Live PA's

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 05:17 PM

im trying to think live pa's at the moment as ive lost my interest in djing for a few years now, just wondering how some of you guys set yourselves up - there must be a million ways, i guess im just tryin to pick brains for good ideas for more controll without spending the next year re-making all my tracks to put them into some other format or somthing...

heres what i am kinda toying with:

running ableton live with about 100 tracks of loops effects and so on...
having every 1-8 sent to different outputs and going into a big 10ch DJ mixer so ive got all the kills etc.. then i was thinking about having maybe a little su700 sampler or somthing to trigger little samples off, and a couple of mfc42 filters or somthing...
its not quite as 'live' as id like it really, but i cant think of a better way..
any advice??

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 05:19 PM

i need to keep relativly compact too for obvious reasons

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 05:23 PM

crime: you use an mpc dont you? how does that work? (ive got one that someone left in the studio but i havent looked into it yet really)
could i integrate somthing like that with my setup??

**DJZeMig_L** · 24-07-2003, 06:04 PM

M8 first decision u gotta make is if u r going 2 take Laptop and a few little gadgets.. or 1 rack of synths/ drums efxs...

If u go the hardware way MPC really really rocks !!!! :) U can trigger or samples/ midi seq... but I guess this is mainly if u go the hardware way...

If u choose Laptop... good mixer.. good soundcard with pleaty of out puts.. GOOD MIDI CONTROLLER WITH PLENTY OF BIG PHAT KNOBS.. for it's simplicity I would go 4 Electrix & pioneer efx 500.. also I'm not so sure a dj mixer would b apropriate really..

i guess Live and Sx would do the trick

Z

**ampassasinbirmingham** · 24-07-2003, 06:27 PM

the pioneer fx 500 is the most simplistic exex unit ever. But it works really well.

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 06:43 PM

yeah, dean had one of those - kept telling me it was the nuts, ive never tried one..
i have got quite a few dj fx tho as i do a lot of 'live' bits in the studio..
got an electrix eq killer and a mofx as well as mfc42 filter - soon to be two mfc's..
i was thinking of one flightcase with a load of hardware plus lappie..
im thinking maybe its time to get my head round this mpc2000

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 07:13 PM

My Live setup consists of:
MPC 2000 with the 8 out expansion...
Nord Modular Keyboard
Studio Quad FX

MPC 2000:
this is the heart of my setup, you can sequence 64 tracks either on the internal sampler or 32 channels of external midi (It has 2 midi ins 2 midi outs), reads standard midi files so you can knock up some riffs in logic, save to a floppy then load back up in the mpc.. I personally have got into playing stuff in, you can play stuff in either off the 16 drum pads or off an external keyboard.. The sampler side of the mpc is cool, but more suited to Drums hits and loops.. You can't spread a sample across the keyboard, each pad is set to a different midi note... it does have a basic 12db/oct filter, with a very basic envelope, I find it a bit restrictive, if I really want to filter a sample, I reroute it thru the audio ins of the modular, and then I can have any filter I want, plus vocoders, ring mod, Bit Crunching etc....
Basically I use this for all my drums except the kik, plus whatever vocal samples and the odd loop I use sometimes.. I'm not really a big one for loops.... I got mine second hand for £550 with a Zip drive +16mb ram... you rarely need more ram than this, but any extra is a bonus of course...

Nord Modular Keyboard:
4 Synths in one and a whole lot more, I use 2 of the "Slots" as they're known for synth sounds, one for external processing, and the 4th for my kick drums.. I find you get punchier Kicks synthesised out of the modular, and more bassey kiks too.. when Kiks are sampled (or anything for that matter) there is a defined top and bottom end i.e. most recording or audio gear will not reproduce anything below 20hz or above 15khz.. the modular has no such restriction, which on the downside can mean blown up rigs if you're not carefull... The synth itself is based on the same engine as the Nord lead 2 and 3, in fact, there is a factory preset inside the synth that is called "Nord lead 3" which is the nord 3 inside the modular... you can edit the sounds and create new sounds in the same way that you would using Reaktor or the new moog modular plug in, on the computer via your midi interface, but the advantage is, with this you can take the hardware away and you have all the sounds inside.... you can also assign the 16 front panel knobs to any parameter on a patch, and there is a "Panel split" mode which allows you to have access to 6 parameters on the first 2 slots and 3 on the second 2... As I said before I use slot 3 as an audio processing patch, I can reroute any sound from the desk thru the bus outs, so I can filter, vocode or bitcrunch any sound that goes thru the desk.. I can't speak highly enough of this synth, it's my favorite bit of kit, and has a price tag to match... originally priced at about £1500, you can probably get one second hand these days for about £650/700...

Studio Quad FX.

Cool 4 channel fx unit, loads of cool effects, some quality reverbs (Not as good as a lexicon,but good enough)....

I normally get the venue/promotors to provide a 16 channel 4 bus mixer and audio leads if I'm having to get a flight with this lot... I can fit it in a large suitcase, and it weighs in at about 19/20kg...

