What synths do you use in your live rig?

[Bill W]

My main gig is a rock band focused in the 80s, but we also cover some 70s and 90s-now. I use a single Kronos 61 with lots of splits and layers. 

[NewImprov]

16 hours ago, Dave Number Four said:

Interesting. I haven't noticed any tuning issues with mine since the first week I had it (when I ran the pitch calibration function several times as instructed).

Allegedly the tuning algorithm learns as you run it. I have no tuning issues at the studio/rehearsal space it lives at most of the time, after running the calibration several times in the first months I owned it, but I do find it drifts on gigs, especially outdoor shows.

 

Also, I just found out yesterday that the lower-octave shift point is programmable at the patch level. Amazing what you learn when you actually read the manual!

[yannis D]

I don't know if Nord electro 5 is considered "a synth", but this is pretty much my workhorse for all my gigs, for organ/ep/clav/piano and the occasional synth. Depending on the gig, I might use my Mainstage rig with my Korg bluetooth 37 or Axiom 49 for additional synth sounds, or even my iOS rig as well (mostly Mainstage though). Whenever i need a proper 88, the production will backline it for me. If there's no production to take care of it, there will be no 88  

 

[J.F.N.]

So in general it seems to be a lot of Nord Stage and Kronos, and not that lot of synths added to the rigs in general, which seems to make sense considering the versatility of the above mentioned boards.

 

Nord Wave 2 seems to be fairly common though, not surprisingly, it's a very competent synth indeed!

[Ibarch]

I use a Fantom 07 for my originals band playing indie pop. It does everything I want. Having 16 parts and unlimited split points makes it very flexible and I'm a big fan of a lightweight single board setup. Sounds amazing too. 

[Synthaholic]

Kurzweil PC4-7 and Alesis Fusion 6HD. I can do everything I want or need with the Kurz, but I like to bring the Fusion along mainly for myself. I enjoy playing it, the synths and pads are fantastic, and it's getting used instead of sitting in it's case. It's a really underrated keyboard, synth and sound quality-wise.

[stillearning]

I’m not currently a regular member in any band, but do my share of ‘fill-in’ gigs where I’m often a last minute sub with no rehearsal. I’m almost 70, and don’t want to rehearse any more than needed, but still enjoy the occasional gig. The bands can range from prog, to pop, to corporate/wedding.  
 

My rig is a setup I feel covers everything I need, and is fast and easy to program, often on the fly. Two Nord Stage 3’s. An 88 on the bottom, and a 73 on top. With a custom pedalboard with 4 Yamaha FC 7 controller pedals and a Yamaha MG-06 mixer.

[Mighty Motif Max]

This really depends on the gig for me - as odd as it sounds, I actually have gotten some decent usage out of the Hammond SKpro's monosynth, since it's almost always paired with my MODX7 as the "main" board. Programming isn't hard and it sounds pretty good.

 

If a gig is truly synth-heavy, I'll pull out my Fantom 7. I'd love to use an actual synth in a gig rig one day, but I don't own anything quite like that right now (like an Osmose, Take 5, or Anyma Omega).

 

Genres for band gigs are mostly modern worship, modern pop, electronic, '80s pop/rock, symphonic metal/hard rock. Some jazz fusion stuff in there as well.

[Stokely]

12 hours ago, stillearning said:

I’m not currently a regular member in any band, but do my share of ‘fill-in’ gigs where I’m often a last minute sub with no rehearsal. I’m almost 70, and don’t want to rehearse any more than needed, but still enjoy the occasional gig. The bands can range from prog, to pop, to corporate/wedding.  
 

My rig is a setup I feel covers everything I need, and is fast and easy to program, often on the fly. Two Nord Stage 3’s. An 88 on the bottom, and a 73 on top. With a custom pedalboard with 4 Yamaha FC 7 controller pedals and a Yamaha MG-06 mixer.

I've given some thought to this--I have the compact and have no problems playing anything on it, but I like the light weighted action of the 88.   It's less than exciting to get basically the same thing again, but there's also some big advantages--redundancy of patches, easier patch leveling, taking one board to practices or light gigs and having the same sounds etc.   The lack of detailed layering on the samples in the NS3 doesn't bother me at all for live use, and as I said I'm really impressed with the A1 lead engine.  There's been no sound I needed that I couldn't get. 

I'm not digging my FC7 all that much--I stand to play and it's hard to control with the long throw.  I just got a Moog with a much shorter throw so we'll see how I fare with that    I've never used a controller pedal until this week though, so part of it is just the alien feel of using it!

[ProfD]

This thread is indicative that most gigging musicians either do not need a dedicated synth in their live rig or synth sounds can be covered with a ROMpler/workstation or a digital piano.😎

[Noah DC]

Yamaha Reface CS sits on top of my Mojo 61, usually run through a pedalboard with its own road case. I see a lot of folks using those for gigging. I usually keep my Behringer Model D at home, but in a pinch, I could play it through my Numa X 73, which also adds reverb and delay. 

