Has anyone set up a racked system that essentially acts as a rack synth - boots to GP, loads standard racks/patches that are then switched via MIDI program changes?
Thinking of using a spare racked Mac Mini to load the Arturia V Collection/Analog Lab and Keyscape.
Personally, I’d want to see where I am in GP.
Yes!!
I have my Mac Mini boot up and created a workflow with the Automator app to open GP and a few other apps at startup. Once the workflow is created it becomes an app. I then add that app to my login items so it boots up GP. I use duet over usb display on my iPad just to check that everything booted correctly. I very rarely have any problems with it, but this also allows me to quit the apps that are open and power down the mini. I use a Kurzweil Forte as my controller and it all works great!
Thanks - I think by adding a Stream Deck Plus I will get some visual feedback as well as critical capabilities (like Panic).
Thanks - will check out Automator!
Yep, I am doing the same (although for a guitar based rig) - Mac Mini boots up and then GP Loads.
KeyboardMaestro is another app to look at - allows for a huge amount of automation triggered in various ways, including MIDI (either external or could send via IAC from GP).
I’m in the process of adding a small Arduino based touch-screen to my rack which will then give some basic output of statuses of GP and then allow some system based functions - key one being to shut down the Mac! (as there is no other way of doing it without interacting with the OS as far as I am aware, not without just doing a hard shutdown anyway)
Ah cool, had missed this - definitely check out KEyboard Maestro then as it has a plugin to work with the Stream Deck: Stream Deck [Keyboard Maestro Wiki]
Awesome, thanks! Am going to get the Mini and an audio interface into a 1U rack space.
For me, GP is essentially a high-end rack full of synths and samplers, hidden in the sidefill of the stage. I don’t have to see a GP display on stage, during a four hour performance. No interaction with the laptop required, at all.
Just for the setlist, I have set up an Android tablet running TouchOSC, which gets and displays current and next song name as well as current song part from GP via OSC. No control of GP from that tablet, however, any controls that go to GP are on my keyboard.
I have setup my laptop (Win10) not to do anything when I close the display lid. So typically, I boot Win10 and start GP before soundcheck, then I close the lid, forget the laptop hidden anywhere in the side, and hours later after the show I shut it down.
I don’t like laptops to be too prominently visible on stage. People want to see rockstars on stage, no computer nerds.
These guys show how proud they are with their GP rig, putting the laptop at the central place of the stage! 
Link: Furia Club
Would look much cooler without the laptop visible, IMHO.
It depends on the type of band, I guess.
But, I take your point. The big suspicion is that the computer means the music is all canned/prerecorded. I try to explain it just includes the “sounds” used (not to mention, today’s keyboards are basically specialized computers).
I understand the wish to have a dedicated computer behaving just like a rackmount unit that responds to program changes and so on.
I know that it can and does work. But, of course, it always depends on your needs.
I have changed my point of view a couple of times and ended up with the exact opposite of what I started with…
1st Try
I played 3 years with MainStage and 1 year with Gig Performer using a dedicated iPad that acted as a permanent monitor, keyboard and mouse (with a remote desktop app RealVNC Viewer). Especially with MainStage I had the feeling I wanted to see what’s going on.
The problem was that all VNC servers needed quite some CPU power to transmit the screen. The result was that I typically had to use one buffer size bigger than I could without remote desktop running. Not even the expensive hardware solution “Luna Display” solved this despite their promise to be much faster than all the others.
2nd Try
For this reason I went completely headless for one year. Unless you want to use the same gig file forever, you still need some control, for example to sync your files! To synchronize and load the gig file I used VNC but turned it off afterwards. It really performed well!
Still something didn’t feel right, especially when you watch the videos on YouTube of people with their Nords that have a dedicated button for every single function.
What I was lacking was the mental connection to my rig and also the ability to do quick adjustments. Even for small volume or key changes I took notes and did the changes later at home.
Even the permanent VNC connection from the 1st try didn’t connect me enough to my sounds. The resolution is bad, the mouse behaves differently and there is some lag.
So I came to my current setup, the 3rd Try which is exactly the opposite of what I started with (and I’m really happy with that):
Since my laptop had become old enough, I talked myself into buying a new laptop that I don’t use exclusively for making music. Sounds funny as I write it, but it actually works really well and having a screen, a trackpad and a keyboard right there was really a game changer and just what I had missed before.
So that’s just a story representing my personal view. Maybe this helps!
That’s your opinion as a rockstar, and it’s certainly what your audience expects, but there are many musical styles other than yours, such as electro music, where computers and machines take centre stage, and many other genres.
As far as I’m concerned, I’m not a rockstar, I’m a musician who plays alone with midi guitar and GP to enhance the texts of a poet-writer reading in public.
I could play with the hidden computer but I consider that the presence of a single computer on stage is an innovative concept that allows an audience interested in the context in which the performance takes place to discover new aspects of modern live music and to appreciate the charm of a musician who in no way resembles a computer nerd, at least I hope not. 
And of course, when I play with a punk band, all I have is an amp, a distortion pedal and, above all, no computer, not even a hidden one.
Of course! And obviously, my statement was deliberately provocative.
In many cases, a laptop is an essential part of the show and performance. Or fits in the concept or it simply doesn’t matter that it’s there.
But in my experience, many keyboardist fellows just don’t realize how they are seen by the audience.
Some hiding behind stacks of keyboards, decorated with absolute cable mess, fiddling around with touch screens, laptops, tablets, … and then complainig silently that nowbody talks to them after the show but with the guitar hero or the singer … and often they are never visible on band photographs, a running gag among keyboardists … because the photographer thinks the key rig looks quite uncool …
My point is, that one should think once about how one is perceived by the audience, as part of any performance. If a laptop fits in this concept, perfect. If one really does not care how he/she is perceived visually or how a laptop fits in the concept, perfect.
Just in my case, I don’t want the laptop to domiate my stage apperance. That’s why I use effectively a headless GP system, closing the circle to the OP.
I’m pretty positive that at least for the shutdown part there is no need for a third-party app: https://community.gigperformer.com/t/command-to-save-changes-and-shutdown/18958/3?u=florian
Ah cool, hadn’t seen that! Very helpful. Keyboard Maestro still super useful, but yes, shutdown can be done in that method nicely
I would certainly expect from rock stars to use laptops, because that means that they want to invest in a sound quality (and many other things)
Some of them put Gig Performer even as their cover photo on Facebook (and other social media).
I suspect audiences will come to expect laptops as part of live music. We are in the midst of a transition.
