Peavey SP User's Studio and Bio Page | ||||||||
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This page is dedicated to the users of the SP/SX series of instruments made by Peavey. If you have a photo of your studio or yourself (no extreme nudity) and a description, just e-mail it to me at the address below. I will add it to this page. Dave Thomas 
The Peavey DPM SP Plus The Figgins-Dietzel Studio  Figgins-Dietzel Studio, which is a combination of my wife's and my last name, has and always will be a work in progress, although it's 99% done; (hear that Honey?!) I started accumulating and building about 4 years ago. I had to divest myself of a lot of old, but functional vintage analog equipment (and a Honda Gold Wing) to be able to acquire the niceties and necessities to do my stuff the digital audio way. I started playing professionally in 1967, so I guess that makes me an old guy; I'll be 46 this year. I made quite a good living at it until I left the music world in 1978, to try the straight life; BIG MISTAKE.. After a mistaken marriage or 2, and a closed head injury I received in a car wreck in 1986, I recovered enough by 1990 to put myself back in the music world where I was meant to be. Sometimes you have to take a hard knock or two to get straightened out.. My third wife is a saint to allow me to put the studio together as I have, since we married in 1994. (wouldn't trade her for all the other women in the world; when you get the best, keep her!). As shown, from left to right, I use Sony speakers for near-field monitoring, below that is the headphone amp, and cd and cassette deck, also Sony. The first rack on the left, top to bottom holds a Korg Audio Gallery module w/32 voices, and next to it is a Voce Spin unit. Beneath are an Alesis Quadraverb GT, Alesis D4, Alesis S4, Alesis Data Disk, Peavey Midi Master II, Peavey Spectrum Bass, Vixcount D-9 Organ/Drawbar module, Alesis SR-16, then the Peavey PC-1600 Midi Controller on top of the Peavey C8 keyboard controller. The computer shown was a PC with a Cyrix PR200+L, with 64 meg of RAM, but the computer I use now has an ASUS motherboard with an AMD K6-233 MMX, 128 meg of SDRAM, 4 gig EIDE Maxtor main drive, Adaptec 2940 SCSI Bus Mastering PCI card, Fireball 2.1 gig SCSI II drive for mixing, mastering and transfers, a Sony SCSI CD-ROM for CD duplication, and a Smart & Friendly 2 X 4 CD-R. I use Sound Forge 4.0 with the Noise Reduction Plug-in, EZCD Creator, Midi Quest 6.0 with the new Midi Tools, and my main sequencing and audio recording software is Voyetra's Digital Orchestrator Pro, with the additional CD's that provide samples, loops, etc. I use a Turtle Beach Tahiti card for recording/playback, and sometimes utilize the midi port on the card, but most of the time I use a MidiMan 2 X 4 parallel interface, along with the Korg Audio Gallery for midi in and out to the MidiMaster II. I also upgraded to a used NEC 20 inch monitor which made my life much more enjoyable. To the right of that, on the top are an Alesis Micro Enhancer, Micro EQ, & MicroVerb II, an old Ross 15 band stereo EQ, Alesis M-EQ 230, DOD 3-way stereo electronic crossover, Alesis MidiVerb IV, Peavey Versamix 16-channel studio/recording mixer and one of two Alesis MMT-8's that I use for scratchpads. On the far right is an old analog 2 X 8 midi switchbox, an Akai ME10D midi digital delay, Akai ME204A midi sequence arpeggeator, an Ibanez HD1500 delay unit, a Peavey PL 8128 8 channel stereo midi-controllable mixer, and an old but pristine Fostex 4 track tape unit. Not shown, (the older stuff..) a Peavey Mark III 16 channel board, Alesis Quadrasynth Plus Piano 76 key keyboard controller, Peavey SP, SX and SX II, Peavey SI and DPM 4, Korg DSS-1 sampling synth, PolySix and EX-800, ARP Explorer, Siel Midi Expander, Roland Juno 106, and Casio CZ1000. I drive the various drum sounds and modules with 4 Roland pads with multiple outs, a Hart multipad (6 pads and outputs) and a modified midi-bass pedal and regular hi-hat pedal, with a contact switch I built in; much cheaper than a stock midi hi-hat pedal, and feels great. I don't use the near-field monitors much, instead I tri-amp everything into a CS800 for