Software for live use??

[Hobo]

Hi,

 

I'm looking to run a laptop live in place of my Fantom XR. Thing is I use a lot of complicated splits / layers, all on MIDI channel 1 as thats all my controller does.

Is there any software that would allow me to have eg;

VST Bass 1st 2 octaves, a sampled piano 2nd 2 octaves, and a B4 organ at the top?

 

Then I'd need to save this as a "performance" and be able to dial up the next one for the next tune, with say bass / harpsichord / theremin.

 

Any software that makes this possible? I've seen the Receptor but I'm intrigued to see if I can do this with my current laptop.

 

Thanks in advance.....

[burningbusch]

I've used them all. If you're on a PC, the most versitle software for live use is Brainspawn's Forte. It can do what you need and a lot more, including getting around the issue of effectively using MIDI program change even when the soft synth doesn't support it. The developer is very quick to respond to issues and if you run into a bug, he will do his best to fix it in a very timely manner. BTW, this is really the same software used on the Neko.

 

Check out a demo here.

 

Busch.

[Hobo]

Wow thanks Busch, I never knew this existed, it looks so good I was laughing while reading the SOS article. And the price is very reasonable too.

 

I'm very grateful for the link.

 

Ali

[midinut]

That is some incredible looking stuff. Thanks a bunch Busch! I may have to pull out the laptop and give it a try myself. Being a Cubase user I was about to suggest Steinberg V-Stack but I haven't tried it myself nor do I know anyone who has. None of the online stores seem to carry it either. Thanks again for the heads up on Forte!

[burningbusch]

Make sure you work with the demo FULLY on your machine before making your purchase. I tried an early version and had too many problems. I went with V-Stack which is very stable but not very feature rich. I tried Forte at a later date and found it to be stable. Getting third party VSTis to all work nicely is tricky business, plus every PC is different. He is a small developer who is VERY in tune with the issues of using soft synths live.

 

Busch.

[Hobo]

Thanks again, V-stack looks interesting too. I'm off to investigate further.....

[Hobo]

Ok I had a look at V-stack, there's very little info on the website.

 

Is it simply a 16 instrument 'player', or can you have different setups for each song? Is that what you mean by "not very feature rich"?

 

Any info appreciated.

 

Ali

[Dick Ward MP Hall of Fame]

Okay, just played with the demo of course, but Forte rules. I'm very excited about getting that going live. Anyone got a really good laptop for sale cheap?