I use a PC-based DAW (digital audio workstation) for producing music and sound design. I am currently mulling over plans to add a hybrid USB MIDI controller to my workflow and what I have sketched here is how it might look assembled, with the QWERTY keyboard on a sliding shelf below, with an Akai MPK49 controller also below the desk.
The two controllers in the sketch are just mock-ups, one of a generic-looking Vestax controller just to take up space as a challenge for arrangement, with the one on the right having a semblance of the Native Instruments Maschine. I think that having a sensible, organized work area is essential to really reaching into your ideas and doing a good job with them. Clutter serves to distract from your work.
I made this as a sketch on notebook paper with a pen, then I put it in Photoshop and cleaned it up. You probably noticed that the main sketch is repeated in the computer monitor, which in turn recreates it again. I’m always looking for ways to go beyond the typical, the mundane, the mediocre or average. As a point of interest I also made another inspirational post today dealing with sketches of Atari prototypes.
Eric Chamberlain 