this is kind of a general question....how many of you out there in stick world use software for effects ( melody and bass side) ,drum software (i use toontrack, and addictive drums)for a live setting...i want to just carry my stick , computer , interface, and pa system to do a one man show... what are your feelings

I do! A Macbook 2.2 GHz from 2007 with an RME Fireface400 audio interface. But no drum software (don't want my laptop to sound like a lousy drummer I only run stuff like EQ, compression, delay, reverb and some harmonizer stuff ("eventide-ish" sound idiom). Oh, and distortion of course... and for monophonic bass playing a plugin that converts audio into a synth sine way (Oomingmac by Expert Sleepers, sounds like huge bass distortion but without the buzz and hum).

Kool.

I'm really hoping to get around to a set up like this later in the year.

Are there any issues with noise from the laptop, or a disintegration of ones clean signal path, after buying my yummy new SP2?

alright, so having been a computer looper and soft fx/synths for a few years maybe this will help. But I do have to say that through the years I do prefer foot pedal loopers, even if the computres have much more advanced freatures. The main reason I prefer foot loopers is that it feels more natual and I dont frack up the timimg on my loops as much. I also have not had good luck with the berringer floor unit .Sorry if any of this is redundant...

1st things first: the ultimate terror of computer malfunction can reaisily ruin a gig , troubleshooting computer issues at a paid gig makes me insane and sweating with anxienty.especially if your whole act relies on it. Then the soundman is tripping and likely it goes downhill from there.

I have seen many " professional dj/computer musicians really frack up live sets(technically speaking), and like on vinyl the tranewreck is a killer. Its kinda funny cause the crowd usually doesn't notice too much(massive quantitys of drugs and liquor may have played a prominent role]o, oh well at least they are raving hard and having "fun" I suppose,but the seasoned musicians cringe and can only help feeling bad for the guy on stage.

About running multible programs at once: I have great results with good ole reason and abynth and sometmes logic as the master. SO far I have tried to max it out and crash it. I basicaly try to run abelton live with lot of samples and fx with multi loops

I feel stick synth has quite alot going for it.
Inspite of some of these semi-minor issues, I do use my mactop for all my shows and as long as the ram is maxed out and you got mad space available you "theoretically" should be ok.
I'd say I mainly use my mac for live glitchy beats and then twist them knobs, get a sick loop going and then go to town on stick. I am a huge native instruments fan, if you like very tweakable,bizaree IDMish type stuf.
"battey" by NI shreds the competitian in may ways, full controll over each individual drum hit and an extreme ADSR(amazing for mico tones), filers and tons
of crazy tweakable options

WOw, gettting a bit out of control this post hehe. Frogive my fragmented mind.
About the internal computer noise: strange issue. I get a quiet buzz when I touch my track pad sometimes, and a mild shock. Always nice to get shocked at a show or even jamming. Also, some usb ports seem wonky and susecptable to clickty type sounds. On the bright side, my overall labtop/stick shows end up sounding pretty close to my vision. As long as the sound is dec

Virtual drum machines, not the retro ones, seem to take alot of cpu so watch out for that, and some mad synths with like 12 oscillators might eat all the cpu.

AND FIANLLY: all my *unscientific* research has proven to me that abelton live is the best for everything you could want for a all in one program. I cant think of anything I want to do that ableton isnt cabable of. Loops, FX, recording, drum machines, and ultra tweakablility of so many paramenter. MIDI synch works great with multiple labbys and synths. *abelton has a free demo.

Maybe I just rambled on there!?

Gnat, feel free to email me if you wannt chat or bounce ideas around.[url]tragnast@gmail.com[/url]

i feel the same way like oceans does..... i like foot pedal loopers.....as far as the drum software it's extremely real sounding.. especially in the ez drummer and addictive drum settings....

software i use for my melody side and bass side.... a combo of Guitar rig, and pod farm... i use a digitech jam man.... as far as noise from a computer... the interface becomes your sound card.. it clears up computer noises.... it's great way to play live

anyone feel feel to email me... Proggnat@sbcglobal.net

I use a combination of S/W and H/W with my system. Years of experience has taught me to keep backups readily handy. Right now I'm using an MSI GT725-074 Laptop which I downgraded from Vista to Win XP Pro. Did a lot of optimization to get the most out of it and it has been very stable. Not only have I used it to process Stick - I've also mixed a complete band through it using Software Audio Console. Interface is an M-Audio ProFire 2626.

Software varies...I use Kore 2 and Guitar rig mostly with bits and pieces from the Native Instruments Komplete series from the past couple of years. I'll use different VSTi's depending on what I want to do - some by Arturia, Atmosphere and Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics and quite a few others. Recently I picked up SynthEdit Full and will be making some more purpose-specific plugins.

Recently I started using Reaper as the host. This handles MIDI very well as well as allowing me to record the performance at the same time as I run it 'live'. So far it's been working pretty well. I did a live webcast this past NYE and used this setup. Here's a link to the recording.: http://www.electro-music.com/forum/down ... p?id=25006 There is some Stick at about 12 minutes and again around 20 minutes (it's a 30 minute set).

(I start wandering a bit in the middle...hey - it was my first webcast )

I integrate my hardware through the aux sends - RC-50 looper and an Electro Harmonix POG 2. Foot controller is a Yamaha MFC-10. At home I plug the Stick into the instrument inputs on the ProFire...live I'll use an SP-13 as the front end. If the computer were to fail I could always bypass it. I do bring a Behringer Virtualizer Pro so that the bypassed signal won't be too dry.

With regards to noise and laptops....a lot of times this is caused by ground loops or just plain poorly designed laptop power supplies. Getting a bad buzz? Try running it first on battery only and see if the buzz goes away. If it does, then if your power supply has a ground plug - try 'lifting' it by using a 3-to-2 prong adapter (technically these take the ground pin on the cable and route it to a tab on the adapter that is supposed to be screwed to the outlet - for testing don't do this) If this works - you know where the problem is. A word of caution - it is NOT recommended that you run your system with a ground lift as a potential for electric shock could exist.

Wow, didn't mean to ramble this much....

dave

In my home studio, I run my Stick (Rosewood 12 String Grand with Stickup) through a Radial DI, into a USB/ASIO audio inteface and into Propellerhead's Record/Reason combo.

The effects are great. It also runs almost all of the Line 6 Amp models natively though I really never use them. The main reason I go to this software is that Record has a completely brilliant model of an SSL 9000k board. The EQ section alone is worth the price of the software. Plus you can run all the soft drum machines, samplers, synths, Rex Loops, etc. you could ever want.

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/record/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=mix

Have run the same software on a basic business class laptop and it ran great. Just need an audio interface with good drivers. Low CPU overhead.

Peace
Karma

This has all been a really interesting read, thanks guys. I travel a bit on ships so my mbox mini, protools and MacBook with the alto stick is my Rock solid mobile rig for practicing

I want to refresh this topic. Is there anyone here using Logic's MainStage 2 for plaing Stick? Is is stable? how about the quality of effects and amps? Any opinion and sugestions? I sold my hardware and want to switch completly to software and IEM system on stage.

Greetings,

Wojtek