Greetings... been awhile!

[b3groover]

Hi fellas!

It's been awhile since I've posted here.  Things have been very busy.  I haven't been doing a lot of electrical DIY.  I've been playing and writing a lot and also a lot of piano technician work.  I did however engineer / produce / play on a record released last May in my little home studio with plenty of DIY gear.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/gregnagy

Used my 8 channel Quad Eight preamp (mainly on drums and bass), my first DIY project which was a racking of two MAP preamps with some 2520 clone op-amps in there (on piano, organ, and backing vocals), my mod'd MXL mics, and some old Shure 330 ribbons that were re-ribboned by our own Marik (hey Mark, I owe you a copy of the disc!), the JLM Dual 99v (love it), an Alesis 3630 with buttachunk's mod and some other things.

I am proud of the record and think it came out very good.  It's been getting plenty of airplay on XM and terrestrial radio and good reviews.


My latest project right now is an album of, for lack of a better term, ambient music.  After about a 15 year absence, I've gotten back into synthesis.  In fact, I'm building the MFOS Ultimate analog synth right now.  It's a fun little project!  My studio looks like an 80s MIDI studio right now!  I've been snatching up some older digital synths that I've always wanted (SY99, Wavestation A/D) since the prices are so low, as well as some cool analog synths.  It's been a lot of fun.

I still have a lot of pcbs for things like the Dual LA2A and D-AOC, but my wife is pregnant with our third, due in October, and I'm also working on the house, getting it ready for baby three!  Life is good!

I see the DIY 500 series rack project is going well.  I definitely want to get in on that when funds allow.

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[Consul]

Hey, man! Glad to see things are going well for you. I'm about to start Oakland U in the fall to continue pursuing my degree in physics. I'm still unsure whether I'll be going for my Master's or higher. I will if I can.

And I hear you on those classic digital synths. (Now there's a phrase I never thought I'd utter.) I'm now regretting selling off my Kawai XD-5, though I do still have the K4r. I'm going to see if I can snag another one when I have some cash.

 

[mushy]

Your record sounds really great... And I hate everything... 

 

[b3groover]

Consul, that's great news, man!  Good luck! 

Yeah, the digital synth market is amazing right now.  I picked up a Yamaha SY99 for $400 shipped (from San Fran) about a month ago.  I'm loving it!  Next I'm going to try to snag something from Roland.

mushy, thanks for the compliments!  I think the record came out really well.  It's getting a lot of spins on XM.  It's not my record per se, I just produced, engineered and played on it (and did the artwork). 

 

[Consul]

Poking around, I discovered that the D-50 is still sought after and goes for real money, $800-$1000 or so. Despite that, it's still on my short list for synths I would love to have in the studio, along with an Emu Emax, an Akai S5000, a Korg O1/W, and an SY99. Hopefully, I'll have the money to do all of this before they all become sought-after classic pieces or something like that.

 

[b3groover]

Yeah, D-50s are cool.  I really want a JD-990.  That will be the last piece of my digital synth puzzle.   I've picked up some really cool modern analogs in the last year or so including a Moog Voyager and Studio Electronics SE-1x and ATC-x.  Great little boxes of fun!

 

[drpat]

it's still on my short list for synths I would love to have in the studio, along with an Emu Emax,

Man, I've been waiting for the moment when my EmaxSE becomes a classic, and I can sell it on fleaBay for tens of dollars. Truth is, I'd probably still be using it if I wasn't so lazy about changing the SMPS for the third time. Those filters rule the 12bit planet!

 

[peterc]

D50....sigh!

I had 2 with a D550 module in my rig :

JD990 is also really nice