Ibarch Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 We've had a lot of threads recently about keyboard rigs and about iPad apps but there's not been a lot on which computer based instruments people are playing live. It will soon be Black Friday sale time so it will be good to see what is getting used out in the real world, away from the safety of the studio. I've recently been refreshing my sound pallate, having bought Steinberg Absolute during their last sale. I am now using The Grand 3 for pianos, Halion 7 symphonic library and studio strings for strings and orchestra , Padshop2, Omnisphere and Zenology Pro for pads Keyscape for Rhodes Korg M1 for organ and a couple of other random patches. I've been surprised at how much I like some of the samples in Halion 7. There's some real gems in there if you look. For those that don't own one of the big orchestral libraries, this is a decent alternative. The Steinway model D and Bosendorfer pianos from The Grand 3 fit beautifully into a mix and are a nice upgrade from my addictive keys pianos. Whilst I love my Omnisphere patches, they can be overwhelming when played with anything else. The other limitation is the lack of support for Sostenuto, my new best friend for pads and drones. I've found some nice pads in Padshop2 that do a similar job and am slowly swapping them over. Keyscape is still the king of anything Rhodes, can't see me letting that go ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 It really depends on the gig, but some of my go-tos: Scarbee Classic EP88 for Rhodes Scarbee A200 for Wurly (likely to be replaced by Cherry Audio Whirlybird soon) IK Multimedia Hammond B3X Arturia OBXa Arturia Mini V/Softube Model 72 (I go back & forth) Softube Model 84 (for Juno polysynths… Cherry Audio DCO106 is encroaching on it though) uhe Repro 5 Arturia Pigments for more modern/less obviously analogue things Native Instruments Guitar Rig for amp sim & effects 3 Quote My Site Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nursers Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 75% of my gigging sounds are Arturia, with a rock organ pack for my MODX and the Purgatory Creek e-pianos for my MODX rounding it out 2 Quote The Keyboard Chronicles Podcast Check out your fellow forumites in an Apple Music playlist Check out your fellow forumites in a Spotify playlist My Music: Stainless Fields Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davinwv Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 VI Labs Ravenscroft 275 (can't wait to try out Modern D in this slot) IK Multimedia Hammond B-3X NI Scarbee Mark I (I also have EP-88S, but the older one sounds better to me live) NI Scarbee A200 Keyscape Spitfire Epic Strings Spitfire Labs Synth Pads UVI Digital Synsations All hosted within Cantabile Performer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonnor Posted October 14 Share Posted October 14 Addictive Keys (layered with the Nord) for Acoustic Piano B-3X (slowly moving the hammond patches to the NS4) Halion Sonic 3 for some brass and bells Arturia Jup-8v and Diva for analog synth stuff Just added M1 vst for Banjo and an airy atmos pad. Same host as @davinwv above. ~ vonnor Quote Gear: Hardware: Nord Stage4, Korg Kronos 2, Novation Summit Software: Cantabile 3, Halion Sonic 3 and assorted VST plug-ins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headless Canoe Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 I’m currently using some Arturia Vs - OBXA, Jupiter 8, Minimoog and the VIs that come with MainStage cheers, Canoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldwin Funster Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 B3x Gsi MiniOrchestra. Quote FunMachine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Mullins Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 Mainstage w included VIs B-3x NI Komplete (mostly Kontakt) Arturia Analog Collection Covers everything I need and then some. 1 Quote Yamaha CK88, Arturia Keylab 61 MkII, Moog Sub 37, Yamaha U1 Upright, Casio CT-S500, Mac Logic/Mainstage, iPad Camelot, Spacestation V.3, QSC K10.2, JBL EON One Compact www.stickmanor.com There's a thin white line between fear and fury - Stickman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tusker Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 Very gig dependent but: Pianoteq UAD Waterfall, PolyMax and Minimoog U-He Zebra, Diva and Repro Expressive E Arche and Imagine NI Reaktor Spitfire Audio and Kontakt libraries (very rarely) Alchemy, Sampler and Sample Alchemy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeRocks Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 depends: I always have instruments loaded up from: Arturia Cherry Audio iKMulitmedia (B3-X) PianoTeq Then on occasion: Omnisphere Native Instruments Running on Macbook Pro Quote David Gig Rig:Yamaha CK88 | Roland Jupiter 80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundswellKeys Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 Gigperformer, running the following (depending on gig) Pianos - Soniccouture Hammersmith, Ni Grandeur and Maverick, various Pianoteq Clavs - Pianoteq, Soniccouture Clav EPs - Acoustic Samples VTines, VReeds, Wurly, Soniccotuure Broken Wurli Synths - Various from Korg, IK Multimedia Syntronik B3 - Acoustic Samples B5 and GSi VB3 2 - both used with Melda Productions MVintage Rotary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABECK Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 B3-X - very good live. Love the overdrive and various cabinet options. Mainstage Mellotron - very happy with this one. Seems to cover the typical Mellotron needs. Sounds great. Nice, simple interface. Moog Model D - sounds great live. Loud and cuts hard through a mix, but a dedicated hardware unit would be more intuitive for live use. I've mapped most of the parameters to controllers, but it's still not the same. On a real mini (or clone), being able to tweak on the fly quickly is key. