RTA Producer desk

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earthboundrec

earthboundrec

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Anyone have any experience with the Producer desk from RTA? For $500 it seems to be pretty descent...

If anyone here uses one I had a question on its dimensions. It's width is listed as 30" but it has those columns that come up to support the monitor shelf. I'm wondering what the width is of the actual work space. The top shelf is listed as being 15 3/4" wide so that would take the width of the work space down to 14 and a quarter which isn't much. However the rollout tray beneath the monitor shelf is listed at 11 3/4" so if that's the width of the columns it would add a few inches to the workspace.

Basically I would need to fit a Mackie Control Universal on the desk and don't want it hanging off at all. The Mackie control is 17 1/2" wide... would this work?

Thanks.
 
I've had the Producer Desk from RTA for some time now and it's been working out great!! If you were to use your Mackie Control Universal on the main work area it would fit with about an inch to spare. I measured the main part of the desk just now and it's about 19" deep. If you were to get it you would have no problem fitting in your controler. Good Luck!
 
great, exactly what I was looking for! :D And here I've spent the last few weeks emailing RTA without getting any responses! Thanks a lot!
 
earthboundrec said:
great, exactly what I was looking for! :D And here I've spent the last few weeks emailing RTA without getting any responses! Thanks a lot!
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Their customer support sucks as well as the quality of the product. Studio RTA is the China import division of Sauder Woodworking.

Personally, I would go with the Presto from Omnirax over this. The designers over at Studio RTA failed to take the usage of the product into consideration when designing their furniture. The desktop height is too high if you plan on placing some kind of keyboard (the one that makes music - not the one you type on) on it. Read the product user reviews on the musiciansfriend.com website

New-Presto-MP-440.jpg


Ominrax places the desktop height at 26.5" rather than the 28.5" you find on most computer desks which makes more sense for keyboards.
 
ya, the Omnirax desk would be my primary choice however to get in a wood finish it's an extra $100 and they charge $119.00 extra for their keyboard tray. Kind of a rip off imo. I do imagine the quality is a little higher with the Omnirax stuff, but I've been using a Sauder desk for a very long time with no problems at all so I don't think the cheap stuff is that bad for desks as long as you're not moving it too much.
 
earthboundrec said:
ya, the Omnirax desk would be my primary choice however to get in a wood finish it's an extra $100 and they charge $119.00 extra for their keyboard tray. Kind of a rip off imo. I do imagine the quality is a little higher with the Omnirax stuff, but I've been using a Sauder desk for a very long time with no problems at all so I don't think the cheap stuff is that bad for desks as long as you're not moving it too much.
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The Sauder desk you own was built in Archbold, OH. All Studio RTA product is built in China. Big difference.
 
I've been using one for well over a year.

The quality of construction has been great. I'm constantly rolling it in and out (comes with 8 rubber casters) to make wiring changes and it remains solid as a rock.

I did a lot of research before my purchase and this unit seems about as versatile as anything out there in the price range.

I use a MCU on mine. Here's a link to some pics. I did add to custom built 5-space racks where to original CD racks were. I had no use for them.

Ancient Tone Photos
 
That's a sweet set up you got going on there. Ya, I think I'm gonna go with that desk. What's the mixer for? Do you go ADAT out of that to the MOTU 828? Or analog out to the 828? I like the video monitor too.
 
Analog out to the 828 for monitoring.

Also, another mod was doing away withe small slide-out shelf on the left side under the monitor shelf. I didn't need it so I put in more rack rail.

Enjoy your new desk!
 
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Hey earthboundrec, have you got your desk yet? how is it workng out?
 
finally got it.. a mini review...

Ok.. I finally was able to get the desk. I had a connection at a music store get it to me for $320 shipped! I was pretty happy about that.

I was nervous having read the reviews at Musicians Friend that parts were missing or that things didn't line up right. I haven't encountered any of those problems.

This desk is sturdy as hell! All the parts came with it, and there were no serious issues with holes lining up. There were times when you had to really force a screw in or something, but that should be expected with any DIY furniture.

Putting it together was a breeze, the instructions were perfect. It's definately a two person job to do... Luckily I had a case of Blue Ribbon and a friend that prefers to work for beer around. It took us about 3 hours, but a lot of that time was spent taking smoke breaks and pouinding beers.

I would also definately reccommend a power screw driver for putting the wheels on. We started by hand, and got worn out pretty quick trying to muscle them in. I just put a phillips head bit in the drill and went at it and it took about 5 minutes to get all 8 wheels on.

It's a very functional desk with about an acre and a half of work space and plenty of rack space. It looks real nice too. I'll probably be putting some pics of my new studio space in the studio building forum soon.

Take care everyone.
 
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