HackSpace sound studio?

[PhilipClevberger]

Ok, just more thought I was discussing with Mr. Klang earlier.

1. We got speakers, (not exactly studio monitors, but we could use the
most decent pair)

2. We got great soundcards (In case none of the focusrite ones work
well enough, we might be able to use the Mixer/sound card Billy is
keeping here at the space) even with mic preamps

3. We got a bunch of MIDI controllers that we may get to work to a
certain extent.

I would be happy to donate my Robot Talkbox (and maybe make a few
plastic mouth pieces that we can run in the dish washer so everyone
dont have to share saliva on the plastic tube)

We do need:
A computer that can run Ableton (or other sequencing and recording
software)
A place to set it all up

This week and next I will be busy but after that I would love to set
it all up (hopefully with help from people that are interested)
I would also love to do a tutorial on Ableton for people keen on
getting started with making music.

Would people be interested?
Could anyone supply the computer, or is there in the space already
that we could use?
I don't dare claim a desk for it without asking. Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers
/Phil The Swedish Cat

[Martin Klang]

I forgot to tell you there's a pledge [1] already for a DAW.

Personally I'm not convinced getting a computer is that important, and a single purpose desktop seems very suboptimal.

Would be great though to have a corner, setup, foldup, box of stuff - anything which is easy enough to plug in and use.

oh and while on the subject, whatever happened to the Sonic Hackers[2]?

/m

[1] http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Pledges/DAW
[2] http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Sonic_Hackers

[PhilipClevberger]

I do think it would be great to have a permanent setup, a computer
with plugins for everyone to use.
Until then I think we can have a permanent setup, where people can
plug in their own laptop if they got their own software of preference.
The only thing we really need now is a good corner that we can use to
set it all up.

I managed to get one of the very sad looking keyboards to work. One of
the ones with exposed cirquit board etc.
It looks great as it is I think.

/Phil

[M]

I think it will be fantastic to have a setup for audio work, but you
cannot reasonably expect speakers to be a part of this setup. The
tools need to be packed away for storage and brought out only when
required. I'm all for getting gear into work with but we need to make
it fair on everyone else.

I think we should consider the possibility of storing things in the
ceiling, after seeing cepmender put in the projector screen I keep
thinking that some storage solutions can be solved that way. We could
have an awesome button to lower the devices down.. :P

Anyway,

Lets get this rolling.

--
>
++++++++++[>+>+++>++
+++++>++++++++++<<<<
-]>>>+++++++.>++++++
+++++.+++..---------
.++++++++++.<<+++.<.

[PhilipClevberger]

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean?

- I think the studio should be for everyone to use. I would be more
then happy to share my skills.

- If the concern regarding the speakers is that it may be annoying. I
think the people using the setup should user their judgement when it's
ok and not. We got 2 boxes full of speakers so I think it would be
silly not to incorporate them. We also got a few sets of headphones.
And they could be used. Some which are really good even.

- I like the idea of using the ceiling somehow. I do think we need to
have setup actually set up. If we could have some sort of board where
everything is plugged in and we could pull it up to get it out of the
way when not being used, that would be brilliant.
I'm not very experienced in building those kind of things. But I'm
very happy to help if anyone got any good idea.
We cant pack the individual items away and expect people to set it all
up every time its going to be used, it would be far to cumbersome.
People are unlikely to be bothered, and are not going to get curious
in learning how to use the stuff.

I think we should only do this if at least a few people would be
interested in using and audio studio on regular basis. Otherwise I
think it would be bad use of the space.

Cheers
/Phil

On Oct 5, 6:56 pm, M <a.turntabl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think it will be fantastic to have a setup for audio work, but you
> cannot reasonably expect speakers to be a part of this setup. The
> tools need to be packed away for storage and brought out only when
> required. I'm all for getting gear into work with but we need to make
> it fair on everyone else.
>
> I think we should consider the possibility of storing things in the
> ceiling, after seeing cepmender put in the projector screen I keep
> thinking that some storage solutions can be solved that way. We could
> have an awesome button to lower the devices down.. :P
>
> Anyway,
>
> Lets get this rolling.
>

[Martin]

We could set difference up to be used as a studio system, not have it as a dedicated machine, but if we set all the software up on that ready to use, then when people want to use it, its all there.

[Gal Moore]

Hey,


I have a 1 year old synergy.. Its a pc specially built for music making.. Powerful, with inaudible fans etc..

Got a legit cubase on it and komplete 6.

Havent used it since i got my new macbook few months ago.

So, would be happy to bring it down, but would really wanna know what will b done with it ?? Is probably still worth £400 so you can understand my hesitating here..

I am a music producer (as a proffession), so if i know the pc would go to good use, and on the way i can learn something new (ie. Someone out there wanna teach me pure data?) would happily donate it to the space..

Best.
G

--

Gal. S. Moore 

Jazzsteppa Ltd

London/ Berlin/ Tel-Aviv/ St.Petersburg

+44 (0)782 8697 961

+49 (0)177 4059 852

Skype: Gal.Moore

[Billy]

My Alesis USB mixer is already at the hackspace along with one mike
stand.