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Barrickman Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 2 hours ago, EscapeRocks said: depends: I always have instruments loaded up from: Arturia Cherry Audio iKMulitmedia (B3-X) PianoTeq Then on occasion: Omnisphere Native Instruments Running on Macbook Pro Which instruments are you using from Pianoteq 8? I’m running it in demo mode now, trying to decide which pianos, etc to pony up the $ for, thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zephonic Posted October 15 Share Posted October 15 I only use my laptop for top-tier duties on away gigs, so it's mostly synth/brass/strings/organ/accordion/auxiliary stuff, no piano/ep/clav. I use Gig Performer and my go-to instruments are Omnisphere, Zenology, Korg Triton, Kontakt, HalionSonic and Serum. I have Halion but I like the UI of HalionSonic better, easier to use. It's surprising how some of the older Roland and Korg sounds hold up live. Maybe not the most realistic in a studio setting, but on stage they sometimes work better than the newer stuff. Quote local: Korg Nautilus 61 AT | Yamaha MODX8 away: GigPerformer | 16" MBP M1 Max home: Kawai RX-2 | Korg D1 | Roland Fantom X7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midinut Posted October 17 Share Posted October 17 Not trying to hijack this thread, I just felt it was an appropriate place to ask given the topic: I recently added an Arturia AstroLab to my rig (and am loving it). I have and use V Collection 9 and Keyscape, Omnisphere, most of the Cherry Audio plugs, the Korg Collection, and a few u-he plugs. I am running an older MacBook Pro (2015) and have been using MainStage. I am looking at Cantabile (bought it way back for my PC laptop), but also Gig Performer, and Camelot. I also have a fairly recent iPad Pro that I would rather use than a laptop. So I'll ask the collective hive what they think ... Thanks in advance! Quote Hardware: Yamaha: MODX7 | Korg: Kronos 88, Wavestate | ASM: Hydrasynth Deluxe | Roland: Jupiter-Xm, Cloud Pro, TD-9K V-Drums | Alesis: StrikePad Pro| Behringer: Crave, Poly D, XR-18, RX1602 | CPS: SpaceStation SSv2 | Controllers: ROLI RISE 49 | Arturia KeyLab Essentials 88, KeyLab 61, MiniLab | M-Audio KeyStation 88 & 49 | Akai EWI USB | Novation LaunchPad Mini, | Guitars & Such: Line 6 Variax, Helix LT, POD X3 Live, Martin Acoustic, DG Strat Copy, LP Sunburst Copy, Natural Tele Copy| Squier Precision 5-String Bass | Mandolin | Banjo | Ukulele Software: Recording: MacBook Pro | Mac Mini | Logic Pro X | Mainstage | Cubase Pro 12 | Ableton Live 11 | Monitors: M-Audio BX8 | Presonus Eris 3.5BT Monitors | Slate Digital VSX Headphones & ML-1 Mic | Behringer XR-18 & RX1602 Mixers | Beyerdynamics DT-770 & DT-240 Arturia: V-Collection 9 | Native Instruments: Komplete 1 Standard | Spectrasonics: Omnisphere 2, Keyscape, Trilian | Korg: Legacy Collection 4 | Roland: Cloud Pro | GForce: Most all of their plugins | u-he: Diva, Hive 2, Repro, Zebra Legacy | AAS: Most of their VSTs | IK Multimedia: SampleTank 4 Max, Sonik Synth, MODO Drums & Bass | Cherry Audio: Most of their VSTs | Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldwin Funster Posted October 17 Share Posted October 17 2 hours ago, midinut said: Not trying to hijack this thread, I just felt it was an appropriate place to ask given the topic: I recently added an Arturia AstroLab to my rig (and am loving it). I have and use V Collection 9 and Keyscape, Omnisphere, most of the Cherry Audio plugs, the Korg Collection, and a few u-he plugs. I am running an older MacBook Pro (2015) and have been using MainStage. I am looking at Cantabile (bought it way back for my PC laptop), but also Gig Performer, and Camelot. I also have a fairly recent iPad Pro that I would rather use than a laptop. So I'll ask the collective hive what they think ... Thanks None of the vast amount of software you list will work on an ios iPad. Although I wish those companies did offer ios versions. Quote FunMachine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibarch Posted October 17 Author Share Posted October 17 2 hours ago, midinut said: Not trying to hijack this thread, I just felt it was an appropriate place to ask given the topic: I recently added an Arturia AstroLab to my rig (and am loving it). I have and use V Collection 9 and Keyscape, Omnisphere, most of the Cherry Audio plugs, the Korg Collection, and a few u-he plugs. I am running an older MacBook Pro (2015) and have been using MainStage. I am looking at Cantabile (bought it way back for my PC laptop), but also Gig Performer, and Camelot. I also have a fairly recent iPad Pro that I would rather use than a laptop. So I'll ask the collective hive what they think ... Thanks in advance! From the list of instruments you've given, I think only some of the Korg Collection will be available for iPad. You will need to purchase alternatives for every thing else. See the current iPad thread for further advice. Most people seem very positive about their iPad experiences. A Microsoft Surface Pro could run everything. This is a hybrid laptop / tablet with a detachable keyboard. This would enable you to use a tablet format. It is a very capable device and will easily handle live gigs. It is what I use for one of my bands. It's Windows, not MacOS so no Mainstage. Pricing will be a little cheaper than MacBooks but it is on the pricier side of Windows devices. Or update to a new Macbook and carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeRocks Posted October 17 Share Posted October 17 On 10/15/2024 at 1:09 PM, David Barrickman said: Which instruments are you using from Pianoteq 8? I’m running it in demo mode now, trying to decide which pianos, etc to pony up the $ for, thanks in advance! Hey David, I'm currently on 8.2 Pro I own Steinway D Steinway B YC5 K2 UV Since upgrading to Pro, I spend a lot of time fine tuning whichever instrument I'm using. I especially like to mess around with Mic placement 1 Quote David Gig Rig:Yamaha CK88 | Roland Jupiter 80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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