Building a little Atari MIDI recording studio

[mascis]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd start a thread documenting my latest project, turning our tiny spare room (1.5m x 4m), previously a dumping ground for guitars, amps and assorted junk, into a little Atari based recording room.

The plan is to build a late 80s/early 90s style setup centered around an Atari 520STE running Logic, synchronized to a Tascam 424 cassette four-track.

I've been digging out my old equipment as well as acquiring some new bits for the project, including an Akai AX73 (originally my brother's from 1987), E-mu Proteus 1/XR, Boss DR-660, Fostex 2016 mixer and various rack effects. I'm also on the hunt for an Akai S950 sampler.

The Atari now has 4MB RAM, an UltraSatan, Gotek, Logic dongle and Unitor II.

Here are a few photos showing what I've started with and the room after clearing everything out.

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Most of the equipment has now arrived, and I'm about to tackle the wiring, shelving and putting it all together.

The idea is to have a fully functioning little studio room where I can make music without relying on a modern computer. I'll post updates and more photos as things progress.

Hopefully some of you will find the project interesting, and I'd certainly welcome any suggestions from anyone who's still making music with an Atari.

Cheers,

[viking272]

Looks a very interesting project and the perfect location for a MIDI studio.
What’s the rough layout you’re thinking of?
Is there a rack going in?
Will you play live instruments to sample as well?

[mascis]

Looks a very interesting project and the perfect location for a MIDI studio.
What’s the rough layout you’re thinking of?
Is there a rack going in?
Will you play live instruments to sample as well?

Thanks! The Atari and Tascam 424 will share the main desk, with the Akai AX73 along one wall. The rack gear and patchbay will have to squeeze underneath the desk.

I'm definitely planning to sample live instruments, particularly guitars, but I'm more interested in mangling sounds and creating unusual textures than realistic instrument samples.

One of the attractions of the Akai S950 sampler is being able to connect it to the AX73 and process samples through its analogue filters and envelopes. That should be fun to experiment with!

Hopefully I'll have some progress photos to share soon.

[mascis]

I’ve made a bit more progress and now have most of the main furniture in place.

The next stage is getting all the messy drilling and fitting jobs done before I start moving the Atari, rack gear and synths in properly.

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The guitar pedal storage drawer unit thing took a while to put together. It’s basically IKEA letter trays bolted together, with a top and base made from some old kitchen shelving my in-laws were getting rid of, covered in walnut vinyl wrap. It’s turned out quite nicely and should make good use of the narrow space.

I’ve also finally got the guitar hangers up, which was another job that took longer than expected.

Still to do: drill the speaker mounts to the wall, cut a hole in the desk for the cartridge extension cable, and make a small shelf underneath for the LOG3 and Unitor II. The desk is quite small, so there simply isn’t room to have those plugged directly into the Atari in the usual way once everything else is in place.

Progress has also been slowed down slightly by trying to fit a new PSU in the STE, which isn’t going quite as smoothly as hoped.
Once the drilling is finished I can finally start moving the computer and music gear in properly.

[exxos]

Looking good

[Darklord]

I'm thinking you're going to spend many wonderful hours there.

[mascis]

Another small bit of progress this weekend.

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I’ve now got speakers mounted, and I’ve built a little under-desk shelf for the LOG3 and Unitor II. I also cut a small hole in the desk for the cartridge-port extension cable, which means I can keep both units tucked away underneath rather than taking up valuable desk space.

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I’ve started moving some of the gear in too, the rack, Tascam 4-track, AX73 synth and Atari monitor are all in place now.

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The STE itself is still being held up by a PSU issue, I’m giving that a rest for the moment but I'll come back to it.

Next job is the less glamorous part: wiring all of this together. Once that’s done, it should finally start looking like an actual working studio rather than a construction project!