Members Beppi Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 Hello. I'm a weekend keyboard player and informatic that would like to bring his laptop on stage. I don't have any need for high quality sound cards, and I don't even need sequencers, loops, arpegiators, performances and so on: all I need is to transform my laptop in a USB-controlled sound module able to play gigs and vst's. How can I do that?In a few hours of search I found that there are a lot of softwares that are complex and many times limited. Here's what I tried:Gigastudio3: won't work if not connected to a hardware device or a better sound card.Chainer: maybe a little limited?Energy XT2: looks complex but good, but I didn't understand if it is good for my needs.Ableton Live 7: Same comment as for Energy XT2. As I said, it's not my need to have complex and complete sw's, rather I need to have something easy and quick to play live and add a new sound library to my keyboards without passing minutes with the mouse. Is there some one that would like to give me a help in my search? Also, I saw boxes like the Pro Audio V-machine. I guess there are also others on the market. Is it a better choice? And which product exactly? Thank you very much. Beppi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 Stand alone device is a better choice. I wouldn't want to depend on the stability of my laptop on stage... how often has your laptop glitched? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frankiefeedback Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 One of my sons bands uses a Ableton Live on a macbook and a firepod. It does hang up occasionally like olderhorse mentioned so make sure the guitar, bass and drummer know a few songs they can play while you reboot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 And Macs tend to be stable by comparison... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beppi Posted January 2, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 One of my sons bands uses a Ableton Live on a macbook and a firepod. It does hang up occasionally like olderhorse mentioned so make sure the guitar, bass and drummer know a few songs they can play while you reboot. Mmh thanks to all. Supposing I make - say - a double boot to have a stable Windows machine, can I use Ableton Live both with gigs and vst's, and without having a GSIF compatible card, or some other hardware? Thanks again,. Uh, by the way, Happy New Year :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 I'm not sure a double-boot machine will solve your problem, there are just too many processes running in the background to be confident. In theory it sounds good but in practice I doubt you would experience what the theory would suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 if you have some computer experience you should be able to setup a completely stripped down setup that will only do what you need it to do and be quite reliable. somehow folks have lost the idea that these machines are tools rather than "do everything" entertainment devices. maybe those of us that had to use apple IIe's and machines prior to that have a different view than the current crop? i use computers live, and i cannot afford for them to crash - ever. in the last few years i have not had one computer crash in a live situation, approx 300+ shows. i have had odd things happen but no deal breakers. strip the comp down. no internet, no anti virus, no spotlight, no widgets, remove ALL software but the ONE software you run. NEVER alter the system drive. test the hell out of it 24/7 for weeks before going live and have a backup plan. if yiou do these things you can get an old g4/450 to track 16 tracks of 24/44.1 all day and night with no issues, and the thing will boot in 13 seconds. if you use ableton live, then the machine is ONLY ableton live and doesnt do anything else; just like a "hardware' ableton live Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 I agree with you Coaster. We use either an iBook G4 or Powerbook G4 at every gig. Never had a single problem. These computers are set to do exactly what we need them to do and nothing more. I believe the OP is Windows based. In that case, I also suggest he guts the the system but with Windows you have to really know what you are doing. I am comfortable with Windows, Mac and Linux but I would never even consider using Windows or Linux live in a mission critical situation. This is even more true if I were using Windows to run VSTs. Some of those are soooo process hungry that they can kill even the most capable desktops not to mention laptops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beppi Posted January 2, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 if you have some computer experience you should be able to setup a completely stripped down setup that will only do what you need it to do and be quite reliable. somehow folks have lost the idea that these machines are tools rather than "do everything" entertainment devices. maybe those of us that had to use apple IIe's and machines prior to that have a different view than the current crop? i use computers live, and i cannot afford for them to crash - ever. in the last few years i have not had one computer crash in a live situation, approx 300+ shows. i have had odd things happen but no deal breakers. strip the comp down. no internet, no anti virus, no spotlight, no