Tips to have a tidy Rig setup

[Roland_Guy]

Just wondering how you guys keep your rigs neat and tidy at gigs. please post tips and pics if you got of a neat setup.

 

Really looking to tidy up my gig setup. Wondering if you guys use mostly black cables to keep a constant color scheme?

 

Thoughts.

[Losendoskeys]

This and cable wrap............

 

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/alanjpearson/Keyboard%20Rig/IMG_0186_zpsb6fe2821.jpg

[StanC]

I gather all the cables from the boards and Velco strap them around one leg of my WS550 stand.

[DanL]

This and cable wrap............

 

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/alanjpearson/Keyboard%20Rig/IMG_0186_zpsb6fe2821.jpg

 

And then you leave that mic cable all bunched up on the floor.... tsk tsk....

[WesG]

Bunched-up mic cable...there is no excuse for this!

 

Once the mic cables have been run, use the over-under wire wrapping technique starting from the middle of the cable to create a tidy circle. It will lay flat and stay put if you over-under correctly without any further work. If you want to make it trip-proof, you can wrap velcro around it. Leave the male side out when you are on a carpet, and it will stick to the carpet!

 

Wes

[richforman]

My Spider Pro column stand has really useful cable clips inside the column, I run all my a/c cords, pedals through those and they are pretty invisible. On occassions when I use my Quik-Lok 2-tier X-stand instead (this will be because it's a gig where there is long load-in and/or not much time, in which case I use my cart to bring everything in at once and in that case the X-stand loads onto the cart with everything else much more easily), it's not so pretty. Then I made my own little "snake" of cables (one stays at home, one in my gig bag) to connect my three sound sources to the mixer that's velcroed onto my top keyboard, so that's pretty manageable, although I want to do another one with the cords a few inches shorter, now there's just a little too much more dangling slack there than needed.

[DanL]

I have everything that runs in one direction zip tied together so it's 1 cable instead of a bunch.

 

My only housekeeping problem is with pedals, and also power supply/ac cords. I'd like to mount the pedals to a board and use some kind of wrap, or zip ties, or something to clean them up, but I have different gigs that require different pedal configs. If I'm only using my SK1 and need the expression pedal, I don't want to bring a big pedal board with everything I use for my big rig attached.

 

I was thinking about a partial board, with only the FA08 sustain, expression, and the Vent remote on it, and leave the SK1 exp pedal on it's own. That cable routes differently anyway.

 

I'll try and take a pic of my setup today at my gig.

[SpaceNorman]

I think that a tidy setup has to start with the "right" cables. "Right" cables means - decent quality (cheap ones just aren't supple enough - and won't lay flat), appropriate length (don't use a 20 foot cable when 6 feet will do) and appropriate connectors (i.e., Right angle connectors for "back of keyboard" connections). I use a custom snake for the 8 connections that run between my keyboards and my rack (Left & Right output and MIDI IN and MIDI OUT - from each of my two boards). I use a MOTU MidiExpressXT interface mounted in the rack to centralize all MIDI connections).

 

Like DanL - pedals are the "ugly" in my rig as well. I'm futzing with building a pedal board that will mount all five pedals to a board. I'm playing with a design that will use a "junction box" mounted on the board that the pedals will connect into - along with a "dis-connectable" snake that will use right angle connectors with custom length leads at the keyboard end that will route cleanly along the stand. There will be A/C power mounted on the board (so that I can use specific length power cords from the keyboards to the board mounted A/C power). It looks good on paper. I've got the design done and am in the component acquisition phase at the moment ... I'm hoping to find time over the holiday to actually put it together.

[mate stubb]

Mixer onboard with keys, pedal board, tiny short custom snake cable tied together.

 

http://www.hotrodmotm.com/images/stand/minirig06.jpg

[J. Dan]

Step 1: simplify the rig itself.

 

I use the Kronos with a MIDI controller. Immediately, that eliminates an extra audio cable, mixer, etc.

 

Step 2: rackmount and premier outboard gear

 

Step 3: purpose driven cables. Same cable goes in the same place every time, is the correct length, has appropriate connectors (right angle vs straight)

 

Alternately, as many have done here, a custom snake really cleans things up. In my old rig, where I had audio for 2 keys and a click, MiDI back and forth, etc....I had a snake with color coded fan out at the keyboard end, and a multipin connector into the rack. That was clean.

[Aidan]

All well and good if you have the same rig and pedal combos all the time, but sometimes I will gig with just the SK1 (very small spaces/pubs), just the CP4 (mainly jazz and solo piano gigs), both (jazz/R&B), or the CP4 and the PC361 (function band stuff). The PC361 ideally needs a TRS coming out of it rather than a single-tip jack etc etc. Then there's stuff like position of your monitor (or mixer, if I'm using IEMs), whether a DI box is going into the chain somewhere...

[Losendoskeys]

This and cable wrap............

 

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/alanjpearson/Keyboard%20Rig/IMG_0186_zpsb6fe2821.jpg

 

And then you leave that mic cable all bunched up on the floor.... tsk tsk....

 

This was a rehearsal room

I was merely pointing out the "Hammond" keyboard stand - which houses all the cable looms etc.

This is how tidy it usually looks......

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/alanjpearson/Los%20Endos/Mick%20Jagger%20Centre%202014/10505514_10152376668569149_748838750126287269_n_zps2ca1d9c3.jpg

 

[J. Dan]

I'm currently doing multiple projects and keep multiple sets of cables for each - this includes whether I'm playing bass, guitar, sax, and whether I'm bringing a monitor, IEMs, house sound, bringing sound, etc.

