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What is in your music travel kit?


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I'm visiting my sister on her farm, 6 hours from my house. It is a two week visit so I brought a lot of music and hobby items. Problem is, the older I get, the more I forget. For example, I brought my favorite travel headphones, Sennheiser PX-200 ii. And I brought my favorite beatbox/music workstation, the Roland MC-707. Too bad the headphones will not plug into the MC. I don't have an adapter with me. This is not the only issue that I am running into this trip so I think it is time to build a travel kit for electronics, music and photography. So far the items on my list are

 

1/8" to 1/4" headphone adapter

1/4" to 1/8" headphone adapter

USB cable

USB to mini USB cable (cables are much easier to find than the correct adapter that I need)

USB to micro USB adapter

USB charging hub

MIDI cable

HDMI cable (for when I want to connect my laptop to a TV)

Surge protector with 10 foot cable and USB charging ports

Batteries (AA and AAA)

SD Card

Micro SD Card

A pack of narrow velcro strips for tying cables

 

Can you think of anything else?

 

Edit: added items.

Flashlight

Guitar picks

This post edited for speling.

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It would be much easier to make suggestions if we knew a few minor details.

 

What does "a lot of music and hobby items" mean?

 

What are you creating and what happens to your creations? Are you recording/photographing? Studio/Environmental/Catch-As-Catch-Can/Improv?

 

I take an acoustic guitar with tuner, picks and a strap in a padded gig bag with backpack straps - and a Tascam DR-40 with a 16gb SD card and some extra AA batteries stuffed into a pouch on the gig bag. Done.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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...

 

What does "a lot of music and hobby items" mean?

 

....

 

Well, ummm, :)

 

I already have a drawer there with drum sticks and a practice pad, crochet and knitting supplies, jigsaw puzzles and puzzle books, etc... I also have an acoustic guitar in a closet there. For travel I sometimes take a variety of drones, yoyos, finger boards, cameras, drawing supplies, Rubik's cubes, books and various craft supplies. This trip I brought an iPhone, two iPads, a MacBookPro and a Windows computer. Along with the Roland MC-707 I brought a Keystep Pro. I pack heavy. :P

This post edited for speling.

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Perhaps I'll show you. This is my "travel kit", which sadly hasn't seen much traveling lately.

 

[video:youtube]

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Wow, thanks. That was some fun experimentation, just trying to get a handle on a new pedal. So glad you liked it. It certainly was fun to record.
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I have seen Rainbow Machine recommended on one of the YouTube guitar pedal channels that I subscribe to but had never really heard it used until I watched this video. Nice. I had the OP-1 for a while but never really clicked with it so I finally sold it. Still have all the little TE devices. :)

This post edited for speling.

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I don't feel I am extracting the full potential from the OP-1. I am getting some cool sounds, but I don't have any decent range of control over it, and really need to be more consistent.

 

The Rainbow Machine is such an amazing pedal. I absolutely love it. Hopefully my video sort of shows it although I am mostly messing with the Fabrikat.

 

This also has some Rainbow Machine, and I start manipulating it more during the second half of this drone piece.

 

[video:youtube]

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My understanding is that people used to get in their vehicle and go to places hours away. Some even took these modes of transportation called planes and trains for even farther differences. They used to travel for both business and pleasure. I have these books and magazines that describe this phenomenon. My understanding years and years ago, prior to February 2020.
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My travel kit is a RAM 1500 and we do a pretty good job of filling it up when we go to a gig. Out first gig of the year was Jan 20 and it went real well. I try to have a variety of extension cables and a backup cable for nearly everything. Even if my backing track system goes down we can still perform our sets but if we lose an amp the show is probably over.
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I'm sitting here 6 hours from home staring at my MC-707. I thought I had forgotten the power supply, then found it. Started to use it and found that my headphone jack is the wrong size for the phones that I brought. Lesson learned. I should have brought the MC-101 instead. It has the same headphone jack as my MacBookPro, AND it will run on batteries. From now on the MC-101 will be my travel music box.

This post edited for speling.

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My OP-1 has been a fun travel synth, as a more tactile alternative to my iPad, which has also served well as a music platform for travel.

