What synths do you use in your live rig?

[allan_evett]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:52 AM, AnotherScott said:

 

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.

I've been studying Gig Performer, plus a couple of other options.  There used to be a program that actually had vertical 'equipment' racks in its skeumorphic design (very different from horizontal tracks or a vertical mix grid), but it seems to be long gone.  I recall checking that one out circa 2010, when I was using a MacBook with a Roland A800 - 2nd tier over a digital piano. At that time I was simply using a Logic Project template, then selecting sounds from different tracks. Simple, but it worked at the time. 

 

Logic Pro I get, but MainStage is quite different. The core sounds and construction items appear to come from the same place, but the assembling process leaves a lot to be desired - at least to my learning style.  Apple's manual looks to be a good reference guide, but for beginning assembly instructions? Nope.  I'd searched for logical, step-by-step instructions - i.e., 'These are the components, here's the organizational hierarchy, then here's how you assemble a Concert'.  A top-down or bottom-up outline would be awesome to find, in print or well-presented video.  

 

Slightly veering from the original thread, but how have the rest of you learned to assimilate MainStage? Or should I bite the proverbial bullet and pay the $$$ for GP?

[AnotherScott]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:02 PM, 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.😎

 

Yes, this (admittedly unscientific) sample seems to indicate that giggers may not often need dedicated boards, but I think it's also notable that there were about a half dozen mentions of Nord Stage which, with its dedicated engine and all its knobbage, is in a way bringing a dedicated synth board without bringing a dedicated synth board. Another commonly mentioned board, Kronos, is kind of in the same category. While it doesn't have the dedicated knobbage per se, you do get on-screen versions of dedicated knobbage with some of the engines (e.g. polysix), coming close to simulating the experience of operating the real thing. (Though how many of the Nord Stage and Kronos responders actually use much of those boards' VA sonic/operational functionality is unclear.)

 

On 4/2/2024 at 1:36 PM, Stokely said:

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'm also generally not particularly fussy about the subtleties of the sounds. But lots of easy access to controls can still be very helpful in pre-gig sound creation/editing (as well as in-performance tweaking, though I don't do much of that, myself). I have found even the minimal dedicated filter and envelope controls of the sample-based CK61 nicely convenient and enticing. To the extent I've considered doing more synth stuff live (which is largely based on the repertoire/genre of the particular project), it's the controls that appeal to me as much or even more than the sounds. So while this doesn't directly answer the OPs question, since I have rarely if ever gigged with these, these are some of my main current choices for what I would gig with if I did need to do synthier stuff:

 

I like the Roland SE-02 and JX-08 for their sounds, knobbage, and small size (minimal schleppage, easy to find space for on many boards)... SE-02 for its moogish heritage, JX-08 for a nice sounding box with polyphony and easier to manipulate controls. In dedicated boards, I like the Nord Lead 3 because all of its controls are all always in the right place when you call up a preset (e.g. every knob is an endless encoder with an LED ring). I used to sometimes gig with a Nord Wave, which also has the nice feature of being able to play your own samples. Both Nords have their pitch stick which remains one of my favorite benders. I have a Hydrasynth Explorer I've been meaning to play around with, which I guess would kind of take the place of the MicroKorg I actually used a number of times with a band that has rarely played in recent years. King Korg has a really nice sound and vibe, though editing was more cumbersome than it should have been, and I really prefer that a dedicated synth have aftertouch (and even though I'm less fussy about actions when it comes to synth compared to some other sounds, the KK still lags other full size boards in that respect). One I never bought but tempted me was Studiologic Sledge, which has instant Minimoog-like operational familiarity and sample loading but was just too darn deep! A dedicated synth would almost end up being at the top of a 3-board stack, and that control panel would just get too far away, at least for the ways I like to set up. That's another nice thing about the Nords, the control surfaces are compact, the boards are shallow.

 

And probably unsurprisingly to anyone who has ever seen any decent number of my posts, everything I mentioned here is lightweight!

 

On 3/29/2024 at 4:06 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. 

 

While Nord Stage has more synth functionality than your average multi-purpose board, it still isn't quite a powerhouse there, so that could be one reason... but to me, I think a good synergy here can come from the other direction. If your goal in the first place is to take advantage of the capabilities of softsynths (as opposed to "falling back" on them because you can't get quite everything you want from your hardware), what are the best controllers for soft synths? Rather than a controller filled with a series of generic undifferentiated knobs/sliders/buttons, I think it's nice to be able to use a board which has controls that are already logically laid out, grouped and labeled in ways that make sense for their functions. IOW, I think operating a soft synth from a Nord synth control surface will feel more like "playing a synth" than operating the same soft synth from a generic Roland A800 or whatever.

