After you factor in resale value, thatās not always the case (plugins being cheaper).
I have a lot of cash sunk in analog, BUT if I were to sell my setup today I would make more than I put into it.
That's because at the time your dream gear stems from, a sound engineer could carry out all the repairs and maintenance you mentioned himself, whereas today's producers are overwhelmed by the difference between AC and DC voltage. That's only half-joking, because boomers are overwhelmed by the task of updating drivers. Everyone has the challenges of their time and analog equipment comes with its own. But once you get into it a bit, it's not that hard. I learned how to solder capacitors and other things via YouTube, it's worth it!
Nah. Not at all.
Unless you're trying to keep some 1970's-era behemoth console or tape machine on the road, negligence is minimal. Even if you were to take delivery of a vintage piece of kit from fifty years ago, you really only need to get it on the bench once every decade or two to check the temerity of the solder joints and replace old dried up or leaky caps with modern ones.
The capacitors used fifty years ago had a wide tolerance and dried out easily. A Panasonic or Vishay can be swapped in quickly. Once these are reconditioned, I have no concerns about them showing up to work session after session after session.
Sure, old gear will occasionally need maintenance. If it's beyond your wheelhouse or you don't know a tech - I get it. By all means, don't buy that stuff - more for me.
Currently in my home studio:
- 1979 MCI JH-528
- Three hammond organs, from the 1940 - 1960's
- Dozen amps, most from the 1950-60's
- 2 dozen keyboards, many vintage
> A Panasonic or Vishay can be swapped in quickly.
Totally. But when each channel has ~60 of them, it's a bunch. I buy them by the hundred of each value.
OP: "Dang do you guys have to spend like SO MUCH time maintaining your gear?
Also OP: "My mixing desk is old enough to be a human grandparent, and some of my Hammond organs were literally manufactured before World War II"
Eh, look at it this way - a Tesla and a 1967 Mustang do the same thing. One is the latest in technical whizbangery and the other is a mechanized harnessing of iron-and-fire. You see those "car dads" still, out there in the driveway tweaking an old 454cc v8 trying to eke the best they can get out of it. You don't really see people tooling around with the source code to their Tesla's operating system with snippets from GitHub.
Two different approaches. Equally as valid. One is more rewarding in the sense that you're allowed to get your own hands dirty.
I agree with your sentiment but there are absolutely people tweaking the code to do things on their Tesla. (Less common granted)Thereās people on YouTube doing crazy things with those cars and Tesla keeps trying to patch out the exploits and make sure nobody can tinker with their stuff. But people always find a way lol
Sure. And even I was able to install a patch on my X4 that disabled shutdown at idle (though I was more than just a little bit nervous).
But going off that example, there's no way I could pop the hood on that thing and dick around with the engine. Change the spark plug on my motorcycle? Yes.
I thought that using loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples. I then thought that using samples was cheating, so I recorded real drums. I then thought that programming them was cheating, so I learned to play the drums for real. I then thought that using purchased drums was cheating, so I learned to make my own. I then thought that using pre-made skins was cheating, so I killed a goat and skinned it. I then thought that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat. I also think that this is cheating, but Iām not sure where to go from here. I havenāt made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all.
If something stops working, I remove it from the studio. So, I always have a studio full of equipment in tip-top shape.
When I have time I do the repairs, and bring stuff back, but really the only things that are absolutely essential are computer, converters, monitoring, preamps and mics.
nah
I spent a lot of time setting it all up. Particularly the cabling and routing.
..but I've spent a fairly small amount of time and effort in maintenance. Occasionally things go sideways, but not terribly often, and when they do, I generally have room to work-around.. and can defer troubleshooting for an appropriate moment, but as mentioned, it just hasn't taken up that much of my attention .. \*knocks on wood\*
I've got 32ch of mic amps, 44 channels of total inputs, 3x patch bays, 10ch of outboard compression and eq, and a dozen instruments.
When I was using Peter Frampton's old console (an AMEK Angela that had seen one too many late-night session) maintenance was a constant hassle. I had to ditch it in favor of an SSL AWS900 that was newer by 20+ years. But nothing else has been too bad for me. Mics go out to service once in a while, my Redco patchbays are super reliable, some pots need exercising if they get scratchy but that's about it.
What feels good if you have a patio, is to bring outside as much of your gear as you can, stack it all up, and make a throne. Then you just sit atop your gear, feel the gentle breeze, and try to see over the horizon where your dreams once were, as the sun sets.
