Equipment

My current studio is 100% digital. It is really amazing what modern hardware and software is capable of, and I’m not even using anything terribly groundbreaking. The ability to meld both synthetic and organic sounds all based in a digital domain is extremely liberating as I don’t have to take time to track down audio sources. Yes, there are drawbacks. One sound form that I have a very difficult time recreating is a simple repeating acoustic guitar strum with all it’s beautifully human inconsistencies. Yet, lacking the ability to mimic certain organic sound sources forces me to be creative and using my existing synthetic sources in new, unknown manners. What follows is a list of what makes up my current studio.

Hardware:
Apple 15″ MacBook Pro – 2.16 mhz/1gb RAM
Commodore 64
M-Audio MobilePre USB preamp
M-Audio Keystation 49e
M-Audio Axiom 25
M-Audio Trigger Finger
M-Audio MicroTrack
M-Audio BX-5a studio monitors
Novation ZeRO SL MkII control surface
AKG Perception 200 mic
AKG K240 studio reference headphones
AKG K66 monitor headphones
NI Kore 2
SkullCandy FMJ portable monitor headphones
IKEA Ivar shelving

Software:
Logic Studio 9 (DAW/synths/sampler/drum)
G-Force Minimonsta (MiniMoog emulator)
G-Force impOSCar (OSCar emulator)
Plogue Chipsounds (8-bit chipset emulator)
NI Absynth 4 (synth)
NI FM8 (synth)
NI Massive (synth)
NI Battery 3 (drum/sampler)
NI Kore Player
BIAS SoundSoap (audio scrubbing)
iZotope Ozone 4 (postproduction/mastering)
iZotope Spectron (post)
iZotope Studder Edit (post)
iZotope Trash (post)
iZotope Vinyl (post)
Waveburner (mastering software)

Miscellaneous non-music bits:
I also currently do my own media work, whether that be artwork, layouts, or web presence work. For that I have a couple of Sony digital cameras and use the following software…
Photoshop CS3
Illustrator CS3
Wordpress
Ecto
Fetch

Equipment and software from past lives:
Above is listed what I’m currently piloting in my studio. Over the years I’ve used a variety of computers, DAW/sequencers, and a handful of cheesy home keyboards, and a trusty workhorse Yamaha 4-track. The one piece that I miss the most is my Commodore 64. (I still have it tucked away in a storage unit, and when I have the space, it will live again.) I spent countless hours programming music note for note, instance for instance using the Commodore 64 SIDPlayer. This went on for many years. There’s something joyous about having to create FM synthesis with nothing but silent numbers and then saving it to listen to it in another program just so you can hear what you spent hours fussing over.

Hardware:
Apple 17″ iMac G5
Apple Blue & White G3
Apple Quadra 660av
Various DOS machines
A venerable Commodore 64
Yamaha MT-120II analog 4-track
Yamaha and Casio home keyboards

Software:
Logic Studio 8
Logic Express 7
Garageband 1 and 2
PlayerPro (pretty much every version made for a Mac)
ProTools 4
ScreamTracker
669Tracker
ModTracker
SIDplayer

And for my other life as a live brass playing musician:

I own Yamaha, Holton, and Olds bass trombones, and an unknown used school baritone with no markings left on it that almost always sounds slightly out of tune because it’s beat all to hell.  (I might put that down to user error, but I’ve never played a horn whose pitch fluctuated as much during use as this one.  It is incredibly temperature sensitive.)