Repurposing Old Gear: Giving Controllers a Second Life

Throughout my studio redesign, there’s been a small thread running quietly in the background. It was never a major theme of the build, but it kept resurfacing often enough that it’s worth talking about: repurposing old software controllers for a new hardware-based studio.

One of the earliest examples in the video series was my experience with the Native Instruments Maschine Jam. I bought it years ago, never really used it, and it sat untouched for nearly a decade. It wasn’t until much later—well into this studio redesign—that I discovered the Maschine Jam could be used as a standalone controller when paired with the Maschine+. That discovery ultimately pushed me to buy the Maschine+.

On paper, that decision sounds ridiculous: buying a $1,700 instrument just so a $400 controller finally gets used. But in practice, it didn’t feel wasteful at all. If a piece of gear suddenly becomes useful and inspires exploration, then it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

And the Maschine Jam isn’t the only controller in that situation.

I have several others that have spent far too much time sitting idle. One of them is the Nektar P1, a controller I tried briefly but never truly committed to learning. Looking back, I have to admit I didn’t really give it a fair chance. I also have a Launchpad Mini, a few compact keyboards—the kind designed to slip into a laptop bag—and a handful of other odds and ends that once made sense in a software-centric setup.

Now that my studio has shifted toward hardware, I’ve started wondering whether some of these pieces could be brought back into the picture. Not all of them will make sense, but some might. And that’s enough reason to experiment.

This line of thinking also opened the door to repurposing gear beyond controllers. I still own my original Yamaha PSR keyboards, which at this point are purely nostalgic objects. They’ve been sitting unused for years, aside from occasionally being loaned to students while they waited for a new keyboard to arrive. Since I now teach online, even that role has disappeared.

But what if those old keyboards were routed through modern filters, effects, or outboard processing? Would they suddenly become interesting again? Maybe. Maybe not. But they’re already here, and curiosity costs nothing.

Of course, there’s always the most practical option: selling gear you no longer use. Recovering some of the money already spent—or redirecting it toward something that better fits your current workflow—is often the smartest move. For many people, that’s the right answer.

And that brings me to the usual statement everyone makes (myself included): there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to gear.
Is that actually true?

Philosophically, maybe. Practically, it depends. If you’re running a commercial studio, there are absolutely situations where right and wrong choices exist. If your studio is purely for exploration and enjoyment, the rules loosen considerably.

Rather than disappearing into that philosophical debate, I’ll end with something simpler:

There are many roles gear can play in a studio.
Some pieces can be repurposed.
Some should probably be sold.
And some—hopefully most—are simply there to be used and enjoyed.

If an old controller, keyboard, or forgotten piece of gear can find new life in your studio, it might be worth giving it one more chance before writing it off.