I would have to find it here. It was pretty simple.

I just bought a sheet of veneer plywood, ripped it down the middle so I had two 8 x 2 sheets.

I made two boxes out of that so I can have a rack on both sides. On the top, I used an old sheet of plywood I had. I covered the top with 1/4" masonite - which is great because it acts as a giant coaster when I put glasses down and it's also easy to replace.

On top of the boxes (under the plywood) I framed it out using 3 2x4s and I put some cleats in between for strength.

I had a shelf over my mixer with my monitor on it for a while but it was a PITA looking up, so I just moved it to the side of the console.

At the same time I made a pair of speaker stands. I used a 1 x 2 piece of plywood for the bass, two 2x4s for the legs and put a piece of masonite on the front.

The bass the speakers sit on is plywood topped with MDF and trimmed out with mahogany (that was scrap from a guitar build).

I think total cost for the stands was maybe $10.00

For the racks I used some maple bed slats for rails - IIRC you actually suggested wood to me instead of metal.

So for the stands and desk I spent maybe $50.00.

I could have done it cheaper by using a lower grade plywood, but I wanted something nice I could stain.

One thing that's on my bucket list is to make some nice mahogany sides for the DM-3200. Someday I'll get around to that:)

This is before I faced the front with some nice wood so you can see the 2x4 but you get the idea. The speaker stand is visible too:



This is with the shelf, which wasn't practical. Someday I may buy a 32 inch TV and ho DVI to HDMI and mount it on the wall behind the desk.

The nice thing is there is a big walk-in closet on the right where I have my computers. I have a cable pass ($4.00 at Lowes) sending all my cables through the baseboard.

What you need to do is measure a piano so you know the height you want the keys to be at then measure your controller and subtract that.

Then build to that height and when you put your keyboard on top it will be perfect.

The only issue I see is that you probably won't be sitting on a piano bench but you probably can adjust your chair.

Noah.

I don't see where in your photos you have a drawer under the desk that holds a keyboard controller that slides out. I think that is the specific design element that we are all talking about.

As for the suggestion that all one has to do is measure a piano so you know the height you want the keys to be at then measure your controller and subtract that, then build to that height and when you put your keyboard on top, for it to be perfect:

That's not the case. Like I said, you end up losing in the compromise, somehwere.

A proper-height MIDI keyboard controller in a drawer, with a desk on top of it (unless perhaps the keyboard controller is very thin and the upper desk surface is made of a super-thin and strong material, I guess) results in a desk surface above the standard 29-31" height for a desk - or a keyboard controller that is too low.

A standard piano keyboard is 28" off the floor. A standard desk is 29-1/2" off the floor. I don't think you can even find a decent MIDI keyboard controller that is only 1-1/2" high, itself - and that's not even counting the thickness of the desk, itself. that has to support s monitor, and a mixer, above it.

So, you either have to make the keyboard controller lower than 28", in order to have the desk surface above it be the proper 29-1/2" high - or - you have to make the desk surface higher than 29-1/2" high, to be able to fit a 28" high keyboard controller under it.

I've tried both compromises, and nether felt right to me after some time using them. So, I now have my desk at 29-1/2" high, with they keyboard controller NEXT to it, at 28" high.

The Composer's Desk isn't intended to be a typical studio console holder for people with lots of rack stuff and big mixers; it's a highly specialized desk for composers, who typically work with computers and more often than not no mixer (although you can put one on the desk no problem and it'll slide with the desktop - as long as you leave a lot of slack in the wires).

Composers need lots of desk space to hold things like score paper, papers, and in my case day-to-day clutter, but also need to be able to play keys. The MIDI keyboard is at normal piano height (yes, about 29-1/2") and the desktop floats about 3" above that (depending on the keyboard model - we customize the height, but it's semi-adjustable by sticking another piece of wood under the slides if you change keyboards and need more space).

Yeah the desktop is a little higher than a typical desk, but it's totally comfortable - you just put your arms on chair arms while you're typing. I've been working with this design all day long for seven or eight years, and we've sold a bunch of them.

As I said, it takes less than a second to slide the desktop forward and reveal the keys, and everything is always in the right place: your ass, speakers, computer monitor, computer keyboard, and MIDI keyboard.

Crappy iPhone photo my wife snapped a few months ago to show how it works to a client:

[img]http://gallery.me.com/virtualinstruments#100110/IMG_0180&bgcolor=black[/img]

Well, for some reason it doesn't want to appear as a photo, but you can see the link.

That's fine, but once again - "not exactly an example of cutting edge design". My initial post was simply to point out what I thought was a lack of imagination in the design department. Obviously Nick thinks that his design sense is impeccable and leaves no room for improvement

Thanks for that opinion, DP. I disagree and so do lots of other people.

But as I sort of said, I don't like the cutting on the edge of the bridge shelf at all - it's very traditional while the rest of the design is modern. That's why I had it changed, and also the shelf extends farther forward - relatively small tweaks that to me change the whole look of the desk, because it changes the proportions.

Other than that, though, I'm actually serious that my taste leaves no room for improvement! That doesn't mean it's better than someone else's or that I might not like another design better, just that taste is taste: it's subjective. And I've had strong ideas about what I like and dislike when it comes to things like furniture and art from an early age - and believe it or not it's not arbitrary.

I see your point, Nick.

Design is a tricky thing. For a while I lived in a modern space and my furniture was all very nice but modern (Herman Miller, Eames style).

If I had that furniture in my new house it would look foolish because now I live in an old (olde?) New England style home.

Doesn't make the Noguchi table a bad design (still one of my favs) but it would not look as nice as the more traditional empire style that I have in here now.

All subjective.

My ass is in love with Herman Miller.

Hmmm, ok. I'm sure there are plenty who would agree with me as well. Obviously, you don't care - that's fine, but as a buisness person you're missing out on a huge portion of a market (a market that tend to be forward looking and tech savy) that may not care for the "hammond organ" look.