Creation Station

As I dive deeper into live-streaming, I found I needed a dedicated station that I can rely on sonically as well as have control of the visual environment. Being in a shared space, having separate stations for different tasks, is one thing I’ve found that keeps me engaged while being creative.

The basics of setting up a station, includes I/O, audio monitoring, midi, keyboard/mouse/external monitor, and my favorite - gear!

Everyone’s needs are different. The goal is to define the actions for the station, what it’s functionality is, how it fits in to the flow of work. Is it shared? Is it performance based? Are you going to make videos/stream live? Is it discovery based? what types of midi controllers does it need? how many analog lines, mic inputs, do they need power? - what’s the I/O??

All these questions should be answered before beginning to build said station.

This Streaming station:

Drums - TAMA StarClassic Bubinga/Birch

Nord Electro 3

MPC Live

Allen & Heath Mixer

8 ch XLR snake

KVM

USB 3.0 hub

Substation Space (synth station, sampling station, DJ station, etc)

Z Cam E2-M4 Cinema Camera HDMI

Obsbot Tiny 4K PTZ USB Camera

Auxiliary Stations:

Synth Station:

Moog Mother 32

Moog DFAM

Moog Subharmonicon

Moog Slim Phatty

Eventide Time Factor Delay

Eventide Space Reverb

Mackie Mix 8 line mixer

auxiliary inputs:

Beat Thang Sampler

Hologram Microcosm

Roland SPD-SX

MIDI from computer - midi thru Slim Phatty to Mother 32, MIDI from computer to Roland SPD-SX allowing for direct interface through Ableton Live.

Desk Station:

iMac Pro

UAD Apollo 8p - 3x

UAD Apollo 16

Ableton Push 2

NI Komplete Kontrol Keyboard

MIDI Fighter 3D

AKG P220 Condenser Mic (vox, sampling)

El Gato Stream Deck

Obsbot Tiny 4K PTZ USB camera

Elgato Camlink 4K

Elgato HD60 S+

Software:

Ableton Live 11

OBS Studio

Loopback Audio

UAD Console

Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop

As I build stations for each project I focus on, I learn more about signal flow & ease of use, while maintaining an artful esthetic.

I find that creating a station ultimately gives me the ability to jump in without wasting loads of time setting up, patching, testing, etc - all the stuff that dampens the creative flow. I walk in, turn it on, and start making.

Hopefully this concept inspires you to create a new station, or dive into it for the first time...