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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!

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

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).

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

http://virtualinstrumentsmag.com/composersdesk/

But it's pricey...

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

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...

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

Keith

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!

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

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.