Wow, when was my last studio build post!
When reading back on that entry I noticed that I mentioned the need to upgrade my monitors before I could be completely happy with the set up. Although I'm sure that there are many other comparable monitors now available since I demoed Adam Audio A7Xs a while back I decided to stick to my guns. Also, despite the fact that Adam have been in a somewhat precarious financial position of late, I feel confident that they will ride their troubles out. And given that they are still clearly held in high regard by a lot of people along with the fact that I found them available at a hard to resist price I ordered them. I don't actually have them yet but I should take delivery in the day or two, so I'll have an opportunity to test out before my Easter holiday.
In terms of studio build I guess that I can say that I'm in the post build stage where I'm making full use of the studio as well as making tweaks to the set up and generally refining the layout of the (very humble) space. This includes downscaling the e-drums to take up less space and to be accessible from my normal mix position on a single stand rather than on the rack. The area behind me where the drum rack was located has become a more permanent recording area for vocals/guitar etc.
Having a small recording space really makes you appreciate the ITB (In The Box) features of current DAWs - I can't imagine having these many resources available 10 or 15 years back. The hardware equivalents would fill my studio two fold I suspect. I'm pretty well entirely computer based now and the only external hardware, apart from guitars & keyboard, are Focusrite audio interface, Focusrite Trakmaster channel, headphone amp and my Servo monitor amplifier. The later here will of course be retired from the studio once the A7Xs (active) monitors are in place. This will mean I'll have a 2U space available in my rack space - though I'm not sure I have anything worthwhile to put there.