Synth Lab

Synth Lab interior
Dimensions Lab
Synth Lab: Reservations
Audio Lab

The Synth Lab is a self-serve electronic music recording studio resource available to WSU students, staff and faculty, located in the Dimensions Lab on Holland 1st floor. In Fall of 2024, the Digital Audio Collective RSO was awarded Student Technology Fee funding to create a space offering hardware electronic music instruments.

The Synth Lab is available by reservation only. Reservations will be available on this webpage beginning on January 23, 2026. The Synth Lab will be available for checkout in 3-4 hours sessions, with no renewals, available Monday – Saturday on school days during the Fall and Spring semesters. The Synth Lab may be checked out once in a 7-day period, and sessions may be booked up to 2 weeks in advance.

The Synth Lab Manual is coming soon. To get a head start, search out a manual for the equipment you might be interested in playing with (see equipment section below). Stay tuned for further updates.

Background

The Synth Lab contains a curated set of hardware electronic music instruments developed and used throughout the last 50 years that have been essential to the history of electronic music, specifically hip hop, EDM and experimental music. This equipment is either newly manufactured clones of older gear, or new and improved designs that take sound making to new levels.

The Digital Audio Collective began in 2023. Its members have been primarily interested and engaged in creating electronic music including hip hop, EDM and experimental music. The Synth Lab has been designed to support these interests.

Equipment

  • Synth Lab computer
    • Windows 11
    • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5950X 16-Core, 32-Thread 4.9GHz Turbo
    • RAM: 64GB DDR4 RAM
    • Video Card: Nvidia RTX 3080 10GB
    • 27″ 4K UHD BenQ Monitor (model PD2705)
  • Synthesizers/Sampler/Sequencers/Drum Machines
    • Moog Muse – 8 voice analog polysynth
    • Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave – 24 voice wavetable synth
    • Komodo Essence FM MKII – 300 voice digital FM synth
  • Samplers/Sequencer
    • Akai Professional MPC Key 37 – sequencer/sampler workstation
    • Electron Digitakt II – sequencer/sampler
  • Drum Machines
    • Behringer RD-8 MKII – drum machine, Roland TR-808 clone
    • Behringer RD-9 – drum machine, Roland TR-909 clone
  • Turntable
    • Technics SL-1200MK7 – turntable
  • Studio equipment:
    • Additional software: Ableton Live 12, FL Studio
    • RME Fireface 802 Audio Interface
    • Iconnectivity MIO XL MIDI interface
    • 1x Shure SM7dB
    • 2x JBL 305P 5″ monitors, 1x JBL LSR310S 10″ subwoofer
    • 2x Patchbays
    • 2x Line Mixers

Software

Ableton Live 12 and FL studio are available on the Synth Lab workstation, in addition to the standard Dimensions Lab software suite.