This is a post from Facebook.
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Journey to Gig Performer!
So, a little background first may be appropriate. I started playing keyboards back in 1986 when I was 15 years old, bought my first synth, a BIT99 and then followed up with a Roland D50 in 1988. Loved the D50 (still do) and used it for everything.
I played mainly hard-rock at that time, or what people would call “hair metal” maybe! Anyway, in 1993 I did a few seasons as a musician for a large travel group at one of the Canary Islands. I had upgraded then to a Roland MC-50 MkII sequencer, along with a Roland JV-80. The band played basically everything from 30s jazz to musicals to Metallica, so it was a diverse set of 120+ songs we had rehearsed.
Back in Sweden again I expanded the collection with a Juno-106 and a Roland D-550, probably around 1995 or so. Used that full rig, but ran it all MIDI (with keys on MIDI through the sequencer) as I switched to playing guitar in a prog-metal act instead!
Got tiresome (and a bit risky) bringing the full rig of synths + sequencer to the gigs, so after our first album, we started to put the keyboards on backtracks (a small Yamaha player, that was very convenient).
Fast forward to 2006 and I’m back playing keyboards for another hard-rock band. Needed to be able to make better splits in order to use more sounds per song, so I purchased a Korg Triton Extreme, the 76-key version. Very heavy piece to carry around, but worked OK together with the D50 and the Juno-106. Did several albums with that set-up, although most of the sounds I used was coming from the Juno or the D-50. Got another JV-1080 with 4 expansion cards, in order to make even more splits.
Then I stopped playing… Life got in the way, kind of…
Fast forward to 2022 – I got a message from a guitar player I knew remotely, who was wandering if I wanted to listen to a few songs he’d made. It was supposed to sound like 1986-1989-ish classic rock (AOR), a genre that I knew, pretty much better than anyone, at least in a 100 mile radius from our city in Sweden.
Listened to the demos and really liked it. Great songs, great vocals but did not yet sound like the era was supposed to sound! He asked if I wanted to play keys on a song or two, and I said “Sure, but in that case, it’s all or nothing, can’t have some of the songs sounding right and the others not…” So, we removed his “demo”-keys, I brought the songs home, made new keyboard arrangements, and substituted everything for D50 – as it was supposed to sound like 1988/89. It became a fantastic album, and all of sudden, it had evolved from a fun project, into a real band, with ambitions, a great album, and a record deal.
I found the whole thing to be extremely fun, and it was a good time in my life, I had time for music again, and the music I loved, and NOT covers… Great – what could go wrong?
Album is released and we start getting asked to play live and I start to consider all the tracks I played on the album, all with D50 (hardware) and how I was going to recreate that live. I saw a small D-05 Boutique that I purchased used and thought that now at least I have two! Didn’t manage to locate my old D-550 – must have lent it to someone and not got it back.
I also realized that the type of gigs, we would be getting, would be festivals, AOR-festivals, Classic Rock festivals and so on, which would most likely involve travelling, and also travelling by airplane. I needed to find a solution to my 10-layer D50 tracks and also something that I could bring with me.
Looked around and asked my younger brother (who’s of course a keyboard player!) if he knew of something. He said that there was Mainstage but only for Mac, and since I’m a PC/Windows guy, that was not an option. He said he had heard of something similar to Mainstage, but for PC and he looked it up.
Enter Gig Performer
I started reading about it and thought that this might work. I had never worked with keyboards in a computer environment before. Did not own a DAW, did not own a soundcard, did not own a computer/laptop for music. But, never too late to learn…
Purchased a HP Omen laptop, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB hard drive. Intel i7 processor, a Steinberg UR44-C to connect and Nektar GXP88 MIDI controller.
Purchased the D50 VST from Roland Cloud and started to explore Gig Performer. Also got a Cubase 13 Artist version, because I needed to break down and listen to all the keyboard tracks from the album, to hear what I’d played and with which sounds. Realized very quickly, that this was going to be tricky to recreate live (no back tracks) but with a many hours spent with Gig Performer, crazy splits, and layers, midi-chord player and a few loops, I got it to work.
The initial plan was to use the Nektar and then my Korg Triton Extreme 76-key (as a controller only), but I realized rather quickly, that it would be difficult to ask the venues to provide two controllers, so I decided to get myself a Novation LaunchKey 61, very lightweight. Re-did all my songs/rackspaces, so they fit a 61 + 88 key set-up instead. Now I can travel with only the Novation, the laptop, the Steinberg and I’m all set! I could even ditch the 61 key if I wanted and ask the venue to provide a 61 and an 88 key and I can go with only the laptop, thank you Rig Manager!
Since, I’ve found music so much fun again, I’ve of course purchased a whole array of other stuff as well… including the full Korg collection (of synths), some nice Cherry Audio stuff (GX-80) and OB-X + a vast number of free plug-ins that have come with either the controllers, the GP, the Cubase (the full HalionSonic for example).
I also decided it would be nice to move only the lap top between our rehearsal place and my home, so I bought another Steinberg UR44-C, a pair of Yamaha studio speakers, an Arturia Keylab61 and an Arturia Keylab Essential 88 that I can have set-up at home. So, now I move only the laptop. Fantastic!
With the Arturia purchases came of course also the Arturia Pro V plug-in, so that in combination with all the other plug-ins, including the full Kontakt 8 (Native Instruments) now gives me access to more keyboard sounds and composing possibilities than I will ever be able to use.
My project for the rest of the year, will actually be to teach myself how to operate Cubase efficiently and enjoy all the plug-ins that I’ve acquired. I’m still very partial to my D50-sounds though, but I think that our new album will have a couple more synths, than only the D50!
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Thanks for reading all the way to here!
Johan Berlin // keyboards Daytona
If anyone is interested in the band - look here Daytona Music
Link: Spotify
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