Adam Burgess

I do have a M1 Mac mini at home which I thought about putting in the rack, too. And, I've always got an iPad with me anyway… No preference as I've not tried it yet; but, I might try it on an easy local gig and see! The mapping seems pretty stable and hopefully I'd never have to touch the trackpad or the keyboard on a gig. Can always grab a cheap Bluetooth keyboard - because I'm still addicted to Command-S constantly.

This is one of the reasons I made sure the controllers were bus-powered. Only mains is the USB-C Hub's 19V adapter, that as you say will run 100-240V so doesn't matter a great deal if, say, generator power dips.

I've tried really hard to break it! Playing with a good few layers and lots of pedal and having a few YouTube vids in the background… nothing show stopping. On a gig, the wifi/update checking etc is turned off and not one glitch. I'm trying to use modelled/ROMpler stuff rather than streaming samples from an external SSD. (Arturia Collection, Roland ZEN, and a few homemade samples on the local drive - but I really like the Alan Parsons Pianos in an IK MAX Bundle I bought a while ago - may try that next!) The latency is now acceptable - I tried a few times in the past on my 2012 MacBook Pro and it didn't feel like I was playing the instruments. Now I can almost forget about it. Did maybe 16 gigs with different sets and bands the past few weeks, audience up to 1000pax and I'm finally happy! I do need a backup laptop, for sure. I do have an Integra7 that can always do the job, too. I thought about flying with it, but I trusted the Mac.

Love the i3 - one of my best ever buys, for sure! Sounds great and plays well. Only gripe is the fact you can't rename patches/'set-lists'! Yes, the Emirates, a hotel too swanky for me (the Anantara Hotel, Palm Jumeriah, Dubai). Guitarist and me grabbed a beer after the show - a snip at $20US each.

Really like the 61's action. Not as nice and buttery as a Kronos 61, but really playable. Organ palm-smears seem to find a slight sharp edge but not enough to catch. I feel like the 88 bottoms out a bit too soon, but I'm still playing with the velocity curves; maybe I'm hitting it too hard? Early days and sure I'll get used to it! Aftertouch is great - was severe out of the box - but the keyboards are a lot more responsive than, for example, a Kronos where you've got to really lean in to the point of snapping a key. And the second pic is from Dubai just before sunset! Weather is great at the moment - but due to get stupid hot soon!

Simple and clean for last night! They're a lot slimmer and lighter than the Kronos 73 and Numa Organ they replaced. 2x Arturia Keylab mkIIs, a Spider Pro, and an XR18 in the little rack on the floor. Off to the right is the MacBook on a Gibraltar GEMS stand. Powered and MIDI I/O'ed through an OWC USB C hub that's also in the rack. Also, one of the best little things I've bought in ages - the Korg i3. Got it for one trio gig at Christmas when the drummer couldn't make it. Paid for itself on that one gig! Love it Great for little gigs, keys feel ok and it sounds more than fine.

So, having happily ran MainStage almost solid for the past three weeks over a few different gigs, thought I'd spend my first day off with a few beers and making a new layout. Everything is now sent to busses - all pianos, other keys, organ, other bits etc., so the faders are always in the same place should I need to adjust anything at soundcheck. Had the usual 'levels are all over the place' thing once or twice, and hopefully this'll make it quicker; being more uniform. Always hard to gauge where a pad should be in the mix when rehearsals are scarce! On the Keylab mkII 61, Organ is always mapped to a layer of controls, mixer and output levels to another, random synth stuff if needed on the third. On the 88, sure I can fill the control banks up with something(!), but, just output levels at the moment. Some engineers liked the option of having multiple outs, others were ok with just a stereo send. (Whether they go mono at their desk is up to them 🙂 ) Nice to have separate out levels for tracks and cue/clicks if needed. Playback I found a bit clunky, so may go back to QLab and have that send Program Changes to MainStage over the IAC bus. Using this with the two Arturias, and a rack with an OWC USB C hub and an XR18 for local gigs. For flying gigs, the XR stuff is ubiquitous enough now to have them backline one, and I've got an iConnectivity Audio 2+ as a backup. I've used a Kronos, some Roland Axxx's, Nord Stage, and Motifs as controllers, and they've all behaved quite well. I do have a NanoKontrol which I may map to the XR18, to keep FX on there and save some processing on the little MacBook AIr. Anyway, just thought I'd share my happy journey into MainStage!

Hey, all. Do any of the learned folk here own a Korg i3 (recent model)? Lovely little thing! Sounds fine and paid for itself in about 20 minutes. Got a gig I need to do some drums for tomorrow and I'm out of my home country of the UAE (I'm next door in the lovely mountains of Oman doing a few gigs!). Had a look thru the manual and can't see a way to select 'Set-lists' over MIDI Program Change. Can it be done? Was gonna program some stuff up in MainStage for my Arturias in some downtime to at least get a head start on it before I get back home tomorrow. Be nice to send a tempo and the 'registration' straight to the i3 at the same time. Cheers, Adam.

