Center Desk for Home Studio

Tell Your Friends about Gear that you love

Moderators: admin, mdc, TAXIstaff

herminga123
Getting Busy
Getting Busy
Posts: 59
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:04 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by herminga123 » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:25 pm

Can anyone recommend a decent center desk for a home studio? Particulary for a keyboard player? I have an 88-key (weighted) digital piano/controller that is fairly heavy. The desk has to be stable enough to allow for heavy playing. I don't want my imac bouncing off the desk!! I want it to be expandable as well but, right now, I only have my piano (Korg SG Pro X), Peavy keyboard amp, two Roland studio monitors, 27" imac, and an Apogee Duet coming soon. Thanks!

User avatar
mazz
Total Pro
Total Pro
Posts: 8411
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:51 am
Gender: Male
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by mazz » Mon Sep 20, 2010 3:55 pm

This is a very rare and expensive beast you are searching for. KK Audio makes a nice desk that holds an 88 key keyboard on a sliding shelf and it's 1500.00. There's really nothing out there that I have been able to find, and believe me, I've searched, that does what you want for less than 1000.00. The OmniRax stuff and Argosy, etc., is really expensive and BIG!! Try putting that in a 10X10 room!! LOL!!

Raxxess does makes some desks in the "Configu-U-Rax" line that are height adjustable and which you could use to slide over the top of your keyboard, which would be resting on one of those single keyboard type stands, x stand, whatever.

This is actually a timely query on your part because I have been in the same search for quite some time and am now moving my studio out of my house and am looking to streamline my setup. I need something that holds my 88 key controller, and also I have my control surfaces and small controller above it, but I can still reach the controls on my 88 key controller. AND have space for my trackball!! It's not easy to find this!!

So I am going to do this for now:

I have one of these stands from my gigging days:

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... sku=450389

I will have some sort of shelf material that I'll pick up at Lowe's or Home Depot on the top tier. When I bring the top tier down almost as low as it will go, it comes over the top of the 88 key controller and yet still allows access to the controls on that keyboard. Then behind that I'll put some sort of narrow table or stand for my computer monitors so I can get them high enough to see over the controllers on the shelf. Total price, just over 200 bucks. Does it look fancy and cool? Maybe not but the keyboard won't bounce and I still have all my stuff in front of me. The trackball is still an issue, but I use a wireless keyboard for the computer and that stays in my lap, so that's not a problem.

It's not the 100% solution I'd like to have, but it's the least expensive so far and it's not using an office desk, which puts the keyboard way too high for playing any kind of real piano type stuff.

Good luck!!

Mazz
Evocative Music For Media

imagine if John Williams and Trent Reznor met at Bernard Hermann's for lunch and Brian Eno was the head chef!
http://www.johnmazzei.com
http://www.taxi.com/johnmazzei

it's not the gear, it's the ear!

User avatar
jparker
Impressive
Impressive
Posts: 138
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:30 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by jparker » Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:36 pm

I did something that halfway works without a desk, and I spent only about $250. I have a dual-tier ON-Stage Stand that holds my A-90 (88 Keys) and my Yamaha Motif on top. Then I mounted two video monitors on the walls with really long arms and the monitors can move around. These are tied to my Mac Pro sitting to the side on the floor. Then I found a rolling laptop cart that slides right under my lower keyboard and holds the mouse, computer keyboard and Maschine controller for about $60.
(Just have no where to rest my arms when I fall asleep).

matto
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 3320
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 5:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by matto » Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:55 pm

If money is no object, then this baby looks awful nice:

http://virtualinstrumentsmag.com/composersdesk/

But it's pricey...

User avatar
mazz
Total Pro
Total Pro
Posts: 8411
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:51 am
Gender: Male
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by mazz » Mon Sep 20, 2010 6:48 pm

Oh yeah, that's a drool worthy piece of gear. I asked a wood worker friend of mine if the price was right given the specs and the materials and he said it looked about right to him.

This is the one I was referring to. It's the closest to what I would like to have eventually, room for an 88 key controller right in the middle of the speakers.

http://www.kkaudio.com/A1.html

The Raxess stuff is here:

http://www.raxxess.com/commercial/produ ... D-42M.html

This is the desk with the adjustable height. I'm not sure where your computer keyboard and mouse would go, but at least there would be a nice spot for a control surface above the keyboard.

Mazz
Evocative Music For Media

imagine if John Williams and Trent Reznor met at Bernard Hermann's for lunch and Brian Eno was the head chef!
http://www.johnmazzei.com
http://www.taxi.com/johnmazzei

it's not the gear, it's the ear!

matto
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 3320
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2004 5:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Los Angeles
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by matto » Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:08 pm

mazz wrote:Oh yeah, that's a drool worthy piece of gear. I asked a wood worker friend of mine if the price was right given the specs and the materials and he said it looked about right to him.
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply it was overpriced, just that it's not within everybody's budget... ;)

Then again...how much is a new 8 Core Mac Pro?...And that desk is gonna outlast generations of computers...

User avatar
t4mh
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1446
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 4:05 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Indiana
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by t4mh » Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:13 pm

I'm kinda thinkin' about buildin' my own desk. None I've ever had quite work for me.

Keith
I hear the voice of God in a bending guitar string!
Life is too important to be taken seriously
No electrons were harmed in the construction of this message.
http://www.t4mh.com

User avatar
mazz
Total Pro
Total Pro
Posts: 8411
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:51 am
Gender: Male
Location: San Francisco
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by mazz » Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:17 pm

matto wrote:
mazz wrote:Oh yeah, that's a drool worthy piece of gear. I asked a wood worker friend of mine if the price was right given the specs and the materials and he said it looked about right to him.
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply it was overpriced, just that it's not within everybody's budget... ;)

Then again...how much is a new 8 Core Mac Pro?...And that desk is gonna outlast generations of computers...
Oh I totally agree! How many computers have we had over the years? Enough to buy at least 3 of those desks for me, probably! LOL!!

I think it would be a very nice thing to have, particularly because of the composing desk part of it, that's another frustration of mine because I like to write on paper sometimes and I like to have it right there when I'm playing the parts into the computer. Haven't found the perfect solution yet, that's for sure. This one is close!

Someday! ;)
Evocative Music For Media

imagine if John Williams and Trent Reznor met at Bernard Hermann's for lunch and Brian Eno was the head chef!
http://www.johnmazzei.com
http://www.taxi.com/johnmazzei

it's not the gear, it's the ear!

herminga123
Getting Busy
Getting Busy
Posts: 59
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:04 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by herminga123 » Tue Sep 21, 2010 10:30 am

The KK Audio looks sweet!! Although, with the sliding 88-key shelf, I wonder how stable it is? I mean, when playing some heavy piano, would it be bouncing around? Maybe the answer is to buy the Raxxess center desk and pull it over the keyboard, as you mentioned Mazz. Although, I think I saw that it only raised to 30"???

Herm

User avatar
mojobone
King of the World
King of the World
Posts: 11837
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 4:20 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Up in Indiana, where the tall corn grows
Contact:

Re: Center Desk for Home Studio

Post by mojobone » Tue Sep 21, 2010 2:03 pm

The problem for me is having an easily adjustable keyboard height to accommodate the different positions I find myself in, and other performers who'll occasionally use my rig. They really don't make any such beast. Best to have an adjustable keyboard workstation that's separate from the computer desk, and jes' use a remote, when flyin' solo. Way cheaper, this way, too.
The Straight Stuff; Roots, Rock & Soul

http://twangfu.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/mojo_bone

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests