My Recording Studio

Welcome to my recording studio! This page describes the equipment and software I use for doing my audio productions.

Keyboards and Other Instruments

I play a variety of instruments, including a Fender Squier Bronco electric bass guitar, numerous accordions, three Roland keyboards, and a Komplete S61 MK1 keyboard from Native Instruments.

Roland Keyboards

My first Roland keyboard was an E28 Intelligent Keyboard, which I purchased in 1998. It has 128 instruments, 64 rhythms, and two effects processors; one for reverb, and one for chorus.

The EXR-3S was an interactive arranger keyboard released in 2005. It features 510 instruments, 20 drum kits, 160 styles (84 are built in, and the rest are in Flash memory), and a pitch wheel, something which wasn’t available with the E28. Roland did a good job improving the sounds in this keyboard. I now mainly use it and the E28 when performing live.

The third Roland keyboard, which I currently use as one of my studio keyboards, is the BK-3 (BK stands for “Backing Keyboard”). There are over 800 sounds and lots of drum kits included. But what really impresses me about this instrument are the rhythms and how they’re played/controlled. Each has four variations, complete with intros and endings, and you can choose, as an example, which variation’s intro will play first. You can control the rhythm using the traditional method where the keys on the left will change the chord, or by using Piano Mode. This mode gives you full access to the keyboard, and the chord will change if three or more notes are pressed.

Native Instruments

My main studio keyboard is the Komplete S61 MK1. What really amazes me about this product is how it integrates with software instruments. Native Instruments have introduced accessibility features in the keyboard that allow it to speak for visually impaired users like myself. Touching any of the eight knobs will cause the product to speak the parameter associated with that control and its current value. I can then adjust that parameter by turning the knob in question and get feedback as changes are made. The Preset Browser also speaks, allowing me to choose the library and preset I want to use, or to find a specific type of sound I want, such as a piano or synth pad.

My Mixer

I currently use a Behringer Xenyx 2222USB mixer. I believe it’s a 12-channel board, and has various routing options for each channel, either through the main or subgroup outputs, or through headphones for soloing. The board has a built-in FX unit for adding effects like reverb, chorus, pitch shifting, etc., and can also be connected to the computer via USB if desired.

Computers, Including Sequencers and Soft Synths

As far as my computer setup is concerned, I mainly use a system running Windows 11, but I also have a Mac Mini currently running MacOS Sequoia.

Windows Products

For Windows, I currently use four recording packages depending on the project I’m working on. For single-track work, I use GoldWave. It’s light on system resources, has lots of keyboard commands, and also includes a screen reader mode.

For multitrack work in both MIDI and digital audio, I mainly use REAPER, which is an acronym for “Rapid Environment for Audio Production, Engineering and Recording”.
This is, as far as I’m concerned anyway, an amazing product! It’s file size may be small, but don’t let that fool you. It’s incredibly powerful, and is very accessible with screen readers when used in conjunction with the OSARA addon.
It can even be run in portable mode, so you could copy it to a USB drive if you need to use it on another system.
It’s really hard to describe how to use REAPER here, but I’m having fun learning how to do things I haven’t been able to do in other DAWs, such as using envelopes for things like volume changes.
I’ll admit that it took me awhile to learn how to use the program as there are literally tons of commands that can be used (though you certainly don’t have to learn them all at once), but I’m very glad I stuck with it.
(See the section on REAPER Resources below for links to various courses, wikis, etc.)
You can try REAPER for 60 days without any limitations, except for occasional nag messages you’ll get when starting the program. When you’re ready to purchase, there are two licensing options available depending on your needs, but the features are the same for both.

Another product I’ve been working with lately is Ableton’s Live 12. I like its approach to recording, which is quite different than other products I’ve used over the years. The program has two views you can record in: Session View and Arrangement View. The Session View allows you to record clips (or short pieces of audio or MIDI), that can be triggered anytime when recording a song. Examples could be if you wanted to record a short piano part, or a drum pattern you want to loop for awhile. The Arrangement view acts like a traditional MIDI sequencer or multitrack recorder. Since version 12, accessibility features have been implemented that allow it to work with screen readers on both Windows and Mac. I hope to produce an audio overview of this fun and unique product someday.

I also recommend James Bowden’s Quick Windows Sequencer. While it has no audio support, it’s perfect if you want to record and edit MIDI files, and is very accessible with screen readers right out of the box. Plus, it’s free!

MacOS and iOS

When using the Mac, I mainly use Logic Pro. It has excellent support for the built-in Voiceover screen reader, and has lots of great instruments and loops, many of which are also included in GarageBand for iOS, another product that is lots of fun to use.
Speaking of GarageBand, I enjoy composing my own ringtones with it, and also experimenting with the numerous included tools for creating drum patterns, such as its Drum Step Sequencer. Plus, I can even import GarageBand projects into Logic, which makes editing much easier, though it is possible to edit from the phone as well.

Audio Interface

I currently use a MOTU M4 as my audio interface for both MacOS and Windows. Products like this are highly recommended if you want to use sequencers like REAPER, since they have zero-latency support. This means that the interface cuts down on latency issues, so that if you’re using a soft synth, and press a key on your keyboard, a note will be played instantly, instead of a second or so later, which can happen when using consumer-level cards like those built into most PCs.

Software Instruments

I use a variety of software instruments, or softsynths, mostly in the VSTi format. The majority of these plugins are based on analog synths, like those from the early ’80s, but there are also a few that emulate instruments like saxophones, guitars, etc., or that can be used as samplers to load in soundfonts and other formats. The advantage of using soundfonts and soft synths is that you can get more sounds without having to buy additional keyboards.

Plus, thanks to NKS (Native Komplete Standard) support, I’m now able to use more libraries that I couldn’t access before using my Komplete keyboard. Third-party companies, such as Freelance Soundlabs, have produced libraries for products like Korg’s various software instruments, or Omnisphere by Spectrasonics, and other companies are starting to incorporate NKS support into their products, such as Rob Papen’s Predator.
For reviews of products that have NKS support, check out KK-Access.

REAPER Resources

The following are links to various sites regarding the REAPER DAW program.

Additional Links

The following is a list of additional resources dealing with music production.

  • Roland Canada
  • Roland US
  • KVRAudio.com, an excellent resource for plugins which you can use as software synthesizers or effects. This site features news, reviews, download links, and forums.
  • PG Music produces the popular Band-In-A-Box accompaniment software.
  • SuperWave P8 is an excellent free soft synth that reproduces classic pads, basses, effects, and leads. A lot of these sounds are based on sounds from various songs, such as the X-Files theme, Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygene, etc. There’s even a tempo-synced delay included with almost every preset. The above link is a direct link to the file itself. Highly recommended!
  • Maxim Digital Audio produces some great free VST synths, including the JX10 synth, a realistic piano, and an electric piano.