My new console

Here is a link to pictures of the console I finished building on Saturday before Easter; just in time for final polishing of Easter music. Thank you, John Stump, for the inspiration.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49200889@N06/

Roy

Roy,
Congratulations! What a beautiful setup. The speaker towers are awesome.

George (G3)

Hi Roy,
Very nice, congratulations!
I added your photo to my gallery just below the picture of John Stump,
see: http://www.pcorgan.com/Fotos3EN.html#RoyKnight

Best regards,
Gert

Quite a nice work, Roy!

How much time was needed to complete the whole work? Have you done it all alone or have you had any help?

Thanks to Gert, I can see your pictures - Flickr pictures are censored in this country.

Gert, thanks for posting my picture so that others can view them. Pat, it took me 4 weeks of of using every bit of my spare time to complete. The project seemed to expand as I continued. I started out by building the tower assembly, so that I had a nice way of hiding the speakers and of showcasing the zimbelstern. Then I decided that the IKEA table was not a very substantial base for the tower assembly, so I designed and built the Desk system. Then my wife didn't like the idea of putting the aluminum monitor stands on the oak desk, so I designed and built adjustable monitor bases with oak slips that slide over them (they are easily removable). To compound the problem, the entire case needs to be able to be disassembled for moving. I built it in my parents' basement about a mile away. So, the entire case is modular; Each tower, the joining horizontal center section, the desk top, the decorative console end pieces, and the skeleton center core that supports the entire assembly. And of course, the monitor stands and slip cases. All pieces are simply bolted or screwed together. Oak was used everywhere except the console core skeleton, which is built of poplar.

Tired, but happy,
Roy

Congrats. It looks great, glad I could be of inspiration. The speaker towers looked vaguely familiar
Mine too is basically modular, except the speaker towers are hung on the wall so I can pull the key desk in and out from under them. When I get ready to move back to Mexico I'll have to take them down and re-work them a little into units that can stand on their own.
John

John,
I noticed you have the cherry keyboards from Classic. That is my next dream. Nothing feels like fine wood when playing keyboards - my harpsichord (built 1980) has cherry with ebony. I built my current keybeds, using Korg keyboards, removed from the plastic cases. They feel as good as most ready-made digital organs today, but I have to dream! How do you like the wooden keys? Thanks again for the inspiration.

Roy

Simply Amazing ! well done !

They are very nice. The "tracker touch" pluck is just about right for me. The only slight draw backs are purely cosmetic and doesn't affect how they feel when you play. The underside of the keys are plastic, colored to match the cherry. It doesn't show in the pictures as plastic, but standing in front of the console looking in you can tell, but that is a very minor detail. The other minor thing is that I'm sure some machine at Fatar turns out the key coverings by the dozens and then some person or other machine grabs them at random and puts them on the keys. I think in a custom made keyboard,(such as those from UHT, my ultimate dream, but they are three times as expensive) they would go to the trouble of cutting all the coverings from the same piece of wood and keeping them aligned to the original grain pattern.
John

Pat, it took me 4 weeks of of using every bit of my spare time to complete.

Waoow, it looks quite fast to me... You must be very skilled to complete such a project in such a short time. Especially that the modularity aspect of your work must have made it even more complex!

The project seemed to expand as I continued. I started out by building the tower assembly, so that I had a nice way of hiding the speakers and of showcasing the zimbelstern. Then I decided that the IKEA table was not a very substantial base for the tower assembly, so I designed and built the Desk system. Then my wife didn't like the idea of putting the aluminum monitor stands on the oak desk, so I designed and built adjustable monitor bases with oak slips that slide over them (they are easily removable). To compound the problem, the entire case needs to be able to be disassembled for moving. I built it in my parents' basement about a mile away.

Quite an original - and pragmatic - approach, where you started from the top to get down to the bottom.

What is really nice is when seeing the final result, you absolutely do not have the impression it was not designed as a whole project from the beginning - it's all perfectly integrated.

Tired, but happy,

I guess you are! But on top of that, you must also be very proud of the result!

At last I could have a look at your gallery!

If I may ask, how did you integrate your Mac Mini?

I guess it is hidden within the console... But how do you power it on and off, with that power switch that is behind the Mini?

Patrick,

The wood panel above the music rack opens to display the Saffire Pro 40, the Lexicon MX200, and the amp for the rear surround speakers. The Mac Mini sits on the top of the keyboard unit behind the music rack, easily accessed by lowering the hinged music rack forward. My goal was to hide all cables and computer/audio hardware.

Roy