Going live with my DAW

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Tue Mar 26, 2002 10:43 pm

Anyone has done that? That's what I plan to do, and I'd appreciate some entries on the topic.

Basically, my plan is to record all my background music and singing or playing flute over it. I also want to load synths (and sampler) that I would use at various moments of the concert, through a keyboard or other devices. I'd like it to be stable, if it's not asking too much from Life...

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 3:27 pm

Hello Eliam.

I once wanted to do the same than you now, but some friends with much more knowledge than me discouraged my idea of going out with the computer telling me it is too risky. They said you couldn't completely rely on a home computer. When you less expect it, it stops working or whatever else… You know anyway, computers are complicated that is way we have such a Forum here.

I think that if you want to play yourself over your music, you could find a more relaxing way, through a cheaper option than your computer. For us, to go out with our computer means to go out with our “Studio”! It's a serious matter and a lot of money just to have something to playback your music.

You could buy a MiniDisc or some sort of Digital reproduction system. This is what I think Eliam.

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 3:48 pm

check out the roland sp808 or sp808 ex for that sorta thing. lotsa noise guys round here use those for playing back trax live

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 3:59 pm

I took a PC live for a short time

So don't make the same mistake. It'll work perfectly at your house and even in the studio, but as soon as you're in a venue < pow > you'll get all sorts of errors you've never seen before.

I often wondered how this could happen. I wasn't in an "alternative" state, the atmospere wan't too smokey etc but for some reason - strange results. Maybe it was the power supply or vibrations...

I would consider using a laptop, but if it were doing critical functions then I'd have a backup.

In fact I always played with a backup system and it saved my neck more than once. Whether it was 4-track, DAT, my beloved PCM+video setup, or even 2-track cassette, you MUST have backup.

Funny things happen when you go live..... the trick is to stay looking calm and pretend it was MEANT to sound that way

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2002-03-27 16:00 ]</font>

WayneSim · Post by **WayneSim** » Wed Mar 27, 2002 11:37 pm

Here's an idea.

Master all your backing music including synths and all your sounds and effects. All the stuff you won't be playing live. Then just burn a cd (the best quaitly you can) and play it though the P.A.

Maybe that's not what your after. But as long as you have (or the venue) a stable cd player you should have no worry's.
You should be able to get a good sound anyway. I've seen it done.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 2:00 am

When we were playing live we started putting more and more on the DAT. Trouble is it meant that our playlist, audience response and flexibility were gone. And instead of worrying about playing I was worrying about how good my miming was. It took away a lot of the sparkle and sweet anxiety. There no feeling quite like having a major technical malfunction onstage and glancing nervously at your comrades wondering whether you should stop or just try to "play through".

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 3:46 am

all depends on how much real-time control you want over which devices, i suppose. The idea of it makes me fairly uneasy, though.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 6:38 am

Thanks for your reply, guys! Yeah, it makes me feel more or less comfortable too, and I was just inquiring about other's experiences... If I just had to have a track playing, I'd definitely go with a CD or something more reliable... But I also need the live sound processing, live synth and some automation on all of that, so the best all-in-ons solution is obvious, but can it be stable? I certainly wouldn't try without some backup! But if I have everything included in a Pulsar project with no other application running, then I guess chances are that it possibly would not crash...

I know that some people have had good results doing that. If they could post an encouraging word or two, I'd appreciate... Any reply is welcome!

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 6:50 am

Sounds to me like you want to do it. Well, my final bit of advice is give yourself a bit of time to get set-up. Boot up your machine, give it nice power, get everything settled, test it fully, then leave it alone.

But be ready to hit the CD backup !

borg · Post by **borg** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 7:01 am

i think i'd feel most comfortable with a descent hardware sampler and a laptop running a midi sequencer, if possible a few (2/3) audio tracks. then just a small mixer, midi controller and two fx processors, and you have a nice setup.
i would never take my huge monitor on stage, it just looks... not done

i would make the music at home in my lil' studio with all the gear. if your song's finished, you can extract samples from it (could be lots of work...) for the hardware sampler, make a new sequence, and yeah, of course, i would throw in nord rack2 as well.
you might not get the sound you had at home, but what's the point in sounding exactly the same as on a recording?
"i've never listened twice to the same record. what's the point if there are so many other things to be heard?" just came to my mind. i think j.j. cale or whoever said this once. may be this statement is a bit far fetched, but it does make some sense to me.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 7:01 am

I'd use a DAT oo cd as backup too.

I see no problems however, when you go live with your confident studio. Make sure the setup is the same on stage as at in the studio, do not try to change anything in the setup between your home concerts and the live perforance, except for the speakers

Prepare one good project, use it while you practice at home too. Do not load new projects or devices once it's rollin', cos these are the critical moments.

Do not overstress your system, but aim for stability.

I wish you luck.

at0mic.

algorhythm · Post by **algorhythm** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 7:18 am

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately - I make some kinda experimental stuff, most of which I couldn't play live, so I want some kind of sequencer on stage. I have decided that I am not taking pulsar out for a couple reasons - heavy ass computer, really expensive, and I'd have to take my whole studio apart.

I will use mostly hardware for live (ES-1, ER-1, CS2X, and Electrix FX units). These are the more "dance" tracks.

But I will also have a laptop for some of the more experimental tracks - I am going to get the Ableton LIVE software for this purpose. Also, I will always have a CD backup of the laptop material in case the shit hits the fan.

Good luck, eliam. The expression "Don't put all you eggs in one basket" is certainly applicable to electronic devices for performance!
In fact, I have my first (electronic) show on Saturday. House party, about 100 people - should be fun . . .

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Thu Mar 28, 2002 3:43 pm

Thanks for the advice! I'll probably proceed like that: record a stereo track of all that won't be performed live and load the .wavs in a sample player. Then route my mic through my surface to apply the required processing (FX, compression, etc.) and also load the sounds I will need to control through my keyboard (piano & synths) so that I won't have to load/unload anything during the concert. Since I'm supposed to finish the midi control box that I've been building with Marcuspocus and Redsun this weekend, I'll certainly use it to activate and control the devices, start songs, etc. I haven't figured out all the details, but I'll certainly undergo serious testing before plunging into this adventure... and see if it's likely to succeed...