Fabulous Synth Workstation organized in an IKEA PAX wardrobe

I make experimental electronic music with modular synthesizers and other quirky instruments. This means that there is a lot of cabling and rearranging of gear involved and the place can become really messy during a jam session. So I came up with a solution to keep things tidy (looking), by hacking an IKEA PAX wardrobe.

The configuration of the PAX was easily done at the local IKEA store. I chose the 236x100x60cm version with four drawers, a slide-out tray and two shelves:

IKEA Pax plan for synth workstation

As an electronic musician I sometimes need standard 19″ rack gear and I also wanted another standard Eurorack Modular Synth system. Both of these nicely fit into the width of the wardrobe, by adding a wooden DIY frame (just some wood, screws and glue, not from IKEA).

PAx music station 19

I needed to install some power supply boards as well:

PAX Synth workstation Modular Synth Busboards

… and then I mounted it inside the PAX wardrobe and added all other gear. Now all the gear is connected without the need to rearrange stuff frequently and I can just close the doors to hide the mess :D. Photo below shows left: closed and tidy, right: open and ready to rock.

PAX synth workstation - open and closed

The middle portion with the slide out tray is at waist’s height, so I can jam comfortably standing up:

PAX synth workstation shelf slide out tray

The audio mixer and recorder is mounted on the inside of the right door:

PAX synth workstation mixer

… and there’s a cable holder on the other door:

PAX synth workstation Cable holder

Of course the also need to be LED strips and disco lights (see mp4 video below)

I installed a green screen at the back by the way, because I frequently film jam session videos for my YouTube channel, and using the screen I can insert funky visuals there, just like Hollywood. 😛

To see and hear everything in action, check out my channel’s jam session playlist (the latest videos are at the top).

To see disco lights in action, play video below or click here to view on YT.

 

~ by Felix of The Tuesday Night Machines.