Mighty Ferguson

I'm chiming in a bit late to this thread, but as a DMC/Gemini owner, I agree with this thinking. After living with it for a few years, I think the lack of integration between the controller board and the Gemini within it is probably too big a challenge to keep dealing with. As stated in previous responses, there's a ramp up to get it all set up the way you want it, which is fine. However I find that I'm resistant to doing new configurations if I need them for new songs, because I find it such a pain to deal with. One editor for setups connected via USB, another editor for the Gemini connected via WiFi. I've found the USB editor for the DMC-122 to be very glitchy on the Mac. There's also no real user interface on the DMC for the Gemini, so I'm using BandHelper on the iPad as a "control station" for the whole thing, sending sysex to change setups on the DMC and patch changes to the Gemini for each song. It all just feels clunky. At this point, I'm thinking I might re-purpose the DMC as a controller for MainStage, and consider the Gemini as a backup sound source.

This is a concern - however, a few thoughts on that. Small iOS developers (not Korg) accept $4.99 for an app because although Apple takes a cut, there is potential for millions of sales. Not that it turns out that way in music - but developers have discovered the freemium method where it"s free to download and install onto your device - but they have a catalog of features and/or content where they make their money through IAP. OSX developers ask for significantly more, maybe even $199+ due to the considerably smaller market of users and their being accustomed to the pricing. One has to acknowledge few OSX music making developers offer their wares on the OSX App Store to avoid Apple taking a cut. They offer direct from developer sales and .dmg downloads of the installer - and music developers are notorious for using copy protection schemes due to the tendency of end users to share. So I suppose going forward what will Apple's moves be with the laptops, iMacs and desktops? Will they continue to have a separate App Store for those devices? Will they continue to allow developers to do direct sales? Or will they lock it down like they do with iOS devices? Where end users have to jail break to do what they like with it. If they merge app stores - copy protection will be built in but Apple will take a cut, and they will need to do the freemium/IAP method to earn on their development work. I'm guessing we might see prices settle in a middle ground somewhere. Yes, there are lots of $4.99 apps, but there are also a handful of apps that approach desktop class that are priced higher. IK B3-X for example, which gets a lot of praise around here is around $80 on IOS I believe.

Part of me is still hoping that Parallels or VMware (or VirtualBox?) will go through the trouble of figuring out how to virtualize x86 on Arm. I'm not even sure it's technically possible (or maybe it's possible, but perform so badly to not be worthwhile), but I'm guessing that without it the bottom will fall out of the virtualization on Mac market. I just don't know if the market is big enough to warrant the investment to make it work. IT folks and developers would be all over it, but I don't know what percentage of the Mac market that is. For a lot of developers, Linux on Arm may be enough, but again, I don't know if that's enough of a percentage to make it worth it for the virtualization companies. I'm hoping I'm totally wrong and people will crack this.

A few years ago I had a Windows partition on my MacBook Pro set up with Boot Camp. I also had a VM app (Fusion or Parallels, I forget) and could choose whether to boot into Windows or run it in a VM while in OSX. The VM ran the Windows on my Boot Camp partition, so it didn't need the large virtual disk file with its own Windows install. I believe the current info out there is that an ARM Mac won't be able to virtualize an x86 OS, meaning Windows VMs are a non-starter, unless you're specifically running the ARM flavor of Windows. I don't know how much Windows software will actually run on that though. I think this is likely going to be the deal breaker for a lot of IT types. It's unfortunate, because the current Intel Macs are sort of an IT Swiss army knife right now.

I mentioned this in the iPad thread. I"m wondering if this means MainStage for iPad is in the cards. It seems like people are approximating that functionality with a mix of various apps, but I think real MainStage and Mac caliber soft synths would open the floodgates to people using controllers and iPads/iPad Pros live. Or maybe I"m just projecting what I"d do on everyone else.

I remember an old magazine or web site column on what to do with old CDs... I want to say it was written by Mike Nelson of MST3K fame, but I might be remembering that wrong. In any case, the author advised (very sarcastically) people rip all their CDs to MP3 due to the convenience... but then to make sure they remember to back up all those MP3s to CD, just in case.

I can't really compare it to anything else as the DMC-122 is the only 2 manual board I've used, but I will say that as long as the physical layout meets your needs, it's quite good. Just make sure that the buttons, knobs, and drawbars fit with how you'd play it and want a controller set up. They're all assignable. I think the action is a good balance for both clone wheel and other tones, plus it has the high trigger point for the organ stuff. I wish the editor was a little more stable on Mac, as I find it a bit fiddly and crash-prone. But as you can assign all the controllers in MainStage per song, I think you'd probably want to just dial in a single setup (or just a small number of them), and then leave it alone.

So at the risk of taking this off topic, with Apple announcing the switch from Intel to ARM for Macs, does that foreshadow a version of MainStage that's cross platform for Mac/iPad? It seems like making an app cross platform between IOS/iPadOS and MacOS was a selling point they were touting in their WWDC keynote yesterday.

To me it seems like the (relatively) inexpensive Behringer analogs might actually be more competition for the soft synth companies. Just this past weekend coincidentally, I was comparing the sound of my Behringer D with Arturia's Mini V, by dialing up the same setting on each. I thought the Behringer sounded considerably better, when the built in effects in the Arturia software weren't part of the equation.

I had the same thought. I don't think I've ever seen that part played either, and for some reason seeing it also made me appreciate more what Trevor Rabin was doing there. It sounds sequenced on the album, but still....

