Mobility on stage - my rolling keyboard rig

[eric]

Someone was recently discussing the guitar-strap keyboards...here's an interesting "mobile" rig that I used for about 10 years and still take it out from time to time.

 

One lost night at a frat gig in the late eighties, I decided that I wanted to be in more than just one place on stage. I was never really into the guitar-strap keyboards, so I came up with version 1 of my mobile rig. This consisted of a Roland JX8P duct taped onto an Anvil guitar amp case with wheels, and a long artery of power, audio and MIDI cables trailing behind. It was stable enough to hold the keyboard, but a little top heavy. If it got rolling good, it would have the propensity to flip and this created some interesting drama.

 

I used this for awhile, but then I designed version 2 which was an XB2 on an Invisible stand, u-bolted onto some 2X4s with wheels.

 

From there I went to version 3 which was a custom built L-angle wrought iron beast which was tough as nails but very heavy. Version 4 was the final and best version of the rolling keyboard rig.

 

Version 4 consisted of the same XB2 on a QuikLok double-braced X stand, u-bolted to a heavy-duty furniture pallet with 4" wheels. I put some

sandpaper grip tape on the pallet so I could jump on and roll without slipping off. I built a shelf on the pallet which held my volume pedal

and Leslie fast/slow footswitch. I made some cables that were about 40'long and tied them all together so I could ride the stand all over the

stage on the gig.

 

The XB2 was velcroed to a board that was hinged on the X stand so not only could I roll, but I could also tilt the keyboard up to a 90 degree (or greater--close to 180 was possible) angle and play it sideways. Sometimes I would roll right up to the front of the stage during a solo. Our singer would grab the end of the keyboard and pivot it up in the air and I would lean into the audience to play while the crowd tried to play the keys.

 

It was a lot of fun and I still use it from time to time. It was a simple rig to use live as it was just the XB2 going through a CLS222 and a Roland JV880 sitting offstage for piano, strings, clav and EP sounds. The fact that the stand was mobile made it very simple to get it out of the way for opening bands etc. And during the gig, I was never bored since I could start out on stage left and in 2 seconds I could be clear over on stage right etc. The only trouble was that the 40' artery got in the way sometimes. Our monitor tech would come reel me in to help get the cord out of the way.

 

This might sound strange but it was really fun and different. Keep in mind that at the time, I was playing in a crazy original ska band and it

was silly high energy all night. I would not try to pull this off in a more mellow setting. I had a couple of accidents from speeding up and

down and all over, including a complete topple down a short set of concrete steps. Other than some scratches on the keyboard and a bent

patch cord, I grabbed it and kept on playing.

 

I have some photos of the different rigs and also some live shots of the tilting/rolling keyboard action. If I can track them down, I'll post them here.

 

Anyone else have any similar mobile rig stories?

 

Regards,

Eric

[Rick K.]

I'd love to see the pics of that! My problem is that there are 4 other people on stage with me and lots of cords in between. I'm eventually gonna go strap on with wireless MIDI (Come on M-audio--release the MidAir already!!), but that's another $1000 down the road!

 

Rick

[eric]

Rick,

 

Here are a couple of photos. These were some old non-digital photos taken in the mid 1990's, so the quality is not that great.

 

Here's one of my custom-made L-iron stand with wheels:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/e888000008/e_1994.jpg

 

Here's a collage of the hinged, rolling x-stand with some crazy crowd involvement:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/e888000008/e_1995.jpg

 

Regards,

Eric

[Dave Pierce]

Wow, those crowd involvement scenes look crazily fun. I gotta try that someday. Thanks for sharing....

 

--Dave

[Botch.]

I'm with Rick, you're exceedingly lucky just to have enough stage room to move about; I feel lucky just to be able to set up all three 'boards!

 

Keyboard mag had a blurb about a year ago of a guy who had his keyboard mounted to a vertical post, with two footrests on each side of the post, then the whole thing was mounted on a heavy truck spring!! Keyboard and keyboardist would go boinging back & forth, side to side, I'd love to have something like that!

[Rick K.]

Way cool pics! Man, you look like you're having fun! That's what this whole thing is about!! You rock!!!

 

Rick

[Superbobus]

D---U---D---E !!!

You're kicking butt out there! How does this work with cables and stuff?

[eric]

It's hard to see in the photos, but if you look in the first one, you can see the start of my 40' artery. I custom-made a snake, if you will, with about 40' of power, audio and MIDI cables that hooked into the mobile rig just perfectly. Through some careful routing and use of velcro, I was able to get all the cables where they needed to be to enable the "tilt" you see above. You can see the cables carefully tucked in around the XB2.

 

Rolling around with the artery off to the side took some acclimation. Sometimes I would get stuck or pull it taut (like a dog pulling a leash). We had a monitor tech that would often assist me by "reeling in" the slack when I tried to journey back to my side of the stage.

 

Often, I would plant myself in one place for awhile and save the "skateboarding" for special times in the show. Even on small stages, the rolling/tilting rig could provide some drama. Just rolling it slightly to face the crowd from a different angle kept it fresh all night.

