Switched from Hardware to Gig Perfomer - New setup in detail

Gig Performer in Action
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Hey community,

I changed from hardware to Gig Performer by the end of 2022, when my gear was in an oversea container and I needed a way to perform a gig in the US with my band.
(Story is here: Alex Faust).

I thought I share my new GP setup details in case you might be interested in that. Let’s start with an overview where I came from and how I put together my new setup:

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I had a Korg Kronos and a Nord Electro. I am using IEM since years, and I needed a DI box with a splitter to split the keys to FOH and to my IEM headphone amp. To be independent from any monitor mixer guy I am bringing my own 2 mics. 1 mic between snare and hihat (to get the tact safely), and another one at the guitar amp (I like to control the guitar volume by myself, naturally it is getting louder during the gig). I need only vocals from FOH, because bass and bass drum are always loud enough to hear it on stage. And it safes my ears. I was normally the only guy with IEM in my last bands. For the last 10 years this saved my ass at many gigs and I was feeling good having my own control over the main signals - and always hearing me very well. Also the soundcheck is quick and easy (I only need vocals from FOH).

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With Gig Perfomer I was able to simplify the whole thing. I replaced the DI box, the headphone amp and the two mic preamps by the Behringer Flow 8. The Flow 8 is now my audio interface and my IEM mixer as well. Less hardware, less cabling, no side rack needed. Also I got rid of the 2nd keyboard by switching quickly from Synth to organ with Gig Performer. I configured the drum pads on my Arturia with functions like switching songs and rackspaces back and forth.
The Flow 8 has pretty good routing functions. So I send the USB audio (GP/Keys) to the main outs to FOH. The USB audio as well as the other channels are routed via monitor mix to my headphones. I played around 20 gigs so far without any issues.

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For bands which play completely with IEM, that’s easy to do with this setup. I don’t need the two mics, I am getting the whole band from FOH. I am using a mixing app (like Mixing Station e.g.) on a tablet or phone to control my Inear mix. That works great as well. And I always have two faders: one for the band, one for my keys on the Flow 8 to have quick control.

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This is my preferred personal setup which currently works great for me. And I am also independent in case of having gigs somewhere far away: I can adapt this to any 88 keys keyboard via MIDI. (maybe losing the programmed pad functions: I am using the lower two and upper two keys then to switch things around).

I am still very happy with my decision to switch from hardware to Gig Perfomer.
Feel free to contact me in case of questions…I’m also looking forward to any feedback or suggestions to improve my setup as well :slight_smile:

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Very cool!

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What VST(s)(etc) did you end up with?

Interesting approach. I play on 73 keys. Not sure I can sacrifice any for control purposes. I chose instead to use a foot controller. One advantage of that turns out that I can get consistent CC7 and CC11 controls sent regardless of the keyboard I chose to use. And in addition to that, I have 12 switch controls. Keeps my amateur hands free to try to play instead of control.

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More Action :slight_smile:

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May I ask what foot controller you are using? I’m using an AirTurn BT200S-6 and I’m not super happy with it. It has let me down sometimes, just lost the connection to my MacBook without any apparent reason. And sometimes I seem to accidentally press it twice (or not at all when I intended to) so I don’t really like relying on it in live situations.

Using the keyboard is an interesting idea as well, but similar to you I’d rather keep my hands free to play…

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@Micha I ended up with the Nektar Pacer MIDI Foot Controller. Nektar Pacer MIDI Foot Controller | Sweetwater

I’m about 90% satisfied with it. I started with the preset D3 (I think that’s the keyboard one) which set up the expression pedals as CC7 and CC11 and has the leftmost switch pedal set to sustain. I did do some minor reprogramming which could be done within GP or in the pedal board itself. I have done some of each.

My expression pedals are Yamahas and I had to go into the configuration and change the settings or deal with the pedals only giving me 1/2 the range expected.

I started with 2 sustain switch pedals, one normally open and the other closed, and the board deals with both fine. But in my last gig, I didn’t even plug those in. I used one of the pedals on the board for sustain. I don’t really need as many pedals as what comes on the board. I’m thinking I may stop carrying the extra pedals around.

The preset I used is preprogrammed to provide keyboard functions as well as DAW controls. I use it only with GP and the DAW controls don’t really do anything for me. So, I reprogrammed those to send MIDI CC messages. I use pedals for next and previous song and rarely have to touch a mouse or computer keyboard unless someone decides we need to play a song not in my current GP set list.

On the downside, be sure you don’t press that preset selector button accidentally. It may take you off into never-never land with a preset that doesn’t do what you want done. And, the expression pedals are not 2-way. When you change songs, the position of the pedal likely doesn’t match the initial setting in GP. When you move the pedal, it jumps to the pedal value. I always press both exp pedals after each song change so they start in sync.

Also, programming the device is cryptic. There is a web site that can help you with that. My gig laptop has no protection so I refuse to go to any web site with it. So, I muddle my way through the boards interface to make changes. Flip side, GP is so powerful you can translate anything the board sends to be whatever you want. So, there’s that alternative.

I use mioXM to bring all my MIDI connections into the laptop. mioXM — iConnectivity
I don’t have to worry about channels. I just merge the MIDI from the pedal board with the MIDI from the keyboard(s) and it controls them all depending on how I wire and control it.

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(USB5) being my pedal board.

I have used that board to enable/disable layers in a sound. On one song, I told GP to translate CC11 to be a volume control for the streaming file player where I needed to play a file and adjust its volume. I use pedals to start and stop that soundtrack. I have triggered ARPs in BlueARP. I’m currently considering using it to trigger some background chords using GP Chord Maker which would essentially make my foot that third hand I need on a couple of songs.

So mostly satisfied.

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I would go that route. That’s how I do it. My buttons are set to CC numbers and down sends 127 and up sends 0

I just leave it like that and then do all interpretation from GP

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I would not use anything that uses a radio (wireless such as Bluetooth) for use in a Live Gig as there are too many unknowns with the radio environment that could interrupt the performance.
I think the Nektar Pacer is a good choice but in might be a bit bulky. I use it below my desk in my studio. Maybe a Midi Baby 3 with a couple of external pedals attached.

SteveC

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Thanks for the detailed review, sounds like a lot of possibilities, especially combined with the flexibility of GP. Might actually be a bit oversized for my use case, but maybe my use case needs to grow with my setup :grin:

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Thanks, that sounds like an interesting option!

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Im using:

Pianoteq 8 (Pianos and Rhodes)
Korg Collection (mainly Triton Extreme and Wavestation)
IK Multimedia Hammond B-3X
Roland Cloud (XV 5080)
Arturia V Collection
Native Instruments Komplete

That all should be good enough until retirement :sunglasses:

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