cheaper wood audio racks recommendations?

I have some cheapo portable live sound 4 u rack cases and it works for safely storing stuff, but it feels like sort of a chore to pull out and hook something up. I don’t have extra desk space and its not something you want at your feet at all the time.

In my little ‘control room’ area I only have JBL monitors, a Midas console, i/o interface, 2-1/2 U analog delay, fun grainy 1U digital delay, 1u spring reverb, and a Urei LA-22 so I definitely don’t need a patchbay. I don’t plan to add much else either. Just a wood rack off the ground that I can use to quicky insert effects between the mixer and interface without too much trouble or long cable lengths.

There is some Etsy stuff I had my eye on but even the cheaper stuff is still a few hundred dollars so thought I’d check here for recommendations before gambling on something

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 11:36 am cheaper wood audio racks recommendations?

I have some cheapo portable live sound 4 u rack cases and it works for safely storing stuff, but it feels like sort of a chore to pull out and hook something up. I don’t have extra desk space and its not something you want at your feet at all the time.

In my little ‘control room’ area I only have JBL monitors, a Midas console, i/o interface, 2-1/2 U analog delay, fun grainy 1U digital delay, 1u spring reverb, and a Urei LA-22 so I definitely don’t need a patchbay. I don’t plan to add much else either. Just a wood rack off the ground that I can use to quicky insert effects between the mixer and interface without too much trouble or long cable lengths.

There is some Etsy stuff I had my eye on but even the cheaper stuff is still a few hundred dollars so thought I’d check here for recommendations before gambling on something

Don't know how handy you are but I just build mine out of cheapo pine board fron home depot. This one was like $30 or something. 10 spaces. Room for the console. To buy something like this is really expensive. Rack ears cheap on amazon

I’m not that handy but that’s a great idea. This seems like it would be a woodworking great project to start with

You don't need to be handy to jam econo. if the pair of racks you already have match, place them on either side of a large folding table or big old desk like this and get a plank of wood like that to put on top like a shelf.

Or you could also just put the existing racks off to the side on a folding keyboard stand. If you want to put them both side-by-side, take the X-pattern as low to the floor as you can & put a plank on it, then plop the two racks on top of that.

Or if you can get a bigger live-style rack (they should be cheap af these days I seem them on craigslist alla time for $40-50 since everyone's gone to digital mixers that have all the outboard stuff built-in) then put it on one of those combo amp racks & off to the side.

All these are uneducated stabs at problem-solving since I don't know the space you're working with but maybe might spark an idea for something that works better?

Garth wrote: Tue Dec 20, 2022 2:27 pm You don't need to be handy to jam econo. if the pair of racks you already have match, place them on either side of a large folding table or big old desk like this and get a plank of wood like that to put on top like a shelf.

Thats' what I did before I built this thing. 2 6Space racks, one on each side. I built this cause the old thing made my monitors too high, so I made this with 4 space on the sides and 2 single spaces in the center. Old way worked great but my neck was creaking.

For a cheap studio rack solution, this turned out pretty great.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... rack-stand

It seems sturdy enough and takes up a minimum of space

Cons - while the gear is racked and organized, it isn’t as protected as if it were in a case. Also, I wanted wood and the top space seems like it’s shrunk under 19” just because of the way it all fits together. Tolerances arent the tightest.

So it probably can’t be beat for $45 and zero effort or planning, but you still get what you pay for. Pleased I didn’t have to gamble a few hundred on another 12U space of dubious quality, even if I did want a wood rack. I think the DIY option is more appropriate for when I have time for a more permanent installation later on down the line.

I'm considering a new interface. I currently use this one from M Audio;
http://www.audioadapter.net/sites/defau ... -track.jpg
I know...in the scheme of things it probably sucks, but I've only ever used it as an A/D converter to get mixes from the 8 track onto the computer or to digitize cassettes. I use Audacity and keep things absurdly simple. The M Audio has pretty much everything I need and not much I don't, but I do get dropouts sometimes and have to redo the transfer. I was looking at some Universal Audio stuff that looked nice and simple like the Volt 276, but then saw it boasts to make your recording sound "vintage" at the touch of a button and that it has a dumb built in single button compressor. No thanks. The SSL2 looked cool too, but it has a 4K button that does...something. I don't want crappy podcaster features. Just something really basic and simple with good conversion. I know people here use the Focusrite Scarlet, but is that going to be any different that what I'm already using? Also, I see the new version (2i2) has an "air" button which is more signal processing nonsense. I know I could just not use these built in effects, but I don't want them in the first place.

Is it worth changing horses if what I've got is working for me with the occasional hiccup?

Are you sure it's the interface (or related software) causing the dropouts? I'm not sure I've ever experienced that while recording (I don't do much transferring). Cuz otherwise yeah it seems like what you're using is fine for the task. (I like the Audient stuff for its preamps, but am unsure if the converters are much better)

penningtron wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 8:27 am Are you sure it's the interface (or related software) causing the dropouts?

That's a really good point. I'm not sure at all, and it's just as likely (or more so) that it's the program needing a restart or something running in the background of my computer causing the problem. Audacity has a pop up that reports dropouts and the locations of the errors are marked. Sometimes they are inaudible, other times they sound like a crackle or glitch. It's easy to spot and really doesn't happen very often. I'll probably just stick with it.

I had a similar experience with my Focusrite Scarlet interface. Turned out the CPU memory was tapped out. It's totally possible that it's a computer issue.