Hi Jeff, if you’re on windows and potentially moving GP files between machines I’d highly recommend making use of Rig Manager - and setting up your rackspaces to use the midi input from the Rig alias, rather than a physical device (or worse, Omni). That way when you open the GP file on a different PC, it’s super easy to use Rig Manager to update GP with the devices windows says is now connected, rather than having to update all your rackspaces individually.
This is particularly the case if you end up accidently plugging a usb device into a different port than last time, as windows will give it a different name which then breaks your rackspaces - Rig manager avoids this.
Thanks, Matt. Yep, I have come to use the Rig Manager pretty regularly because I use a different set of (duplicate) keyboards for gigs/rehearsals.
Originally I had an issue where my two keyboards were switched and I learned I could quickly correct that using the Rig Manager,
I have also had issues that widgets were not recognized even though the proper keyboard was.
So, now at the beginning of each gig I open the Rig Manager and check that the proper keyboard is responding and that my 3 buttons and 9 faders are properly responding (if not I reset them).
Hello everybody, I am new to GigPerformer and obviously late into this topic.
I am trying to switch from a full hardware setup to a fully software setup around GigPerformer and a Mac Mini M1. To get tolerant to potential computer issues, I was planning to add a second Mac Mini and the conversation above has been very valuable.
The question I have is before the two computers how do you recommend to manage and switch the (master) keyboards themselves. I have two of them, currently connected through a USB cable to a USB hub connected to my Mac Mini. If I run two Mac Minis, one option I was looking at is to use the MIDI DIN outputs instead, and add MIDI Thru boxes to duplicate them for each keyboard and then MIDI Merge to USB boxes to connect to each Mac Minis. Looks like a lot of plumbing, but it is the only solution that came to mind.
Do you have better recommendation to solve that part of the game?
What I understand is that you want a redundant setup in a hot-standby configuration, for the computers and you look for a way to connect the keyboard simultaneously to both. Well, technically, splitting the MIDI signal and send it to both computers could work. However when there is flowing data towards the keyboards/controllers things start to get messy: which of the computers is allowed to communicate back?
Main thing is that you might be trying to solve a problem that has little chance of occurring. And from my point of view, when you doubt the computers, you should also doubt the USB hub and the keyboards itself (I recently repaired a keyboard of which the A4 had broken out of its mounting). And let’s not forget using a UPS for the power (according to other people that wouldn’t be far fetched btw).
Of course, it also depends on your usage: if your living depends on it, then additional costs and configuration to get this done can be justified.
I don’t have personal experience with these kinds of double computer setups but I’ve seen that Radials KL8 offers redundant USB input and you can switch between computers by pressing button on the rack unit or with footswitch.
Yes full redundancy can be expensive and should probably be justified by the chance of error and how fast you want failover to occur. Cheap solutions involve manually plugging and unplugging things but the failover time is slower. I did a bit of work with redundant switching over a network but have not really thought that much about redundant keyboard switching. I’ve had no experience with these USB switch devices but I consider that they need to be able to fake the device on the in-active system while working on the active system otherwise the USB drivers on the host systems may cause havoc.
I can envision 2 BomeBoxes each as a USB host with separate USB keyboards attached… The BomeBoxes would be networked to 2 Mac’s over Bome Network. But again, that solution might be a bit costly given the cost of a BomeBox. Although for professional musicians that are successful another $500 USD for a couple of BomeBoxes might be a nit considering the risk of killing a performance at a large venue. Bome has some musicians running 4 BomeBoxes or more BomeBoxes in various stage configurations.
Also, you might consider we would now move the single point of failure to the network (unless they are on separate networks).
Thanks to all for your inputs - a lot of food for thought regarding investment vs. actual risk of failure. And a couple of interesting hardware to look at. Much appreciated. Pierre