[TJ Cornish]

6 hours ago, ProfD said:

This thread is indicative that most gigging musicians either do not need a dedicated synth in their live rig or synth sounds can be covered with a ROMpler/workstation or a digital piano.😎

99% of gigs’ sound quality is dominated by 1. musicianship of the band, 2. venue acoustics and/or stage volume, 3. competence of the sound person, if present, 4. quality of loudspeakers and mics, and about 7 more things before we get down to the differences between a virtual analog synth in a ROMpler/workstation and a “real” synth.

 

I just listened back to my church’s Easter mix on YouTube and somehow my keys got squashed in a new and creative way - not sure if it was on the board/in the house, or part of the ‘Tube’s mangling algorithms. A different synth wouldn’t have helped.

[Synthaholic]

Is the VAST synth within a PC4 considered a real synth? If not, why not?

[Stokely]

More than most I'd say.  I don't know that there's much it couldn't do, though I don't really get into the mod matrixes and routing capabilities of various synths (my live sounds aren't that complex).    I don't particularly like using vast but that's more my lack of patience.   Not analog would be the only possible reason to keep it out of the club, but then that rules out a ton of others too   

[J.F.N.]

13 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

Is the VAST synth within a PC4 considered a real synth? If not, why not?

 

Not my point (i have a PC3), I was just curious about which ones, in the never ending plethora of "synth synths" on the market, that are actually used, by all you guys and gals here, in reality.

[ProfD]

28 minutes ago, J.F.N. said:

...the never ending plethora of "synth synths" on the market, that are actually used...

Most of the analog synth resurgence has been fueled by nostalgia and deep pockets. 

 

IMO, analog synths are no longer the music-making tools they were back in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Nowadays, musicians of a certain generation can afford to indulge in synths they could only dream about back in the 1980s.🤣

 

The younger generation of musicians have been tricked into believing there was something magical about old analog synths. 

 

That led to folks spending exorbitant prices for a Roland Juno 106. 🤑

 

Manufacturers have been able to cash in with synth reissues and *new* subtractive synths. 

 

The smoke will clear and dust will settle soon.😁😎

 

 

[yannis D]

8 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Most of the analog synth resurgence has been fueled by nostalgia and deep pockets. 

 

IMO, analog synths are no longer the music-making tools they were back in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Nowadays, musicians of a certain generation can afford to indulge in synths they could only dream about back in the 1980s.🤣

 

The younger generation of musicians have been tricked into believing there was something magical about old analog synths. 

 

That led to folks spending exorbitant prices for a Roland Juno 106. 🤑

 

Manufacturers have been able to cash in with synth reissues and *new* subtractive synths. 

 

The smoke will clear and dust will settle soon.😁😎

 

 

Your first phrase was the bottom line for this whole topic!

Thanx

[cphollis]

I'm mostly a piano/organ player, but when synth parts are called for, the synth section of the NS4 is derived from the Nord Wave 2, which itself a synth more capable than I.

 

Put differently, I couldn't see myself dragging around a dedicated synth unless the music *really* called for it, which is unlikely.

[J.F.N.]

41 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Most of the analog synth resurgence has been fueled by nostalgia and deep pockets. 

 

IMO, analog synths are no longer the music-making tools they were back in the 1970s and 1980s.

 

Nowadays, musicians of a certain generation can afford to indulge in synths they could only dream about back in the 1980s.🤣

 

The younger generation of musicians have been tricked into believing there was something magical about old analog synths. 

 

That led to folks spending exorbitant prices for a Roland Juno 106. 🤑

 

Manufacturers have been able to cash in with synth reissues and *new* subtractive synths. 

 

The smoke will clear and dust will settle soon.😁😎

 

 

 

The Juno 106 hype is fueled by an ideal created by people who actually never have used it, or any other machine from that era and earlier, as they're too young, and not wealthy enough... 🤣 

 

Having owned no less than 3 Juno 60's, in different periods (gear changed with projects) back in the days when you could pick one up for about 200€, and every now and then been punished coming into projects where a 106 was already on the specs (re-creation of recorded material), I definitely never got anywhere close to friends with the 106, imho, a nasty stiff sounding machine, no "soul".

[allan_evett]

On 3/29/2024 at 3:06 PM, ABECK said:

Just curious (cause I see a lot of players on youtube with Nord Stage keyboards that are primarily being used as controllers for Mainstage) - Are you leaning towards digging  into Mainstage again because there are shortcomings with the Nord Stage?  I often wonder if people are leaving a lot of horsepower and functionality on the table when they incorporate virtual instruments into rigs with already robust hardware.  (I realize I may have opened a can of worms here.)

 

 

From a live rig standpoint, the Stage 4 has worked out fine. If an extended variety of synth sound options became gig-necessary, I'd likely take out a second keyboard.  