[allan_evett]

On 4/2/2024 at 12:34 PM, J.F.N. said:

 

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

 

https://audeonic.com/midifire/

Thanks, J.F.N. !  I missed your response, initially. But will definitely be checking out MidiFire too. 

[J.F.N.]

6 minutes ago, allan_evett said:

Thanks, J.F.N. !  I missed your response, initially. But will definitely be checking out MidiFire too. 

 

I have used it back and forth when needed, on iPad, super convenient app!

[kpl1228]

On 3/28/2024 at 7:15 AM, Stokely said:

We are slooooooowwwwwwly adding more 80s synth stuff--our typical audiences that used to be "grew up in the 70s" have now shifted.   The few we do, like Don't You Forget About Me, get a fantastic reaction.

In the 12 years since my gigging revival, I've done synths (70s/80s exclusively, nothing more modern needed) on these.  There are a few clonewheels I'm not including even though in a pinch they could do some synth sounds. In order, and with notes:

Motif - eh...was ok.
Virus b - kicked all kinds of butt.  I should not have sold it.

Kurzweil pc361 - i'm not great with Vast, the sounds are good but it was tedious programming.

Modx - better than the Motif, partly because the FM but also just sounded better IMO.  I got a library named "Analog Xperience" that was nice.

Kurzweil Forte - see above...this one is now a controller in my home office, not sure what I'm going to do with it.  It seems to be over the booting problem it had, still has a pitch wheel issue so I disabled it (my pc361 does as well).   I would trust it at a gig at this point if it wasn't my only board so it's possible that it could start coming out with me again.  I love the form factor and action, don't like programming it.
Novation Summit - yeah, kicks butt.  I've heard it described as a "hi-fi Virus" and that seems accurate.
Nord Stage 3 - this is currently my only keyboard at almost every gig.  I find the A1 Lead engine excellent.  It is the fastest synth I've owned as far as me dialing up sounds, the basic bread and butter ones I use anyway.  I generally don't need a complex mod matrix etc.  Last night in fact I made a patch for Time after Time and a couple other synth-heavy tunes...done in minutes.  

I like having a single keyboard and my intention is to add guitar to my "arsenal" so having just one keyboard would keep the gear amount down if I do.  Otherwise I'd bring the Summit or my Sk pro out--but as it is, the Nord covers the same ground (albeit maybe not quite as good in the areas where those specialize) and I don't feel like I'm missing much.  The only real compromise to me is having to play everything on one keyboard, but patch remain/song mode with footswitch/splits etc on the Stage make it pretty easy to have multiple things going.   I don't even mind playing piano on the compact action, which really surprised me!  If we got much more synth-heavy I'd definitely bring the Summit out.  I'm probably going to sell the Sk Pro, even though I really like it...

 

I think you should add a 61-key true analog polysynth. The Virus could have covered much of it but if you're adding 80's synth stuff a Rev2 or similar makes a lot of sense. Though you can pull off those sounds with a Modx or your former Motif (I have a Motif also) it's just not the same.

I cut my teeth in the 80's and therefore I lust hard for the new Oberheim (nope.......$$$$$$.....maybe in a few years used if it drops in price) the Rev2 is just a solid poly. I'm sure that's my next go-to as a result.

[ProfD]

15 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

I think it's also noticeable that there were about a half dozen mentions of Nord Stage...

 

Another commonly mentioned board, Kronos, is kind of in the same category.

By default, these KBs contain sounds and features most gigging musos hardly use to the fullest extent.  Especially not on a gig. 

 

Very few musos will be diving into any of the 9 engines within the Kronos to *play* a sound in real-time. 

 

H8ll, the Nord Stage is more tactile in terms of knobbage but again, not too many musos are playing music that requires real-time sound design/tweaking. 

 

It's similar to KB workstations in that regard.  KB workstations have a lot more under the hood than most musos use.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't too many KBs that can be bought with sounds, features and functionality a la carte.😁😎

[Jose EB5AGV]

1 hour ago, allan_evett said:

Slightly veering from the original thread, but how have the rest of you learned to assimilate MainStage? Or should I bite the proverbial bullet and pay the $$$ for GP?

