A 2U rack with; Mac Mini (late 2012) Catalina 10-15, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, Behringer Ultralink MS8000 and an Internal Dual Output DC 5V/4A 12V/3A PSU.
On the back panel are the HDMI, Ethernet, 4 USB ports, 4 XLR Outputs, 2 XLR Inputs and 2 dedicated USB Power Ports. The internal PSU provides the two USB power ports and the power for the Audio Interface. The audio interface outputs go to the Ultralink and provide DI for Keys L/R, a Click/Tap Output and a local Mono Monitor Output. The optional wired IEMs are provided via the Focusrite Headphone socket. One USB power port and HDMI power the monitor (sorry about the glare) on the top of the stand. One USB to each board job done.
Yep, Marquee Square Heroes are a Fish era tribute.
I am using the Arturia V series plugins almost exclusively. The only exceptions are the Mellotrons which I use the Plogue Sforzatron. I plan to move to the Arturia Mellotrons though. Some of the sounds are sampled from my original Mainstage rig, but I am using the Arturia Emu to play those.
Keeping everything to just one suite of plugins keeps it simple to build new rigs and create backups.
M-TRON looks great, and possibly sounds great, but at a cost!
The only reason I have not moved to the Arturia Mellotrons is the lack of sustain, but I am now using the a sustain scriptlet as it fixes some of Arturias other VSTs with MIDI issues. The Mellotrons are just the last VST to feel the power of GP Scripting!!!
Awesome stuff. I just found your web page, that’s awesome. We don’t play this stuff professionally but love to jam a lot of the Fish / first couple albums of the Hogarth era.
I’m also dabbling with the Arturia stuff, PPG Wave 3.V, Sampletank, Korg Collection for the Hogarth Era and a few others from Cherry Audio and such.
I keep a couple real RD300s’ and a P-330 around for that Clutching / Seasons / Holidays / Brave Piano sound but use Sforzanzo with the RD-1000 sf2’s when we aren’t playing in the jam space.
I had followed Mark’s set up in the 2000’s with Forte but left it for the vastly improved GP. Lol, most of my setup is still in Forte …. it’s on the list to convert ….. Cheers.
I tried Forte a long time ago as I was only on Windows then, before going with Mainstage on the Mac, then finally saw the light. I am mising the PPG, as it is not in the Arturia collection (yet), I use the Casio CZ, it gets quite close.
The Saffire Pro 24 outputs are all TRS, I made up short cables to go from TRS to XLR females. The cheat here is that the Link Outs on the back panel of the MS8000 are the through connections for the Link In on the front panel.
So the Saffire Pro 24 TRS outputs are connected to the Link Outs on the MS8000, this keeps the wiring all internal to the case. As a bonus, if I do need direct access to the Saffire Pro 24 outputs, these are on the Link In XLRs on the front Panel.
I could have made longer cables and brought the Saffire Pro 24 outputs to the front then connect to the XLR In, but my solution looks much more “neat and tidy”.
And now Arturia V Collection 11 is available and it is the first one to limit the Mac OS to at least 11.x. With some research today I have found that the Mac Mini (late 2012) bootloader can be patched to run the latest version of Big Sur 11.7.10.
I will update my Mac Mini and check that the Firewire still works to my Focusrite. The Focusrite site suggests it works but is untested by Focusrite. Focusrite Compatability
I can’t use it - my live performance laptop is still running 10.14 and I’m not going to upgrade it. But I haven’t really seen anything in newer versions that are “Must Have” anyway
I do agree that V 11 doesn’t offer anything that I would rush out for. But I do think that I will need a plan very soon for moving forward and it looks like the main blocker to upgrading is Apple!!!
… What VSTi’s you mostly rely on?
