B4i

It doesn't fully meet your brief but I use a Fantom O6 to solve the issues you face. It has 16 sample pads, can load user samples, its got all the roland ROMpler and Zencore stuff and can act be controlled externally from 5 Pin. The previous Fantom FA06 (so cheaper than the Fantom O6) also had the sample pads albeit wasn't Zencore I don't think. The keybed wasn't as nice either but you don't want the keys so maybe not an issue for you.

I currently use an M1 Mac mini mounted on pedalboard using an iPad pro as a screen via USB c using Duet Display. The iPad sits on the end of my Nord Stage. Its neat and out the way Previously i used a Macbook Pro (2013). Where to put it was always a bit of a pain. I settled on an x stand behind the Nord Stage. Performance wise the M1 is obviously faster, but the 2013 pro did the job. The mounting improvement moving to the mini was the biggest improvement

The two key benefits of IEMs are a) reduction in noise levels to your ears and b) ability to get the mix and balance as you want. The ease with achieving b) depends on the gear you use. In my band the FOH desk is a Behringer XR18 so I use the P16M connected via a Cat5e cable. This gives me control of 16 channels for my IEMs. If your band uses another digital desk with remote control (via an app) then its also possible to achieve the same being sent a signal from a stereo aux bus and then you controlling the mix with the app. If those options are not open to you others have success having a band minus keys mix sent to them, with control at their end being the band minus keys mix vs keys mix using a simple mixer. This does rely on the sound guy giving you the band minus mix you like. I've found over the years that I don't need the full band. I tend to have my keys, my vocals, the guitars, lead vocal (in that order of volume). This is in part due to bleed into the other mics messing the mix (we typically play small stages) but also even with IEMs, its still possible to hear enough of the drums and feel the bass to not need them in the IEMs. Similarly I dont need the other backing vocals either

If it helps I use an M1 Mac Mini with Mainstage with 8gb of RAM. I'm pretty heavy with the plugins; one patch per song, a few aliases but not a lot. I've never had any memory overload messages. I largely use Arturia, NI, Roland Cloud, Eventide and Waves. Interestingly Alchemy (built into Mainstage) is the biggest memory hog (about 1.5gb from memory) I only went with the 8gb as I was expecting that M2 was going to be a big step over M1 so thought this Mac Mini was only going to be used for 2 years before swapping out. However its still working great, and M2 doesn't appear to be a big jump, so keeping with it. I use an iPad Pro 12" as a screen using Duet Display perched on the end of my Stage 2EX 88 key. All that said, would i choose 16gb RAM, if I could afford it, yes. If not 8gb does work.

As has been said above, balancing your own sounds is important. My band does about 30 songs a gig and I use around 150 sounds across two keyboards and Mainstage either layered or split (with some one shot samples thrown in too). It takes time and practice but it makes for a consistent sound gig to gig. If I solo i also boost myself. We have a fairly consistent sound guy who can control overall level of the band, but we try not to rely on him for song to song changes as we a) don't always have him and b) don't have him for festival gigs.

The FA-06 key bed was too light for my tastes and I felt it didn't have much resistance. Also from memory I don't think the keys or the spacing are quite full size (although i could be wrong on this). The FA-07 has a different key bed I understand The Fantom-06 key bed feels more premium to me with a decent level of weight for a synth action. Its not up there with the best, but I'm quite happy playing it. I wouldn't choose it for piano mind

Had an FA-06, hated the key bed. Now have a Fantom 06. Does everything the FA does with a better key bed. Great gigging keyboard and easy to knock up sounds quickly

