Simon Leiner @ Weihnachten Neu Erleben 2021

In the last few days, I had the chance to use Gig Performer for playing live shows. Weihnachten Neu Erleben is a charity event with a structure similar to a musical: The whole show revolves around a theatrical performance which aside from acting incorporates live music and dance. While the story is written specifically for the event, the music is almost exclusively well-known pop songs (although we did incorporate our first original song.

Rig setup

I needed piano, synths and a few SFX sounds for this gig, so I opted for a two-keyboard setup:

  • The Roland RD-2000 for its high-quality full size keybed. It also features LED-equipped sliders and rotary encoders, but (to my frustration), you can either receive or send CCs from them, but never both. So bidirectional widget syncing is not possible :confused:
  • Instead, I used the Komplete Kontrol S61 Mk2 for widget control. And of course, it features an excellent synth action :slight_smile:

Furthermore, I had:

  • An iPad displaying sheet music using forScore.
  • Several foot controllers:
    • sustain and sostenuto pedals
    • an expression pedal
    • a double footswitch for turning pages in forScore.
  • A ME-1 personal mixer for in-ear monitoring.

And of course, Gig Performer 4 as the centre of the rig. It was a great fit!

  • Being able to wire up plugins uniquely for each rackspace was great for sound design. Especially parallel processing (and multiple stages thereof) are super easy to do :slight_smile:
  • Quick and seamless patch switching. It’s just great having this work reliably and smoothly every time :slight_smile:
  • The integration with forScore was really nice: I did not want to trust a bluetooth foot controller since lots of UHF stuff was going on, so instead I used a wired foot controller plugged into the Komplete Kontrol. Using widgets in the global rackspace, I could easily translate pedal presses into MIDI messages for page turning pages in forScore. Furthermore, forScore sent Program Change messages to switch between songs in Gig Performer.
  • The widget system is super flexible: Aside from bidirectional knob synchronisation with the Komplete Kontrol, it allowed for much more exotic things like:
    • Manipulating plugin settings on specific keys being pressed and/or released.
    • For one special scene, I needed to play a white grand on the center stage as opposed to my regular position on the side stage for the band. Using a MIDI-over-CAT transmitter, I could still play through my regular rig, which made things easy for monitoring, FOH and recording. The grand only had 88 keys and a sustain pedal but I still needed to change patches from over there. Using widgets and the new System Actions block, I could remap one of the piano keys so it would switch to the next song exactly once.
  • I needed flexible audio routing - this was a breeze using the global rackspace.
  • I did not have all of the controllers available during rehearsal; the MIDI grand actually arrived super late and I had mere minutes to set it up. But it actually worked, because I could prepare everything, including changing songs using piano keys, beforehand and then just switch the MIDI device using the rig manager.

All in all: The rig worked flawlessly and without glitches, so I could focus on playing music and having fun for 13 great shows :slight_smile:

COVID notice

The COVID situation in Germany is currently quite dramatic - and of course, gathering people for indoor shows poses a thread. So our project leads had extensive talks with the local authorities to check if we could do the shows and still be reasonably safe for crew and cast as well as visitors. We took the following precautions:

  • Everyone (crew, cast and visitors) had to provide proof of either being vaccinated at least two times or having recovered from COVID.
  • Everyone (crew, cast and visitors) had to provide proof of having been tested negative for COVID at most 24 hours before check-in.
  • Everyone (crew, cast and visitors) had to wear masks at all times except when on stage.
  • The visitor capacity was reduced drastically: From ~8000 people per show (pre-pandemic planning) to 750 people per show.

By the way: If you want to know more about Weihnachten Neu Erleben, you can visit the website, watch a short recap or the full length TV recording, which will be published on YouTube on sunday :slight_smile:

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Great! :beers:

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Beautiful!

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Wonderful

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I wanted to visit @Simon there, I already had the tickets, but… last minute COVID restriction, my date was cancelled. :confused::cry::mask:

Congrats @Simon :+1::wink:

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Here’s the whole show, uploaded 2h ago (there are CC in English, as well):

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Here is our friend on the famous white grand piano… connected to GP, of course :wink:

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@simon
It was really a great show.

Gig Performer can be seen starting at 1:24:54 on a couple of shots! :slight_smile:

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Finally! Been waiting for the complete show. Saving for later viewing on my big screen TV.

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Simon is a pro. Even when he’s volunteering, that’s the pro level :slight_smile:

See this interview with Simon to learn more:

:beers:

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@simon, unfortunately I couldn’t be there for the live, but I have seen your interview with @BPontecorvo. Very interesting, I liked it. Next time you will be able to use a Scriptlet with the white grand :nerd_face:

Do you use molded in-ears?

Not as unfortunate as you and your family not being able to attend the live show :confused:

Yes, I got custom molded IEMs last year - total game changer :heart_eyes:

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Definitely. Been using them since 2010

I will do my best to join for the next show :wink:
Which model and how did you proceed to get them molded?

Also custom molded? Which model?

I got the VE 4.2 from Vision Ears. Before I bought them, I had the chance to get test ear buds (silicon tip, non-molded of course) and test them for a few days. Even those blew my previous IEMs right out of the water :exploding_head:

After that, just the usual: Going to an acoustician to take ear impressions, waiting for a few weeks and enjoying awesome sound for a long time :slight_smile:

Unfortunately, I will probably not have this opportunity. I was thinking of this model in the same price range :confused: Ultimate Ears Reference Remastered

Why not? You can just ask them if they can send you a demo box :slight_smile: (At least that’s what we did)

I have not tested them, but with UE you’re probably fine too :slight_smile:

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