 

I've been taking the MacBook Pro to my teaching space, as it's been a useful tool to have with an increasing number of students. And at least one of them has expressed interest in learning more about MainStage. I use Logic Pro often there, so it makes sense to expand my working knowledge to include MainStage. Slow going so far though. Sometimes I wish there was a software program with skeumorphic design / routings that emulates my old rack module setup - including the Digital Music MX-8, which was an awesome programmable MIDI matrix module.  Have been considering a deeper search for something like that, now that last week's church-accompanying gig palooza is done..

[J.F.N.]

9 minutes ago, allan_evett said:

From a live rig standpoint, the Stage 4 has worked out fine. If an extended variety of synth sound options became gig-necessary, I'd likely take out a second keyboard.  

 

I've been taking the MacBook Pro to my teaching space, as it's been a useful tool to have with an increasing number of students. And at least one of them has expressed interest in learning more about MainStage. I use Logic Pro often there, so it makes sense to expand my working knowledge to include MainStage. Slow going so far though. Sometimes I wish there was a software program with skeumorphic design / routings that emulates my old rack module setup - including the Digital Music MX-8, which was an awesome programmable MIDI matrix module.  Have been considering a deeper search for something like that, now that last week's church-accompanying gig palooza is done..

 

This may be what you're looking for, amazing midi router and processor software:

 

https://audeonic.com/midifire/

[Stokely]

I keep sonic "shortcomings" in perspective for live rock bands.   I know people still rocking old stuff like Tritons, they sound fine.  I'm sure in a nice studio environment my computer plugins would sound 100 times better, but out front at a rock show?  Don't think so.  Same goes for analog vs VA or sample based.  Nobody will notice or care.  I think whatever you are using, just work to get the patches leveled and sitting right with the band, rather than chasing a marginal improvement in sound...just the way I look at it...

[Noah DC]

Larry Goldings uses the Reface constantly on his social media posts. Worth a look - this one has him taping it to the left panel of his YC88 stage piano.

 

Larry Goldings - YC88 and Reface CS

[Stefan011]

I use analog Dreadbox Typhon for live synth basses, leads and bleeps. Yamaha CP does not do monophonyic sounds so its not just a cool box but useful instrument. And intuitive interface and tweakability of analog module is so much more fun than programming the synth sound on workstation like Kurzweil. 

[Synthaholic]

On 4/2/2024 at 1:22 PM, J.F.N. said:

Having owned no less than 3 Juno 60's, in different periods

The first road band I was in, in 1980, the other keyboardist had a Juno 6. No memory slots. It sounded great. The only difference in sound generation is that the Juno 6 used pots to change parameters, while the Juno 60 had MIDI, and used 128 step digital parameters. So many great synths I wish I could get back.

[AnotherScott]

On 4/2/2024 at 1:24 PM, allan_evett said:

it makes sense to expand my working knowledge to include MainStage. Slow going so far though. Sometimes I wish there was a software program with skeumorphic design / routings that emulates my old rack module setup - including the Digital Music MX-8, which was an awesome programmable MIDI matrix module.  Have been considering a deeper search for something like that, now that last week's church-accompanying gig palooza is done..

 

If you're looking for a Mainstage-like sound management environment that emulates physical component connection (as opposed to the DAW-style channel-strip approach), I think you've just described Gig Performer.

[tucktronix]

My synth setup for my dance during the last 3 years included a Moog Subsequent 37 as my 3rd board. Just recently I have slimmed down to a 2-board setup with a Yamaha YC88 and Kronos X to cover synths. I have also been incorporating the Hydrasynth as part of my setup for the Billy Joel tribute band.

[Ibarch]

1 hour ago, tucktronix said:

My synth setup for my dance during the last 3 years included a Moog Subsequent 37 as my 3rd board. Just recently I have slimmed down to a 2-board setup with a Yamaha YC88 and Kronos X to cover synths. I have also been incorporating the Hydrasynth as part of my setup for the Billy Joel tribute band.

I've been looking at the Hydrasynth explorer as a synth to play whilst sat on the couch. Something different to explore from my Roland Fantom. 

 

Do you think I need to be cautious? Is it likely I'll be making sounds on the Hydrasynth that the Fantom can't do - so much so I'll end up needing to bring it along to gigs? 

 

[BEMcCut]

I am currently playing 70's, 80's, 90's classic rock with some country added.  My rig is an MODX7 and a VR-09. The MODX is the workhorse in the set up. Lots of splits, layers and scenes. The VR-09 covers organ and things I don't have room for on the Yamaha. This setup coves all the bases for the Styx, Bon Jovi, Cars, etc they we do. Nice and light weight and quick and easy setup.

[Stokely]

The Modx is indeed pretty capable for such sounds, but until I got the Analog Xperience library and also started programming sounds from elements on up I didn't think so...the stock patches are almost all pretty awful for classic synth sounds IMO.   Other than pads, the FM ones in particular are amazing.