> *Skype:* Gal.Moore

[Guy J]

I'll trade Pure Data knowledge in return for gear for the community!

Actually we should really try to get another PureData meetup
happening. having a community studio would be pretty useful for that.

[PhilipClevberger]

We got pretty much everything we need now for a basic setup. Sounds
great with PureData tutorial.
I'd be happy to do one on Ableton.

The only problem is where? Space is certainly a growing issue at the
HackSpace.
We where talking to Phil yesterday about the idea of having like a
board as a desk that can be pulled up to the ceiling to get it out of
the way.
But would apparently be a bit of a big operation.

Phil had another idea of using one of the desks in the space and to
put a box over the gear, creating a surface used as an ordinary desk
when the gear is not being used.
I don't feel totally convinced by it though. If someone got the vision
that this may work, I would be happy to give it a try.

By the way, with the growing number of members, how far off are we
economically to get another unit/more space? I personally don't think
it may be an issue if the new space wouldn't be right next door.
If I let my mind wander off and dream a bit, It would be great to get
a space we could soundproof and get proper speakers and make a song
booth too. Well lets do one step at a time.


/Phil

[Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut]

The idea of a London Music Hackspace sounds great to me! It looks like there's enough energy to make it happen. I'd love to be involved somehow, and I can help getting professional audio gear.

If you're starting a separate list for this, I'm happy sharing a few thoughts. Don't want to overload this list though.

[phil jones]

+1 to join a special mailing list for hackspace musicians

To me, the most useful thing the hackspace could provide in terms of
hardware is a multi-track audio input box (A/D convertor)

Anyone up for a pledge drive?

(yet another) phil

http://synaesmedia.bandcamp.com/

[Martin Klang]

On 7 Oct 2011, at 09:57, phil jones wrote:

> To me, the most useful thing the hackspace could provide in terms of
> hardware is a multi-track audio input box (A/D convertor)

We might have that already.
There were a couple of Saffire Pro 26 in the pile we got from Focusrite (thanks JP!), if we can get them working we're sorted.

/m

[Martin Klang]

Oops I meant: thanks JB!

/m

[Mr Jack]

I am so up for this!

Thank you Jean-Baptiste for the gear, and for Martin and Philip for
going to get it.

I am keen to give tuition on using Pure Data, as well as how to
interface it with Arduino.

As far as member's worries about noise making go, I feel that these
would quickly be assuaged by a common sense policy of people using
headphones as much as possible and judging (even asking at the time)
when it would be appropriate to make (musical)noise via any speakers
setup in suggested area. As an audio engineer myself, I am acutely
aware that overly loud audio or a 4 bar loop on repeat for 2 hours
does NOBODY any favours. I genuinely believe that anyone making music
over speakers in the space would be aware of such sensitivity to
others around them, and that anyone learning from more experienced
folk will naturally be inducted on this matter.

To be fair, the Hackspace is pretty bloody noisy as it is, and for any
kind of detailed audio work you would have to wait for quiet spots for
it to be worth it anyway. In other words, I believe that the
environmental noise of the Hackspace will almost always predominate
any potential audio area noise and so therefore people using this area
would more than likely want to work with headphones the majority of
the time anyway.

Right, I've rambled on about the noise thing enough already. I just
wanted to give my tuppence on the issue, in the hope that others feel
similarly...

As far as space for the equipment goes, being that there is now a fair
amount of audio gear at the space won't this need to be stored
somewhere anyway? So then doesn't it make sense to have a single desk
somewhere in the space with this audio gear stored underneath and on
top of it in a usable manner? There are dedicated spaces for soldering
and electrical equipment and dedicated spaces for other types of
pursuits. I don't think that an audio area really needs to take up any
more than a single desk and perhaps a small drawer/cabinet for various
audio cables/components. Perhaps it could even be doubled up with
visual equipment such as the kinect for example and a monitor or two.
I admit that I'm not totally in tune with exactly where various stuff
is stored in the space, but this seems to me a solution to the issue
by virtue of flipping around the problem of where to put said gear in
the first place.

As for where said desk would go, how about in a spot at the back end
(near the storage units) of the dirty workshop? There seems to be a
lot of boxes of stuff rather inefficiently using up space in that area
(some being the newly acquired audio gear) and perhaps with a bit of a
rejig this could be used for an audio desk plus audio/visual gear
storage?

[Tasos (arch+ech)]

:) very good idea! I had posted something similar months ago!

I too have things to bring to the space when I have some more free
time! (I havent been to the space for 3-4 months now!)

m-audio midi keyboard.
firewire m-audio sound card
an old DJ controller (Behringer?)

[Billy]

At the moment the audio gear that's there is stored in the drawers/
unit, underneath the sewing equipment. It's not because it's the best
place, it's just that that space was free.


On Oct 7, 4:29 pm, "Tasos (arch+ech)" <tasos.varou...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Gal Moore]

Totally up for it!

London music hackspace sounds perfect.
This probably should be in a seperate space too.