There are a number of workflow differences that impact putting plugins into a hardware keyboard environment. For example on a Kronos/Fantom/Montage etc its easy to audition "Organ", "Piano", "String" sounds. The manufacture grouped them. With plugins, there is no common standard for doing this. The nks format goes part way, but only with supported plugins. Trying to navigate on a touchscreen or through buttons is slower/more frustrating than just grabbing a mouse on a big monitor (or laptop screen). There are many others where its either too complicated to move to a hardware only environment or its just so much quicker using a keyboard/mouse and a proper screen. The biggest frustration for me using plugins live has been where to put the laptop (close enough to see, out of reach of someone knocking it over etc). I've gone with a mac mini on my pedal board and using an iPad as a screen. Fits well enough on an 88 key Nord Stage 2ex

Playing a wedding about 15 years ago for a couple that would come to all of our public gigs. Due to a date clash we had a stand in guitarist and no "DJ" equipment for music before/after and most crucially playing the first dance. I was using Cantabile at the time so added an audio file of the first dance to the opening patch - problem solved. Fast forward to the day and the first dance is playing and everyone is watching the happy couple. About two mins in, for reasons still unknown to me, I decided to flick through to the next patch. First dance cuts off dead. Band all turn and look at me. Instantly I knew what I had done and had no way of restarting the song without it starting from the beginning again. Fair play to the singer he starts a round of applause like nothing has happened and gets going with his usual pre-first song patter. At the end of the night band go to say congratulations to the bride and groom. Could tell they wanted to say something about the first dance. Good old British politeness stopping them of course!

For getting to sounds quickly without menu diving (including turning efx on/off), IMO Nord Stage 2/3/4 is a good choice. To my ears the pianos and organs are great. They work well for me in a live rock/pop mix. The synth section is good, but if you are heavily into synthesis, this isn't the board for you. The Stage will give you access to good sampled sounds and some good standard synth sounds - the efx are nice for these. Also the Stage 2/3 is limited to two synth sounds and the Stage 4, three synth sounds in a patch. If you want to create large multi-part patches, and/or sequence with the board, the Stage isn't for you. For me if you are looking to have a single board to prioritise Piano and Organ with some synth/sample sounds, its a good choice. I have a 2EX-88 and play in an 80s rock/pop/synth band. Its limitations around the synth section are too much for me so team with a Nord Wave and Mainstage. That said the synth section provides arp parts and pads a plenty, and having one knob per function for live tweaking is great.

I also have a Stage 2(EX) and you are right, its quick to get a useable sound, especially for pads The Prophet 6 however is on the more accessible end of synths for quickly getting to a sound - I have an original Wave and its fairly similar concept and used a few different P6 soft synths. You mention using a sample on the Stage. Is that making it quicker for you? Rather than on the P6 needing to start with raw oscillators to build the sound? If so swapping out to a Stage 4 or Wave will get you similar results to your Stage 2 as the raw samples are the same (ok the S4 uses the latest V4 library and Wave V3 but it wont be night and day compared to the Stage 2 library).

Thanks for the tips. I expect my playback files are in .wav format - I'll check. I do step through all patches and test playback and samples before the gig to make sure they are working. The issue comes about during the gig which makes it all the more difficult to fault find. I'll give the no wifi a go. I don't need it connected for my benefit as I control IEMs from the P16-M. Someone else can look after monitors! Good point Pianoman re potential bug in the concert. My layout is fairly straight forward but patches contain plugins from variety of developers. Probably the next step to look at if the wifi doesn't solve the problem.

I'm pretty sure I don't have Logic also running but you have got me thinking - i usually have the Behringer X-Air app running connected via Wi-fi to the XR-18 so I can adjust monitors. I know back in the day using a PC turning off wifi was a thing. I wonder if that is causing the issue? - something to try out

I have an M1 Mac mini running MainStage. My samples and libraries are on an external NVME M.2 drive, connected via USB-C. My MainStage concert has approx 30 patches (one for each song). On a few patches I use the Playback plug-in to play pre-recorded extended intros whilst guitars are changed, we all pause for a drink etc. This is typically on patch 1 as an opener, patch 8 and again patch 24. On a few recent gigs I've run into two intermittent issues. Sometimes when starting playback I get no sound. I can see the timeline moving in the Playback plug-in but hear no sound. Other times I hear sound but it either drops out after about a second and then comes back, or drops out totally. Re-starting Mainstage solves the problem (not convenient mid set!). On a separate but possibly related note, when triggering sample playback from a note using the MainStage sample player, the sample intermittently doesnt sound. I don't seems to get the same issue when using my own samples in Kontakt. I haven't found what consistently causes this and sometimes it works fine. Anyone else had a similar issue and found a solution?

