Ipod or Roland Sequencer for backing tracks?

[summit111]

My Brothers,

 

I know of several ways to input backing tracks to the sound system. One of the local professional bands uses a laptop running Cakewalk with the tracks on it. From there, the tracks are fed into a Roland SC880 sequencer, then into the sound system. The drummer controls the whole setup.

 

Another band sequences the tracks on Logic, then sends them to I Tunes and an Ipod. They play the tracks from the Ipod to the sound system. Both bands have duplicate systems in case of a crash on one of them. Both sound the same to me.

 

We're moving into the direction of tracks, but I wanted to know what you thought.

 

Thanks,

[Chicken Monkey]

iPod seems simpler and more reliable, but I haven't used either system.

[BATCAT]

I play drums in a band that sometimes uses backing tracks for mellotron samples and some sound effects. We have the tracks on a iPod panned hard right, with a click hard left- we run the signal from that into a simple y splitter. The tracks go to the PA and the click goes in my earbud. It works pretty well.

 

Note that vibrations can make iPods skip, so be sure to set it on something cushioned. Also, it's helpful to leave 30 seconds of silence between tracks as a buffer.

[GuitarPlayerFL]

We used to have the key player run tracks from his Roland Fantom...now we use an iPod with another iPod as backup.

 

I believe one channel has the click for the drummer's headphones and the other is the sound going to the P.A.

 

Right now the iPod is in Alphabetical order so it takes a few seconds to start for each song. This way, if we want to change a song depending on the number of people on the dance floor it's easy. (As opposed to having a whole set programmed). It works pretty well.

[stos2]

I've been using an iPod for backing tracks for my solo gigs for over a year, and it works well. The iPods have a few drawbacks, but all can be overcome, and they are by far the easiest.

 

Regarding the iPod skipping under extreme vibration, it's true. In fact, sometimes they will actually lock up, and you have to reset them to get them up and running again. However, this is ONLY TRUE for iPods with hard drives (Classic for example). If you have one that uses flash (Nano for example), you're fine. Hard drives are susceptible to vibration, and this also includes laptops.

 

Also, however you arrange the setlists on the iPod, just add a 3 minute mp3 of silence after each song. That way, you have plenty of time to pause the iPod before the next tune starts playing.

[cooterbrown]

I use my Yamaha ES for all my sequqnces, so they are uncompressed/ full-fidelity, and also so I can trim levels or eq's of each track, on the fly, in case there are any weird overtones in the room.

But I do also have all of those songs backed up on the iPod, too, in case of catastrophic failure.

[ggm1960]

 

We're moving into the direction of tracks, but I wanted to know what you thought.

 

 

MOTU Digital Performer is the choice of arena tour professionals and is head and shoulders above the rest of the DAW pack for live performance.

 

I run it from a MacBook Pro with MIDI out to several pieces of gear via a MOTU Midi Timepiece AV-USB and audio out through a Hercules 1612 firewire interface. Besides backing tracks this setup also controls my processor units and the lighting controller for a hassle free performance.

 

A setup as complex as mine, however, has taken mucho time, money, research, technical know how and commitment to get it together.

 

In your case I'd obviously opt for the sequencer.