I hope this is the correct category for this article.
I recently had trouble at a solo gig in a smallish room where the crowd noise almost drowned me out. Even the foldback on the floor was not easily heard. Talking about this with my grandson (kids know everything these days), he suggested small speakers elevated on stands similar to near field monitors in a studio. I did a quick search and came up with Mackie CR2 X Cube speakers. These come in pairs and are powered. They are small and quite heavy and are described as producing “room filling sound.” Well, they didn’t quite fill the room, and when I tried to crank them up, they started to distort. Then I read a review that mentioned something like “they will fill the room if you buy the matching sub (Mackie CR6s X),” which is also powered. When the sub arrived, I was overwhelmed by the sound levels produced. Yes, they are certainly room filling!
Rather than use separate stands, I used a hefty tripod and made a 1/2" ply base on which to mount all the gear. The three screens at the rear are held in place using Hercules pad holders.
When viewing the pix below, keep in mind that the main PA is behind me and the little Mackie’s are receiving a line level return from the P.A. The P.A. is an HK 608i controlled over a bluetooth mixer shown on the small iPad next to the LH speaker. The central screen is an 12.5" iPad Pro running OnSong, and the RH screen is a Surface Pro 9 with 32gig ram and a 1TB SSD. The middle iPad pro controls the SP 9 via a wireless network using the green Bome Box shown next to the front leg of the tripod in pics 1 and 2. The keyboard is a Nektar 49 note device used for soloing, and my main instrument is the PS3 Guitar Hero controller shown on the right in pic 1. The GH guitar plays mostly Music Lab Real Guitars.
Any questions, please ask .
I haven’t had a chance to try this setup out yet and, under pressure when setting up, may need these pictures to aid me.