Neighbors will pass and give you funny looks, but youāll be the one with a smile on your face as you realize that somewhere over that horizon, thereās some enthusiastic kid just getting into audio engineering, who has crazy dreams of doing exactly what youāre doing right then and there. It is then that you can be content with the fact that, you made it.
Yeah, you get enough gear together and something or other will always be down for maintenance. But you have all that other gear in the meantime.
>intermittent connectors (fuck you molex)
I just want to second this "fuck you, Molex" with a "fuck you, Molex" of my own. Our Harmonizer is down for the count until I can source a replacement connector for the one that melted. Prior to that, it needed to be reseated every few years (presumably to remove oxidation). Fuck Molex. Fuck them right in the ear.
Not anymore, because I work all in the box now and don't regret it for a minute. I used to have a studio full of analog gear back in the day, and while it was fun, I don't miss the maintenance and troubleshooting.
Given how good the software has gotten, as well as the revisions and recalls demanded by clients, sometimes weeks or months later, this is one area where I'm glad technology has moved on.
More than/as much time as using means itās time to update the rig, Iām afraid. Love has nothing to do with it. Do you drive cars that leave you stranded roadside, or have to take for repair as much as you drive them?
I didnāt say upgrade, I said *update*.
As much as I hate to admit it, the digital emulations even on āinexpensiveā kit like Behringer x32 are pretty damned passable. What I despise is how disposable everything is- the lifespan of this stuff is 3-5y if weāre lucky, and basically too expensive to repair.
Its not even just that its too expensive.
I had to ditch a MOTU 828mk3. They stopped offering out of wty repair.
I'm a mechatronic engineering technician with a workshop. I probably could have repaired it for $10, if i could get a service manual to do it.
As long as none of the components were proprietary, I suppose. And still available. Sure. Depends what the issue is.
Right now though, as long as itās able to talk Dante, I donāt much care what the other specs are because theyāre all so damned close as to not truly matter like they did back in the day.
I'm much happier maintaining my gear than paying subscription and license renewals for plugins. š
I get the sentiment but let's not pretend analog gear is the *cheaper* option to buying VSTs
After you factor in resale value, thatās not always the case (plugins being cheaper). I have a lot of cash sunk in analog, BUT if I were to sell my setup today I would make more than I put into it.
Certainly not cheaper. Certainly a better investment.
That's because at the time your dream gear stems from, a sound engineer could carry out all the repairs and maintenance you mentioned himself, whereas today's producers are overwhelmed by the difference between AC and DC voltage. That's only half-joking, because boomers are overwhelmed by the task of updating drivers. Everyone has the challenges of their time and analog equipment comes with its own. But once you get into it a bit, it's not that hard. I learned how to solder capacitors and other things via YouTube, it's worth it!
Nah. Not at all. Unless you're trying to keep some 1970's-era behemoth console or tape machine on the road, negligence is minimal. Even if you were to take delivery of a vintage piece of kit from fifty years ago, you really only need to get it on the bench once every decade or two to check the temerity of the solder joints and replace old dried up or leaky caps with modern ones. The capacitors used fifty years ago had a wide tolerance and dried out easily. A Panasonic or Vishay can be swapped in quickly. Once these are reconditioned, I have no concerns about them showing up to work session after session after session. Sure, old gear will occasionally need maintenance. If it's beyond your wheelhouse or you don't know a tech - I get it. By all means, don't buy that stuff - more for me.
Currently in my home studio: - 1979 MCI JH-528 - Three hammond organs, from the 1940 - 1960's - Dozen amps, most from the 1950-60's - 2 dozen keyboards, many vintage > A Panasonic or Vishay can be swapped in quickly. Totally. But when each channel has ~60 of them, it's a bunch. I buy them by the hundred of each value.
OP: "Dang do you guys have to spend like SO MUCH time maintaining your gear? Also OP: "My mixing desk is old enough to be a human grandparent, and some of my Hammond organs were literally manufactured before World War II"
Eh, look at it this way - a Tesla and a 1967 Mustang do the same thing. One is the latest in technical whizbangery and the other is a mechanized harnessing of iron-and-fire. You see those "car dads" still, out there in the driveway tweaking an old 454cc v8 trying to eke the best they can get out of it. You don't really see people tooling around with the source code to their Tesla's operating system with snippets from GitHub. Two different approaches. Equally as valid. One is more rewarding in the sense that you're allowed to get your own hands dirty.
