Steinberg UR44 (ahem, zero latency monitoring) to replace a Tascam US800 (oops) and a new pair of Tannoy monitors for my slowly evolving rig along with a new i7 PC.

Now that I'm getting back into hardware synths, adding a DI box between the instruments and my audio interface has been very helpful in reducing extraneous line noise utilizing the ground lift button on the DI box.

However, Noel's post regarding the ferrite core noise suppressor cable clips has me intrigued. Can't wait to try them out.

I hate to be the one to state the obvious but Sonar X3 is by far my top choice. The ease of use is unparalleled in my opinion (no I do not work for the company hehe) I keep pinching myself like I might just be dreaming. My second choice would be Izotope's Ozone 5. (I've had that for a while.) It has all the tools in one package for a complete mastering solution. It is a bit of a CPU hog but there are work arounds. 
 
My third choice is a $200 dollar Jasmine Takamine nylon guitar I just recently bought with a built in eq, active pickup, tuner and cut away.  I was using a mic to record my old nylon (which it is still a nice guitar) and it always sounded muffled and boomy. This cuts through the mix and I find myself playing it a lot, i love it. :)
 
4th is an insignia keyboard and mouse combo. I only paid 20 bucks for them at Bestbuy. The keys are half sized height wise. I had to get used to some of them being in a slightly different place than my old keyboard but I like the action of the keys and that it is so affordable. 

Razorwit
Easy: my patch panels. When you have a bunch of outboard patch panels make life soooooo much easier. 
 
 
Dean

Yeah....did this years ago, and also put an 8-channel Behringer mixer in my rack just under my Saffire Pro 40. 
 
I did both a standard TRS 24X2 Behringer patch panel (Normal, Half and straight switchable) as well as building up a panel of XLRs with dongles that plug into the backs of all my units, so I can patch freely into the mic inputs on the Saffire and can run inserts to my hardware effects and offline EQ. It has also become the hub of our home SONOS system.

I just got a Presonus Monitor Station and a pair of HS7's

<sheesh> what a time to ask me this... But the most recent addition is a 30" Apple Cinema HD where I can finally see a comfortable amount of tracks/data on screen at 2560x1600... But the MacPro with dual quad xeons (16G) and the Presonus StudioLive 24x4x2 have played some very important rolls as well (I was just gifted a MacPro with dual 6-core Xeons (64G) and 4 500GB SSD's.... But I haven't built it into my DAW yet as I'm too broke for now... Soon?)

Keni

Paul P
 
Most of us are getting older ...........
 

This made me smile!
 

I don't like to shill for a Gibson Brands product, but I have no choice...I really love the KRK KNS8400 headphones. I always do a "headphone reality test" when mixing, sort of in the same spirit that back in the day, people would check mixes in mono over crappy speakers before signing off on a mix. I have several other pairs I've used for years and they're very good, but mixes translate better for headphones and earbuds when I use the KNX8400 as my "reality test" for earphones. They're also more comfortable, which helps.

So, I have been contemplating getting the LINE 6 Relay system for my studio so when I am tracking guitars by my lonesome all the wires don't get tangled up (the guitar cable and the headphone cable).  I can't tell you what a PITA it is (you already know if you track yourself playing electric guitars) when the cables get so entangled that you have to stop and unwind everything.  
 
Being older, I can tell you how much energy that takes, usually it means STOPPING my session, untangling and getting ready for next time.  I tried everything I can think of, getting the headphone wire up as high as I can, using a remote desktop so I don't have to walk back and forth to the DAW between takes, etc.
 
WIRELESS sounds like the way to go and the LINE 6 unit sounds like it will solve my problem without sacrificing sound quality usually associated with wireless.
 
Anyone have one of these that can let me know if I am wasting my time and money with this unit?
 
Thanks,
Jim
 

A windows server where I have installed ASP Playground forum software. Every time I make a post I get an automated reply post saying things like "you're the best", " you are always right" and "I want to have your babies" etc.

Sort of similiar to you Dan, but an Ipad/Amplitube3/iStomp affair, for both live playing and recording. It's saved me heaps because once I'm happy with the sound I'm putting in, I usually don't do much after that to the track other than the usual bit of low end roll off and bit of compression. No more endless pursuits of the 'perfect' sound, it's already there, or so the theory goes lol!!
 
Just like the good 'ol days

Three things...
 
A KRK 10" sub.  This seemingly simple one item helped cut my final mix time down by 50%.  Before I got it, it was listen to monitors, put headphones on and double check,  make a wave file, go to my stereo and check, go to the car and check, do-over.  Its been weeks since I did anything over because of incorrect bass mixes.
 
New headphones. Beyerdynamic DT880's.   They have helped me really HEAR the bass drum and bass guitar frequency components better, along with detail stereo imaging components of the mix.  It may sound a bit off, but now that I can hear more detail in the soundstage, I am using FAR less effects, and the music is translating exactly as I imagined it would while I was tracking.
 
This last one doesn't seem to be studio oriented, but it has cut my setup time drastically - to a few minutes, along with simplifying setup and dialing in sounds I want as fast as I can think of them.  Its a new front end rack for my performance equipment that includes a voodoo Labs GCX switch and Ground Control unit.  I built out a new rack system (for both performance and studio in mind) including a rack drawer for my foot pedals between the radio and the front end for the amps, added a new rack mount Lexicon and Eventide with the old SPX1000 for the time based preamp loops on the amps, and a new rack mount tuner.  I used the best noise free cables I could get.  I know, for most, printing effects doesn't sound like the smart thing, but I have been writing and recording new country for a while.  I can hear what I want in the sound before I commit to a track.  In the mix down, if something isn't right, I just do over and I LOVE IT. What's better than having your axe in your hands creating in the studio or performing live?  :o)     I have each effect set to a different footswitch for a total of 7 (I have one button set as a kill switch), and every combination of effects sounds I use programmed into the user definable bank segments of each effect unit, which I rotate through using up\down and the bottom 4 buttons.  Since I perform far more than I record,  I roll the stuff outa the truck, into my little room, plug in the amps, open the drawer to the pedals, mic / DI the amps and GO..  You could also say that it has made the 'soundscape invention' of what I do a heck of a lot easier too.  Out of the three, voodoo takes the Cake.
 
LL
 
       

I upgraded my gen 16 cymbal pickups to the newer direct souce pups and added a 14" CRASH.

Behringer patchbay and rack holder on caster wheels.

WELL, an HP ENVY 360 laptop with A touch/tue HD screen...also an m-audio blue usb mic...I have yet to install sonar on this supercomputer but when I do....!!!!
 
yes, I'll be in full-on SONARX PRUDUCER MODE!!!!