More studio changes

I'm still moving around some stuff in my studio. I found a nice spot for the Juno 60 in my analog corner. I moved the JX-8P that was in that spot somewhere else. The Kenton DCB to midi convertor is on the Juno 106 that is directly on the right of the Juno 60 now. Two brothers next to each other :) As you can see I also found a spot for the Poly 800 reversed keys just behind it. I ofter get the question if everything is connected so I can play. The answer is yes. Everything is connected with midi and audio to play right away.

I also put another table top rack on my desk on the right in my digital corner. I moved the Access Virus B and Novation Supernova 2 to this rack. These synthesizer were in my big rack, but since these synthesizers have a lot of knobs I like to turn, I wanted to have them closer to my work spot. On the bottom of the rack you see a Roland UM550 midi interface that I actually use as a patch bay to connect these synthesizers to the midi in and out of the Virus TI Polar. This way I can easily jam on them from the Polar keyboard. Also the Blofeld and plugiator are connected to this patchbay. This way I can also stack them easily for a very thick sound.

The last thing it did is add two small keyboard stands to put the Roland SH201 and Oberheim/Viscount OB12 near to me. I put them on the right of my digital corner. I can play 6 keyboards at the same time now from this work spot, well 2 at a time off course ;) Very nice for jamming, but also when I'm recording. I like some keyboards more for playing chords and others more for soloing, even depending on the kind of sound I use. For pitch bending for example I love the Roland joystick, and for modulation sometimes a modulation wheel is easier, because it stays in the position you put it and the Roland joystick doesn't. Well I'm sure I'm not done moving yet. Still trying to achieve some optimal situation. I think soon will be time for new pictures for my website :)

Access Virus TI Polar

The Access Virus TI Polar is one of my favorite synthesizers. It is such a versatile and flexible machine. You can literally do anything with it. It is commonly mistaken to be a 'trance' synthesizer. I think this is because there are a lot of presets for it in that genre. But it can certainly do much more. My good friend Qui Robinez is an excellent sound designer and he made some great patches for the TI. I use several patches from his 2007 'Solar' set on my AeroDynamics album. For example the lead sounds in the solos on 'Falcon' and 'Turbulence' come from his hand. You won't believe that these sounds come from the TI actually. You can download his soundset from the Access Music website at: http://www.access-music.de/. Off course the TI it still is a VA (Virtual Analog) and you will hear some aliasing sometimes. But it can do things you would never be able to with any real analog.

I used to have a TI desktop before by the way, but I couldn't resist the looks on the Polar. Isn't it astonishing? I love it for sure. And it is so much nicer to have keys on it and controls that match the sounds. Here on the right you another picture which shows the amazing white leds a bit better. You should really see it in the dark :) But I could make a good pictures in the dark unfortunately. The unique feature that makes this synthesizer so special is the Total Integration part (TI). You get a VST plugin that you can use in your sequencer software where you can totally control and edit the synthesizer over an USB connection. You can also route up to 3 stereo channels internally, so you need no outboard gear to record it and off course all is perfectly in sync with latency compensation and all. All in all a perfect workhorse. This one is certainly not leaving my studio unless off course Access Music comes up with something even better :)