Greg Mein

For years I've used DP on MBP's with MOTU interfaces and external keyboards. It's always been a solid setup and I'd always created my own tracks. I was originally inspired by articles in Keyboard magazine where Mike McKnight and others used that same basic setup on large world tours with world renown artists and groups. The last band I was in was undoubtedly the most popular in the area and certainly the most lucrative with sound company on hire and a minimum $2000 fee. Pretty good for a regional act. My primary function was keyboards along with some vocal and guitar. I even introduced some sequencing into the group which wasn't much of a problem, they were top notch musicians who quickly adjusted to a click and we already used in-ear monitors. I'd used the same basic system live before joining that group and after I left I continued to use it as my wife and I put together a duo act. Your idea sounds like a great big load of fun, I'd love to be a part of it!

I've used MBP's on gigs with bands and later, with my duo, for many years. I started with Powerbooks and have upgraded many times over the years with my current gig MBP being a 2017 model. I've nearly always used Digital Performer with MOTU 828 interfaces, keyboards, external midi devices, etc.. I actually haven't used this system for a couple years after forming my latest live band but I'm revisiting it now because my wife and I will be doing a couple duo gigs this Summer when we travel back to the midwest. It's a fairly complex setup that I won't waste time explaining unless someone is interested in discussing such things.

I've also done this song for years, what is the procedure for viewing these image files??

Great thread! I'll be looking at this soon as I go back to revisiting our duo backing track system. For the last couple of years we've been doing a full band but we'll be staying out of state in Jun-Jul and will need our backing track system up and running again. My wife bought the RD88 last year and I'll want to control patch changes and so forth with a USB cable from my MBP/828x/Digital Performer setup.

I've actually enjoyed doing fill in and one off gigs but only if I'm given enough time to prepare. I've developed a really good process for nailing down parts and learning songs that includes a couple of computers, at least one interface, YouTube, Digital Performer (because I know it best) and Ableton Live for its ability to retune audio source files.

I'm rewiring my studio room. I've finally decided to be honest with myself and admit that the day of the MOTU MIDI TimePiece AV USB is over. I hadn't actually used it in quite a while even before I wired up this room a year or so ago but there I was filling my cable ducts with MIDI cables. I've realized for a while now that my "infrastructure" just wasn't up to par with how I'm actually doing things. I'd installed the cable ducts to keep from having cables all over the floor and now.....I've got cables all over the floor. So I've removed the MTP, and a couple of other place holders, from my big rack and am placing the cables I actually need in my cable ducts. I won't sell these units though, I've learned from past experience I may regret that.

After a lot of pondering I decided to just buy a patchbay. The Neutrik NYS-SPP-L1 48-point 1/4" TRS Balanced Patchbay seemed like the most economical option. It'll fit nicely in the back of the 4 space rack case we'll be using again this Summer for backing tracks (MOTU 828x, MBP, DP, etc.). I won't need to do any soldering or buy additional parts and it's a device that could be handy in the home studio perhaps later. Appreciate the responses, always great to read your thoughts and suggestions!

It sure would be nice to find a 1U/2U panel with holes predrilled for 1/4" TRS type female jacks. I'm finding a few panels but they all appear to be for XLR jacks, AKA D-Series. According to my brief internet search the hole for a 1/4" female jack needs to be approximately 3/8" while these D-Series holes are roughly 15/16". The goal is to be able to plug standard audio cables into jacks on this panel installed on the back of the rack while the backside of the jacks are patch cables plugged into the actual gear installed in the rack. I've done this before but it's a pain to have to drill my own holes in these things. Seems odd I can't find something. Can anyone relate? Thanks in advance for any knowledge or leads.

I'm a bit concerned, our last two big equipment purchases have been at the Sam Ash in Las Vegas. I can't find a complete list of the stores they will shut down, anybody?

I remember I once built one using my little battery powered micro Marshall amp, you know the ones. Certainly simple enough; drilled a couple holes in the back of it, one for a little DPDT switch and the other for a 1/4" jack so I could run the speaker output to an external driver with a plastic hose attached. I can't remember where I got the idea but it worked great. It was fun for a while but I eventually removed the mods. A few years ago I bought a Rocktron Banshee 2. I just now dug it out of the closet, it may have been out of the box once but I've still got good intentions of using it on a track someday! RIP Bob!

I was three years old but somehow I remember it, one of my earliest memories absolutely; my family in the front room in North Hollywood watching on the little B&W. It's almost certainly because of all the hype, hysteria, anticipation, discussion and coverage that it stands out in my mind more than the actual performance itself. I was an instant fan, my parents fell hard into the "Paul Jones camp".

Welcome back to vaudeville, you play instruments because that's what you do.

I gotta say I miss the old Roland keyboards logical layout with Performances and Patches. The one I had that I liked best was an XP-30; when I bought it new it even came with an OEM version of Sound Diver which made creating and organizing patches and performances so freaking easy. If only they'd had more memory! I bought the FA-08 and it was quite different but it had enough display to where I learned to navigate it reasonably well but the RD-88 my wife bought last year is a bear to navigate and work with.

I imagine a lot of us are doing one. We're always trying to up our game and play to our audience. Typically we're a classic pop/rock kind of act with a slight leaning towards country rock which mostly works for us in the area we're at now although it's a smaller area than I'm used to and thusly the gigs are less frequent. We'll be doing our gig at the Elks Lodge. I was primarily keyboards in the last serious band I was in but with my own group my wife is doing most of the keys while I play guitar. Our drummer suggested Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life. This was the biggest challenge, wow, with the jazzy chords and key changes. It took her a while to get it under her fingers and I spent a lot of time with the sheet music coming up with some comp chords I could actually make my fingers switch between! It popped into my head to do Elvis - I Can't Help Falling In Love With You, it fits my voice well, easy chords/accompaniment and I expect this one will work well. We resurrected EC - Wonderful Tonight, that used to be in regular rotation with bands years ago and falls together fast. I'll switch to keys for Chicago - Color My World so my wife can play the flute solo. Country is a huge thing around here and in order to survive we've needed to incorporate a little. Johnny and June - Jackson has already been in rotation for a while and goes over great as a duet with my wife and, new for us, we're adding Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire which I plan to roll into a medley going forward. At a Valentine show a couple years back when my wife and I were just playing as a duo we did G n' R - Used To Love Her as a bit of a lark and it was fun but I'm leaving that out, I don't think it will work with this audience and even our drummer and bass player weren't familiar with it. Otherwise I cherry picked through our normal sets and tried to find the stuff I think will work best for this gig. How about you, doing anything special or different?

I've used Superior Drummer for years in the backing tracks I created.