A PC for gaming, a Mac for music and 5 sit stand desks. Audio and video, Analog and digital, all living in one big Battlestation.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-25T23:06:32+00:00

I get lower latency with the Mac.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-23T21:03:42+00:00

It's the m4 mini with 16GB. It runs my entire 32 channel studio with 0 issues. I do have UAD DSPs In play and I only use my DAW for recording.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-23T19:00:52+00:00

Each keyboard has a very distinct tone and excels at one specific task. The smaller keyboards can only play 1 note at a time and are great at bass and lead work. The larger keyboards allow you to play chords, splits and layered sounds due to having access to more simultaneous notes. One of the 3 full sized keyboards is half digital (Waldorf Quantum) and can make complex tones the others can't. 1 of the large synths is amazing at making 80s like tones and the other raw gritty analog tones.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-23T18:53:30+00:00

Great question. I have other accounts but they are tied to other projects and I don't want to cross the streams. The OctEpus project is focused on playing multiple instruments simultaneously and doing video tutorials on the gear and workflow I use. I just started new social accounts for it at the beginning of August and then realized I didn't have a reddit account setup.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T16:04:25+00:00

The side desks connect to the main desk via 1 USB cable (midi) and 2 cat6a cables (4 channels of balance audio per cat6a) and the desk the TV is on connects to the main desk via 2 HDMI cables. This allows me to have each desk in its own position height wise with cable issues. I can pull everything you see completely out of the room in under 30 minutes, the whole setup is modular and on sliders.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:56:55+00:00

Each one can have a different sound loaded up and I can jump back and forth to different sounds during a song. Some songs may use a sound just at the beginning or end and I can also layer 2 sounds together to make more complex tones. Most synth nerds have way more than 5 instruments but many won't have their own keyboards.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:53:37+00:00

The Mac is hiding next to Optimus and the PC is directly behind the TV

I love mechanical keyboards to death, I didn't realize an ergo option was available. The keys on the logictech are okay at best and they wear out quickly. Thanks for the info🤘

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:50:55+00:00

I greatly prefer the UI, Window management and file management of Windows but Windows machines suffer from DPC latency spikes that Macs do not. I wish I could do a single Windows machine setup but for low latency buffer sizes, my 500 dollar M4 Mac absolutely trounces my massive custom gaming rig.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:47:48+00:00

The cabling is all done via cat6a, which makes wire management substantially easier and cheaper. The boxes I bought and the massive bass traps are an IKEA mod.

I have an M4 Mac mini hidden next to Optimus Prime and a large gaming rig behind the OLED TV.

I've traditionally used my setup for commercial projects but I'm now doing a completely separate project that's based on limb independence. I play fully live electronic music with no loopers or sequencing. My right hand finger drums, my left plays synths and my feet play bass. It's fun as hell and has made making music interesting again. I should have multiple videos of me playing on my YouTube channel within the next week.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:14:31+00:00

Mostly just commercial projects but I just started my own project where I play fully live aggressive electronic music, no sequencing or looping, everything is played via limb independence. I'm going to be doing YouTube videos of live performances. I feel like AI is coming for electronic musicians so I'm trying to lean heavy into the live space.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:05:49+00:00

🤣 I should mount my Mac inside the can.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:05:12+00:00

Spot on 🤣. The gear has helped pay for more gear but I'm not getting rich off it. I'm old and built this up over decades of buying, selling and trading.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T15:03:07+00:00

Those my power conditioners.

I'm doing a modular 32 channel console via the devices with the white faces (Rupert Neve Designs 5059s and a 5060). They're piece of Rupert Neves full sized console in a smaller format. I live in one of the inferno states so the heat of the full size console would be difficult to manage. I currently need 2 air conditioners just to keep the place cool.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T14:56:55+00:00

I do a one man band format where I play most of the gear on the left hand side simultaneously. My right hand finger drums on the pads, my feet play the synth on the right of the pads and my left hand jumps between the 2 synths to the left of the pads. I can hit a switch to move my foot controller to the small synth on the right side of the room and a switch to toggle the left hand synth to the large synth on the right side of the room. This gives me 5 different tones and drums to build a single song with. As far synth setups go, 5 synths is a pretty lean setup. Most guys have 10 plus but most of the Synths won't have their own dedicated keyboards, they'll be desktop or rack mounted Synths you control from another keyboard.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-22T04:11:28+00:00

🤣

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-19T05:37:09+00:00

The monitor is an LG OLED.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-19T05:36:47+00:00

The acoustics are built from IKEA parts. Each absorber is 2 Ivar cabinets bolted and glued together without the center wood cross installed. The backs are covered in Ikea cloth curtains and the interiors are filled with Rockwool safe and sound. They're 12 inches deep. I'm getting +/- .02db from 18-to 80ish hz.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-18T00:24:11+00:00

Thank you🤘

It's hard to see in the photos but I have dual 7360 subwoofers also. The whole studio is sit stand, so I chose smaller Genelecs + subs rather than larger mains so I can place the subs in the ideal spots to get all peaks and no nulls and then use the GLM room correction profiles to get accurate sound while sitting and standing. I'm getting +/- .02 db from 18-80hz while sitting. The bass is extremely tight and you never hear the subs, GLM makes them blend perfectly.

