Jesse DitsonInterview
Maker, musician, developer (Attic Labs)
Adapted from Jesse Ditson's interview on Uses This, published 9 November 2017. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
For computer work, I have a Jarvis standing desk at home with an LG 27MU88-W 27 inch monitor mounted to the desk with an arm, and a laptop stand on another arm.
The USB-C port handles power, display, and acts as a USB hub, so when I'm using my work laptop (a 15" 2017 MacBook Pro), I just plug in one cord and everything works.
At work, I use a 24" LG UltraFine 5K display, attached similarly via USB to my MacBook which sits on a Rain stand.
I've been using Wacom tablets and capacitive styluses for pretty much my whole life, and the latency and accuracy of the Pencil is only rivaled by crazy expensive rigs like the Cintiq.
At work I use a Behringer U-PHORIA UM2, which is a really compact 2x2 interface with just the basics.
At home I use an Akai EIE Pro, which is a 4x4 and mostly just looks fantastic.
I leave a pair of open-back Sennheiser HD 598s at work - I've had them for 6 years and they are still incredibly comfortable (even with glasses on, wearing for 8-10 hours at a time) and sound amazing.
At home, I don't use headphones, and instead use a pair of KRK ROKIT-5 studio monitors.
If I need to isolate, I have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones that pretty much block everything out.
Audio-Technica AT2035 condensor with a desk mount and pop filter.
An old MS-20 MIDI controller that they stopped making in the 90s.
A Yamaha APXT2 3/4 size acoustic/electric guitar - I love these tiny bodied acoustic guitars, they have kind of a dobro-like quality to them which is fun.
A Casio SK-5, which is hands down the best keyboard ever created.
Communication
When I write, I use Medium, which is one of the better web apps ever created IMO.
Productivity
Browser
Security
1Password - also combines incredibly well with Alfred, and helps me avoid password entropy or looking up and insecurely storing work-related passwords.
Coding & Development
Design
For video work, I mostly use After Effects.
Media
For music, I mostly stay inside of Ableton Live and try to avoid using the computer as an input device as much as possible when composing.
When doing simpler tracking stuff I sometimes just use GarageBand, which is a really excellent tool that gets out of the way.
Storage
CloudApp - I capture a lot of screen shots, mainly to share work with co-workers and to attach interaction demos to pull requests.