Placement Ideas for 61 or 88-key MIDI Keyboard With Argosy Halo Desk?

Aron Stokes
Aron Stokes Member Posts: 32 Member
edited May 2022 in Tech Talks
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Hello all! I'm currently in the middle of renovating my home studio and we recently acquired the Argosy Halo desk. It's a very ergonomic desk and it houses our mixer and other gear very well. It has also helped us save lots of space. My one concern though is finding a good place to fit at least one good-sized (as in: 61 or 88-key) MIDI keyboard near the desk. The desktop surface itself has a large mixer and other gear on it, so the most I could fit on top of the desk is a small 25-key MIDI keyboard, which is less than ideal for me as a keyboardist/producer. I was wondering if anyone else owns the Argosy Halo desk and/or has any ideas for a stand that could perhaps go under the desk and pull out enough for clearance to play the keyboard in front of the desk? My original plan was to place a keyboard on a stand to the side of the desk and turn left or right to play, but there isn't enough space to the left/right of the desk to be housing larger keyboards on stands, as they would protrude into our walking space. Any ideas would be appreciated!


Thanks a lot,

Aron

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Comments

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,592 Expert

    Yeah this is why I go custom.

    There is loads of wasted space there since you don't have much rack gear and although the curved profile seems nice, it has the issues which you have just discovered, not much larger gear can fit. Really designed for mixing audio not production work.

    Seems you have room to the L/R of your desk for a simple stand. My older setup I just had my keyboards on a custom built stand (was just scrap wood I knocked up into a double stand):

    IMG_4994.JPG

    Even tho there is a door behind, it was still convenient enough.

    On my desk I have an MCU control surface, Ableton Push and an analogue mixer as well as all my interfaces and compressors etc and a macbook. No more room for a midi keyboard but I really didn't like having to swing around to play simple parts or compose and bounce between the screen and the keyboard so I really wanted to put it on the desk but putting it behind my computer keyboard and moving my controllers was no better since it wasn't ergonomic to play.

    I ended up rebuilding my old desk as a motorised lift desk which then allowed me to install a keyboard shelf under it for my midi keyboard. If you are somewhat handy you may be able to do this tho without the ability to lift the desk it can be a bit of an issue.

    I used a set of soft-close draw sliders (left over from a kitchen renovation) and made a simple bracket to fit under the desk and clear the bracket for the table lift. I did this after I watched a video on Wintergartan where he did this same thing but something I took from the way he did it was to set the draw back about 1 foot from the edge so when you push it in you have knee room. Just be sure the slides are long enough to bring the draw out.

    2020-06-04_14-42-37.JPG

    I also cut a section out for extra knee clearance since it just sits above my knees

    2020-06-04_15-52-53.JPG

    I also measured the height of my keyboard and made the draw only just deep enough to allow it to fit to keep it as low profile as possible

    2020-06-05_21-36-44.JPG

    As I found, having the desk at a good height so I could slide the keyboard out without it rubbing on my legs meant everything else was too high (monitors, keyboard) so I have a lift setting for "work" and another to play the keyboard which is just 1 inch higher, then a stand position.

    If you are handy enough, the draw is simple to install, took me about 2 hours to measure and make it and a set of these slides is about $15, wood is cheap enough so for under $50 you could make an attempt at a draw, otherwise a stand to the side looks doable.

  • ElroyPatrick72
    ElroyPatrick72 Member Posts: 2 Member

    You have an excellent curved desk, but it takes up a lot of space, and no matter how little equipment you have, you don't have enough room for an excellent big keyboard. You seem to have some space to the left and right of your desk for a simple MIDI keyboard stand.

  • ElroyPatrick72
    ElroyPatrick72 Member Posts: 2 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/42566#Comment_42566

    You can measure that distance and find a suitable frame at Eureka because they have a lot of helpful stuff. I recently found a roomy table https://eurekaergonomic.com/office-desk-47-electric-standing-desk-with-drawers-and-detachable-monitor-riser-walnut-erk-ed-i47-wn/ even though I don't have much room in my room. I'm sure you will be able to accomplish what you have in mind.

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