As I’ve been discussing, I’ve been giving a lot of though to how I want my new studio setup. Part of that discussion brings in the aspect of getting a few new pieces of gear to help with my changed workflow. The problem I keep running into though is that a lot of gear I’m looking for can’t be bought new and tends to be pretty rare.

For instance, I want to do a better job integrating my digital recording equipment with my analog gear. It’s not a common thing to do these days. Most people either sold off their analog gear and replaced it with digital or bought the equipment needed to make them play nice together years ago. I don’t know of anyone still making gear that will allow you to press one play button and have you tape machine and your computer start rolling.

Thanks to ebay though, finding those items is made a lot simpler. Specifically, Ebay has a feature where you can save searches. You do a search and then tell Ebay to save that search from near the top of the results window. Ebay will then perform that search for you every day and email you when new items show up that fit your criteria. It’s been incredible helpful.

Yesterday I was able to find a guy selling the ‘Timeline Micro Lynx’ which allows you to sync several devices, computers, tape machines, ect. and with the remote start them and keep then in sync. This will be wonderful as I will no longer need to cover my studio in remotes for every piece of gear I have.

It looks like I’m going to need to craft a few cables to make the right connections for my specific tape machines but it will be well worth the effort and a task I won’t have to perform more than once per machine.

In addition to that I found a localish guy selling a mixing board that is a variation of the M3500 I’ve become so fond of. The board is called the M3700 and it has an automation system built in but is having some problems. Since the two boards are so similar and the M3700 was being sold for so cheap I’ve committed to buying it and I’m picking it up this week.

The plan is to see what I can do with the M3700 in terms of repair and if it’s not fixable, or not worth fixing, it will be used for spare parts on my M3500. If it is fixable I will use the M3500 as spare parts for the M3700. The two board are nearly identical. They are both 32 channel boards and the M3700 comes with the full meter bridge, which my M3500 lacks. For what I’m paying for the M3700 if all I can use is the meter bridge, it will be well worth it.

If I’m able to make some repairs to the board, which the owner says is blowing fuses, it will be a great little cross-grade to what I have now. The only difference between the M3500 and M3700 is the automation system which I’ve heard is quite easy to use. Thankfully, I’ve got the Timeline Micro Lynx on the way which will go a long way in helping me keep the board in sync with the rest of the studio.

Robert