My Atari Studio

My Atari Studio (Chronological Order)

2007

My Atari and MIDI home based studio as it was in 2007. If I recollect, what got me started with music hardware in the 80s was a Bontempi B3 organ as a kid, followed by a Yamaha PSS-170 keyboard and a Yamaha DD-10 drum machine. This then is essentially the third incarnation of my home studio which began in earnest in the 1990s, swapping out a Roland MS-1 sampler, Yamaha MU-10 sound module and a beautiful little Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro 14 channel mixer.

Atari STFM with TOS 2.06 switcher, AutoSwitch OverScan, Marpet 4MB Xtra-RAM, System Solutions MiniS 850 MB SCSI HD via ICD Link 2, SyQuest EZ135 drive, Trust mono monitor, optical mouse, SoundPool MO4 MIDI expander, Keyfax Phat.Boy MIDI controller and Canon BJ10SX printer.

Marantz CDR630, Akai S2000 sampler with IB208P output expansion board, EB16 effects board, 32mb and SyQuest ezflyer drive, Roland JV1080 with 60s & 70s and Hip Hop expansion boards, Novation Bass Station and Novation Drum Station v2. What can't be seen is a Focusrite Platinum Track Master channel strip and a Denon DN-2100F dual CD player.

Roland VS1680 digital studio workstation and Yamaha SY85 synth.

Roland DS30a monitors.

Audio Technica AT4033a microphone.

Technics SL-1200MK2s and a Vestax PMC 07 Pro two channel scratch mixer.

2015 to Current

Since around 2015 I have been bitten by the bug and have gradually been expanding the home studio. This has also involved various Atari related projects, as well as studio based projects which have centred around upgrades, refurbishment and replacements. The intention was the home studio had to satisfy various high level factors:

· Firstly like every room in this house, the studio's primary function is to serve as a room in a home first, studio second

· To combine a balance of hobbyist, old and new (as of now) technology

· Everything has to be connected with no disconnecting and reconnecting necessary in the main

· Everything has to be positioned as ergonomically as possible, but conforming to point one

· No clutter

My MIDI based studio.

The studio is centred around my Commodore 64, Atari ST, Atari Falcon and Apple MacBook Pro, outputting through my Roland DS30a monitors. 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit machines working together in a beautiful mishmash of technological history.

The second wall facing my Ataris, essentially comprising of my DJ set up and MacBook Pro, a Teensy YM2149 V1 synth from Catskull, Novation Launchkey MK3 MIDI controller keyboard and Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 (2nd Gen.) audio interface. The Mac mainly runs Ableton Live, Maschine and various soft synths and plug ins.

Atari STFM, now comprising of an Exxos v2.2 Booster switchable between 8 and 16MHz, Fast TOS Switcher switchable between TOS 1.04 and TOS 2.06, 4MB MMU RAM switchable between 1MB and 4MB, AutoSwitch OverScan, BLiTTER, Steinberg MIDEX MIDI expander, a Golden Image trackball and a cased UltraSatan. The main music and MIDI software I run is Cubase, Avalon, Replay 16, MaxYMiser and the ADAP, ADAP II and ADAS samplers and D2D recorders, although the ADAPs and ADAS are very much about preserving pieces of history. Currently the ST is set up with 12 MIDI Outs and 12 MIDI Ins.

Atari Falcon with 14MB of RAM, 6882 FPU and a dual IDE to CF drive, again with a Golden Image trackball, C-Lab Combiner, Emagic Log 3 and SoundPool MO4. I also have a CT60e accelerator which I plan to incorporate eventually. The main music and MIDI software I run is CAF, LAF, Zero-X, Squash it!, ACE Tracker, ACE MIDI and MaxYMiser. Although I do now need to re-configure it for D2D capability, which I may or may not do as it is not essential. Currently the Falcon is set up with 6 usable MIDI Outs and 6 MIDI Ins.

My customised LukHash C64C housed in a C16 case. Used for its SID chip running mostly Cynthcart via the Kerberos MIDI interface and MSSIAH. Also runs the FM-YAM sound expander. Also pictured is perhaps my favourite drum machine for many years, mainly because it is digital and breaks away from the analogue trend with drum machines, the Elektron Machinedrum SPS-1 UW+ MKII, as well as a Friend-Chip K..AT remote for when I can't reach my Atari ST.

My customised LukHash 'Poison Mushroom' NES, which mainly runs Chip Maestro, allowing me to play the NES as a MIDI instrument from my Atari Falcon and Novation AFX Station via the SoundPool MO4.

Many years ago I sold a Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro mixer, solely with the intent of using the digital mixer on my Roland VS1680. It all sounded too clinical, so to warm the sound of my studio up I re-introduced an analogue mixer as my main mixer, this time a classic Mackie 1604 in its VLZ4 guise. It's Mackie mixers all the way for me! Other outboard gear include a TC Electronic M350 effects unit, an ART SCL2 2-Channel Compressor / Limiter Expander and Gate, as well as my trusty Marantz CDR630.

I have a slight fetish for mono synths, this one being my Arturia MiniBrute, alongside my fetish for samplers, in this instance an Akai MPC2500 SE.

Another mono synth, a x0xb0x (zocksbox) from x0x Source. A faithful clone of the infamous Roland TB303. The premises of this clone was to use original components where they can be sourced, and modern day equivalents for those components no longer available, such a beautiful idea! Next to the x0xb0x is the NDLR (noodler) from Conductive Labs, a fantastic unique MIDI controller encouraging generative sequencing. Also pictured is my Nanoloop FM handheld tracker.

My small modular Eurorack set up, comprising of a Moog Mother 32 semi modular mono synth, amongst other Eurorack module goodness.

My faithful rack gear, an Akai S2000 sampler still with the IB208P output expansion board, EB16 effects board, 32mb and SyQuest ezflyer drive, Roland JV1080 with 60s & 70s, Hip Hop and now Vintage Synth expansion boards, Novation Bass Station, Novation Drum Station v2, now a Yamaha TX81Z and Yamaha CBX-D3.

My rack of Atari peripherals, namely the Steinberg SMP II, Hybrid Arts ADAP SoundRack and ADAP II Portable. Also a couple of MIDI controllers, the Stereoping Synth Controller for the TX81Z, and GMedia Phat.Boy v2 for the JV1080.

My Plasmec ADAS, UltraSatan and OSSC for my Atari ST.

My sub mixer for mainly my Atari ST, Falcon and related peripherals, a Mackie 802 VLZ4. Also pictured is my GigaFile from Inventronik and Line Audio Design JAM 8, as well as a MIDIMan MacMan and Nintendo Gameboy DMG-01 running LSDJ, Nanoloop, Nanoloop Mono and GB-303, including LSDJMC2 MIDI Convertor for the Gameboy. All are connected to the Falcon.

My faithful Roland VS1680 digital studio workstation, now expanded with the last OS which was made available, the largest hard disk it can accommodate and a second Roland VS8F2 effects board. Also lurking underneath is my equally faithful Yamaha SY85.

My Native Instruments Maschine MK3, pictured alongside is a Teenage Engineering PO-20 Arcade and PO-32 Tonic.

The iconic Technics SL1200MK2s which I have had for years, now with Ortofon Concorde Scratch MK2s and a Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol Z2 mixer.