Isolating midi controllers from desk surface, keyboard playing and finger drumming noise reduction

FreddieVanHalen

Does anyone know the best way of reducing physical noise when bashing my keyboards and finger drum pads on a desk top?

I've got an Ikea Skarsta sit stand desk. I like it as it is affordable and does the job for me as a wfh station.

When the time for zoom calls is done, I've been chucking an Ableton Push and a midi keyboard on there and doing some music stuff.

Unfortunately, the "affordable" nature of the Skarsta desk top means it acts a bit like a drum head. When I do firm chord stabs on the keyboard or when I finger drum on the Push I am getting noise complaints from next door who are normally pretty reasonable.

Perhaps the best thing would be to get the controllers onto dedicated stands but it's not a big room and it would be good to see if I can reduce the desk noise before I get clutter.

Is this something I can solve with that heavy rubber deadening stuff builders put between plasterboard walls? 
Any other products that would do the job?

I need to spend whatever it takes as I don't want to piss my neighbours off, but at the same time, some of the prices for isolation pads and deadening materials from the likes of Auralex could add up to more than the cost of a decent keyboard stand and drum pad stand!

Any help/tips gratefully received.

personalnadir

I’d perhaps try silicon pads for the controllers see if that helps. Just cheap ones. I guess if you don’t want to stick anything to them, stick them to some ply board and use that to separate the controllers from the desk. If that doesn’t work I’d then do the same with the desk legs. 

Might not work, but should be cheap to try 

FreddieVanHalen

personalnadir said:

I’d perhaps try silicon pads for the controllers see if that helps. Just cheap ones. I guess if you don’t want to stick anything to them, stick them to some ply board and use that to separate the controllers from the desk. If that doesn’t work I’d then do the same with the desk legs. 

Might not work, but should be cheap to try 

Thanks - will give that a try. The other thing I've just seen mentioned is to try cutting tennis balls in half and putting them underneath. Haven't priced up the tennis balls yet though!

mrkb

Put them on your knees.

FreddieVanHalen

mrkb said:

Put them on your knees.

That's not a bad idea for the Push actually.

The 61 key 'board might be a bit more of a problem though :-)

Whistler

Sorbothane hemispheres, one under each leg of the desk will isolate it from the floor. You will need to know how heavy each leg is so that you buy the best size and durometer (density) of the hemispheres. If that is all a bit double-Dutch to you someone (me included) can explain further.

FreddieVanHalen

Whistler said:

Sorbothane hemispheres, one under each leg of the desk will isolate it from the floor. You will need to know how heavy each leg is so that you buy the best size and durometer (density) of the hemispheres. If that is all a bit double-Dutch to you someone (me included) can explain further.

Thanks for turning me onto that material. I also hadn’t thought of isolating the desk from the floor but that could help.

There is quite a loud acoustic boom/thud even in the room itself from the very resonant desk surface - perhaps hemispheres under the controllers and another set under the desk legs will be the way to go?

I had a quick look at a couple of sites, I don’t claim to understand in detail but it seems most places you can buy them have a table or chart where you pick the right hemispheres for the right weight.

Im guessing too firm or too soft and the material won’t be able to do its absorbing job properly?