I have some gear i could bring down; including a fully working pc and rme400 soundcard. Maybe also my krk monitors. I make my living from music (jazzsteppa), and i would love to share everything i know. In return i am hoping to learn about hacking, coding pure data, maybe even inventing an instrument??!

Is there anyone from the core founders/ members of london hackspace that would know how to pull this off?? (i am not a member & am new to the community)

Best.
G

--

Gal. S. Moore 

Jazzsteppa Ltd

London/ Berlin/ Tel-Aviv/ St.Petersburg

+44 (0)782 8697 961

+49 (0)177 4059 852

Skype: Gal.Moore

[Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut]

I suggest that we'd meet sometime next week at the space and share our ideas on this. How does Thursday 13th of October sound? 5pm?

It would indeed be great to get some advice from some of the original founders. 

[Guy J]

if there's going to be talk of a permanent music hackspace then i'd
really like to get in on this. i visit the hackspace rarely and so far
i've only been for Pure Data workshops. a chance to meet more of the
specifically audio-centric hackers would be great

On Oct 8, 10:01 am, Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut

<jeanbaptistethieb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I suggest that we'd meet sometime next week at the space and share our ideas on this. How does Thursday 13th of October sound? 5pm?
>
> It would indeed be great to get some advice from some of the original founders.
>
> On 8 Oct 2011, at 11:16, Gal Moore wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Totally up for it!
>
> > London music hackspace sounds perfect.
> > This probably should be in a seperate space too.
>
> > I have some gear i could bring down; including a fully working pc and rme400 soundcard. Maybe also my krk monitors. I make my living from music (jazzsteppa), and i would love to share everything i know. In return i am hoping to learn about hacking, coding pure data, maybe even inventing an instrument??!
>
> > Is there anyone from the core founders/ members of london hackspace that would know how to pull this off?? (i am not a member & am new to the community)
>
> > Best.
> > G
>

[phil jones]

I can do Thursday 5pm, though those with day jobs may find it a bit early.

phil

[Martin Klang]

I can make it.
either 5pm or 6 if that is more convenient for others.

/m

[Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut]

Cool, let's meet up at 6pm.

[Mr Jack]

Good idea Jean-Baptiste.

I'm good for thursday anytime. Though as you suggest, Phil, 5pm might
exclude daytime workers. 7pm is a more normal time for meetups tis it
not? I'm easy really, just think it's important that the meeting is
inclusive as possible.

Cheers,
Chris Jack.

[PhilipClevberger]

I will be there on Thursday, 5pm or 6pm doesnt matter to me.
Looking forward to get it all off the ground.

[Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut]

I've created a doodle to help us decide which time would be best for the Music Hack Space meetup on Thursday 13/10/2011. 

http://www.doodle.com/ue77pwu3xat69ihh

Please indicate the time you're free to attend between 5pm, 6pm and 7pm. 

Thanks

JB

[Guy J]

Hhhmm, looking at train times I wouldn't even be able to make it for
6. Put in a vote for 7 on the doodle.

On Oct 10, 11:45 am, Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut

[Gal Moore]

HEy.

I will be there at 6pm Tomorrow (Thu 13.10)

If you want to change the plan please give me a shout (0782 8697 961)

Looking forward to this!

Peace.

Gal.M

-- 

Gal. S. Moore 

Jazzsteppa Ltd

London/ Berlin/ Tel-Aviv/ St.Petersburg

+44 (0)782 8697 961

+49 (0)177 4059 852

Skype: Gal.Moore

[Gal Moore]

HEy! apologies, pls ignore. just found the Doodle & Google group.

NiCe1.

[Billy]

I should be around from the afternoon, so i'll be around for all of
those times.

See you tomorrow

>On Oct 12, 7:51 pm, Gal Moore <ga...@jazzsteppa.co.uk> wrote:
> HEy! apologies, pls ignore. just found the Doodle & Google group.
> NiCe1.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Gal Moore <ga...@jazzsteppa.co.uk> wrote:
> > HEy.
>
> > I will be there at 6pm Tomorrow (Thu 13.10)
> > If you want to change the plan please give me a shout (0782 8697 961)
>
> > Looking forward to this!
> > Peace.
>
> > Gal.M
>
> > --
> > Gal. S. Moore
> > Jazzsteppa Ltd
> > London/ Berlin/ Tel-Aviv/ St.Petersburg
> > +44 (0)782 8697 961
> > +49 (0)177 4059 852
>

> > *Skype:* Gal.Moore

> *Skype:* Gal.Moore

[PhilipClevberger]

I'm not able to attend tonight, flat out in bed with flu,
Let me know how the meeting goes, otherwise I will be able to attend
any evening next week appart from Tuesday

Cheers
-Phil


On Oct 10, 11:08 am, PhilipClevberger <philip.clevber...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Elliot Duffy]

I also am unable to attend due to last minute work commitments, but as I am a beginner in this arena, dont postpone solely on my account.

Regards,

Elliot

[Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut]

Sorry to hear that the two of you can't make it tonight. We will maintain the meeting though, at 7pm tonight. Around 15 persons have confirmed. 

I'll write a report and we can talk more on the new list too. 

Best

JB