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I've reached gear paralysis. I've been staring at this for at least 3 hours now and haven't moved.



I'm reworking my home studio layout and I'm overwhelmed with options. I want to build a tabletop pedalboard for use not only with guitar but also the moog tribute, Septavox, Organelle, drumbrute, Seaboard, roli blocks, Illuminesent Garden, Folktek Triad and iPad all as instruments. I want to be able to use them with any pedal board. I don't want pedals stuck to one board limiting my pairing options. I need to integrate rack gear like thermionic culture vulture and pcm 42 into the setup. I need to be able to integrate my big effects like Binson, scanner, hawk, acmeverb, etc into the setup.

In the middle of the pic I managed to make a stand up pedalboard and a rolling tabletop.... but unsure if I should make the rolling hold the instruments so I can easily move from one board to the next or make both effects only and use my desk for all instruments and can bring my tabletop effects over to the desk for plugging in but then I won't be able to use the other pedalboards on the floor with them unless I move those which isn't easy or ideal. I have a patch bay on the rack I've considered but that seems like a pain but maybe it would be good... I don't know. Yes I've thought of downsizing but I love my options when I'm using them even if limited to setup options so maybe I just make a few boards and deal with the options on each board and switch stuff out on occasion. Rolling instrument table really frees up some options on what to play through and still having access to the effects to tweak but it's nice having them on the desk. If left on the desk I can bring the tabletop boards to me but would have to unplug and bring the instruments to the floor ones unless I just put both floor ones underneath the desks.


These are 3 hours worth of thoughts from a madman......

If anyone has suggestions I'm open to ideas. Just want to maximize my use of everything with the easiest possible way which means having everything connected so I can turn on anything and play it at anytime through any setup I want.

These are good problems to have but still problems and I've reached paralysis!

I'll start off with the obvious suggestion:

"Shut up and play, Ruiner!"

Just... You know... Do whatever that makes it the easiest for you to produce the sounds that you want to produce?

Man... I love you!

I just tried a Benson Monarch at a friend of a friend's place. He had the head, th ereverm thank and a 2 X 12.
It's the best amp I have ever tried! It sound sooooooooooooo good.

Eivind August wrote:Just... You know... Do whatever that makes it the easiest for you to produce the sounds that you want to produce?

Pretty much.

I feel like I tend to give minimalist advice... That said, if I were you I'd play with making a simple version of what you want before trying to orchestrate a larger version that incorporates everything else. Decide what the key pieces are, and then you can add whatever you need to it?

If I'm reading this right I was in a somewhat similar predicament (wanting to use everything at once, segmented how I want it), so here's my solution to that -

I got a mixer with 8 inputs and an FX out. I've got guitar and synths running into the first four inputs, and the board running out of the FX. Then I've got a few stereo loopers that section off the board sections (so one goes after the modulation, one after dirt, one at the end) - then I have the loopers running into the board and then also into one of the last four inputs on the mixer. So I can bump up/down particular sections of the board with particular instruments.

Don't try and prethink your way out of the periodic sprawling mess and effort. Pre-optimization is best taken in moderation. Stay loose and enjoy.

crochambeau wrote:Don't try and prethink your way out of the periodic sprawling mess and effort. Pre-optimization is best taken in moderation. Stay loose and enjoy.

^^

Also I think some kind of mixer would do a lot to help you on your journey, similarly to how Z-squared illustrated.

"Gear is the ultimate form of procrastination."
I heard that from Casey Niestat and he was talking about cameras and filming making but I think it is definitely true for music.
As a result I've been trying to condense all the gear I have. If you follow me on IG you know how much I've sold.

Maybe a couple of ABY boxes could help? Been thinking about getting a couple myself, as I've got the same problem, tho on a slightly smaller scale. Like, the end goal is never having to plug cables in and out, except for patch cables on the board. For instance, I'd have an ABY after my Minilogue, cause sometimes I want to run it through the ext in on my Minibrute, sometimes straight to the mixer > audio interface. I've also considered getting a patchbay, but have opted out for now cause a) it'd be complete overkill and b) it's daunting as fuck + cables aren't free. I'll be forced to get one later on, as I incorporate more outboard in the mixing process.

What does the head do?

Blackened Soul wrote:What does the head do?

Scarecrow?

I was so stacked at one point, Im really glad I sold pretty much all the unnecessary crap, The less you have the less you worry about integrating or connecting or whatever else you can imagine. I'm hoping to let go of more and more as I go along, there should be no reason you sit around thinking about how things will come together gear wise, when the most important thing is to create and how things come together music wise.

but we are on a gear forum so having a billion and a half pieces of gear is just going to be par for the course. Ive decided to learn DIY electronics, read sheet music, and finally gain the self discipline to create solo tracks without having to make them band affairs. maybe its a good idea to assess stuff you'd like to do versus need to buy? Figure out what you can do to put your gear together without having to buy anything more to make that happen.

Yo, you're more like me than you realize! the main thing I would change in my setup is get a patch bay close to all my pedals along with a few buffers on patch to apply as needed.

A patch bay will exponentially add to your setup capabilities without moving anything. Especially if you add a true bypass pedal board on patch (meaning you could go fully tabletop, but still have foot switches.)

Hit me up if you want to make a plan for everything, we could make a sick setup for all you're stuff.

a lot of people, myself included, become overwhelmed when presented with too many options. Obviously you are still able to make great music but I'd say try to put together a smaller board and limit yourself to a few things for a while. If you end up missing something specific add it, but don't just add just because you can. Start with the simplest you can imagine and then slowly build upon it. Give it a week or two before adding any pedals and keep doing that until you don't feel like you are missing anything