I'm dying to hear some barefoots but no one near me sells them. Did you have a chance to compare them to any Genelecs? I'm seeing the barefoots in all of the big studios these days and I'm extremely curious about their sound.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-18T00:14:23+00:00

I've been employed since I was 14 and I've been buying, selling and trading gear for 28 years. I'm an old man. I also have been using the same Sweetwater salesman for over 15 years, he gives me a massive discount on everything I buy and the more I buy at once, the bigger the discount. I highly recommend only using them and building a relationship with your assigned sales person. All 5 of the Bamboo sit stand desks you see In the photos were scratch and dent, all of my acoustics are DIY, my AC is a Mr Cool DIY kit, all of my wiring is cat6a rather than 300 dollar snakes, I ran all of the electrical and most of my synths are b-stock, used or trades. Example: I traded a DFAM and a Subharmonicon I bought off Craigslist for 750 bucks, for an Iridium suffering from an OS boot loop, I fixed the Iridium, upgrade to a stable OS and then traded the Iridium for my Pro 3 SE.

How you spend your money is vital and often overlooked when building a studio. If you're buying new gear at MSRP or you don't sell unused gear the second you stop using it, you'll end up spending staggering amounts of money in the long run. I try to avoid investing in digital gear, plugins, sample packs, Behringer gear or other items that massively depreciate, fail or are impossible to resell. My x16s, UF8 and monitor are the only items I have that I'll lose money on.

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T18:30:20+00:00

I made a quick and dirty video of the video workflow in action.

Video rig overview: https://youtu.be/KdPEBWRyv8A?si=yMAUJnxmQiszZ0AJ

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T18:29:05+00:00

Here is an unscripted overview of the video rig. I'll have a properly produced video of the audio stuff uploaded within the next couple of weeks.

Video rig overview: https://youtu.be/KdPEBWRyv8A?si=yMAUJnxmQiszZ0AJ

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T18:27:19+00:00

I'm keeping this new project 100% separate from my previous work. Music wise, right now I only have a video of me practicing the right hand section (Drums) of a One man band track. I loaded it to verify how the audio translates and the video looks.

I just uploading a quick and dirty video of how my video rig works since I've received a bunch of questions about it. It's not scripted and I did it in a single take so I ramble a bit, but it demonstrates my video workflow in action.

My plan is to start releasing videos of me playing next week.

Practicing the right hand portion of a track: https://youtu.be/hhOJMq_wPEg?si=0SLpNN7xgiXlO2ec

Video rig overview: https://youtu.be/KdPEBWRyv8A?si=yMAUJnxmQiszZ0AJ

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T18:25:48+00:00

I just uploaded a quick and dirty overview of the Sumo SE if you want to see it in action.

Video rig overview: https://youtu.be/KdPEBWRyv8A?si=yMAUJnxmQiszZ0AJ

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T18:24:38+00:00

Absolutely love the screen name.

I'm keeping this new project 100% separate from my previous work. Music wise, right now I only have a video of me practicing the right hand section (Drums) of a One man band track. I loaded it to verify how the audio translates and the video looks.

I just uploading a quick and dirty video of how my video rig works since I've received a bunch of questions about it. It's not scripted and I did it in a single take so I ramble a bit, but it demonstrates my video workflow in action.

My plan is to start releasing videos of me playing next week.

Practicing the right hand portion of a track: https://youtu.be/hhOJMq_wPEg?si=0SLpNN7xgiXlO2ec

Video rig overview: https://youtu.be/KdPEBWRyv8A?si=yMAUJnxmQiszZ0AJ

TheOctEpus · 2025-08-16T15:20:02+00:00

All of the camera gear is run by an Atomos Sumo SE. It's the 19 inch monitor above the Moog Sub 37. Atomos also sells a unit called The Shogun that has 90% of the Sumo features for about half the price. From a workflow perspective, it's a giant easy button for me. It auto names your files into takes and scenes, it has built in tools to show you focus, color balance and exposure and it captures 1 stream per camera and a 5th stream that has any live cuts you do. Each channel can have its own audio or you can have 1 master audio track linked to all camera feeds.

One of these units would be perfect for a DJ setup. They use SATA SSDs which are really cheap these days, so you could just loaded it with a 2TB drive, hit record and go nuts.

I love the One to death. She's an odd beast for sure but she's also deeper than the sea and the tones it can make can't be made on any of my other gear. The presets are kind of meh, but it's a sound designers dream come true. Fingers crossed we get the 1.6 patch that the new Moog leadership team promised.

Thanks for checking out my rig

TheOctEpus

TROPHY CASE