Newbie - GP5, VSTs and Midi Controller for Live Gig Performance Rig

Hardware
1

Hey gang, As the title states, I am a newbie venturing down the “rabbit hole” with the goal of simplifying my keyboard rig for stage as much as possible and I will apologize now for the extremely long post! I’m watching every YouTube video I can find but there’s one video I haven’t been able to find pertaining to specific hardware/connecting hardware and I’m hoping someone here could point me in the right direct here. I’m a purest when it comes to my keyboards, I rely on the internal patches and modify them as needed to suit the song as closely to the original as possible. For many years I’ve neglected to delve into the MiDi world - I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, so although I’m 54 years old and have been playing gigs for 30 years, talk me like a first grader! HA! . I’m in a country/southern rock band, my current rig consists of a Yamaha MODX(73 key) and Korg Nautilus (76-key) - During a gig, I switch between several different pianos, organs (B3, C3 with leslie effect), strings, acoustic guitars, and I’ve added a couple of samples I loaded into my MODX. My goal: simplify my set up from two keyboards to one 88-key keyboard (MiDi controller). I would like this new rig to be as cost effective as possible, easy/quick setup, lightweight, have a good selection of instrument patches that closely match what I already have in my MODX and Nautilus, be able to switch those/other patches on the fly during a song (from what I’m seeing from the GP tutorials, that’s totally possible) and extremely little to absolutely no latency. Here is a list of hardware/software I’m looking at and would like your recommendation please:

Controller : Arturia Keylab Mk3 88
Interface: PreSonus Studio 24c USB Interface
(optional) MiDi foot controller (recommendation: something fairly simple - not expensive - easy to setup)

I have a nice Macbook Pro (M1 chip - 8GB) laptop that I’m running our DMX light show and I’m confident I can run GP on this same laptop with no problem

So, what I assume I would do to set this up and audio output to the mixing console: Connect a MiDi cable (5-pin) cable from the MiDi Out (on keybard controller) to MiDi IN on the PreSonus Studio 24c. Then connect a USB-C cable from PreSonus 24c to my MacBook. Then connect audio cables from the 1/4" main L/R outputs from the PreSonus to two XLR inputs on the mixing console.

Thank you in advance for any other recommendations!

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Get more RAM

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What plugins are you using?

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Thank you, I will look into this

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I was looking at Kontact and Arturia VSTs.

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OK, that is a good starting point.
For Organ Blue3 is very good and for acoustic piano take a look at Pianoteq.
For E-Piano Lounge Lizard.

1 Like
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Unfortunately, the RAM cannot be upgraded in this model of MacBook Pro(2020) as the memory is integrated in the chip. Hopefully 8Gb will be enough!

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As long as you can stream from disk (Kontakt does) there should be no issue.
Also activating predictive load will help.

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When you say “stream from disk”, am I safe to assume to run Kontact from an external SSD drive? And what is “predictive load”?

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It’s a GP feature. It works in conjunction with setlists. If you enable ‘predictive loading’, then the plugins needed for the rackspace assigned to the next (and I think also the previous) song(s) in the setlist are loaded in the background. Rackspaces that are no longer needed are unloaded, thus possibly saving memory:

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Oh that’s a good feature, thank you for the explanation!

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You’re welcome :beers:

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Mac’s may be more efficient with ram than Window’s based machine (which I use). But, I would be concerned whether 8GB will be sufficient.

But, if there is no harm in trying it, maybe it will work out…

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I agree - you really should have 16Gb minimum.

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I’m definitely going to try it as the only way I would be able to upgrade to 16Gb is to sell the MacBook I have and buy another one that has 16GB. Unfortunately with these MacBooks, they no longer allow upgrading the memory.

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With 8GB of ram, I would try to keep sample-based sounds to a minimum.

So, maybe:
Arturia V Collection
Use V Collection V3 Piano or get Pianoteq
Use V Collection electric pianos or get Lounge Lizard
Physically modeled B3-Organ (IK?, heavy on CPU, but not ram).
Consider SWAM Strings and horns (physically modeled)

But, I still think you might want to bite the bullet and upgrade the laptop…

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Greatly appreciate the VST suggestions! I looked into the Arturia V collection - holy smokes, $599! Of course it has a gazillion sounds but still … it’s a bit overkill for my usage. Upgrading my laptop is just not an option at this point… maybe next year.
As far as connecting all this and actually playing this live …
Would I connect a MiDi cable (5-pin) cable from the MiDi Out (on keybard controller) to MiDi IN on the PreSonus Studio 24c. Then connect a USB-C cable from PreSonus 24c to my MacBook. Then connect audio cables from the 1/4" main L/R outputs from the PreSonus to two XLR inputs on the mixing console?

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If you buy Arturia’s midi controller you get Analog Labs vst for free. That means thousands of presets from their V collection, but without the possibility to tweak or create your own sounds.
And once you own Arturia software you are eligible for discounted upgrades and Crossgrades.
Btw, V collection is usually on sale once or twice a year. Keep looking for those sales. In fact almost every vst brand offers sales over the year.

Re wiring: your setup should work fine, although you may get some benefits from connecting your midi controller directly to your computer via usb.

1 Like
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If you are patient, there are often sales where the price is cut substantially.

Also, these licenses can be transferred by original purchasers. So, if you can pick up an older V Collection, this is another route to take.

Good luck.

2 Likes
20

Yes, this is basically what you would do. Also, most modern controllers have MIDI over USB and may or may not include a 5 pin DIN connector. Either will work just fine.