widgets, remove ALL software but the ONE software you run. NEVER alter the system drive. test the hell out of it 24/7 for weeks before going live and have a backup plan. if yiou do these things you can get an old g4/450 to track 16 tracks of 24/44.1 all day and night with no issues, and the thing will boot in 13 seconds. if you use ableton live, then the machine is ONLY ableton live and doesnt do anything else; just like a "hardware' ableton live Yes, I work as a sysadmin and this is exactly what I mean to do although device drivers are always a guess, generally it is not impossible to make a very very clean Windows installation on a separate partition, and even ghost it to reset it when needed. I don't exclude also to make a linux installation, with a minimal setup. For that reason also, I was looking for something simple. I only need a sound generator, I don't need sequencers and thousands of options, out there I only found Cubase clones that do everything. I'd imagine something where I click "F12" and a preset with a vst chain is loaded on a certain midi channel. Stop. From your experience, is Ableton the right choice? Is there something on linux also? Thank you. Beppi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Coaster Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 ive never used ableton and i really dont know what it does:confused: i dont really know what you are trying to do? my current guess is create sounds from vsti's? if so then consider simple freeware standalone vst shells - all they do is load vsti's and that is it. i have a couple different ones to run vsti's on my windows machine; one is an esq1 emulator that is fairly dead on (i have a real esq1 also). i only know how to do this on a pc btw, and i know it works in XP even with full midi support. anyone do this on a mac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted January 2, 2009 Members Share Posted January 2, 2009 Ableton uses VSTs and AUs on a Mac. I also use Pro Tools so I can use VSTs, AUs, ASs and RTASs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beppi Posted January 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted January 4, 2009 Thanks, by teaching me that there are many VST hosts and VST shells I finally landed on VSTHost that appears to be a real little jewel! I already tested many vst instruments and effects and I could even find a free Proteus library and load gigs using Steinberg's Halion!I think I'll try to make a dual boot with a light version of Windows XP and test how it works. Beppi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 5, 2009 Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 Bring a backup CD or I-Pod just in case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bayrock Posted January 5, 2009 Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 I also have some questions about live performance with computer. When playing as a single for some tunes, I really miss the drums and bass (especially with the jazz tunes). At a couple of recent gigs I used my Macbook with software called "Band-in-a-Box" that I had entered some tunes into. This worked ok except it is awkward starting and especially stopping the songs with a mouse. I used to use an electronic drum unit that was great in that I could start and stop it with a foot pedal - but it was very tedious musically (and no bass line). My questions are: 1) is there any way for me to start and stop this Band in a Box with a footpedal? 2) Is there a better alternative for generating the drum and bass lines? (I can convert these Band in Box tunes into MIDI files if this would help? Thanks in advance for any help or advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 5, 2009 Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 CD, I-POD, just about anything. What backup plans do you have if your band in a box decides to hiccup and not cooperate? I would suggest thinking this through very carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted January 5, 2009 Members Share Posted January 5, 2009 I also have some questions about live performance with computer. When playing as a single for some tunes, I really miss the drums and bass (especially with the jazz tunes). At a couple of recent gigs I used my Macbook with software called "Band-in-a-Box" that I had entered some tunes into. This worked ok except it is awkward starting and especially stopping the songs with a mouse. I used to use an electronic drum unit that was great in that I could start and stop it with a foot pedal - but it was very tedious musically (and no bass line). My questions are: 1) is there any way for me to start and stop this Band in a Box with a footpedal? 2) Is there a better alternative for generating the drum and bass lines? (I can convert these Band in Box tunes into MIDI files if this would help? Thanks in advance for any help or advice. Check out www.alienapparatus.com Their Solo Performer Show Controller is pretty cool and will make things run a bit more smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neonfacelift Posted January 8, 2009 Members Share Posted January 8, 2009 I just wouldn't try it with anything less than a core 2 duo and 2 gigs of RAM. OS X or XP (a clean install, not a Dell install loaded with crapware), is also a must. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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