MYSTI'S HOME RECORDING STUDIO. TRANS Sister Studio

Here I will list all of my musical equipment and a flow chart showing how everything is connected together

GUITARS
THE HARDWARE COMPUTER INTERFACE FOR RECORDING 
These are my BABIES and I just LOVE them! My Roland kit consists of a snare, 3 toms, a bass, hi hat, all run by the Roland TD-8 Percussion Sound Module. I really do miss playing acoustic drums but my circumstances dictated that a digital kit was more suited to my needs.  There are pros and cons to both types of drums but here are some of the advantages my digital kit provides.



I have had this kit for 3 years now and I HAVE NEVER ONCE broken a single drum stick! You do not have to beat the crap out of this kit
to get the sound you want, like you do with acoustic kits.  Just think of the savings in drum sticks alone! The one thing I do not like are the cymbals.
The rubber coating on them gives them a bad feel and it is very difficult to get the crown sound out of them.
1: The digital drum skins are very responsive.
 
2: The rack mounting system for this kit is SIMPLY MARVELOUSLY designed, allowing
    any possible placement of components.

3: They are so light and are completely portable, folding up easily into a small bundle.
   
4: Given the very poor acoustic conditions of my over crowded living room/dining
    room studio setup, having an acoustic drum kit would become a nightmare, in
    terms of space and in terms of trying to get a "clean" sound from this room.
    I was in fact forced by these circumstances to go digital.
 

5: With the Roland TD-8 Percussion Sound Module, I can have a multitude of various  
    complete and different drum kits. I can select from dozens of pre-recorded kits
    and I can program entire new kits or each individual drum.
 
6: Since this is a digital system with digital output, just how difficult do you think
    it is to "microphone" this entire kit?
 
Well the answer is.... YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT! 
It's digital so.... you feed the entire kit into your recording system and that's..that.
If you have ever tried to microphone a complete acoustic kit properly, you will really appreciate this. Those are the major reasons I like my digital drums. 
Besides, I simply do not have enough space in my home studio for a large acoustic set.
This is my first guitar and the story behind me learning to play guitar is.... interesting in itself. For now, let me just say that I love this AXE and I know there are many superior AXE'S out there but as any real guitarist will tell you, your first LOVE is the.... BEST!
 
This is wonderful and expensive device which I am still riding the learning curve on.
My first BASS guitar which of course, I LOVE. I just started to play this the day I created this website.
Well not everyone is normal LIKE ME. Many musicians I have noticed play RIGHT handed so... I always have one on hand for these strange..... visitors... giggles.

I am not a keyboard player YET but I will learn this instrument. I love nothing better then a challenge as that is what makes US all grow.  PS: Any really good keyboard players out there willing to help me?.. giggles. You will notice that I have even identified each key with tape. GOD... I am struggling ! damn RIGHT HANDED  keyboards. First time I tried playing this thing, I stood behind it, just so it would make some sense to my mind!


Just one of my vocal microphones. 
I had come up with a song idea that would incorporate the primal sound of the Australian Aboriginal wind instrument, the Didgeridoo. Of course having an electronic keyboard, I could have simply mimicked  the sound of the didgeridoo but I wanted more.

As fate would have it, after a night of dancing in a club on Queen street, here in the great city of Toronto, I happened to walked past a rather unique little shop.
And in the front store window, there it was.
 A real aboriginal Didgeridoo.
 Now I ask you, what musician  could possibly resist purchasing that INSTRUMENT !



All instruments/sounds are fed into my studio computer where I am using the musical software program called CuBase to do all recordings, mixings, effects and so on. 
I love the dual screen setup as I can view everything all at once.
My computer. It is an older P4,  1.7 GHz. with tons of hard drive space. 
Ok so it's old. I can do wonders with.... anything!

Outputs from the firepod feed the MAQ 150 monitor amp which allows me to hear all sounds through  2 large monitor speakers that surround the base of my digital drum kit.
Of course I  also have the option of sending outputs from the firepod to the stereo receiver which drive my 2 BEAUTIFUL infinity SM25 loud speakers which really kick major butt.

I sometimes use these Fostex headphones to monitor my recorded tracks.
   

  
 
THIS IS WHAT MAKES IT ALL HAPPEN! THIS IS ONE "SUPER, ULTRA, F U N K Y FINE, KICK ASS UNIT! The FIREPOD is actually a FIREBOX with
double the inputs and the ability to record 12 tracks at once, as opposed to the FIREBOX's 6 tracks at once. What really sold me on buying this unit 
was the fact that I could plug all of my studio instruments into it and not ever worry about extra cables, laying around, just waiting for me to pull them
out or plug them into other devices, all the time.  I HATE babysitting anything! ( giggles). Furthermore, you can chain another FIREPOD to this one
and double your pleasure, so to speak. This is a well made professional recording device.
                                                             I strongly recommend it to anyone thinking of a computer based, home recording studio. 
ROKIT powered, near field
6 inch monitor speakers
I just purchased this much better microphone. A condenser mic is a must for studio vocals.
My computer system running Cubase SX. Note the dual LCD screens and the  ROKIT powered monitor speakers.

Because I have very poor eyesight and some hearing loss, I prefer to use this
wireless microphone system when performing live.

An over view of my studio room

I recently purchased the newest generation of the Firepod, now called
 
The FIRESTUDIO Project.