fabianpbarbin wrote:I am currently trying to achieve the same thing with my keyboard rig.
I have a
Roland A70 with RD1 chip
Korg trinity and Triton
Roland JV 1080
Kurzweil 2500RS don't like sounds need to do something about this
D 50 with the programable editor with all the sliders
currently looking for a better bottom keyboard with piano etc
looking into the motif XS7 , Kurz PC 3 , or a used K2600
i like the sliders on these keyboards for control of volume with different parts for live playing.
I was looking to get a MIDI TIMEPIECE AV, i don't know which to get.
I read your responce and see that i can do all my program changes , MIDI merge and routings,
but then i see that some are suggesting using Digital Performer.
I used to own Mac computers but now i have a PC laptop. Is there another program out there where I could setup chunks and send all my program changes and possibly in the future start using virtual instruments?
I have to move kinda quick b/c the band i'm starting with is starting
their gigs in Feb.
thanks in advance
Fabian Barbin
Band Director
Keyboard Player
Fabian, it sounds like you are just trying to get control over a live rig, is that correct? Are you planning to use any MIDI files in your performance? That is, will any of your tracks be canned? Or will you be playing everything live? If you're doing everything live, it dramatically simplifies things. There are many hardware units out there which can store setups for your entire MIDI rig and send patch changes at the touch of a button. For example, you might want to consider a Roland FC300, which is a foot-pedal unit which can store setups as well as add pedal functionality, including two expression pedals.
Now, how do you connect them all together? If you need complete MIDI connectivity to each device, the MIDI Time Piece AV would be a good choice because you're going to need at least 8 Ins and Outs. If you can daisy-chain some of those units together on one MIDI cable, you might get by with fewer ports. Clockworks (the software control that comes with MOTU MIDI devices) is awkward but functional. One thing it does allow is instant repatching of your devices, if you want to change your master keyboard or patch one rack unit to a different keyboard, etc.
Now, as for software: are you going to be recording/playing MIDI? If so, DP is an excellent choice for live shows. If you are only going to be using the computer as some sort of master MIDI patch-bay, then you might get by with just the MTP-AV and Clockworks. It allows you to save up to 8 settings, but you can repatch instruments easily on the fly. To repatch a keyboard to another unit, you select a "wire", delete it, and draw a new wire to the desired instrument.
I'm probably over-simplifying things, but suffice to say that none of this is actually easy until you learn it. Getting past the learning curve is the essential part of whatever hardware and software you choose, but I don't think DP's learning curve is as steep as some other software. It is a deep application, though, with seemingly endless tricks and features that can take many years to learn fully. Most critical accusations of its deficiencies are due to lack of knowledge on the part of the critic. Not that it's perfect or even close to perfect (nor is any other DAW that I know of), but just that for most problems you can find an easy solution. I might add that a number of us in this forum have done live touring shows professionally for much of our lives, and you have access here to some very fine people with some of the best experience in the business. If you can't find the answer here, well... it must be an awfully hard question.
Shooshie