Been researching and educating myself in recent months on my first set of studio monitors, and finally decided on the KRK Rokit 5 G4s.
My youngest son moved out of home last week, and while a little sad, I claimed his room as my new âstudioâ about 5 minutes after he left.
Just set the KRKs up today, and blown away by the sound and clarity of these babies straight out of the box.
All my playing/ practicing/ recording in recent months has been through a Focusrite 2i2, and using S-Gear as my amp sim. Decided to try out this route rather than upgrade my âbeginnerâ amp.
Have never looked back. Everythingâs in one place, the tones are limitless, it just sounds better, and my workflow/ learning is much more efficient. All I needed was to get away from the exclusive headphone use, and get some external monitors.
The KRKs appear to be very versatile, with a variety of eq settings both onboard and via their app, which Iâll undoubtedly fiddle with. From my research, this versatlity should allow them to do the job as quality recording monitors, as well general practice/ playing. Plus I got em at a great price, which is a bonus. Made some desktop stands out of masonry blocks, with some padding top and bottom. Seems to have turned out well.
Anyway time will tell. Lots to learn. Ears to train.
Looks cool, and I agree. Such a setup is indeed convenient and with satisfying tones for practicing.
For some people it takes a little âgetting used toâ before they connect with guitar tones coming from studio monitors (which sounds more like a recording / micâed up guitar amp than an actual âamp in the roomâ)⌠but I like playing with such tones a lot as well
Yeah thanks Kasper. Pretty happy with my whole setup now, for all situations.
Purchased S-Gear about a month ago. Only lasted 2 days into the trial. Unbelievably great amp sim. Latest version introduced a pedal board too.
No excuses nowđ.
Looks great to me Shane, definitely you were also sad for 5 mins as well after son left eh
One thing that comes to mind with your simplistic approach to gear - if one day you want a pedal to switch effects around while playing are you able to do so with a software? A genuine question here
How did you manager to get him to take all of his stuff? Both of ours have gone and the amount of stuff they left behind means I canât set up my music room yet. Every time I say to my âgood ladyâ about taking it to the tip, she sayâs I canât.
Looks a great little set up though Shane. Well jeal, as the kids would say.
His âleftoverâ stuff is âcarefullyâ packed in the garage. Canât have it cluttering up âmyâ room. 1ic was onboard with it all, as it keeps me out of her hair Honestly, grateful to have my own space, after being in the living room for 2 years.
Just keep â casuallyâ bringing it into conversation with your misses everyday. Sheâll eventually see the light.
I was actually a bit emotional when he left. We are very close, are great mates, and have alot in common.
Re the pedals, Iâve actually been investigating a midi footswitch, thatâll handle all sorts of tasks, including switching presets, altering parameters etc while playing .
S-Gear, the amp software that I use appears to have a pretty solid midi implementation both in the standalone app and via VST plugin.
Will probably be my next purchase, as I"m increasingly finding a need for it as my song list increases. Will need to let the funds replenish a bit first
I have gone the exact same route. I started using S-gear with a Motu M2 and using SVS speakers.
However, I was getting frustrated that my headphone sound was significantly better than through the monitors. I figured it was my room , etc.
I discovered that you need to push the output on your Digital interface. You control the total volume with the speaker outputs. It made a significant difference. Iâm guessing the preamp needs to push more signal than trying to boost it by turning up the speaker volume.
Another fun thing: I switched out the âtweedâ for the âwayfarerâ on the Sultan of Tweed preset. I find it much better and more authentic to the Knopfler Strat sound.
Great to meet another S- Gear user, and thanks for the tip on the Knopfler tone. One of my favourite bands, so a handy bit of info to try out.
The only âdownsideâ with S-Gear is it can so capture me with its great tones, that I can lose track of time. âLuckyâ I have my 1ic to bring me back to earth .
Honestly, grateful to have my own space, after being in the living room for 2 years.
