Hi everyone in GP world, for anybody looking for an alternative to the the laptop on stage setup or just want more bang for your buck, you may be interested in going down the path I did.
I have come to use gig performer after using a muse receptor for a few years of hassle free gigs. But after the demise of muse research i was in the market for looking at a new computer and host to run my plugins for live gigs.
I originally thought i would have to go down the apple path and use MS but after using my receptor and comparing its performance to mates using macbook pros i could not justify the cost of the laptops so to cut a long story short i stumbled across gig performer which was win compatible and decided to build my own receptor basically so here it is.
Custom 2u pc case
Gigabyte motherboard
8th gen i5 8700 6 core (honestly didnt need the i7 this is plenty) remembering this is a desktop cpu much better than laptop i5.
2 x samsung m.2 970 evo ssds
32 gig ddr 4 ramm
Silverstone milo chasis
Silverstone sfx sx 500 power supply
Motu ultralite mk4 audio interface
Now the great thing about this setup is i can upgrade it so easily if needed but honestly it has handled anything I have thown at it plugin wise all running 48hz 128 buffer no probs. But no point running 48 really.
I use a MS surface pro i5 as a remote running thru a crossover cable on windows remote desktop. This is so i dont require at monitor at gigs. I do not use the surface to do any processing it just cant handle it.
By the way the pc build only cost about a 1/4 the price of a i9 macbook pro and performance is the same if not better.
Here are some pics
These days I am playing covers for corporate events with a 8 piece band and 11 piece when the brass line up is needed. The music we cover is generally a wide array of stuff spanning from 70s though to now depending on audience we make adjustments to the setlist accordingly. I am also working on a bruno mars tribute show which is going to be very fun for me being on keyboards. Lucky gig performer can make it happen.
Thanks for sharing. I too am moving to Windows just for my rig thanks to Gig Performer, as it is difficult to spend that $$ on the Mac when it is dedicated to just this purpose. I think this is the direction I’ll be going too for the reasons you stated, assuming this Windows driver stuff doesn’t drive me crazy first.
That’s brilliant!
I’m looking to test GP now with my NUC Hades
So a little touch screen would be ace for a flight live rig…
I do have an old surface (not the pro)
but could you please explain a bit more how can i use the surface as a touch screen for the pc??
i wish asus releases a touch screen like their little 15" asus zen
on another hand I’m just trying to decide what audio interface I should get for GP too
(i’m very tempted for the presonus quantum at the moment…)
Thanks!
p.
They did, but unfortunately it is an USB model not an HDMI, which in my opinion is risky for the main monitor of a PC.
I use this one with my NUC PC: 10” HDMI touch LCD
Just use a another laptop or surface pro and setup remote desktop. As for audio interfaces i use a rme and love it. I also have used motu and they work well also
So since this has transitioned a bit to be about audio interfaces… I have a question, at least for us keyboard players, for your live rig do you need anything more than a stereo output? I mean, that’s all I need. I have been using an Echo Audio Indigo Express Card, They were quality interfaces and I particularly appreciate that the express card just stays plugged into my laptop and is not another thing to carry around.
But since the express card slot isn’t a thing any more, when I dream about upgrading my laptop I wonder about what to do for audio interface. I don’t want to carry around a box… and pay for pre-amps, channels etc I have no need for. (I have a different set up for home recording). And I just don’t see anything that fits the bill…even in the DJ market, where I would have thought that would be a natural.
Basically I just need a DAC…and the Audioquest Dragonfly Red and Platinum seem interesting, delivering quality sound…I just don’t know if I can get the low latency I need. I have read they can use asio4all
So many factors go into that question but the main two might be:
What kind of music are you playing
Do you have your own FOH engineer
For example, in two of my bands, I use 8 audio outputs (generally configured as 3 stereo pairs, 1 for subs and 1 for a click track that can only be heard by other band members. In my third band I use 2 stereo pairs.
For me it depends on the gig im doing but for most gigs i just run a L&R out of my babyface pro and run a stereo in ear send into the 2 balanced inputs on the bface and do my own in ear mix with totalmix (rme’s mixing software). Although i will be getting rid of the babyface soon and getting a interface with more ins and outs so i can run some tracks from my rig thru ableton link. Kinda wishing i kept my motu ultralite mk4 but rme are a bit better in my opinion.
@dhj ok yeah, I get that… although curious what’s your particular purpose of the three and two stereo pairs? But in any event it is all outputs… no need to be paying for mic pres and so on and having that extra bulk. There used to be interfaces with just outputs.
I am a Rock & Roller. We don’t have our own FOH person but always have someone provided by the venue.
@onkeyz This is interesting to me and I’m not sure I understand. So you are sending stereo out from Babyface … getting back a total stereo main mix to the two balanced inputs back in to Babyface… and then you go out again from the Babyface to your in ears? Are you able to do anything beside adjust volume of the total mix… and maybe eq I guess?
Yes total mix u can eq your send altough i dont as we have a fulltime monitor guy running a digico desk so i basically use totalmix as a splitter thus allowing my send from the monitor guy to be independant of my keys so i mix myself volume wise to balance with my stereo send. I dont know if that made sense haha. Anyway this will be changing soon as we are about to start using a app called Klang audio and this will give all of us complete independent control of everything in our send. I urge everybody to look at this its amazing. Im not sure what is needed to set it up from the monitor guys end but this is what he has told us to prepare for.
It gives FOH more control over the different sounds. Two of my bands are progressive rock Security Project and Beyond The Wall and there can be a lot of different sounds happening at the same time, although generally not more than 3 at the same moment — however, over the course of a song, my routings are configure so that each sound currently being produced simultaneously is on a separate pair so FOH can adjust the mix. The third band is a Steely Dan tribute band and most of the time I will only have one or two sounds. Again, FOH can adjust the balance as needed.
Well, when I carried physical synths, they were all plugged into the interface so that their audio could be processed and mixed in. Also, if you want to do any vocoding, or use an electric guitar, you need some inputs.
