What rack type hardware unit should I get?

[Fornicras]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a Studio desk that has 10U space and I want to get some analog gear in there but I have always been a software person so I don't have much of an idea about which gear to get. I only installed my interface, PreSonus 1824c to the desk, I have 9U left, what can you suggest?

My budget is obviously not limitless, I just want to fill the empty spaces with usable but not really expensive gear.

[HAL76]

You should maybe better ask the slu... ahm I mean on gearspace. They can definitely help you if yo tell them what you want to do.

[whyterabbyt]

I recently bought a Studio desk that has 10U space and I want to get some analog gear in there

to do what, exactly?

[imrae]

Going to need some more information about what your studio is for. Do you record stuff in the room? Remix external projects?

Also, how accessible is the space? Is it prominent on top or a unit down to the floor?

Some typical options to consider would be:

• A patchbay - takes up 1u, makes other gear easier to manage
• A fancy EQ (e.g. Pultec clone) for shaping the mixbuss or printing channels through. I don't see much benefit over in-the-box options here.
• Fancy compression/saturation where you are unsatisfied with the software versions (e.g. 1176). This is a large fraction of what we see in 19" racks of pro mix engineers.
• 500-series rack: If you want room for a bunch of preamps, compressors and EQs (e.g. for tracking) then it's space-effective to allocate 3U for a chassis with 8 or 10 500-series slots. Not going to be cheap to fill it up, but there's no rush either.
• Modular synthesiser; you can get a bit of Eurorack in 3U to do a particular job but a really flexible system would need more space. 8U of Serge/Loudest Warning could be quite inspiring but would take all the space - and would be a big leap if you don't have anything like that already.
• Fancy multi-fx (Eventide, Lexicon). Very nice stuff but maybe only worth having over software if you are regularly running out of CPU.
• A knobby synthesizer with a good workflow that inspires you; something like Nord Lead, Novation Peak, Slim Phatty, Microwave XT...

[kritikon]

If you're mostly s/w, why do you want to buy rack gear? Just because you want to fill holes on your desk? That's possibly the worst reason to buy anything. Do you already have any hw synths, or are thinking of getting them? Are you planning on going the hw mixer route? I agree with whoever posted about a patchbay...they're incredibly useful things...but only if you have lots of hw.

[lfm]

Get some shelfs and drawers and stuff. Very useful to shove some things away from desk.

I have a floor based rack on wheels, turntable on top, hifi amp on top of a drawer, some disk players for dvd and bluray, vinyl records etc. But bought it for this purpose from start. Not needing to have that gear up against a wall.

[Uncle E]

Pioneer rackmount 2-track reel-to-reel
Yamaha SPX-990
Yamaha REV7
Roland CE-300
Roland SDE-3000
Alesis 3630

[zerocrossing]

A knobby synthesizer with a good workflow that inspires you; something like Nord Lead, Novation Peak, Slim Phatty, Microwave XT...

I’d agree, but suggest going more for analog synthesizers, as they are a bit more different than emulations, compared to all digital synths vs. their plugin cousins. Studio Electronics and Black Corporation make several rackable models that sound fantastic.

As for effects… I can’t think of too many rack mountable models that are analog other than saturation/filters like the Culture Vulture or Sherman Filterbank. I’d recommend that direction anyway.

[cryophonik]

As others have said, it's hard to recommend anything without knowing what you want. In the meantime....

...put a little refrigerator in that space to keep your beer cold until you decide what you want?

[counterparty]

Think about your music and where you want to focus your spending before you buy anything.

For example, are you mostly interested in having hardware to make things sound great on the way into your DAW, and then use software from there? Do you want to use hardware as part of the mixing process, or on the master bus, or just as something to send tracks out to for flavour you can't get from software? Are you going to be recording vocals or acoustic instruments? Is your music mostly synths or heavy metal or Neo-Soul?

Once you have a rough idea of what you want the hardware to do, research actual models and manufacturers. Try them out in person if you can. It's worth having a list (even if it's just in your head) because hardware does go on sale a few times a year (typically about 10% off, so not as extreme as software). Having an idea of what you want and what you want it for should hopefully stop you buying random stuff that's on sale but you won't use.

Also, if you're recording vocals or instruments get to know how much of the sound of a recording is from the microphone, how much from the preamp, how much from the interface etc. You might be disappointed if you buy a lovely pre-amp and don't suddenly sound like a 70s record

[BertKoor]

9 free units fit three of these
https://www.rack247.com/19-inch-compone ... 450mm-deep

[imrae]

I’ve been thinking about lining one of those with foam and using it for microphones.

But for all we know OPs desk has the rails at an angle or sticking out the top, which would not be such a great place for a drawer.

[kritikon]

Talking about foam...put some rack shelves in, line with foam and it'll make a great resting place for the cat to snooze or watch you while you're playing. If you don't have a cat...get one.