This is true. Asked about using my existing Korg DS1H sustain pedal and they just don't work; but, they went above and beyond to explain why, and recommended Yammy FC pedals. Nice feeling keybed and I actually liked the 61mkII so much, I bought an 88, too. Software is pretty good - I use the Piano V2 and Analog Lab a lot. The Editor was a bit buggy on MacOS Monterey (M1 Macs), and you have to force it to open in Rosetta.

Yes, which is why my red/black edition SV1 has a few black keys that are now white, and a few red keys that are now black!!

I got something made, too. One of the nicest things I've owned. It's a nice place to do stuff! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1plVIBhNjQePdC6b5mpkRUc2LJ-YgZ_HC/view This is what I sent to the guy at the workshop. He doubled up on the crossbeam between the two sides holding up the desktop, and we added cable holes in the rear in every section. Quite simple. It's got the top part with the rackspace, a desktop, and the base. People who can make these things from scratch and do this are like gods to me! Sit down and work out what you would like where and scribble something down. Take it to a workshop. I've never been happier. Couple of iterations…

Kronos 61 had the "my opinion" bestest smoothest keyboard I've ever touched. Gorgeous. Quite miss it! But, as said above the Trinity/Triton Studio/Extreme have that really nice Yamaha FS(R?) keybed. Still have a 76 Triton that comes out now and again. The Arturia Keylab II 61 has a couple of sharp edges on it playing certain things that only ever come to light after a few gigs, but it's a lovely action front to back.

Don't know how much use this may be to you 🙂 But thought I'd try two new things on one gig last Tuesday. Risky, I know. A whole MainStage rig and running tracks from the same M1 laptop. I did try and break it for two days on and off at home - and I couldn't. I even played YouTube vids thru Chrome 😉 while playing along. All fine. Was using QLab to run multitracks (bass and bits of percussion), so I thought "Why not just insert a MIDI program change on those QLab cues to the relevant MainStage patches?" Worked brilliantly - select the track (using an iPad remote for QLab) - the program change goes thru the IAC bus and all sounds were ready to go by the time the drummer clicked his first stick on the count in. Didn't have to set anything up. I'm sure anything you can get for the iPad will be just fine 🙂

My speakers at home are second hand Yamaha HS5s. Nice and small - and if I'm programming sounds for a gig, if there's too much bass there - there probably is. Don't do much serious mixing - it's more preparation for stuff. I did use to use a couple of donated active Mission subs (amp broken) with a Pioneer hifi amp added just for fun. But, then, 25 years ago - all I had was a couple of no name bookshelf speakers and a sub; probably a Kenwood or Pioneer amp, and knew nothing about combining inputs (via screw terminal homemade jacks from Tandy - UK (RadioShack) to ends cut from RCA phono cables) and how many speakers you could hook up before the amp got very warm! Making a living out of it and nothing really blew up. It's all about being happy.

I did toy with the idea of putting the Mini in the rack, and thought the same things - but did go for the laptop - which I probably look at more than I should! David has the best of both repurposing an older laptop to mate with a Mini. What a brill idea.

Congrats. Sure you'll be happy! I bought one after my 2012 MacBook Pro died for the second time just after they arrived on the scene. It's just the base model - and it's more than capable. Lots of Kontakt stuff, IK stuff, works brilliantly. Actually went fully Mainstage live with an Air (again base model M1). Running tracks sometimes from QLab, too. Fine and dandy.

I'm going all MainStage with a base model M1 MacBook Air this weekend. All setup and tested on my base model M1 Mac Mini all week. Got Arturia 88 and 61 Keylab mkIIs ready to go. It's a lovely easy rig. Interface and power in a little rack, two USB cables to the keyboards. Love my Kronos, but I love programming on a 36" screen.

Love following along! Great to know that those tops are removable! That is sooo handy!

I tried this and I really can't see a way to send and map, for example, a CC00 on MIDI Channel 1 (mixer's first channel fader) from a screen control. CC01 is second mixer channel etc. MIDI channel 2 handles Mutes from CC00, and so on… Could always run a MIDI cable from the Arturia to the XR18 or X32 and do it directly, but I was just adamant that I was going to plug in a power cable to the rack and 2x USB cables to the keyboards, and run one app. No great hardship, though! Then, the changes I could probably get to show up in MainStage back the other way, as the mixer is running as a hardware input. Will have another try later - got lost in programming stuff.

