hello all,
(for a summary of this email skip to the end ∗)
yes we get New Yankee Workshop here in the UK on cable - and how mind buggeringly annoying it is too, why does he make look so easy..? why does he never skin his knuckles on stuff, why is he never covered head to foot in woodchips / sawdust / varnish / blood..? why does he never spend the entire show trying to remove a splinter from under one of his fingernails..? rant rant rant
phew, feel better now - iv'e been doing this joinery milarky all week in the studio where i work (spray evo-stick..? spot a surface NOT plastered in it), so when it finally came to building my MOTM cabinet, anything less than perfect would just taunt me for the rest of eternity (hell would consist of something pretty nasty from MFI - maybe only UK list members can appreciate the full horror of this)
(delete rant about building full flightcases and the costs involved)
(delete rant about the destruction wrought by one can of spray evo-stick and one roll of cab-skin)
anyway, so i just did the sensible thing and got a cabinet maker friend to knock together a couple of cabinets (yes i'm 3u away from number #2) out of black MDF - bollox to it as they say.
as the home to your MOTM is a serious matter, i'll just skip lightly over the constructional details - if anyone wants more info, just email me privately...
hokay - my cabinet is 11u by three rows. 11u was dictated by some great aluminium (that's al-you-min-e-um (sorry)) extrusion i had lying around - this was from a Neve console, but i think there must be piles of it around, it's just the right size to build a chassis around which a 19" cabinet can be built.
don't ask me why i chose 3 rows, it may be something like: top row - filters (free of cabling - trouble free tweaking), middle row - sound sources, bottom row - utility modules. i designed the chassis with the extrusion such that the back of the unit has a "bottom row", and above that a vented backplate that is 11u by 2 rows. the 11u i have at the rear of my unit is taken up by power supply, mounting panel for extra power distro board, a 36 way EDAC connector (this runs to an 8 way tie line accessible on a 1u front panel), an 8 way jack field (accessible on the front panel as external CV tie lines to stuff like Lexicon Vortex, Eventide Harmoniser, Roland SDE2000 Delay etc), and finally MIDI in & thru for my Oakley Systems MIDI/CV convertor (just ask Tony Allgood - i really do recommend it as a midicv with a modular vibe). the extrusions are secured by countersunk screws to two sheets of 3mm aloominum, 270mm deep - this (in my experience) is a good deep / shallow balance that allows plenty of room to poke around, and lace those pesky MTA156 cords into submission. with the modules in place, the chassis is VERY rigid. the cabinet (the jeans & t shirt of my system) is a top, bottom & sides sleeve from 15mm MDF sprayed black, there is a 30mm "Oakley Lip" (sorry Tony couldn't resist that one) around the front to protect from gravity related incidents, and similar on the rear, with a 15mm section removed both to the left and the right to allow "cable egress" with the cabinet pushed hard against the wall. the chassis is secured to the cabinet sides with around (not done this yet, cos cabinet will be delivered next Wednesday) six short screws, and finally dust of with four little rubber feet - the screw in kind of course
any questions..?
cheers
paul b
∗ summary - i had to get someone else to make my cabinet in MDF..!