The DAW Desk & Digital Pianostand stepchild project for Living rooms

[voon]

I'm one of them guys with a more or less normal hobbyist budget. And a normal appartment without an extra room for a studio.

So I'd like to have my masterkeyboard (an 88 Key Arturia keylabs) and a PC for the VST instruments in my living room. But there's the WAF (or maybe nowadays, the GNAF) ... the Woman Acceptance Factor (or Gender Neutral AF) .... so the thing has to be a piece of beauty.

This means all normal affordable Studiodesks are out of the window. No cheap IKEA solutions etc. It has to basically look like a modern, classy digital piano stand in decent high gloss white or black, hiding all cabling.

I tried to come up with an idea as a start which is represented by these two renders:





It's just a rough idea:

- There's a PC underneath it in ITX format (I like proper power, no laptops) with decent specs.
- There's a 24" Touchscreen I either incorporate into a slanted desk for elegance, or keep as something with a VESA arm mount to position as desired.
- There's a sliding part for keyboard & mouse, high enough to not interfere with masterkeyboard knob handling. Can probably be lowered for ergonomics, sliding the masterkeyboard out more.
- My two Rockit 6 Monitors are the biggest issue, as they can't be incorporated elegantly
- The thing is about to be as broad as the masterkeyboard. As small as possible, as large as required.
- Piano laquer is unaffordable, so the thing probably has to be covered by high gloss plastic.

Did anyone ever start such a project? All I see googling are the usual IKEA tables and real studio desks for 19" racks etc .... nearly never is there a small, elegant build. Besides some people using grand piano cabinets, but that's too large. I also thought of getting a used piano (which soemtimes go for free) and use its husk, but they're not ideal for placing of the monitors etc.

[voon]

Still (very slowly) working on this. And another Idea ... a bit more pianoesque:

[Hink]

Still (very slowly) working on this. And another Idea ... a bit more pianoesque:

I like this, make it a bit more ornate looking and age it up a bit, give it an old player piano look and it would be a very sharp and functional addition to any room

[Richard deHove]

Love the second one! Cooling the PC could be an issue though, and you'd still need a sneaky USB port or two somewhere. And where's your keyboard/mouse ? With all this effort perhaps a dual-screen would be better as well?

Perhaps you could incorporate a hinged lid for the master keyboard which would hinge up and back and have the keyboard on the underside?

[ghettosynth]

All of those designs look like bulky pieces of furniture to me that would look more at home on the bridge of the starship enterprise than in a nicely styled living room. Not my taste, but I don't think that hiding something in a bulky pseudo piano is going to look anything other than you're trying to hide something in a bulky pseudo piano. If you're going for that look why not just get a fairly decent sized roll top desk?

No offense, and perhaps it's just me, but, f**k the WAF. Don't get me wrong, compromise is important in a relationship, but you don't have to agree on everything and having some diversity in style is ok. I'd go for a sleek and minimal ultimate support, or just a nice desk.

I think that it's some part of of sexism that women are somehow given an upper hand in choosing the style of a home. A home's style should reflect both of your inputs and should reflect both of your tastes. Ok, if you don't like the look of a studio in the living room then fine, but don't blame it on the WAF because that promotes this silly idea that somehow women are better at style, IMNSHO, they aren't. They're no worse, other than the fact that some demonstrate arrogance about it arising from cultural preconditioning, in much the same way that most men think that they're better than average drivers. If you don't think speakers belong in the living room, then say that. Frankly, the shit that I see that is supposedly for the WAF, to me, is often just a crap sense of style inherited from magazines and moms.

Auratones, a glass and aluminum/wood desk , and all in one computer and a seaboard will look stylish. If you really want a digital piano, then just buy one, they're mostly air and particle board. Dismantle it and build a mac mini into the back of the piano, make sure that you allow ventilation, this is easy, just pick the right material to cover the hole you cut out for the mini. Mount the lcd panel on the wall, put it in a wooden frame if you have to, and put the monitors on attractive speaker stands. Hide the cables in over the wall conduit. Use the mac bluetooth keyboard and just put it away in a draw when you're not using the studio. Set the screen saver on the mac to display works of art during the day and shut itself off at night.

[voon]

Don't worry ... any good criticism is welcome. It's not necessarily WAF ... it's just my livingroom, which is fairly decent for inviting people in etc, without looking like a mess. For mess I have my office with the PC, now that's the palce I don't want guests in But the livingroom is ideal for playing music... nice view, nice room...

I'm tring to find a solution, that doesn't look, like I have put a computer rack into the living room.

I don't mind anything that looks good, hides the cables totally and somehow has an option for the speakers (the worst to hide while remaining proper ear distance and angle etc).

It'd be fairly easy to us an elegant keyboardstand with a bit of work for hiding the cables .. but it's not very suitable for the ITX case PC and the 22" touchscreen.

Also, it has to be rollable in the end .. so I can easiyl move the entire enchilada to a wall etc, to make room for an extra table for guests etc, i.e. it cant be an ordinary desk. And all studiodesks I saw are just way too ugly and bulky for living room use (I dont need 19" racks etc).