So, I'm waiting for my Arturia 61 and 88 Keylab MkII to be delivered on a slow plane from Germany to the UAE, I'm setting up as much stuff as I can with MainStage for a couple of gigs next weekend. Is getting MIDI out of MainStage really this confusing? I'm usually good with this stuff. I'm just trying to map (for the moment) a fader on my Deepmind to control a fader in my XR18 or X32 which I'm gonna use as an interface, and to save me having another app open. (iConnectivity one was just a bit flaky 😞 ) So, I'm trying to pass-through a CC from a controller thru MainStage for a bit visual feedback to the mixer. MIDI is working fine in Layout mode; the desk and MainStage mirror each other. No such luck trying to patch the fader on screen to the desk. Individual audio outs working great over USB, too, in case I want to split organ/pianos/synths. Gonna use the FX on the mixer to save a bit Reverb/Delay processing power on the Mac. Any ideas, MainStage gurus? But, on another note, thoroughly enjoying programming sounds on a big screen! Thank you little Mac mini M1! Cheers, Adam.

Yes, I wouldn't rely on the MacBook being able to run iOS stuff reliably. I tried and was underwhelmed. I've got the base model 2020 M1 MacBook Air and a base model iPad 8(?). Different tools for different jobs; my needs haven't 'converged' yet. But, the Air is working brilliantly; Mainstage - and all the day to day stuff. iPad for reading dots and note taking etc. Base Mac mini at home in the studio. All my projects live on external drives.

This is all fantastic advice. Thanks again for the inspiration, David.

In a similar vein, and being partly inspired by your rack, David - and partly being forced into it⦠On NYE, I subbed for a band where the keys player always hires a couple of Motifs on the backline rider. Bandleader sent me the rider and I changed that to a Nord Stage X 88 or Kronos 73/88 and a Kronos 61. I have loads of sounds ready to go on the Kronos and the Nord is easy to navigate quickly. Obviously, turned up and there are two Motifs set on stage. I'd never played one and many many buttons that didn't seem to do much, and no touchscreen befuddled me! Always got my laptop with me so quickly set some stuff up in Mainstage while waiting for the drummer. Just basic strings of a few types, brass, and a few synth bits. Had to download a driver for the Mac to see MIDI over USB from the Motif - but that was pretty painless. And for the third or so time trying, I really enjoyed the laptop 'thing'! A work in progress⦠So, as you can see, the iConnectivity MIDI4 for regular MIDI with keys that don't play well with/don't have USB MIDI (like an old Yammy P95 which I sometimes drag out cause it's light, and the Audio 2+ for 4x outputs and an input for my acoustic, which comes out rarely. An Integra for backup. Patch panel (which I'm going to replace with a 12 connector version - just had this 8 hole one lying around) ⢠Integra Out L/R ⢠MIDI in 1 ⢠MIDI in 2 ⢠Mainstage out L/R (will add another 2x outs in case I want to split organ or synths/bass etc.) ⢠Will add 2x USB ins for bus power and MIDI when my Arturia Keylabs arrive. (88 and a 61) ⢠AC Power in and a loop out. In the back is an OWC USB C hub where everything ends up and a dangling USB C cable for the MacBook - both power and USB. One power brick split between the iConnectivity interfaces, and the 20V? brick for the hub. IEC for those and the Integra. All currently just dangling in Wago 5 way connectors - which I should get a Wago box for - although they're really safe enough. It's a bit of a squeeze but first tests - all is working as it should (I still hate the software for the iConnectivity stuff, but - either that or put in my XR18 as in interface which means a bigger rack) Set up should be - unfold my Spider Pro, place keyboards, plug in 2x USB cables and the Powercon. Plug in and open laptop. EDIT: I did toy with the idea of using the Integra as the USB interface, and the 5pin MIDI backup, which would have saved a lot of cables and a rack space, but, the sound thru it is markedly different and much less natural than the iConnectivity. Very treble-y and sounded quite compressed⦠I think all the FX etc. were bypassed!

Hey everyone. Don't suppose anyone has any idea if the RH3 88 keybeds in the SV1 and Kronos 2 are interchangeable? Looked at the service manuals and nothing useful regarding part numbers. Came across a worse for wear Kronos 88 the other day. It's in great shape apart from the keys. Middle couple of octaves have took a real beating. Keys are all good, it's the hammers and their supports that are broken. Have an SV1 88 that I wouldn't mind transplanting its keyboard to straight into the Kronos for easiness. I have a keybed from my old Kronos 2 73 that I can cannibalise for the hammers and their supports, but time is tight between gigs the next few months and service is non-existent here - hence having to do it myself!

Thank you, Mike. Yes, I think you're right with the laptop not being a 'thing'! I 'am' the DJ. And everything can stay wired so no wifi issues⦠Just messing with the Arpeggio plug ins at the moment. I think I'll just take the Deepmind as a controller and set it off to the side. Think people always like the one hand on the keytar, one off on another board look. Or they don't care, but, hey? One thing I DID remember from my last keytar - straplocks are your friend!