 

It took me about 5 months to buy it after the trial expired (BTW, if you have not used it already, it is a good idea to begin your journey), but I finally bought it a couple weeks ago and it is an incredible tool. I am using a Ryzen 5 3500U laptop with Windows 10 and 16GB RAM and 1TB internal SSD and a T7 2TB external one, so by no means a beast, and it works really fine.

 

There is of course a learning curve, but the beginning is incredibly easy and the available resources on its forum are a blessing. Give it a try!

[CHarrell]

6 hours ago, Jose EB5AGV said:

(BTW, if you have not used it already, it is a good idea to begin your journey

 

Was about to comment this! No need to bite any bullets when programs like GP and VST Live offer free (time-limited 😡) trials!

[allan_evett]

16 hours ago, CHarrell said:

 

Was about to comment this! No need to bite any bullets when programs like GP and VST Live offer free (time-limited 😡) trials!

 

And yet another program to investigate... Had the lite version of Cubase running on this PC, a few years back. Wanted to see what running a DAW on Windows 10 was like, after being a Mac-oriented player since 1995 (I started with Opcode Vision.). I still have MixCraft 9 on this 2017 Acer Aspire, though my main DAW remains Logic Pro.  It's fun to play in a different 'sandbox'; keeps the brain active. Good to see that VST Live runs on Mac, though. I plan on taking my 2020 MBP out, sometime in the next year or sooner. Looking to return to some kind of MD, or assistant-MD gig. 

[Stokely]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:41 AM, kpl1228 said:

I think you should add a 61-key true analog polysynth. The Virus could have covered much of it but if you're adding 80's synth stuff a Rev2 or similar makes a lot of sense. Though you can pull off those sounds with a Modx or your former Motif (I have a Motif also) it's just not the same.

I cut my teeth in the 80's and therefore I lust hard for the new Oberheim (nope.......$$$$$$.....maybe in a few years used if it drops in price) the Rev2 is just a solid poly. I'm sure that's my next go-to as a result.

I do have a Summit, and ironically it boiled down to the Rev 2 vs the Summit, which pulled out a last-minute win when Sweetwater surprised me with $300 off the normal price.   Usually they'll knock off 100 at most.

My friend got the Rev2 about that same time, and the Summit has one surprisingly-big advantage:  a free librarian.   I quickly whipped up custom banks from the stock ones and a whole bunch of other users' banks that Novation made available, and of course my own patches once I started building them.  

I've always had a desire for a Prophet or Obie though and maybe someday I'll go for one!  My best-sounding soft synth is Repro, with Repro5 being of course the Prophet 5.  I use it constantly.

The Nord Stage 3 compact has a better synth than I expected--better poly and mono classic sounds than the Modx (though the Modx has amazing pads) and it's super easy to program.   

In short though, yeah the Summit may well be making an appearance.  I'm not going to sell it, I really like it.  I'm torn between staying at one keyboard (which certainly works with a bit of patch dancing), adding my weighted board under the NS3c since I do play a fair bit of piano, or going with the Summit.  My setup is incredibly easy to load, setup and get running with one keyboard as can be imagined and I'm getting mighty used to it!  (I am going to bring the Modx as emergency in the car if I keep doing these single-board gigs).   One little "show factor" is that I sing some lead, and it kinda looks better being up front with a minimal rig while singing, vs being behind a bit of a wall...

I am missing a vocoder, as fluff as that sounds.     We'll see what happens, we had to simplify our sets for now with a new drummer.   Bandleader has said more 80s, and depending what those songs are will help determine what I do.

[Canoehead]

The Nord Stage 3 and Kronos provide all the synth power that I need.  However, there are times I take the Prophet 6 and Voyager, if space allows, because I want to darn it! 😀  
 

This is for my previous band playing 80s rock and an upcoming project focusing on Canadian rock.

[AnotherScott]

On 4/11/2024 at 2:07 PM, Stokely said:

The Nord Stage 3 compact has a better synth than I expected--better poly and mono classic sounds than the Modx (though the Modx has amazing pads) 

 

Yes, having an actual VA engine (as opposed to using samples for recreation of analog synth sounds) can really make a difference. And I think Nord's VA capabilities come into play even when you choose a sampled sound as your source.