philtre71

I have moved completely to Blue3 via Mainstage. I love it...and I"m controlling it via a weighted keyboard.

Thanks again guys...this is all really helpful (and I hope it's a useful on-going discussion). Just to reiterate...this is for situations where we use a controller board or boards only with Mainstage (or similar)...no boards with their own sound-production. Tonight I did a test at a 'low risk' gig...vocalist with acoustic guitar + me playing Pianoteq on Mainstage via SL73. I had my ipad running Forscore anyway (we were doing some Blue Nile stuff, which I sometimes struggle to remember) so I had Ravenscroft loaded on the ipad and connected via korg iplug...USB from the SL73 went to my macbook and Midi from the SL73 went to the ipad via microplug. Audio from macbook and ipad/microplug went to a little 5-2 mixer from Thomann, and from there to the PA. This was a really compact setup where the only 'added baggage' was the microplug+power, a midi cable, two 1/4" jacks and the mixer. With the ipad output on mute, if anything happened with macbook/mainstage I knew I had an immediate backup that just needed a press of two buttons (mute macbook, unmute ipad) to get back on track. It gave me the psychological comfort I needed to play without worrying about the technology. So, for my Gabriel cover band (see what I did there!), I might just create a basic multi-layer patch in sampletank on the ipad for each song. Wouldn't be the same as mainstage, but would get me through the gig in the event of a catastrophic failure and would involve the smallest number of additional parts. I know you can't account for every eventuality, and even the hardest of hardware options can let you down (I once had to repair an accordion with a carrot 15 minutes before a gig).

Thanks David...that's similar to what I've been doing up til now...fully Mainstage, but with the safety of the audio outs from my CP33. Like you and Reeze, I've never had a problem with Mainstage.

I'm wondering about using a flightcase for this. I currently carry the SL73 in a soft bag, but will be getting something more rugged in the next month or so. I need a flat surface to put my breath controller, small percussion instruments etc. anyway, so maybe sitting the flightcase on a X-stand at a right angle to the keyboard would give me a suitable surface for two laptops (with appropriate velcro etc) plus mixer, and other odds and ends. That way the whole setup would be two stands, SL73 in flightcase + bag with laptops, cables etc. Would still need to have a think about quick setup/strip-down etc...

Yep...I think in my original post I was really thinking about creating a 'make do' backup that would get me through a couple of songs while the macbook (hopefully) rebooted. But that's not going to be enough for this gig.

So after a bit more thought, I"m leaning towards a two-laptop solution, I should stress that this is very situation-specific...if you know Gabriel"s output, you"ll know it relies on a lot of keyboard and for some songs I run through 7 or 8 patches in mainstage, usually with a number of layers and splits within each patch. It"s much closer to musical theatre in that respect. So a laptop crash would derail the whole thing, I could cope with basic piano for a couple of songs IF the laptop could re-boot and I could get mainstage back up and running, But if not....I"d be screwed, as would the band. I"m one of those people who always expects the worst, and probably overthinks. Adding another laptop (which I have) running mainstage with the same set of patches would probably be the only way to really be safe here. It"s closest to what I"ve seen in rundowns that are mainstage based (David rosenthals springs to mind). Carrying round an extra laptop and power supply isnt a hassle, and possibly worth the piece of mind! I mean, if I can"t get that shakuhachi sound in sledgehammer, or the bagpipes in Biko, it ain"t going to down well! So maybe running the sl73 usb into the main MacBook, and its midi output into a second MacBook via a midi-usb interface would do the trick. Unless there"s an easier way to split the single usb out into both MacBooks?

Thanks for the feedback. The xv2020 is half rack so it wouldn"t take up much space beside my MacBook. I"ve played live with mainstage for ages and never had a serious problem...but I"ve always had some kind of hardware backup like my cp33 or xp50 as part of my rig. The iPad is already sitting on my sl73, so that might be the simplest way to get some redundancy in the setup.

That hadn"t even occurred to me...I have a few older MacBooks I could use...thanks!

Sounds exactly what I'm planning on doing! The gig is a Peter Gabriel cover band so the keyboards are REALLY important...I just dread the thought of Mainstage crashing as it would be very difficult for the rest of the band to carry on. Compact but comfortable sounds like a good objective!

That's what I've been doing up until now...having two keyboards on stage, one of which was capable of producing its own output (e.g. Yamaha CP33) as a backup to Mainstage. For this band I'm keen to stick to one keyboard only...the portability of the SL73 is great and I'd like to stick to using it rather than the CP33. So I guess I'm looking for the most compact backup option...I will have a small table beside me with laptop, mixer, breath controller etc, so it would be trivial to add a small module like the XV2020 as a backup sound source, taking midi from the SL73. Some great feedback here guys...I'll let you know what I decide to do.

I"d go the iPad route, but just curious what other apps you"re talking about in addition to Ravenscroft - given that your other option is a module. I have a bunch of different apps on the ipad...and it's already running Forscore so it's sitting on my SL73 anyway (the magnetic back on the SL73 keeps it locked in place). I mentioned Ravenscroft because piano is core to most of my patches, and I'd be able to busk through a couple of tunes (or the whole set if needed) using piano, while the laptop was (hopefully) re-booting!

So In a couple of months I"ll start playing live with my new band. Rig is mainstage running on MacBook connected to studiologic sl73. Works perfectly in rehearsal but I know I need some kind of backup plan in case the laptop crashes. I will have a small mixer with me on stage that will feed foh and monitors. I need to limit the amount of additional gear involved. Interested in others mainstage users" backup plans in case of failure...I"m deliberating between (1) hooking up an iPad running Ravenscroft via a korg microplug or (2) using something like a xv2020...with both options I"d take the midi out from my sl73 (usb out is driving mainstage) and run the audio output into my mixer, so if the laptop failed I could switch Immediately to my second sound source.

Has anyone got any experience of using a midi breath controller as part of a mainstage setup? Specifically, I"m thinking about adding a BBC2 breath controller into my live rig, which currently involves a Studiologic SL73 running into Mainstage. For most songs I have multiple instruments and split points, and often use multiple patches (it"s a Peter Gabriel cover band, so there"s a lot of ground to cover). The idea would be to use the breath controller to add some nuance to the flute/brass/bagpipe parts that I currently play using the keyboard. Mostly I"m using Kontakt for these instruments. I"d be interested in others" experience of incorporating a breath controller into mainstage, where the pitch information is still be produced by the keyboard but other data (e.g. velocity) is provided by the controller.

Not 5/4, but currently doing Solsbury Hill with the band (mostly 7/8 with the occasional 4/4 bar thrown in). Need to stop counting out the 'one two three" before we play live!

That's what I generally do now (bouncing or freezing), to avoid the overloading issues. I'm just surprised at how big a difference there is between the two DAWs!

Hi, this is more of a DAW/recording question than keyboard per se, but thought I'd see if anyone has encountered a similar situation. I run a 2013 Macbook Pro, i5 8GB ram. Using Logic (my preferred DAW), I've been getting into lots of situations where my CPU has been max'ing out (e.g. running Pianoteq along with Waves Abbey Road Chambers). Today I thought I would go back and do some work in Reaper (same computer, same interface) and have been really surprised how much more I can run...I've got a track with Pianoteq, AmpleSound Acoustic Bass, Kontakt and Superior Drummer 3 all running with Waves Schepps channels on all of them, plus some Waves reverb, and only hitting around 36% CPU load. So I'm wondering if this is due to some issue with my Logic setup, or have others experienced this?