Finally ordered this as well. Looking forward to getting it.

Can I ask for more detail on this? I'm looking at MainStage very closely right now as the center of my next rig. It looks like you can use a lead sheet as a background on a song by song basis, but it's not clear to me if that requires disabling the control mappings or if they can just be removed from the display for a particular song. Is the rule of thumb to just use something else for lead sheets? If I didn't want to add an iPad to this, is there something else I could put up on the Mac screen that people recommend? An unrelated question about controller choice: I've been looking at the Nektar Panorama T6, as there have been a couple of posts on here about the keybed being particularly good. It's priced well, and has a nice assortment of controllers. Plus it's light. After emailing Nektar asking about a high trigger point when the velocity sensitivity is turned off, they confirmed it doesn't do this. I don't think that's necessarily a dealbreaker, but it would have been nice. If anyone knows of a similar controller that does this, I'd be interested to hear about it.

This has been fairly top of my mind as well. I'm actually thinking that if I had to limp through a gig, I'd keep a Lightning to USB adapter with me, and run Korg Module Pro or something like that on my phone. I think it would cover me in a worst case scenario.

I don't want to derail this thread, but I've been reading this and the other recent thread about using iPad apps live and I'm pretty sure that a full rig built around MainStage and a Mac, or the iPad with something like Keystage, plus a couple of controllers will be my next rig. If I should start another thread with these questions, please let me know. At the moment, I'm leaning towards a Mac/MainStage as I can use the software I already have. A couple of questions about doing that: I have a 2013 Macbook Pro (for non-music stuff) that will likely be replaced this year. I'm wondering if it's powerful enough for running the instruments I'd use live. If so, I'd repurpose it for this. It's a 2.4GHz i5 with 8GB RAM and a 250GB SSD. I expect to be using a mix of Arturia V-Collection, Komplete 11 instruments, Keyscape (possibly two sounds at the same time), and VB3 v2 or B5. Would I need to get something more recent, or would that do the job? I'm anticipating covering the controls of a bottom controller keyboard, and relying on any knobs/faders/buttons on a top controller to assign them to sounds that may be assigned to either controller keyboard. Is this possible with MainStage? i.e., I'd have a knob on the top controller transmitting Control Change values on MIDI channel 1, but direct that to a parameter for the instrument that's played on the bottom controller, on channel 2. Is this doable with what's built into MainStage? I've only just started looking at controllers, and I'm not sure if it's normal to be able to assign a separate MIDI channel to a knob/button/fader.

I wouldn't provide advice to anyone on this subject, but I can relay my own experience as others here have in the hope it might help. I was a music major, and like a couple of others have mentioned, now work in technology. When it was time for me to go to college, I could not think of anything else I wanted to learn about more than music. I wasn't ready to think about career path, even though everyone was telling me how important it was. I always liked computers and tech, but I didn't have a passion for it at that age. I was fortunate my parents allowed me to major in music, and were supportive (although my father had a musical history of his own). I think that if I had majored in computer science or something, there's a chance I wouldn't have stuck with it. I do think I was lucky that I did have a knack for it, and could get into the field when the time was right. I'm going to guess that if your child is a genuinely smart kid, they will figure out how to be successful at something. Even if it's not music in the long haul. I still really value my college time, and I'm guessing she will as well. Now all that being said, I still chuckle at the memory of the graffiti over the toilet paper in one of the men's bathrooms in the college's music building: "Music performance degrees, take one".

I have no need for this, but the look of it (along with the Crumar Seven and to a lesser degree the Korg SV2) irrationally makes me want to get one of them.

Im surprised we havent seen a bigger market for facade type stands. I put my DMC-122 inside a fake Hammond clonewheel stand from Valhalla that I got cheap on Craigslist and people really like it. But other than Valhalla and the occasional empty piano shell you see on bigger tours, Im not really aware of much. Seems like a business opportunity for someone.

Hah, this is whats great about this place. Its people who are out doing it live. Congrats Dave, well done!

I love the grooves from these guys, but every time I hear them it sounds like just that... a groove with no melody or anything. Am I alone in that?

This would be a huge enhancement to the Gemini for me. Im either bringing another keyboard or an Akai sample pad with triggers to gigs depending on the need.

Modeled grand piano, not the sampled one in the Gemini. I wonder if that engine will make it into any of the other DSP based instruments.

I really hope the updated Leslie sim (along with the other updates the Mojo 61 has been getting lately) comes out for the Gemini soon.

I did something similar, except I removed the arms from the 18881 and just used the posts. I wrapped some foam around the tops and used them to support the back of the top board, while the front rested on the back of the bottom controller. I just needed to pull the bottom one forward a bit. I marked the stand with tape where the back of the bottom one should be.

Guido dropped a hint in the DMC/Mojo Facebook group about an updated dual manual Mojo with the two DSP architecture of the Gemini possibly coming later this year. Im guessing it would be a more purpose built/less customizable version of the DMC/Gemini combo with the Mojo look and keybed, but thats just speculation on my part. But still, I can imagine that being the all in one solution that is done well. Of course, it doesnt address your comment about playing piano sounds on an organ action, but I dont see anyone solving that anytime soon. Maybe someone will figure out how to adapt adjustable car suspension to the keys. Then we can all debate which bank to rob to afford it.

The DMC-122 with Gemini is probably the only real competitor on features. It had a big edge being able to have two non-organ sounds at the same time, but Hammond catches up on that feature now.