 

If you bring a big bag of cables and figure it out on stage, things will ultimately be messier than if you have a set of cables for a specific situation.

[Aidan]

What about pedals, though?

[DanL]

Yes, pedals is the sticking point. Ideally I'd have duplicates, but that's a pretty big investment just to clean up a couple cables!

 

[DulceLabs.com]

Tips to have a tidy thread: Don't use over sized pics!!! http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/angry/smiley.gif

 

[vonnor]

I'm in the process of building a new rig as we speak, but there are some things I always do to help de-clutter and speed up set-up/tear-down.

 

1. My stand is similar to Moe's, but I used Ultimate Support Systems "Tinker Toys" to build it. Those 1.5" black aluminum tubes and plastic T-fittings from back in the 80's-90's.

 

2. All my pedals are attached to a Pedaltrain pedalboard that fits under the stand and is braced in back and sides by the lower tubes of the stand. Right now all my pedals are either passive or 7-pin midi-powered, so no warts or power supply on that. All the pedals are wired directly to a junction box containing a multi-pin round AMP jack that fits under the pedaltrain.

 

3. Snakes: I have 3 multi-pair custom snakes from Red-Co (I just buy the parts and assemble them myself). One for midi goes from the keyboards to the midi-patchbay in the rack. One for Sustain-Pedal/Footswitches and Volume/CC-pedals to the pedalboard, where it ends in a multi-pin AMP round connector that mates with one in the pedalboard. The last one I only use occasionally is a multi-pair snake for R-L audio out from the keyboards to the mixer in the rack. Most of the time I just run in mono using discrete 1/4" cables.

 

4. All right-angle plug connectors on the keyboards, both MIDI and audio/pedal. They hold better, are less prone to damage from accidental bumping by the guitar player.

 

~ vonnor

[mate stubb]

All my pedals are permanently mounted, but all have short female jack leads which allow more than 1 wiring harness to plug in, or even individual cables in an unusual situation.

[Roland_Guy]

Got the same hassle with pedal cables. The board idea sounds good. I should look into that

[J. Dan]

What about pedals, though?

 

I have multiple sets except for my FC-7, which moves from rig to rig.

[cedar]

Warning, here comes a stupid question from someone who obviously has limited experience moving gear:

 

Do you guys have any particular method for breaking down your rig, so as to: (1) ensure that you are not leaving any cable behind; (2) simplify the process of re-connecting everything at the next location; and (3) don't accidentally mix up power cords?

 

For example, I've been trying to leave cables connected to the keyboards, and packing it up that way, figuring that will help accomplish the above goals. But I won't be surprised if someone tells me this is a really bad idea and risks damaging the cables (by putting pressure on them within bags).

 

[J. Dan]

I'd be more worried about damage to the jacks/boards on the keyboards.

 

For me, cables come out and get wrapped and packed in my cable bag first and placed in a particular order.

 

Then keys in their cases, rack covers on and taken off the stand, stands brocken down/packed.

 

Setup is reverse order.

[WesG]

In my case, I simply pack the power supply for each keyboard in the front pocket of the gig bag, and I leave it there, except when it is connected to the keyboard. Piece of cake.

 

Similarly, my keyboards are either on the stand, or in the gig bag. No in-between.

[Ken Beaumont]

Yes, I have a gig bag with multiple pouches. Cables go first into their pouch by function / type. Power,TR/TRS,XLR etc. Each cable is labeled. I also have velcro straps to tie them up. I've been doing it so long I can setup or tear down in less than 3 minutes.

Since stage space is usually tight, I spend more time waiting for others to move then actually assembling my rig.

[Losendoskeys]

My pedals are on a pedal board.

 

I have an OCD process for breakdown and setup of my complex rig - never left a single thing in 10 years

[Losendoskeys]

Tips to have a tidy thread: Don't use over sized pics!!! http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/angry/smiley.gif

 

I have a widescreen PC monitor - get one from Santa

[J_tour]

@matestubb that is about the most compact rig I've ever seen! (that's a good thing). Thanks for giving me an idea of what to aspire to.

[Aidan]

As far as breakdown is concerned, cables first (signal and power), the signal cables get packed into their own bag (though not in a specific order), and the power cable for each piece goes into the pocket of the gig bag.

 

I get everything packed before I begin to move out, and as something becomes 'ready to go', I add it to a mental tally. So I know that when I start loading back into my car, for example that there are seven pieces to go, and just subtract from that as I go until we're down to nil.

 

I still add a final visual 'idiot check' before I leave to make sure nothing has been dropped, missed etc. Since I adopted this system, I've never left anything behind.

[DanL]

I have a specific breakdown order too. Unplug everything, wrap the loose cables and pedals, put them away in the box I use (the black box my SS3 is sitting on in the pic below), wrap everything that is connected to the rack and close it up, then pack the boards, then the stands.

 

Here's a rear view of my rig from last night. That's about as good as I can get with keeping things neat. It's mainly the power and pedal cables that are unruly.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/Mobile%20Uploads/20141218_174308_zpsmd2dijbj.jpg

 

[B. J. Love]

I roll my own custom cables to length and snake 'em in split tubing. Pedals and powerstrip are mounted in a large pedalboard for multi-keyboard set-ups and I have a separate, smaller pedalboard for single keyboard jams & rehearsals. The smaller pedalboard has 2 duplicate pedals and a single power supply that I use interchangeably with the SK1 or PX5S.