An old PC laptop could be relegated to the closet or (worse, since it’s highly toxic) landfill. But filled up with tasty freeware plug-ins, it’s a virtual studio full of tools and oddities. Via the feast of gear that is the CDMusic pool on Flickr, our friend Jumahat Leman aka uncle bigbrown artfully captures his budget software setup, described as follows:

• A 4+yrs old Acer laptop (a desktop replacement to be exact)
• Ableton Live 5.01 w/lots of freeware VSTs
• using same earphones/headphones/ToneportGx for recording

** My observation:
If you’re a “free VSTs/plugins” hunter/user like me, there’s tons of them available for download for the Wins platform in the worldwideweb. That’s where “cheap” Mac users/lovers (like me) are at a disadvantage with our OSX. So its always good to have a Wins machine at your disposal…

The Mac doesn’t get left out either, though. A G4 tower has become a virtual guitar stompbox and recording studio:

• 9 yrs old Sawtooth “Earache” G4 Mac
• Ableton Live 5.01 w/freeware plug-ins
• $80 Toneport GX
• old iPod earphones or $50 Sennheiser Headphones (for recording/monitoring/mixing)

**most times i load the “mixed songs” into the iPod to listen/compare/mix and check eq/volume.

(The guitar is a PRS SE Paul Allender.)

If these visuals got your attention, there’s another lesson to be learned here. Not only does this visual illustration give you a sense of what his workflow is about and perhaps passes along some tips, but he uses photos and illustrations as a great promotional tool. It helps that Jumahat is a talented designer. I love his mini-portfolio, below. He also makes wonderful promotional posters and stickers. As I noted earlier this week, the ability to make something visually expressive that is meaningful to your music can be powerful – starting with album art, but going beyond that.

Or, to make a more important point, Jumahat has one of the only tasteful MySpace pages I’ve ever seen — and that’s a feat.

Happy weekend projects to everyone; hope this provides some inspiration.

drechohead, Jumahat’s MySpace page
echoinmyhead @blogpspot, with more visual goodies

Updated: Plug-in List

Now, the answers revealed. (See if you guessed any of these correctly.)

Mac

• Studio Devil BVC (for my guitar needs)
• Togu Audio Line TAL Tube (to “tubify” guitar or other sounds, or “overdrive” them more)
• Togu TAL Dub (for my delay needs)

PC

• BTE Audio Juicy77 (for most of my guitar distortion needs)
• BTE Audio TSS (tube screamer stompbox simulation)
• Audio Damage Pulse Modulator (for crazy sounds)
• E-phonic Retrodelay (for mild delay needs)

ALL of my plug-ins are freeware coz i’m cheap! ; )

Some magazines have no standards, I guess. Nice work if you can get it, though.

Seriously, though, the folks at XLR8R Magazine have a book out called Bedroom Rockers: Where DJs Call Home; check out a PDF sample plus parties for the book in NY (tonight), Miami, Chicago, Boston, and Berkeley, with DJs (of course) and hopefully free drinks (at least looks that way here in NYC). Now we just need a hardcover book on Laptop Musicians. (Sounds like a job for EM411; see: Your Studios)

You know the problem: computer furniture seems to be built for imaginary people with undersized tower computers who never actually do anything. Want to integrate a music keyboard, computer, monitors, and a rack of gear in a small space? Good luck! But James (of reflexaudio and the fabulous new blog Retro thing) sends along a great solution:

Australian manufacturer M Rack makes fantastically designed studio furniture that’d be great for apartment studios. They racks are expensive (the setup in the attached pic runs about $2200), but they’re beautifully made. As a vital bonus, everything’s within arm’s reach. The site pics are horrible, so I’ve attached a snapshot of Terry Williams’ rig.

Lots of different options, so there may be something on their site that works for you. Thanks, James!

M Rack Studio Furniture [M Rack website with furniture details]

Play guess the gear! James just added the whole gear list from Terry in the comments, so before you peek, see if you can intuit what’s on there. (Especially challenging with the software — you’ll have to do a personality analysis or something.)

So you’ve been reading ths site long enough to see lots of interactive tables — alternative musical interfaces that involve moving blocks around a surface. But what practical use would this ever have, you say?

