Rackmounts for Musicians?

williwilli asks: "Musicians face a multitude of challenges in this day and age, yet there are a number of musicians also trying to work towards the future. One constant challenge in almost any profession in money. With CPU's continuing to advance at a rapid rate, many musicians are finding computer-based software synthesis to be much more cost effective than traditional hardware synthesizers. While some musicians are using portable systems, the lack of expandibility limits the systems capabilities in terms of synthesis, multitrack recording, etc. While one could always throw more computers at the problem, many users will no doubt find a rackmount system provides much more capability and expandibility. As such, what insights might the Slashdot crowd be able to provide towards building your own rack? Is shockmounting necessary? Are parts readily available, or are there any 'open-source' CAD files out there? Are there music-specific materials, designs, or tips to recommend or avoid?" Would rackmounts for a mobile musician really differ so greatly from rackmounts made for a small server cluster?

Comments

Some experience

[herderofcats]

I have some experience with using musician rackmount racks with computer hardware which may help those trying to do the reverse.

I like to purchase musician rackmount racks because they are cheap (at least compared to computer racks) and come in a variety of "packable" sizes.

I have two 'fuzzy' ones that I use in my office -- one has a 1U power distribution, a 1u ethernet switch, a 1u KVM switch, and a small 1u server. This leaves 1u for cable management and a 802.11 router. The other contains my 1.5u Tivo Series 2, a 1u video switch, an 2u amplifier, a 1u DVD player, and a 1u power distribution.

I have a 3rd hard case, with front and back 'lids' that cover the the faces of the rack, that lock with a padlock and are shippable. I use this for conventions.

First, be very careful with the screws -- the screw holes for musician racks may be compatible with those for computer racks, but they appear to use a different size threading. You can ruin your rack by forcing the wrong type of screw.

Second, musician racks typically are far too shallow to use with most computer equipment. Be sure to order the deepest you can find, which typically with be 17" -- even that will not be deep enough for many computer rack-mounted devices, in particular rackmount PC cases which tend to be much deeper then 17".

-- Herder of Cats