One Pedal To Rule Them All - GP Journey

[AnticS]

Hello Gig Performer Community!

First time posting, long time reader

I wanted to share my GP journey with you.

Before, I used a TC Helicon Acoustic Play with it’s BodyRez tone shaping, Vocal setup, onboard looper(60sec) and harmony pedal, which did its job perfectly.

I wanted more.

I always wondered how cool it would be if I could use all my VST’s live.
I discovered GP by accident, while scrolling the internet .
Immediately, I fell in love with all the possibilities it offered and decided that my whole setup will be ITB!
Little did I know that this was a start of a looong journey ahead , that is still ongoing and is crazy entertaining !

AUDIO INTERFACE :

First upgrade to my whole system was an audio interface .
I used IK Multimedia Axe I/O .It’s a capable interface ,but as soon as I started “growing” my GP Setup it began to pop and crackle.

Enter RME UCX II .

Without a doubt , best Audio Interface that I could’ve hopped for!
With its incredible drivers, onboard DSP control and magical routing options provided by TotalMixFX software, I was a step closer to my dream setup.
PS: And the SIZE , it’s tiny and rack mountable!

STAGE:

Driven by previous experiences while performing , I am really weary of using a Laptop on stage .
For me ,it is too exposed and visually unappealing ( though it works , no judgment )

I was thinking of building my own little µ PC and place it in a rack, but then that turned out to be more of a hassle than it’s worth, mainly due to weight .

Again, by accident ,I stumbled upon Legion Go , a handheld gaming device.
Looking at the specs , even though an AMD CPU ( I do prefer intel architecture for audio ), it has a 3.2 GHz base clock and 16 Gb of DDR 5 memory, detachable gaming pads (so I don’t look like a weirdo on stage ) .

I was sold.
With it’s integrated battery as a failsafe in case of power outage and its carrying case I was safe to bring it on the road .

TOO MANY CABLES:

Being rushed and cut by a whole month , I had to build it all including GP file and test it out( Think learning GP , optimizing Win10 , programming MIDI foot controller ( Nektar Pacer), gain staging and tone shaping in 7 days . I barely slept
It was my own fault, I could’ve used Boss GT 1 but the passion was too big

Thankfully, all worked out ,kind of, but it looked like a science experiment . Cables all around , safety of the devices was my biggest concern and the only thing that I could run through it was my electric guitar ( there was just not enough time for me to futz with all the possibilities) .
At one point I modified a motorcycle tablet holder by heating up a butter knife so I could bend the prongs to fit my Legion Go and pace it on the mic stand -it still works

All of this made me think of a “box”, preferably amp-head shaped , that will hold PD,USB C Hub and streamline the whole setup faster and safer while looking nice .
Unfortunately, I Didn’t find anything on the market that would satisfy my needs.
So , I built it .

Meet the LMB - Little Magic Box

Gig Performer SETUP:

-All of the “instruments”(AGtr Strum,AGtr Finger, “Electric”, “Bass”,“Drums”) run trough the main instance as does the looper and IEM/wedge control .
-Vocals , BV’s and Master FX run on separate instances .
-Everything is synced and routed trough loopmidi and MixFX (via loopback).
-FOH , if the need arises, can be controlled trough MixFX and main instance.
-Song changes on the tablet that I’m using are synchronised with GP, so swiping to the next song on my playlist changes the song inside the GP
-As of now ,I am not using any scripting, which I hope will change in the future .

-System runs on 128 samples @ 44.1KHz ( 2.7ms latency)
I am experimenting with 256 as a safety margin , though singing and looping does suffer due to latency (I know , its 5.2ms @ 48000 but still )

Here are some photos of the setup

I am plaining a couple of upgrades ( PD , Ventilation , USB/HDMI I/O panles,etc.. ) but for now it’ll do .

BTW, I’ve never had a better Acoustic Guitar and Vocal tone then this,ever.

I hope you enjoyed the story and it got you inspired to keep on building

Big Thank You to the whole Gig Performer Team, GP Community and all the people involved in it’s development and maintenance!

For me personally, it is a game changer live,in the studio,for song writing , looping ,tone shaping ,recording … you name it.

Until next time ,
Slobodan

[npudar]

Pa svaka čast, Slobodane!

Thank you for sharing this story

[AnticS]

Hvala najlepše !!!

It was my pleasure, thank you all for making it possible !

[Jusplayinmybass]

Thanks for sharing. The joycons coming off may convince me to switch. I have an Asus ROG Ally ZL1 and am considering my next device. THe price to upgrade is steep though.

[Vindes]

Great story and pretty cool choice to use the Legion Go. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone do that with GP before.

For my v-drum setup my laptop didn’t really have the power to do what I wanted it to do, and having a regular tower PC on the floor was unappealing. I ended getting a 4U rackmount PC enclosure I put in a 12U enclosure on wheels, which houses all the electronics (including a rack mounted UCX II and the drum module) and I can control it with either a small touch screen monitor on top (Viewsonic TD1655) or hide that and control everything by OSC with a 10" tablet clipped to my hi-hat stand where it’s pretty much out of sight.

The 12U rolling rack is kind of beast though. Two-man job getting it up and down a couple stairs or in and out of a car. I definitely have some envy for your solution!

[AnticS]

Yes, the joycons would definitely make it harder to mount it ( ventilation being on top )
I’m very satisfied with it!
That being said , it’s a land of compromise ( depending on the scale of your gig file )
You could probably find a used one cheaper ?

[AnticS]

Thank you !!

I believe other people did it too.
I think someone mentioned it maybe even here .
After that last band gig(using GP as ToneX pedal host technically ) , I needed some well deserved rest ( I didn’t know how many Country Roads I had in me left ) and then I slowly built this thing.

I would LOVE your setup ,because it is THE setup for 128 samples ( maybe even 64 if there would be an i9 or similar, but for me 128 is perfect )
As you stated , it’s a chore to travel with, and I am mostly alone ( Solo performer) and travel(ed) a lot!
And just a thought of the number of devices that would travel in the Planes luggage space would give me a PTSD ( guitars are enough )

Main thing why this is how it is, is weight and the speed of the setup.
Power cable in the socket, usb c in the tablet, usb c (from the USB C Hub) to the LGO ,usb pedal , guitar and mic. Thats it. rougly 2 mins.(5 with a sip of whiskey ) and then just press the power button on LGO and UCX.

It does come with a compromise , 40ish W Z1 extreme CPU is cool and all, but not comparable to desktop versions (100+W)

I aimed at 128 samples only due to looping and singing , but e.g. my JM-Neon guitar rackspace ( a lot of “fancy” things : UAD,IK and other stuff , split signal between bass and mid..etc) starts to crack on 128 . On 256,eventhough CPU is hitting 45ish % in GP and I have instances for VOX and BVs(Waves Harmony-CPU hog ) …not a squeak
Though latency is noticeable , not impossible to work with, but noticeable. ( if GP Team cold just make changing huge gig files from 128 to 256 with a single button and instantaneous joking of course )