Interesting! The Focal Alphas I have aren’t bad at all, but I have been eyeing the Shapes since they were released…
can’t say i’ve been particularly productive since the quarantine started, but i’m slowly coming around as my wife and i get systems in place to make our lives less hectic with the kids (4 and 7 year old).
i often feed midi from the carbon into the OT / MM. i’ve also begun to stop monitoring using the DAW and just stick to hardware until i’m ready to record where i then have to adjust panning etc in the daw before recording.
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I don’t see any space between the Virus and the Peak. How did you manage Virus cables ?
Those of you with larger setups, how much time do you spend troubleshooting and setting up?
I put together a couple pieces with an audio interface and MIDI interface, and I spent more time figuring out why things weren’t working than actually playing music.
I ended up just ditching the interfaces and basically daisy chaining MIDI and audio to make it work, and after a few minutes of basic setup, it does.
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Hectic wires between the desks haha, might need longer cords man
In my setup with ableton I have a template set up and with overbridge total recall,
open a new project everything is set to go!
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some are unavoidable like the subpac cords, but yes, a neverending battle. after taking these photos i did a bit of cable management ^_________^
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I know cable management is a pain… We need completely wireless technology already!
Setting up is a nightmare that takes a very long time, especially if I have a heavy workload at my “day job”. Cabling my studio is a horrendous job. However, once it’s cabled up, I very rarely have to troubleshoot if I work within my usual comfort zone. If I am working with something new and unfamiliar, I might deal with a learning curve, but that’s not really the same.
More commonly, the sheer amount of gear (especially the old stuff) increases the probability that something is going to fail and need repair. It also means that it’ll likely not put me out of commission, because there will be other things to use while the problematic unit is out of play.
Sometimes I might have, say, a bad connection somewhere, but it never takes long to narrow it down. I use multiple audio and MIDI interfaces, patchbays, and mixers, but I keep everything well documented and labelled, so I can usually track down the source of an issue in a hurry.
Sometimes software patchbays (ahem…MOTU AVB) and routing schemes leave me scratching my head for bit, but once I ger them worked out and set up, I save the patch and use it forever.
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How you finding the Roll Super Stereo? Had my eye on a hardware company for a while now and that’s on my shortlist.
Good to see someone has the low end covered 
Hi all, I’ve been lurking around the forum for a while enjoying the general discussion going on, and given I’ve barely left the house here in Australia for almost 4 weeks and had a bit of extra time up my sleeve I thought I’d share a project I recently completed.
So far the forum has inspired me to a) take 2020 off buying any more gear, and b) to finally pull the trigger on an AS-1, which I bought on eBay on new year’s eve! The AS-1 very quickly started living on the nightstand for quick jams before sleep time. It was great… until it was joined by the zoom H5 to capture some jams… then the iPad for some drum loops… then circuit to play iPad synths… until I had an unwieldy mess of cables to deal with, and the immediacy was completely gone.
The solution (after much messing about):
Yep, built a custom tray table on a beanbag pillow to make it easier to play synths in bed… I’m only a little ashamed. 
Circuit on controller/sequencer duties only
IPad using mainly Patterning 2, and Audiokit synths, coming out into AH then into the H5.
H5 is being used as mixer and recorder, will do a mix down between takes and then keep layering onto new separate tracks. I then plug the H5 into my phone and can upload tracks directly from it’s SD to Dropbox, then can open those files directly from DB in Auria Pro on the iPad.
Otherwise, my main and little used setup is far too much of a mess to share just now.
Cheers, Ash.
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I’m the same.
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After a few days I can truly say these monitors are amazing! The detail and imaging is so pleasing.
No issues at all with being placed against a wall either.
@spikysimon 100% recommend going for them. I really liked the Alpha 65, fantastic for the money, but these are something else.
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The Virus rack mount kit rotates the sockets 90 degrees.
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Thank you so much, Focal might just have another sale thanks to you in the near future 
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No shame in that! Your setup rocks.
Also the AS-1 is the best choice for a compact analog mono IMO, and the Circuit offers a lot of firepower in a small footprint.
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Would like to hear this - or at least stories!