Thread by @alphachromeyayo

Yoooo my new studio PC arrived and I've done a bit of a refurb in here ✨

Figured it'd be fun to do a thread about some of my setup, why I like it, and why (for me) vibes are almost as important as gear

Maybe even moreso tbh. Let's go! 🧵

Probably the first thing you'll notice when you walk in here is this big ol' stand of synths

Or maybe it's the fact there are stickers EVERYWHERE

I'll talk more about that in a bit, and I swear I won't do a load of dry-ass gear chat, but I love these synths

They're all over most of my albums AND they look cool when it gets dark. They are:

Moog Sub Phatty
Prophet Rev 2
Casio CT-S1000V (a weird vocal keyboard!)
Suiko VS-1 (an ancient, bizarre koto/voice synth)

Maybe more interesting though is the STUFF that surrounds 'em! Like this, a netsuke pouch my mum made me.

It means a lot to me and it's cool to have inspirational objects right there, which is pretty much my deal for this whole room.

I remember seeing a pianist years ago who performed with photos of her family on the music stand, and I guess this is sort of similar

I like being surrounded by stuff that inspires me, whether it's precious objects like the pouch above, or stickers from pals' bands or whatever

So aye, I'll show you some of the weird bits in here that get me in the right frame of mind to make music, as well as the stuff I use to actually do that!

Honestly, this is one of the simplest things, but the most important, an Arturia Keystep MIDI controller

I've a decent amount of hardware synths and other instruments but tbh like 60% of what I use is software based, and this lil' guy is tiny and perfect

It's on a stand here but tbh it mostly sits on my knee while I bash out ideas

AND it's slathered in cool stickers, look!

Talking of stickers, I used to never put 'em on gear 'cos I thought it would make me less of a SERIOUS MUSICIAN

Then I realised that is *shite*

If I'm looking at stuff and using it for hours at a time I want it to be COOL AND COLOURFUL AND FUN AND INSPIRATIONAL

I've even got stickers all over the walls in here, because I'm a grown up and I can do what I want!

There are little birdies and cherry blossom petals everywhere

Some fun fantasy art here too (top one was commissioned for me by pals I play TTRPGs with, yay!)

Y'can also see a little cable hook hidden away in the bottom of this pic here too.

Tbh this is a small space, so hiding away the crap that I don't need to use or see at all times is pretty important.

I've even got stickers on the ROOF, baby! And this nice little wind chime too. It has the kanji for 'hobby' on one side and 'wind chime' on the other.

If I open the skylight in here it makes a soothing sound, and it's silent the rest of the time. I love it. Maybe I'll sample it!

Alright, probably time for more gear chat. Guitars live on the wall - I like Ibanezeseseses

That's an RG on the right, and a really versatile workhorse of a bass in the middle. Eh, I can't remember the name of it

But it's sparkly pink and has tons of scope for different sounds

The star of the show is this Steve Vai Jem though!

Looks like a shredding machine and it can be, but again massively versatile

I got it with some funding a few years ago and I love it to bits. I like thinking about how 14 year old me would kill just to hold it tbh

Talking of little-guy-me, I keep this Tascam Portastudio for precisely two reasons

1 - Doing wonky tape loops
2 - Reminding myself of when I first started recording music on this very guy right here, and how lucky I am to have this cool space now

(also, Gundams and fightstick)

There's a little tape loop I made in there right now. Sorry home-taped Squarepusher, had to record over you.

I don't reaaally play video games in here

But there isn't enough room in the rest of the house to store all my shit, so I've got some peripherals stashed

TWO train controllers, a taiko drum one, plus... eh, candles, VCR, load of Japanese newspaper and a fog machine. ESSENTIALS.

This is what happened last time I tried out the fog machine in here btw

It took minutes to fill the whole house with fog and hours to clear it

NO REGRETS

Got some essential studio liquids down here out of the way too. Fog machine juice, air duster, contact cleaner.

All the big hitters.

(I'll add to this more in a minute, just gonna press send on what I have so far as it's a lot and I'll be sad if Twitter messes up and doesn't post properly or something)

Got some books stashed away in this corner too. Honestly there's hundreds of books in this room VERY WELL HIDDEN.

I could bullshit and say it's for sound diffusion/absorption, but I just need somewhere to keep books, and I like reading in here too

LOADS of notebooks in here too

Origami paper too, I was messing around with this when I decided to include little origami pianos with my Skylight Sessions tape release

Some ACY history there, fact fans

More books up top here, and two MASSIVE bookcases full of 'em, behind that shoji screen

You might think it'd be a pain in the ass to get them out of there

And you'd be right. But, I like the screen. Again vibes above all, and it looks clean!

There's a wee peek behind the top of the screen. Plus, Columbo, two gorgeous dice bags my mum made me (!!), a blackthorn knife my dad's friend made him (and he then gifted to me)

Plus some paper dice for awesome indie TTRPGs

EVEN MORE books back here, plus some tea stuff. I used to have a full tea/coffee station in here, but I took it out 'cos it's nice to go downstairs for it.

That scroll has the kanji for 'long life', by artist/calligrapher Saren Nagata

You might be thinking, hold up, are you not going to mention the train driver hat and sword sitting right there

Well, I am. Japan Railways hat here! I used it in promo pics for my All Aboard album. Plus a cowboy one from my Lawless EP lurking behind there too.

That's a (very sharp) bastard sword beneath it. Also tucked away back here, sax, various stands/tripods and a corner of broken instruments

I keep them to harvest for parts, and also because I'm shit at throwing things away

Oh aye, there's a submarine operator hat down there too, because of course there is

I also use one of those tea caddies for storing lens/screen wipes. ESSENTIAL studio gear, seriously.

