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Oops, correction: Yamaha's upgraded pads are silicone, not mesh. (Roland's upgraded pads are mesh). I just know they're "the white pads I like that feel better than the black rubber ones".
http://spotlight.samash.com/bu...

Also, the drumset I have is the DTX530K, not DTX550K. The only difference is that the DTX550K includes an extra cymbal (which can be purchased separately anyway). I can never keep the specific product numbers straight in my mind.

As an audio technician, I recommend a compressor with a fast attack and very slow release. Basically, when the volume goes above a certain threshold, any additional volume rise will be cut by a set ratio. Ideally, you'd set the threshold to the dialogue volume or just below, and set the ratio as low as you're comfortable with - more compression means flatter sound, but you'll be dulling the punch of music and emotion as well as the perceived loudness.

It's a bit pricey (and ridiculous) to start putting pro audio gear into your TV system, but there's something to be said for maintaining that perfect comfortable volume automatically.

Plenty of DJs haul around tens of thousands of CDs, or used to before MP3 decks matured. There'd plenty of DJ equipment for hauling and stacking CDs.

Get a DJ case which will fold up and stack nicely, and put the CDs in sleeves.

Or, with the same sleves, go with a filing cabinet design, such as what the library uses for microfilm. Here's one example.

I'm actually kinda partial to Dr. Ferd's Wart Remover. It's only two-wire (how many grounded wall warts do you have?) and it has a nice big box on the outlet end so you can use a pad of double-sticky mounting tape to hold the mess together.

In places where I have a bunch of wall-warts hanging around, I like to use a Furman Pluglock power strip to keep then together and strapped down. I broke down and bought a couple of these when I got sick of having random things come unplugged in the pile of crap under/behind my desk, and they turned out to be a great buy. They're built like tanks, too.

I'm actually kinda partial to Dr. Ferd's Wart Remover. It's only two-wire (how many grounded wall warts do you have?) and it has a nice big box on the outlet end so you can use a pad of double-sticky mounting tape to hold the mess together.

In places where I have a bunch of wall-warts hanging around, I like to use a Furman Pluglock power strip to keep then together and strapped down. I broke down and bought a couple of these when I got sick of having random things come unplugged in the pile of crap under/behind my desk, and they turned out to be a great buy. They're built like tanks, too.

Here's one way.... Get a small computer, big harddrive.

Get an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 (~$100) and maybe a right-angle PCI adapter to fit it into your little BTX box or whatever. Load your OS of choice. You've already got plans for the rest - that way should be just fine. Rip your stuff onto the drive (encode with FLAC), hook it up to an amplifier, and you're all set.

The 2496 has already got RCA IN/OUT and Digital connectors (read the specifics on compatibility and what you can and cannot use at the same time) making hookup easy. It will also record at impressive rates and resolutions (playback too if you've got fancy hi-res sources). You can find drivers for most of the following at OSS (these are commercial drivers that run ~$50 for the most common OSs that include free tech support and upgrades for 2 years).

* Linux (x86, Alpha, PowerPC)
* VxWorks (Tornado)
* LynxOS (x86, PowerPC)
* SCO Open Server
* SCO UnixWare
* Solaris (x86, Sparc)
* IBM AIX
* FreeBSD
* BSD/OS
* OpenBSD
* NetBSD
* HP-UX

You could buy a mixer and some mics to do some high quality recordings too. (I've picked up a 10 channel Yamaha mixer [MG10/2] w/ 4 mic inputs (phantom capable) for $99 and a Samson CO2 matched pair of small condensers for ~$120 at Sam Ash to do recordings with a setup very similar to that above and it worked quite well.) No experience with the OSS drivers but they seem to be responsive to email inquirys about specifics and have a free trial available.

I dream of a portable custom BSD based solution that has easy controls (serial keypad and LCD - "real" buttons and switches), could be setup for automated recordings, has a builtin mixer, microphone inputs (phantom powered for my dream large condenser pair), and speaker/headphone driver, AND is powerful enough to run baudline for use in the field. Background processes could compress material as I was recording (incremental, selectively, to be sure you could grab the entire recording - even if your quality had to suffer - but you'd get the highest possible of any given event). The network interface could stream audio at selectable bitrates (.ogg peeling) OR amplify a stream like an internet radio station. AND it could do my laundry for me and fit in a backpack. If anybody else would be interesed in something like this please contact me and I'd love to collaborate. [ bricoleur !AT! 80d !DOT! org ]

This isn't bad for a bit of fun, but for real recording and music production, there are a lot of much better choices out there for not that much more money. Such as Qy-100 , (which you could pick up on ebay for about the price of a DS), or the Roland SP-505. You might want to have this as a sound source, otherwise i would just find it a pain in the ass. *shrugs*.

24-track digital multi-track recorder($3,500) ; 40-channel mixer/sound board($6,000) ; studio musicians ($???/hour) ; booth construction (ca. $10,000) ; sundries such as cables, media, beer, etc. ($1,000)

Ok, here's a solution to that which lists for less than $2K and which Sam Ash is selling for less than $1K.

This is just to record. Now each artist has to remaster their own music (a very technically difficult job for which people study years).

The same device I linked to will create a legal Red Book Audio master you can take to a pressing plant to get pressed CDs made for it.

Then they have to shop around for a place to stamp CDs for them.

I'm in Los Angeles, this is child's play. This is only one example of places which will produce industry-quality CDs for $1,100 per thousand, with quantity discounts and repeat order discounts likely. And these places will do business with you over the Internet even if you live in West Bumblefsck, RFD.

They ask for CMYK artwork already transferred to film masters. This means finding some guy with Photoshop and a Service Bureau. Again, child's play in LA and most big cities.

All you add is talent...something which is not trivial, true, but if you have it, you have it.

The fact is that artists as renowned as Prince have been able to make far more money selling their music online than they have working on the Record Industry Plantation. The Do It Yourself spirit is alive and well, you just have to dig a little.

You don't have to be Kreskin to predict that the Music Industry's dying. It's not a bad thing, though. I look forward to dancing on its grave.