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MY LIVE RIG... PUSHING THE LIMIT?


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Here's the deal... I have a pretty good solo live rig set up...

MIDI CONVERTER -> SONIC CELL takes up the midi in on the Sonic Cell then onto the main mix while a stand alone XP30 goes straight to main mix as well.

Heres the proposed data stream as seen in the photo... a couple midi tracks from Sonar Laptop->down USB to Sonic Cell->midi out to another laptop with DMX app ->midi/dmx converter -> fixtures.

photo to clarify. This is a one man project so having a fully

synced audio/midi/dmx rig is what I'm looking at. If anyone has any suggestions, horror stories, alternate configs? Or am I over complicating things here?

To make matters worse I wanted to trigger some pre-rendered videos too :) hehehe But thats a different story maybe.

 

I'm using the Laptop with Sonar as my sequencer with my Roland Sonic Cell as an interface/synth/sub mix/router. Would some other midi gear be a better core to this spaghetti?

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Nice drawing!

 

Looks like a reasonable setup,although it looks like you need 5 hands to operate it :)

 

Couple of things to llok out for

 

1) there are a lot of parallel MIDI and audio connections so there is high potential for noise and hum. If that happens you can fix that with passive DI boxes and/or isolation transformer. You may need two boxes, one on the Roland and one on what looks like a Digitech RP100. If you sequence the keys over MIDI you may need on these inputs too. DI boxes go between the input of your mixer and the output of teh device that you plug in.

 

2) You may want to keep your laptops free of any unneccessary software and off the internet. Plain OS plus Sonar works best.

 

3) It would be nice if you could eliminate one laptop. I don't see any technical reason why Sonar couldn't sequence DMX comands as well. However, unless there is good plug in or user interface, it's probably a bear to program.

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:thu: What he said. :thu:

 

You should be able to run audio and DMX on the same laptop. Keep the laptop absolutely free of any extraneous stuff.

 

It might be a good idea to have the second laptop as a clone of the first in case of computer failure. That is what I feel is the weak link. A dead computer and the show is done.

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Thanks guys! Awesome suggestions... and in fact made me rethink the 2nd laptop as mentioned by boseengineer and jwlussow. Originally Having both progs (sequencer AND a dmx app) I was afraid of taxing the laptop... not good as those are all my backing tracks. eek! One stutter or drop-out and the show comes to a halt. Plus having two stand alone apps talking to eachother can be a pain sometimes. No room for error here...this isnt background music, I'm going to be at Performing Arts Centers and will be looking to sync to video projections and hopefully live performers, etc. (Yeah, I tend to think big ;) )

 

SO as boseengineer mentioned, a plug in maybe? :idea:I found it... This will eliminate the midi data stream worries AND ensure a rock solid sync to DMX!!! YES!!! :thu:

 

Running a second laptop can now be allocated solely to my video projections! hehehehe

 

All I'm missing now are the cymbals on my knees, right?

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hey i was gonna suggest you check out dmxis

 

can i ask why you feed the guitar to sonic cell aswell as the xp30?

 

why only 10-20 tracks in the sonic cell? is that all it can hold?

 

and what exactly does the sonic cell do? is it basically generating the sound of the midi tracks rather than your laptops soundcard?

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can i ask why you feed the guitar to sonic cell aswell as the xp30?


why only 10-20 tracks in the sonic cell? is that all it can hold?


and what exactly does the sonic cell do? is it basically generating the sound of the midi tracks rather than your laptops soundcard?

 

Actually the guitar goes through an RP250 to main mix AND a Sonuus audio/midi converter to the Sonic Cell -channel 1 (example: nice distortion lead with a sitar in the background). Between those two signals I have unlimited blends of sounds to create. :thu:

 

The 10-20 tracks are stereo audio tracks coming from Sonar in the laptop. Its fed down USB 2.0 to the Sonic Cell where its combined with any of the 16 midi patches and then (after optional EQ, Compression, Reverb) its pumped out to the main mix. I dont use these yet, but in addition the sonic cell has phantom power and/or hi-z guitar inputs that can be fed through any of the FX which ALSO leave out the same main mix output. It is an AMAZING piece of gear with lots of configs... truly a travelling musicians dream! love it! Its part mixer, part FX processor, part synth, part audio/midi interface! And in a pinch if you dont have a laptop (or dont want to travel with it), it also takes USB sticks and plays multi-track midi files OR .WAV files up to 96kHz! It TOTALLY rocks! Almost TOO good, because people see so little on stage and dont believe its just you.

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