I just go a new Presonus Firebox! Great little interface generally, though not too CPU efficient. Much better than the Mbox i also own but now rarely use. I record with a pair of Behringer B-1 condenser mics on a 15" Aluminum Apple Powerbook G4 1.25GHz running OS X 10.3.9 (Panther) with Logic Pro 6.4.3, Pro Tools LE 6.4, Max/MSP 4.3, Jack, and other assorted software such as Reason Adapted, Live Lite, Plogue Bidule, Cecilia, Audacity, Melody Assistant, and Finale Printmusic.
My New Motto:
( Logic Pro + MaxMSP ) / Jack = Infinite possibilities
Instruments include a trumpet (Benge, Silver), a flugelhorn (Leblanc Paris, Silver), a trombone, a Peavey electric bass, several digeridoos I have made, several old guitars and various percussion instruments, a Yamaha PMC-1 MIDI drum brain, a percussicube, an old electric chord organ, and of course the powerbook itself. The best is putting accelerometers from game controllers on the Trumpet... I have also been working on a virtual trumpet and a finger-drum interface a-la-Bela Fleck's drummer (but not as crazy looking). I use a Studiologic CMK-149 as a MIDI controller for my soft synths and my Alesis Nanosynth. I use a Midiman MIDIsport 1x1 USB MIDI interface.
I can carry a condensed version of the studio around in a fancy sports bag. It is therefore very portable and can be carried almost anywhere and run completely on computer battery power for about 1.5 hours.
I have two older mixers that I use when necessary, 3 dynamic mics (a Shure SM 57, a Samson S12, and a Samson Q-mic) and guitar and bass amps. My monitoring system is just a Technics stereo receiver with a pair of nice Bose shelf speakers. Not great for studio monitors, but good sound nonetheless.
Above you see apicture of my condensed portable setup (with my new powerbook and, ironically, the old iMac in the background) at a private performance. The powerbook is sitting atop the Yamaha drum trigger module I reclaimed from the scrap-metal pile. The anachronistic mixer next to it is an old (like '50s/ '60s, I think) UHER Stereomix that I have gutted and turned into a continuous controller for various controller inputs of the drum trigger module. The UHER mixer is a really neat looking little piece of recording history - it still has old masking tape on one of the channels that reads "REEL TAPE".
For this performance I was using three piezo elements as drum triggers set up to do three different, un-drum-like things, the ancient mixer, a microphone to play my trumpet into and the keyboard to play not as a piano, but using my 'squidscratcher' instrument for Plogue Bidule that can be downloaded here. I used Plogue Bidule as the software to coordinate all of the controllers, sounds and realtime effects and got some really neat textures. This was a performance for my mother's Birthday, so before beginning, I recorded friends and family singing a dirge version of "Happy Birthday" and the clapping that ensued after my mother blew out her candles. These I quickly edited and used as flexible sonic material throughout the performance.
To see a more recent performance go here
Page Last Updated June 25, 2005
Arvid Tomayko-Peters ••
Squish the Squid Productions