We all put in long hours at the computer writing our cool charts with VDL2.  Having a good ergonomic setup is very important.  Especially to prevent bad things like carpal tunnel.  I spend long hours on a computer at my day job.  Then I go home and write music on my home computer.  My right hand started hurting from using a mouse all day, so I started going left-handed at work and right-handed at my home computer to switch it up.  Sort of helped.

Anyways, I just starting writing with a midi keyboard and VDL2 and it's great.  But my workstation setup isn't that ergonomically sound.  I'm interested in what people's workstation setups look like.

1. Where do you put your midi keyboard, mouse, regular computer keyboard, monitor, etc?
2. Can anyone recommend a good desk that supports a nice ergonomic setup for writing with a midi keyboard?
3. If anyone has pics, that'd be cool too.

Thanks!

I've got my keyboard (a large one) on a stand to the left of my computer.  I've played keyboards for a while so I can navigate a keyboard pretty well while looking at the screen.  But I'll just pick my note with my left hand and number punch with my right

Mine's a weird setup, but it works. First, here's the design of the desk:
When sitting, the main part of the desk is at about the bottom of my ribs
    (height wise, I'm actually about a foot and a half away from that portion)
    this is where you could set your books for studying or such (for me it's where the macbook goes)
About a foot and a half back from that is where there's a little book rack or raised space that holds my second monitor.
Underneath the main portion of the desk is a pull out for where the keyboard would go.
    this actually always stays out for me and holds my keystation 49e.
As for a mouse, I do fine with the track pad (I just swap hands and move the octave if i need to switch hand heights from getting tired)
    If I needed a mouse, there's plenty of room on either side.

This is my home setup... For the road it's in my lap with good ol' vdlmidi.

P.S. I just had surgery on my wrist and knew before hand that I needed to find the best setup I could... This means two things... I'm on a nice cocktail right now, so hopefully things still make sense (ask away if you're curious)... and the setup works very well for me. Peace...

I've got the music keyboard in the pull out tray directly under the desk and the alpha/numeric keyboard on the desk itself with the mouse next to it.  I use the M-Audio Oxygen 8 which is only 2 octaves so it fits underneath - it's the old-school version of the O2 found here:  https://www.tapspace.com/o2.html

I keep the VDL:2 user guide on one of those book stands from staples for quick access to keymaps, written music sketches, etc.  I'm sure it's not as cool as some of these other guys setups, but it works well for me...

Picture:
[img]http://pics.livejournal.com/otaylor/pic/00001eq1[/img]

- OT

OT,

I think that is great idea to have the O2 on the pull out tray.  I just moved mine to there as well.  Thanks!!

Ominrax and Raxess make some pretty nice (though expensive) studio furniture. There are others as well that aren't coming to mind, but if you do some searching on musiciansfriend.com or sweetwater, you might find others.

There are some good discussions on this sort of thing on Northern Sounds. Try these:

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42659

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10182

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17271

Jim,

Thanks for the links.  Any chance of a photo of your desk set-up?

Dave

Maybe once I clean up a bit. ;)

Sounds cool...

I think having the mouse on the desk is bad ergonomics.  I want my upper arm relaxed (vertical) and my wrist straight to avoid carpel tunnel.  I put my kb + mouse on the lower pull out shelf, and the midi keyboard up top because it's used less.