Clearly, outfitting the workplace of the future — or at least so says Lexus to its designers, which is equipping them with interactive desks. The Ecco Design Personal Pond desk (Trendir story) creates soothing music and lighting effects while you move around your hands or two stones on the table. And this helps us be more productive — how, exactly? Nonetheless, it’s nice to see the mainstream taking note of interactive musical table tech — keep your resumes handy, interactive designers.

(See CDM’s musical table roundup, or check out the pixelsumo blog for more tables.)

We’ve been watching studios for the past months (do a quick search for ’studios’ on CDM and you’ll see what I mean), from dream DJ rigs to pro post as built by Peter Jackson. But I’m still impressed by the growing thread on the osxaudio.com forum, complete with pics and specs. My favorite is the Dalek-topped Moog Modular. I’ll bet most people don’t realize just how professional the Web community’s gear is. If you’re looking for some efficient space-using tips (well, and some sloppier solutions), here’s a good glimpse. Perfect for keeping the significant other happ– well, perfect for keeping the significant other:

OS X Audio: Post Your Studio

Speaking of which, my own studio is finally moving: posts have been a little thin Friday through early this week as I’m about to move downtown to the financial district of Manhattan. But I’ll be resurfacing soon. Thanks for the heads-up on this to Atariboy, who has his own impressive studio with vintage computer gear.

CDM reader Tim in New Zealand gets our dream 5.1 surround studio prize: 250-input Euphonix desk? Check. Actual movie theater for production? Check. Ultra-sexy mood lighting and furniture? But of course.

How do you get to work in a post production studio that looks like it could double as someone’s evil headquarters in a Bond flick? Simple: wait until Peter Jackson shoots another Lord of the Rings Trilogy in your backyard, let that whole film get done (Tim says he’s not a fan, and turned down a freelance-only FX gig on the films), and then sit back, relax, and get ready to mix in the world’s most beautiful studio.

The Park Post Road site is still under construction; check it out for one nice shot and click the movie screen to watch the studio being built, time-lapse style. But Tim does send a full photo essay on sound design for The World’s Fastest Indian. Let me get this straight: you call playing around with vintage cars and motorcycles work?

Meanwhile, for more of Peter Jackson’s fantasy expenditures, don’t miss Music Thing’s coverage of Peter’s $100,000 nickelodeons. The guy’s got style.

We continue our look at studios we wish we had by going to . . . Branson, Missouri?! Yes, Branson is now home of the elegant Citywalk Studios. Here’s the good news: you can find out just about everything you need to learn about acoustic treatment from the Auralex website; Citywalk’s builders made use of the acoustic products company’s friendly instructions. You might not use quite the amount of Auralex kit these guys did, but you’ll find a little high-quality acoustic treatment can go a long way. And, of course, it looks great, and I’m guessing is substantially cheaper than the cardboard wall sculpture on Gizmodo earlier.

Part of a series looking inside readers’ studios . . .

Atariboy is the Melbourne-based graphic designer and musician behind the UI for some of our favorite software (see his EM411 page and plasq.com). Apparently he knows something we don’t, because it looks like he’s stockpiling vintage Macs and PCs in preparation for some sort of silicon apocalypse, at least if you look at pictures of his studio. But when my friends are raptured, I know I’m going to want to ease the pain of having to accept the Mark of the Beast by chilling on an SE/30, so, Cris, can I get your address? (Cute dogs, by the way? No studio should be without them.)

Part of a series looking inside readers’ studios . . .

It’s beyond me why people waste time on message boards debating the merits of hardware versus software. Come on, people: it’s 2005. Most of use a mix of the two, in different combinations. Check out Wally’s studio; whoever can identify every last piece of gear here, no matter how obscure, wins a prize. Well, not an actual prize, but you can trash-talk the rest of us or something.

Most important lessons learned from this studio:

Everyone should have a Herman Miller Aeron chair. They’re only US$649 now? (Can I get my insurance to pay before I kill my back, please?)

Part of a series looking inside readers’ studios . . .

Ah . . . living space and working space. For most of us, they’re one in the same. Witness San Francisco-based sound designer Dan Dugan’s island of sound creation in his home. Digital meets analog: reel-to-reel? Check. Dolby gear? Check. Computer system? Check.

[Take a closer look in the gallery -- the first shot Dan sent I would never have imagined was in his home!

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