9 years in the past I made a decision to get again to creating music after a really lengthy hiatus. At first, my setup was extraordinarily humble, that includes an ageing ThinkPad and an inexpensive MIDI controller. I didn’t even have an audio interface for correctly recording my guitar.
Since then, properly, issues have gotten a bit out of hand. My synth assortment grew from a pair toys (a Casio VL-1 and a Stylophone) to properly over a dozen devices. I’ve extra MIDI controllers than any human might ever want. I picked up first rate studio displays, an audio interface, and even some ADAT expansions so I might hold extra of my ever rising gear assortment completely linked.
One factor that didn’t change, nonetheless, was my desk. Up till simply a few weeks in the past, I used to be nonetheless making do with the identical low-cost Ikea Lagkapten/Alex combo ($220). It was a big desk, however it didn’t give me a number of flexibility for laying out my setup. Now that I’ve had a possibility to take a look at the up to date model of De-Fi’s Platform Studio Manufacturing Desk, which has devoted mounting factors for rack gear, house for audio system, and a pull-out keyboard tray, I don’t know that I can ever return. If you happen to’re available in the market for an reasonably priced studio desk to your music-making and are attempting to resolve between cheaper choices and a devoted desk like this one, learn on.
Getting Settled
For all of its aesthetic angles and recording studio glamour, the Platform Desk, which was initially made by a model referred to as Output that has now rebranded to De-Fi, nonetheless goes collectively like Ikea furnishings. It’s a chunk of flatpack that you might want to assemble with assistance from a screwdriver and an Allen wrench. It’s undoubtedly extra substantial than your common Malm piece (what with it being made out of plywood as a substitute of particle board), however the fundamental idea is similar.
{Photograph}: Terrence O’Brien
As arduous as it’s to consider, one space the place Ikea does have a leg up on De-Fi is the standard of the directions. There may be a video walk-through of the meeting that’s OK, however it could possibly be extra detailed. The “print” model, properly, don’t trouble printing it. For no matter motive, it’s formatted as a single-page PDF when it ought to clearly be 5 or 6. Whenever you attempt to print it out you find yourself with a slim, illegible strip down the center of a single piece of paper.
The components record additionally failed to say that there was an influence drill bit for the hex screws in one of many baggage. I solely found it midway by way of meeting, after my fingers had been aching and I’d stripped just a few screws with the Allen wrench.
It’s additionally price mentioning a few small quality-control points I encountered throughout meeting. The shelf pin holes for the highest stage had been lacking on one aspect, and I needed to drill them in myself. And among the edges weren’t significantly neat. I even acquired a fairly nasty splinter from the lip of the desktop.
Dwelling in Tight Areas
There was one fairly apparent con as soon as every little thing was absolutely assembled: the scale of this desk. I reside in NYC, so house is at a premium, and becoming the 60-inch-wide by 38-inch-deep desk was troublesome. Of us with a number of house will not have the identical problem, however it’s price wanting into the scale earlier than ordering. My dwelling studio can be my workplace and my visitor bed room; it was a bit cramped to start with. Beforehand there was sufficient room to stroll between the unfolded pullout sofa and my desk. Now even my chair gained’t match between the desk and the foot of the pullout. In an effort to make room for the desk, I needed to ditch my monitor stands (the desk has elevated areas for displays to be positioned).
One other instantly apparent con is that the Platform Desk has no drawers. Granted, studio desks typically don’t, however it did imply I needed to hold across the Alex drawer unit from my outdated desk for typical desk-y storage. The entire ground house taken up by my revamped recording space had all of the sudden exploded.