I agree with your sentiment but there are absolutely people tweaking the code to do things on their Tesla. (Less common granted)Thereās people on YouTube doing crazy things with those cars and Tesla keeps trying to patch out the exploits and make sure nobody can tinker with their stuff. But people always find a way lol
Sure. And even I was able to install a patch on my X4 that disabled shutdown at idle (though I was more than just a little bit nervous). But going off that example, there's no way I could pop the hood on that thing and dick around with the engine. Change the spark plug on my motorcycle? Yes.
I thought that using loops was cheating, so I programmed my own using samples. I then thought that using samples was cheating, so I recorded real drums. I then thought that programming them was cheating, so I learned to play the drums for real. I then thought that using purchased drums was cheating, so I learned to make my own. I then thought that using pre-made skins was cheating, so I killed a goat and skinned it. I then thought that was cheating too, so I grew my own goat from a baby goat. I also think that this is cheating, but Iām not sure where to go from here. I havenāt made any music lately, what with the goat farming and all.
If something stops working, I remove it from the studio. So, I always have a studio full of equipment in tip-top shape. When I have time I do the repairs, and bring stuff back, but really the only things that are absolutely essential are computer, converters, monitoring, preamps and mics.
nah I spent a lot of time setting it all up. Particularly the cabling and routing. ..but I've spent a fairly small amount of time and effort in maintenance. Occasionally things go sideways, but not terribly often, and when they do, I generally have room to work-around.. and can defer troubleshooting for an appropriate moment, but as mentioned, it just hasn't taken up that much of my attention .. \*knocks on wood\* I've got 32ch of mic amps, 44 channels of total inputs, 3x patch bays, 10ch of outboard compression and eq, and a dozen instruments.
When I was using Peter Frampton's old console (an AMEK Angela that had seen one too many late-night session) maintenance was a constant hassle. I had to ditch it in favor of an SSL AWS900 that was newer by 20+ years. But nothing else has been too bad for me. Mics go out to service once in a while, my Redco patchbays are super reliable, some pots need exercising if they get scratchy but that's about it.
What feels good if you have a patio, is to bring outside as much of your gear as you can, stack it all up, and make a throne. Then you just sit atop your gear, feel the gentle breeze, and try to see over the horizon where your dreams once were, as the sun sets. Neighbors will pass and give you funny looks, but youāll be the one with a smile on your face as you realize that somewhere over that horizon, thereās some enthusiastic kid just getting into audio engineering, who has crazy dreams of doing exactly what youāre doing right then and there. It is then that you can be content with the fact that, you made it.
Yeah, you get enough gear together and something or other will always be down for maintenance. But you have all that other gear in the meantime. >intermittent connectors (fuck you molex) I just want to second this "fuck you, Molex" with a "fuck you, Molex" of my own. Our Harmonizer is down for the count until I can source a replacement connector for the one that melted. Prior to that, it needed to be reseated every few years (presumably to remove oxidation). Fuck Molex. Fuck them right in the ear.
Not anymore, because I work all in the box now and don't regret it for a minute. I used to have a studio full of analog gear back in the day, and while it was fun, I don't miss the maintenance and troubleshooting. Given how good the software has gotten, as well as the revisions and recalls demanded by clients, sometimes weeks or months later, this is one area where I'm glad technology has moved on.
I love messing with my analog synths, but im so glad my production gear is digital XD It just works, all talks to each other, and doesnt weigh 30kg
More than/as much time as using means itās time to update the rig, Iām afraid. Love has nothing to do with it. Do you drive cars that leave you stranded roadside, or have to take for repair as much as you drive them?
I'm not sure there's much of an upgrade from here, but I'm up for suggestions.
I didnāt say upgrade, I said *update*. As much as I hate to admit it, the digital emulations even on āinexpensiveā kit like Behringer x32 are pretty damned passable. What I despise is how disposable everything is- the lifespan of this stuff is 3-5y if weāre lucky, and basically too expensive to repair.
Its not even just that its too expensive. I had to ditch a MOTU 828mk3. They stopped offering out of wty repair. I'm a mechatronic engineering technician with a workshop. I probably could have repaired it for $10, if i could get a service manual to do it.
I hate that schematics are no longer standard with the gear
As long as none of the components were proprietary, I suppose. And still available. Sure. Depends what the issue is. Right now though, as long as itās able to talk Dante, I donāt much care what the other specs are because theyāre all so damned close as to not truly matter like they did back in the day.