 

But now i have a Roland MC-101, which bundled with a Keystep 37 would take a bit more space in my luggage than the OP-1 or iPad but has a bit more versatility than the OP-1.

 

I did take an airline flight once with electric violins (main and backup), OP-1, mixer, and FX pedals for an out of town gig. Stuck the backup violin in my suitcase, brought the main one with me onboard as a carry-on. The dumbest mistake I made was to pack the mixer and FX in a cheap case that was most definitely not flight-ready. The case got dented pretty good - just goes to show that the Mackie and the Eventide H9 can take licks, and keep on tickin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yamaha THR-10 amp.

 

The beauty of it is that you get a tiny, portable fairly-flat stereo playback system connected to an amp with knobs, and it connects via USB to rock-solid Yamaha drivers (that "coincidentally" also work with Steinberg UR interfaces). Loud enough to use with a soft drummer. Separate volume control for monitoring, plus a headphone out.

 

1 box = amplifier, low latency audio interface, stereo monitoring. Also can run on batteries.

Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com

Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/

 

/ "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since 2014, this is what I bring when I travel:

 

- Mac Book Pro laptop (with Reason, StudioOne and a bunch of instrument and effects plugins).

- Korg MicroKey 37 controller, w/USB cable & carry bag (a re-purposed ukulele gig bag)

- Sony MDR-7506 headphones

 

And that's it. I've written a few songs on planes and trains.

 

I also have an Echo Firewire interface, but I don't need it when I travel unless I'm recording people.

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  • 8 months later...
I'm visiting my sister on her farm, 6 hours from my house. It is a two week visit so I brought a lot of music and hobby items. Problem is, the older I get, the more I forget. For example, I brought my favorite travel headphones, Sennheiser PX-200 ii. And I brought my favorite beatbox/music workstation, the Roland MC-707. Too bad the headphones will not plug into the MC. I don't have an adapter with me. This is not the only issue that I am running into this trip so I think it is time to build a travel kit for electronics, music and photography. So far the items on my list are

 

1/8" to 1/4" headphone adapter

1/4" to 1/8" headphone adapter

USB cable

USB to mini USB cable (cables are much easier to find than the correct adapter that I need)

USB to micro USB adapter

USB charging hub

MIDI cable

HDMI cable (for when I want to connect my laptop to a TV)

Surge protector with 10 foot cable and USB charging ports

Batteries (AA and AAA)

SD Card

Micro SD Card

A pack of narrow velcro strips for tying cables

 

Can you think of anything else?

 

Edit: added items.

Flashlight

Guitar picks

 

In the context of a 2 week visit to a place where you may want to make music and there may not be any instruments, your small "problem solving" kit makes sense.

I would add a small notepad and pen in the event inspiration strikes and you need to write something down. That could happen at a restaurant or on a walk, not always convenient to fire up the computer or text yourself an idea.

 

My AA batteries are rechargeable Duracell and came with a compact charger.

 

A portable battery powered recorder is small, light and makes it easy to preserve moments of inspiration. I've got a Tascam DR-40, the new version (DR-40x) looks pretty fabulous as an all around recording tool. Add a tiny flip-out tripod and you can record anywhere, line in or microphones. The Tascam could also be used as an audio interface with your laptop. In 2 weeks, you could track an album! :)

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Batteries are a problem that I am not sure how to handle. I'm trying to use more and more rechargeable but some things don't work well with those. My various devices use AA, AAA, C and 9V. I guess one solution is to only travel with things that use AAA. That gives me my Pocket Operators, Volcas and my Roland MC-101.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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One of my most used apps is a basic audio recorder and file manager called AudioShare (same company that makes AUM). The opposite of fancy, it turns the iPhone into a basic recorder. One less piece of gear to carry around and almost always immediately handy. It's a perfect little scratch/notepad.

 

- 2-channel recorder using iPhone mic, audio interface or TRRS 3.5mm to lightning adapter

- basic tools to trim/fade/normalize and convert audio file formats

- built-in file manager can save locally, to the cloud or share files through email/wifi etc.

 

AudioShare

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/audioshare/id543859300

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