More liquids down here, mostly plant care ones. I used to have a LOT of plants in here, but now just a couple.

Too many is too stressful, a few leafy pals go a long way 🌿

Underneath the big synth stand I've got a little tatami mat

I was originally gonna do the whole room but it wasn't feasible

It's very nice to stand on when I'm playing, and it smells great in the summer

Important to get a good smell going when you're making stuff!

Some boxes hidden away here too, plus guitar cases, green screen and some art/woodwork supplies

I'm not great at those things, but doing 'em is relaxing and important to me

Oh aye, that's my sax! I've had it since I was about ten so it's a bit bashed about and needs some TLC, but it's all over a ton of my music

I like real sax and plastic synth horns in pretty much equal measure, for different reasons

I'll post some more gear in a sec rather than just talking about all the strange shit in here

But seriously, the strange shit is equally as important to me when it comes to making music

All pieces in a big weird puzzle

Alright, some more actual equipment

A few rackmounted bits here, the crowning jewel of which is the Roland JV-1080

It's jammed full of expansions (the World one is best IMO)

The bloom setting on that cheap reverb is AMAZING too

Above that, a couple of tiny synths, a weird phone with two crunchy little mics inside and an ABSOLUTE ESSENTIAL, the Befaco synth duster

I spend a lot of my time in here battling dust

(I'm very sneezy today)

Down below, my new PC, yay! Racked like a real AUDIO PRO. It's pretty beefy and I like it a lot so far.

Plus, a big drawer. All the drawers in here are jammed with notebooks, hand instruments, pedals, cables, tools, and merch. Both mine and treasured pals' stuff!

Talking of drawers, you maybe noticed I don't have an 'audio guy' type desk. This is an old mid-century type wooden beast I got from Germany (although it's British made).

It needs some TLC but sure don't we all.

I treated myself to a nice thocky keyboard too, and a cute pink mouse

Also that's a cool Korg controller with assignable faders and knobs which I hope will help me work faster

Plus it's just nice to have a good tangible knob to twist NO LAUGHING PLEASE

Monitors here, just ol' Rokits. I like them. The room layout means I have to slide the chair back a bit to use them properly, but it works for me!

Plus, two little arcade cabs (Astro City, Egret II), Roland TR-6S drum machine and A SHITLOAD MORE STICKERS

I call that lucky cat the MUGSMASHER because it's fallen off there and busted no less than three mugs

I could move it buuuut I don't want to

Pens and pencils lurking back there too. I write stuff down a LOT, genuinely must have 20+ notebooks in here.

If were curious what these bits are, a little koi painted on a pebble by a friend of mine, and a chunk of flint my dad found at a neolithic site

Pretty sure it was used as a tool, it's worn away to sit perfectly in your hand

I twiddle with it lots when I'm thinking about chords

Above me I have a skylight, and I love it. I start and finish pretty much every day opening it and sitting under it.

Took this pic two nights ago when the sky was a really otherwordly colour!

I wrote my Skylight Sessions album during and about these times.

I mentioned before that I don't have many plants in here these days, but I do love these little ones

That dude on the right is staring at me right now, with his super '90s face and I'm cool with that

I've got a super vibrant tenegui wall hanging above 'em

And that bit of grey you see in the top right hand corner is this...

... a little stand for more synths, or whatever else I wanna put on it

Two Roland boutiques here, I made some wooden ears for 'em that I can swap in and out

The D-05 is AMAZING, just a pocket D-50. Instant Enya, and it's all over most of my music, especially After Dinner Cigar.

Underneath that, Ableton Push2

Tbh I mostly use Reason, but I got this mostly for live stuff. Any streams I've done, I've controlled a lot of everything from this.

Plus it's cool for chopping stuff up and messing with it too! Messing forever!

What else what else what else...

Oh yeah, look at this awesome watercolour Jim Lahey my wife painted me!

And what, you thought I'd just have *ONE* sword in here?!

Replica of a viking sword found outside Dublin

Plus a Skyrim map. Not, as my dad thought at first glance, a map of Ulster. Bit of a resemblance in fairness.

Headphones aren't very exciting, but these are the ones I mostly use, from Beyerdynamic

I've another set of cans as well for the very rare occasions that there's another human in here as well as me!

An old Rotel tape deck here, which is actually really great

I got it serviced and spruced up to do the duplication for one of my early tape runs (Choke)

That took SO SO SO LONG though, so all the rest were outsourced

I remember feeling both really honoured and exhausted haha

Think I'm neeeaarly finished this little journey, so thanks for sticking with me, I hope it wasn't annoying!

The last bit of the puzzle, a Sony Trinitron which I use for making glitchy videos (that's a neat device below it for messing with 'em)

I run it off a Steam Deck which is tucked away back there (with MOAR STICKERS)

There's a little switch behind it to flick between video glitchy mode, and retro gaming mode

I have a little wireless keyboard that I use with it too (honestly mostly for playing an Evangelion Dreamcast typing game)

Plus another Gundam keeping watch over everything

Before I wrap up, I also want to stress that I'm not posting this to show off or anything, and I'm sure there are plenty of people who think this room is whack

But *I LOVE IT*

It is responsible for amazing times, and it couldn't exist without your wonderful support. Thanks!

So aye, this is one of my favourite places in the world.

THIS IS HOW IT STARTED...

... AND THIS IS HOW IT'S GOING

There, thread done! Sorry it was long. Thanks for looking and for being cool 💝

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