Most compact and versatile live-setup?

[Soundwave]

Monomachine
Soundcraft compact 4 mixer
Kaoss pad 3
Aki MPC1000 (JJOS2XL)


you could also swap the mono for a G2 engine, CME bitstream and Itronix Gobook touch screen laptop


feeding the inputs and outputs (both audio and midi) from the MPC and G2 is a killer combo

[tekkentool]

Possibly the best compact set up i could imagine would be.

a. A laptop.
b. Virus TI2 .
d. DSI tetra or Slim phatty.
c. a controller with a decent amount of knobs and faders.

[sequentialsoftshock]

A Pro~One.

Roll up piano and a kazoo

at least his was a joke...

We don't all play the same type of music. It works for me and is just my opinion.

[tekkentool]

Well your opinion is shithouse IMHO.

[bluedad]

I play in a rock/cover bar band.
My setup now consists of a Yamaha MM8
Motif Rack
Yamaha AN1x.
Thinking of bringing the laptop back into use to cover
the B3 duties.

[tallowwaters]

Golf shoes and a contact mic'ed washboard.

Iron sandwich board vest and angle grinder.

[Cumulus]

I have a few small setups:

Electribe ES-1 + MicroKORG, Kaossilator + and Sony digital voice recorder + Peavy delay pedal.

Mattell Synsonics drums (or TR-606 depending on mood) + Moog Theremin + bent Speak & Spell.

Casio SK-1 + Mattell Synsonics drums (or TR-606) + Nanoloop (or Korg DS-10).

[Angstwulf]

Electronic improv setup:

Virus Indigo > left side of a DD-20 set up for looping > PA
Hohner G3T guitar > direct box* > Yamaha Magicstomp > right side of the DD-20 > PA


*originally a Behringer rip off of a Sansamp pedal, later an Adrenalinn.

The Indigo and guitar (headless/bodiless) fit into a small rolling suitcase. The rest fit into an aluminum briefcase. This all fit into the trunk of a Miata.

[Stab Frenzy]

One for the gigging musicians: What hardware do you think gives you maximum power and flexibility with minimal size and weight?

The correct answer is a laptop of course. You may not like what it looks like on stage but it defines "maximum power and flexibility with minimal size and weight".

The thing a laptop doesn't do that well is have an intuitive interface, but that wasn't in the question. When you factor in peripherals to give the laptop the kind of interface it needs to harness that power it's a bit bigger, but still is more powerful and flexible than anything else.

It's funny when people say you can't gig with computers because they crash all the time. In 8 years of gigging, 4 of that with a laptop, I've never had a laptop crash. I have had a Juno 106 lose a voice on stage, an ESQ-1 lose 5 keys at practice the day before a show, a synth not play because midi was hooked up wrong in the dark, leads fail and a keyboard stand break when it had a YC-25D on top of it, but never any software issues. I also mix quite a few bands who use laptops live and haven't had any of them have a crash on stage, and some of them even process vocals and things through the laptop live, so need really low latency.

I'm not gigging with the laptop in my main band any more, we've got a setup of MPC2500, SP-404SX, Modular, MBase 01, KP3, Micron and a bunch of other effects going through a mixing desk on stage now. This setup is more for hands on tweaking and super-high sound quality than power, flexibility and size though. In my solo thing I'm running a laptop alongside the modular and some effects, because I need to be able to do stuff I can only do in Live, and play back sampled modular sequences which can't be done live. For those shows I use a Launchpad and MPD24 to get more hands-on control of the lappy.

[Angstwulf]

One for the gigging musicians: What hardware do you think gives you maximum power and flexibility with minimal size and weight?

The correct answer is a laptop of course. You may not like what it looks like on stage but it defines "maximum power and flexibility with minimal size and weight".

The thing a laptop doesn't do that well is have an intuitive interface, but that wasn't in the question. When you factor in peripherals to give the laptop the kind of interface it needs to harness that power it's a bit bigger, but still is more powerful and flexible than anything else.

Well, I think the flexibility bit allows for a decent USB controller. Quality notwithstanding, an Akai MPK board of some size would fit. And maybe a USB mic. With a properly set up computer and the right software, this could cover a huge variety of styles.

Even polka. Electro polka, that is.

[space6oy]

In 8 years of gigging, 4 of that with a laptop, I've never had a laptop crash.

better knock on wood...

[tekkentool]

I wanted to say "just a laptop" but that's my answer for any thread similar to this.
really how many times does your computer crash when doing music? unless i knock out the power or load a bad VST it never happens.

[THEODICY]

I've had crashes happen when the venue's power supply are a bit wonky. Hard drives can get upset with loads of vibrations from the sound system when playing back sample based stuff. These problems can be solved but something to consider.

[space6oy]

probably also depends on the stability of the app as much as the computer. i have a one year old macbook pro that's locked up on me a couple times, but usually when it's asleep. *knock on wood* but i haven't had ableton die on me yet...

[tekkentool]

probably also depends on the stability of the app as much as the computer. i have a one year old macbook pro that's locked up on me a couple times, but usually when it's asleep. *knock on wood* but i haven't had ableton die on me yet...

Renoise is rock solid too, but i can't imagine how i'd perform live with it.