 

I really wanted to make it wireless. The audio would have been easy. MIDI a bit trickier and more expensive. And powering the XB2...the only thing I could think of was strapping a car battery to the stand and that would have been a real headache. Plus, I had a balanced cable in the artery for switching Leslie speed from my footswitch. Too many things to go wireless.

 

Thanks for the props. I think I will drag that puppy out for some gigs soon.

 

Regards,

Eric

[alan scobie]

Love it!

 

I saw akeyboard player in a band over here called "the ocean"....his keyboard stand was basically two flat sheets of steel seperated and joined by......a car suspension spring

The keyboard was bolted to the top sheet.

 

Onstage he could bend the keyboard to the floor, left and right and front to back while playing and it would right itself when he let go!

 

Put that lot on wheels and then you could rally smoke

 

Alan.

[eric]

Bump...I was looking through some old posts and thought someone might enjoy this one. I still have the parts to this keyboard stand and plan to take it out again. I guess I'll plant my Nord Electro on the rolling stand.

 

Regards,

Eric

[BP3]

Originally posted by eric:

 

Here are a couple of photos. These were some old non-digital photos taken in the mid 1990's, so the quality is not that great.

 

Nah, the analog photos rule!!

[bloodyMary]

I've seen videos of Marilyn Manson (I know, I know, it's a shame), where his keyboard player had a long spring as a stand. He cold move the board in every possible direction, which is totally cool. I think Slipknot (also a metal act) do the same thing.

[niacin]

A piano player I used to know had a gig in the local shopping mall where he had a sawn-off tricycle attached to a low upright piano and rode around the mall playing it!

[Ravi Ivan Sharma]

In one band I put my uQk on one of those rolling quicklock stands with the 5 wheels on the bottom that are meant to hold small mixers and the like. I would roll forward for solos etc. I also tilted it forward so people could see what I was doing (or not doing . . .)

http://www.noision.com/pub/PfArlenes.jpg

[ITGITC]

ERIC YOU ARE A WILD MAN!!!

 

If we end up having a jam on the East Coast and you are not there, I'm going to kill you!

 

Ummmm, I don't mean that literally. Let me rephrase: If we end up having a jam on the East Coast, I will be terribly disappointed if you do not grace us with your presence... you WILD MAN!!!

 

Thanks for the action-shots!

 

Tom

[Byrdman]

Originally posted by Botch:

I'm with Rick, you're exceedingly lucky just to have enough stage room to move about; I feel lucky just to be able to set up all three 'boards!

 

Keyboard mag had a blurb about a year ago of a guy who had his keyboard mounted to a vertical post, with two footrests on each side of the post, then the whole thing was mounted on a heavy truck spring!! Keyboard and keyboardist would go boinging back & forth, side to side, I'd love to have something like that!

Err - how do you clean vomit out of a keybed?

 

I have enough trouble playing sober and in one place!

 

[mate stubb]

Doesn't Derek Sherinian's live rig for Billy Idol roll around? This is one of the coolest live rigs I've ever seen:

 

http://www.dereksherinian.com/images/gallery/billyidol/derekbillyTO06.jpg

[ELP71]

Derek's rig is cool. The only thing that would bug me is the difficulty I would have changing patches and applying pitch bend/mod stuff.

[analogman1]

How would you build something like Dereck's stand? It looks pretty comfortable once you get used to it. One problem I always have is getting the keyboards to the right (i.e. "comfortable") playing height. The concept of tilting the keyboards forward seems to take all of the pressure off of your wrists.

Hmm..gotta figure that one out...any ideas??

[JeffLearman]

Looks like it would help avoid carpal tunnel!

[Sven Golly]

Originally posted by analogman1:

How would you build something like Dereck's stand? It looks pretty comfortable once you get used to it. One problem I always have is getting the keyboards to the right (i.e. "comfortable") playing height. The concept of tilting the keyboards forward seems to take all of the pressure off of your wrists.

Hmm..gotta figure that one out...any ideas??

Find yourself a couple of cheap USS A-frame stands on eBay, grab the hacksaw, and Bob's Yer Uncle!

 

Okay, seriously, though... it *is* made from USS tubular (A-frame type) parts. Here\'s a link to a picture from Derek\'s perspective , to give you a better idea (I don't want to link directly to it, as most people dislike unapproved linking, as it leeches bandwidth from their sites... if you're really interested in this, you can click on the link. )

 

Cheers,

SG

[daBowsa]

Originally posted by Ravi Ivan Sharma:

In one band I put my uQk on one of those rolling quicklock stands with the 5 wheels on the bottom that are meant to hold small mixers and the like. I would roll forward for solos etc. I also tilted it forward so people could see what I was doing (or not doing . . .)

Sorry to bring this up, but Ravi the picture you posted is quite disturbing to me. This week marks the 2 year anniversary of The Station Nightclub fire - 100 people died because Great White used too much fire in too small a club.

The Station Fire