Keith's Room - from chaos to order!

[KRUG]

I bought my first organ in about 1986 and since then I have upgraded several times and added quite a few peripherals. All of these things have wires to connect to the mains, stereo line out cables, midi cables, USB cables, HDMI cables etc. The end result is a horrendous spaghetti junction as multi plug socket extensions trail across the floor to more multi plug socket extensions and the other cables create their own even more complicated mayhem.

A month or so ago I was sitting playing in my music room in the midst of all this entanglement when I had a thought. My music room was the third bedroom and contained nothing but my computer and music dedicated equipment. Although it was a decent double bedroom size it was a nightmare of wires. Next door was the guest room. A larger room and pretty much wasted space so why not change rooms? I managed to sell the idea to her who must be obeyed and plans were made. Priority number one was to get rid of the mess of wiring and number two was to have plenty of storage for music books etc. that would be behind doors thus leaving the room looking tidy.

My Roland AT800 is my main instrument and this is connected by midi to the Roland BK7M and then on to the Roland Fantom which is loaded with Theatre Organ In A Box samples and also European Organ In A Box samples. A midi cable is then taken to the Korg PA900 keyboard from the Fantom so that when I get it set up properly I can access all of the Korg voices from the organ. The Korg PA900 is supported by two Rokit Active speakers or the Roland Cube if being used for recording purposes. All of these instruments have line out leads running to a stereo mixer which is easily at hand on the top of the organ. The mixer has two stereo line outputs. One goes to my Roland Cube amplification system with the subwoofer next to the organ and the stereo speakers on the top of the organ. The other line out goes to the “work” computer for recording purposes. My “music” computer runs MusicReader software to display my music on the organ and also on the keyboard when necessary. My “work” computer should be available for recording purposes. The “work” computer is on a purpose built workstation housing the cheap Zoostorm “music” computer base unit, my printer, scanner and back up drives. You will appreciate why my room was a mess of cables.

The way to achieve my first priority of tidying up cables was to install dado trunking running around the three walls which would house my equipment. The central section of the trunking contains the mains cabling and 24 switched power sockets. The top and bottom sections of the trunking house all of the other cables.
The existing bedroom furniture in the form of a low corner drawer unit and a corner wardrobe and large drawer unit were retained. The wardrobe unit still house clothes etc. while the corner drawer unit is ideal for paper, blank cds,etc. Joining on to the corner wardrobe unit I have added three large cupboards for music etc. Low wattage adjustable spotlights were moved from the old music room to provide excellent lighting (7 x 4w LED spots).

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so these may make things clearer.




Keith

[JohnT]

Hi Keith. Very impressive. I'm sure you enjoy many a pleasant hour there. There is lots of useful equipment but sadly I have not such a room will have to make do and mend. Where are those winning lottery tickets for a bigger house. Thanks for showing us and how it came about. I am sure other members will give their views. All the best. John

[Brian007]

Hi Keith,

Very impressive and I sure it will give you many hours of pleasure after all the hard work you have put into it, Enjoy

Brian007

[dragon]

My Lowrey is at one end of a decent size lounge. I originally had the Roland Bk-7m wired into the rear of the organ but felt it was too vulnerable near a door so moved it into a small bedroom and now use it exclusively with the Orla. This room is a total mess. Housing computer, printer, and spare TV. Also second Sky box and an old video recorder. Bookcase, shredder and a vertical CD stand. Sheet music and cables everywhere. I need help, counselling and stronger tablets! .. Fred

[Mike Bracchi]

Hiya Keith,

Looks like you have a very organized music room/studio going there - love the rail hiding the cables I can imagine you locking yourself away in there for hours on end ... well, I would, that's for sure, especially with the Roland AT800

Thanks for posting and sharing your pictures with us

All the best,

Mike

[Rev Tony Newnham]

Hi

Nice looking room. I need to get my music room organised - but I've got rather more keyboards to cram in (and ideally I want everything set up & playable without too much fiddling about).

One other comment - I'd use an external USB Soundcard on the computer - even a relatively basic one will probably sound better than onboard sound.

Every Blessing

Tony

[KRUG]

Hi All.
It is certainly organised now but as Brian can testify my previous room was a mess. As Tony has, I am sure, realised there are actually four instruments controlled by the AT800 organ and they all feed via the mixer to the computer which only has its original on-board soundcard. There is no fiddling about needed -switch on and go. I am sure that a better soundcard would improve the sound of midi files but as I only record to wav and then convert to mp3 would an external soundcard affect the quality, which seems pretty good at the moment?

Opinions would be appreciated.

Keith

[Westgarth]

Hi Keith

Your Music Room looks fantastic, I'm really envious.

You've mentioned your organ, several keyboards, trunking, mixing equipment etc but you've missed out the most important piece of information we all need to know.

How the hell did you sell the idea to her who must be obeyed! Did it cost you a holiday, a new kitchen, a diamond or the ultimate, did you let her have exclusive use of the TV Remote Control!