bass, a Pioneer Spec-4 for midrange and a Peavey 2600 for the high end. I use modified Peavey SP-1 horns and bottoms, and custom built my midrange cabinets with 2-15 inch speakers each; much more satisfying than near field monitors, and I do manage to at least KEEP them pretty near! I have an old 4-track reel to reel that I seldom use, but have used it to transcribe 20 and 30 year old tapes to cassette and computer. When we took out the adjoining wall, it made the current set up about 35' X 15', and it sure beats the converted garage, which is where the old setup was (pictured). When I get the new pictures, in a couple of weeks, I'll send you a couple of the best shots. I was lucky enough to be able to dedicate 2 separate 20 amp circuits to the studio, and I have 20 other separate lines I can draw from if need be, but so far, I've never had a problem with electrical noise or overload. I DO have and HIGHLY recommend the UPS power supplies for not only the computer and monitor, but the rackmount equipment and keyboards. It only takes ONE power hit or blackout to kill your computer, or wipe out the 4 hours worth of hard work thats on your instrument's memory, to give you a really bad hair day, not to mention the expense involved. Even if you take a direct lightning strike, the insurance that covers the UPS will not only replace the UPS, but the computer or keyboard connected to it, up to $25,000, if it's connected CORRECTLY, and NO homeowner's insurance can match that value. Mine cost $100., and is a 420 VA unit, which will let me run the computer and monitor at least 10-15 minutes; enough to save my work and get shut down before the battery gives out. More on the guitars later, if interested. I try to put in a couple of 'good' hours a day, but being disabled means 'always having to say you feel sorry' you can't do more. I tend to follow my spirit as to what flows out; some days it sound like Dan Fogelberg, some days Fleetwood Mac, sometimes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Billy Joel, and that's just when it sounds like someone else. I just play what comes out, and try NOT to listen to the radio very much. I guess my material would be considered pop at times, classical rock at others, and sometimes close to folk music at others. All I can say is diverseness works good for me. I hope to have enough material together by the end of the year to put on a CD of my own making, but since I doubt that I'll ever be up to traveling again due to my disability, I just want my Wife to be happy with my music, cause I couldn't be where I am without her! Dani My name is Dani and I am a 17 year old high school senior in Daytona Beach Florida. I play bass in the school Jazz Band and I also play guitar. I've been into electronic music for about two years now and I've managed to put together a modest studio in my house which consists of the following: An Ensoniq ESQ-1 keyboard, a Korg X5-DR sound module, an 8 channel ROSS mixer, a PEAVEY SP, and a computer running Cakewalk 6.0, ReBirth, Cool Edit, ReCycle, and Awave (for SDS dumps to my SP). I'll be going away to college next year to study computer science then someday get a computer/music related job (Sound design,DAW,software developer). My favorite subject in shool is Physics, and I like all types of music except for country western (I try to listen to it but I can't, sorry). My favorite animals are Monkeys, Frogs, Lizards, and weiner-dog puppies. My wish list is : a new PC, a Roland SP-808, and a new mixer. Oh yea, and I spend way too much time on the stupid computer and not enough time making music like I should be. I think some of you are guilty of that as well! Dani- |
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Peavey SP Sounds/Utilities: Sound banks will be available for approximately two weeks. They will then be removed to make space for new material as needed. ClubKit.sp
A Bank of techno sounds called ClubKit.SP From P4DQt (SP Mailing List member). SPWrite.exe
A utility by Vincent Raue. Required to write .sp files to SP readable floppy. SPRead.exe
Another Raue utility to copy SP disks to your hard drive.
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