Agreed. Its easier to tolerate an "average" mix through a wedge than it is through in-ears. And yes a limiter is a must if someone else has the ability to turn what is going to you up

Just checking, did you go into the line input of the pm55p? and was the output from the powered monitor a line out?

I use a Key Largo with a M1 mac (a mac mini rather than MBA) and it works. I do connect via USB A, but cannot see why USB C using the cable suggested wouldnt work. I use it with a powered hub in my live setup as I need 4 USB A connections and only two USB A sockets on the Mac Mini. Definitely recommend a powered hub. I've had issues over the years with passive hubs

For an external sample and libraries drive for my M1 Mac mini I bought an M2 NVME drive and external enclosure. Read/Write speeds are quicker than external SSD drive. I did see some performance improvement loading a Mainstage set compared to my old SSD

I started using custom IEMs about 12 years ago; a set of JH5s (Entry level single drive which I dont think they make anymore) About 6 months ago I went for a pair of JH Audio Roxanne. They fit and sound great. There is lots more bass than the single driver as you would expect. The only thing the Roxanne left me asking was "are they worth about 8x more than the entry level?" I'm not sure. Maybe I would go for somewhere in between next time

Just to note MainStage doesn’t need PC messages for patch changes. I use note numbers. It all gets mapped at concert level as an aside I built a usb foot pedal using an arduino board. Each switch on the pedal outputs note data which is mapped in MainStage to patch up, patch down, start playback, and a mystery switch which does different things on different patches

It’s a do it once deal. I guess the MainStage developers were thinking of this exact situation (or by happy chance that is what they have achieved) its only not a do it once deal as I said above where individual channel strips are sending midi data out rather than receiving it in you could try it with your triton to see how it plays out

the layout page is where you want to focus in mainstage for your home gigs presumably you have each of your physical keyboards mapped to an onscreen virtual keyboard in MainStage on the layout page. Each patch you create will allocate channel strips to the virtual keyboards (so you have splits and layers on each keyboard) At your away gigs all you need to do is to go into the layout screen and allocate the back line boards to the virtual MainStage keyboards. Do the same with any other controllers you use which are different to the home gig I do this when I practice at home as for gifting my Nord Wave connects via midi to the Key Largo. However at home it’s plumbed into my AMT-8 The only limitation I have found with the above is I use external instrument channel strips to send patch changes out to the Nord Wave. These do not remap and I need to change the destination of each channel strip manually. However I don’t think this will be an issue for you as you won’t be changing patches on your back line boards

Used an XR18 with two bands now. Just works. Form factor useful for typical pub band. The XR18 is rack mounted and we place it behind the backdrop behind the drummer. Sound is either run on stage using an iPad or out front when we have a dedicated sound man using the in-built wifi. No issues to date. We use a mixture of the Aux for monitors and I use the Ultranet into a P16-M for in ear monitors. Inputs; 5xdrums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 2x keys (I submix using Key Largo), and 5 vocals. Inputs 17/18 for pre-show MP3. I also use an XR18 at home as an interface for mac mini for my keys. Again just works.

i ended up building one around an Arduino Nano. If you can solder its an easy option

I built a pedal using an arduino and 4 switches mounted inside a metal case. The pedal connects to the mac mini using USB. The switches (think guitar pedal switches) each output note on/off messages which are mapped in mainstage to a)next patch, b) previous patch, c) play and d) a random which does different things for different patches If you are handy with a soldering iron, and can copy and paste a bit of code, its a nice way to get something that works for you