing capabilities, that gives me plenty of room to sequence a song from start to finish without the need to divide the material into smaller, repetitive chunks. Still, linking smaller patterns lets you reorganize verses, choruses, and bridges more easily, and the Triton Le's Cue List feature allows me to quickly compile songs from individual sequence patterns. The sequencer even has separate tempo and time-signature tracks.

Sampling board and CD-RW.

I'm going to invest $260 of my hard-earned play money on the Korg EXB-SMPL sampling option. The board ships with 16 MB of RAM, and that will have to do for now. It also has a SCSI port, which can address a CD-RW drive.
SCSI CD-RW drives are a vanishing breed in this day of FireWire and USB, but I found a Yamaha CRW3200SXZ external unit that will fit the bill. With its fast read and write speeds, the CD-RW is overqualified for the job, but slower units are rapidly vanishing from the marketplace. Besides, the price is right.

Apart from its ability to add new waveforms to the sound set, the combination of the CD-RW drive and the EXB-SMPL sampling board offers some exciting creative options. For example, it's easy to shunt WAV files between the Triton Le and the AW2816. That means that I can record full-length tracks on the recorder, burn a WAV-file CD, import the files into the Triton Le, use the synth's time-slicing feature, and map parts to MIDI keys. Once the sounds are keymapped, I can sequence the sampled parts and record the Triton Le's considerable real-time synthesis and effects processing into the sequencer.

The AW2816's ability to import Red Book audio lets me take advantage of a wealth of sound libraries in that format. The Triton can read Akai-format sample libraries, which I can then save as WAV files to bring into the Yamaha recorder if I want to.

Speakers.

Because portability is one of my goals, I chose a set of active monitors. I was tempted by editorial compadre Gino Robair's evaluation of the Event PS5 (see "Little Wonders" in the July 2000 issue of EM), but after comparing feature for feature and spec for spec, I decided to go with the M-Audio SP-5B. It offers broader frequency response; clear, powerful bass; and swivelmounted tweeters that let you adjust the sweet spot.
For headphones, I decided on Sony's MDR-7506s. They're extremely comfortable closed-ear cans with a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. I've used them in lots of studios, so I'm happy to add them to mine.

Microphones.

With a decent amount of cash left over, I am able afford to buy an AKG C 3000 B, a versatile large-diaphragm condenser mic that provides a smoother, more detailed high end than the AKG C 1000 S and a beefier bottom than the original C 3000.
I chose the Crown CM-700 as my second mic. It's a small-diaphragm condenser with a warm sound, a versatile list of applications ranging from percussion to stringed instruments, and a low-cut filter for cleaning up a goopy bottom end. This is another mic I've recorded banjo with, and I like it a lot.

Future Expansion.

I would have liked a bit more cash for a MIDI guitar controller, such as the Axon AX100, but I couldn't get Steve O to spring for the extra dough, even when I held my breath. In the future, I'd like to add a second C 3000 B mic for stereo recording, a few sample libraries for the Triton Le, and an uninterruptible power supply to protect my digital electronics.

As it is, I have a versatile studio built around a portable digital studio and synth workstation that will greatly enhance my imaginative possibilities. The key was to carefully examine the features and consider how interactions between two well-implemented yet cost-effective components can provide an enormous creative springboard for my work.