Well it's not like Abbey Road or anything. But now and then someone asks what I use when I play like Kraftwerk in my house. So because I'm a big geek for process and because I really like this kind of thing on other people's sites, I thought I'd post a little info about my meager set-up.

I make almost all the sounds I make using software synthesizers. Every now and whenever I use "real" sounds like my daughter singing, me making noises, tapping on the table, or things such as that. I have an imense collection of samples and sounds collected on various websites, DVDs and other sources. But for various reasons I don't use these sources much. First of all, on any given disc (say, one that comes with a music magazine like Futuremusic) are thousands of small samples with filenames like "growlKorg36.aif" and I'll be dead by the time I go through all these samples and organize them in some useful way. Second, I almost never, while making sounds, think to myself "wow that 36th growly Korg sound that came with that magazine would be perfect right now." Rather, I just open up one of my synthesizers or drum machines and just start turning knobs until I hear something I like. Then I save that sound as a preset and start playing with it on my keyboard. With really complicated software, like Reaktor, I'll usually start with some preset that came with the software and tweak it myself. In this way I get to do what I really like to do which is goof and turn knobs. I usually feel that "making music" is secondary to just playing with the (virtual) hardware.

Sooner or later, sooner I hope, I'd like to splurge on a "real" synthesizer like the Access Virus or some Moog thing. Since I do most of my day job illustrating on the computer, I don't usually like to spend the evening in front of the same computer tweaking virtual knobs and messing with software. I really want the actual thing to play and play with.

Here are some pictures of my current music set-up. What you see here are as follows:

• M-Audio Axiom 25 USB/MIDI keyboard. I like the drum pads on this thing. Not so much the knobs.
• Korg Kaoss KP3. That's the thing with the red center-screen that might have been played by Darth Vader. Not sure how to describe this. Google it and look for it on YouTube. It's a blast.
• Focusrite Saffire interface. This hooks up the non-Mac stuff with the Mac.
• Old-timey Casio PT-1 keyboard. Bought this at a flea market. Kind of dumb but sometimes provides a goofy drum beat.
• Stanton T.80 turntable. I like to run this through the Kaoss pad and into the Saffire to the Mac. I like to listen to Duran Duran records on it too, but we don't talk about that.
• Radio Shack microphone. I can sing and clap and make noises into this. It's not great but it does the job.
• M-Audio BX5a monitor speakers. These make even NPR sound great. I guess there are better speakers, but these work for me for now.

As far as software goes, I started in 2003 with a demo of Propellorhead's Reason and just added on from there. One of the big problems with electronic music is that the choices are endless. Many musicians complain amongst themselves that they might spend nights and nights fiddling with presets and knobs and options and never get around to just making a song. I find this to be absolutely true. As much as I love downloading some new device and messing with it, I find that I am better off just learning to use that which I have.

• Reason. My first, and still a piece of software that I really love. My friend Tom introduced this to me in his office at UArts in 2003 and when I first saw the animated cables swing, I was hooked. It's limited by its lack of an audio input but I have other tools for that. It's also rather limited by its reliance on its interface resembling physical instruments. At first this is the thing that's great, but in reality there are better ways to deal with routing than with virtual realistic cables hanging all over the place. Version 4 includes Thor which is right now my favorite synth. I also really like the Arpeggiator, so I can sound like Nick Rhodes.
• Ableton Live. Live is an audio toy store. It bends and twists and rearranges and slows down and speeds up. I like recording audio from old LPs into Live and mixing them all up. It's got some okay synthesizers as well, and a terrific drum rack. I read that the sequencer isn't up to par, especially compared to something like Apple's Logic, but it works for what I need so far.
• Native Instruments Reaktor. Wait, did I say Live was a toy store? No no, silly me. Reaktor is the toy store. Reaktor is less a synth and more a system in which one can get into big trouble make synths and drum machines and samplers and all kinds of crazy weirdness. I can work on Reaktor for a year and not begin to get into what it does. So mainly I just open one of its preset instruments in Live and press play, then tweak the settings. I spent a day teaching my kid about synthesis and how the thing works with Reaktor and his head nearly exploded. It's like that. Maybe I'll get a bit deeper into this at some point and talk about specific instruments and modules I like in Reaktor. Best for now just to Google it and wrap your head around it.
• Adobe Soundbooth. I use Soundbooth for editing sound files and such. I might record a song from the turntable, and then I'll use Soundbooth to clean up the pops and clicks and whatnot. It's kind of a can-opener -- boring yet necessary. There are a lot of apps that do this stuff. Audacity is free.

If you want to know any more about any of this or anything, feel free to send an email and ask. If you like looking at pictures of this stuff like I do, here is a great resource on Flickr. In addition, Create Digital Music is a good blog, and the editor of CDM has a terrific book.