I must say I've got a lot more into playing live in the past year, but sometimes it's a real drag having to pack your shit up after you've played before you can even have a beer, plus you got the risk of drink spillage of your precious kit... Last week I had to spend an hour with my modular in bits and a bottle of switch cleaner to hand after someone had spilled their beer over it...

at the end of the day it's worth it, there's no feeling on earth like hearing your kit thundering over a quality rig, and whilst sometimes I think about trading it in for a laptop and a copy of ableton live, i don't think it's quite the same as having some cool looking boxes with flashing lights and a spaghetti of leads going everywhere...... and really fat bass!

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 07:43 PM

Originally Posted by Jimfish

i was thinking of one flightcase with a load of hardware plus lappie..
im thinking maybe its time to get my head round this mpc2000

Suitcases are the way to go, especially if you're flying... find a large plastic one with wheels and a trolly handle... then go to a foam shop, you can find one on most markets, and get some big bits of foam cut to size....

if you're flying places, a flightcase can be asking for trouble, it stands out a mile as something expensive and fragile, and baggage handlers are notorious for larking around with anything that looks slightly out of the ordinary...

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 08:15 PM

yeah cheers dude..
what i was thinking with the flightcase is that i can have all me shit all wired up ready to go - and i can get one of those cases with extendable handle and little wheels..
but i hear what you are saying about baggage handers, never mind the fact that ill stick out like a boner on the bus..

all my sound is just sooo processed though - its gonna be a mission taking everything and getting it all into the mpc.. guess ill have to try it at least.

yeah i agree, i dont think i could do it off just a laptop.. i need to have loads of buttons to press and knobs to tweak!
ta!

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 08:17 PM

ive been looking for a foam shop for months! i resent paying for those ****ing acoustic tiles at studiospares - my old man tells me that most foam shops stock all that dimply acoustic foam, but for about 100000000th of the price..

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 08:36 PM

what you gotta remember if your getting flights is weight, and the magic 20kg.. I've got away with up to 26kg before, but I got charged £40 EACH WAY on a flight from east midlands to glasgow for having a 30kg suitcase... this is why I don't take my own leads, I have to take power leads, but anything else that is pretty standard, get the club to provide if possible... also if you use an mpc, you can always get the club to provide an MPC and just bring your zip drive and a disk, I did this when I went to australia earlier in the year...
you could use the MPC kind of like a modular hardware version of ableton i.e. take loops of your trax, cut em up, put on a floppy, load into the mpc (It reads .wav and. aiff files), and then reroute your sounds thru your filters/ eqs using bus 3+4 on the mixer or via inserts... does the mpc have the output expansion? you can also get an fx board (same one that goes in the s series samplers)....
for the foam, you want to check out a bog standard market (Like romford market or something like that)

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 08:47 PM

The mpc is great for the "Track mute" feature, you can mute all the tracks in and out using the drum pads, really great for live jamming, crazy drum breaks, things like that... I would suggest rather than trying to transfer all your stuff over to the mpc, start writing your trax using your live set up (which is what I do). I then record live jams into something like soundforge then edit out any mistakes and do the arrangement like that, you can take the audio from the beginning and stick it at the end or visa versa, loop up any jammed bits that really rock and generally get a more organic feel to your stuff... it's a really productive way to work as well, you don't end up with 300 unfinished loops in Logic that you can't be arsed to finished.. Also I really like the idea that people hear stuff live and 6 months or a year down the line some of the same material appears on vinyl... I think you'll find moving all your stuff over to the MPC a real pain, personally I feel when you play live it's a real oppertunity to play stuff that no-one has heard.. having said that I do leave the odd thing in my live act, and you can really tell the stuff that has lasting appeal.... also, you could prove me wrong and do some really corking re-edits on your old stuff... the important thing is to EXPERIMENT...

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 08:49 PM

BTW, if you want to know how to get into the "Track Mute" page, on the old mpc (Not XL) put the cursor over the track on/off bit and hit open window... I think the XL has a button dedicated to it, but you cannot switch patterns without coming out of this page on the XL (one of the advantages of the older version)

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 08:54 PM

yeah, i guess this is the way to go.. of course weight will be an issue with a bigger setup, good point.. i should have remembered that from all the times ive had to carry stupid amounts of morrocan carpets as hand luggage.. the practiality of it all really is a big thing..
hmm, she's a tricky one allright.
this mpc is 4 outs - that'll need to be upgraded - maybe i should go pc with a load of control surfaces - akai do a controller with pads on just like the mpc and maybe that new novation thingy - then i just need my 828 and ADAT converter too - still need those anaogue filters though.. bollox this is a tricky one... ive been putting this off for a while but i seriously have to start thinking about it or ill be missing out..
better just start playing around and experimenting in my, errr, spare time.. cheers for the words guys!

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 08:55 PM

oh, sorry dude - we must have been typing at the same time.. great minds eh!

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 08:57 PM

go for the mpc..
everyone is doing laptop live, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's good to be diferent... you'll get a more unique sound too...

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 09:00 PM

that track mute function sounds dope. be wicked to go apeshit on for ****ed up breaks etc...
i dont think i could write in the mpc though - i need all those cute little functions & fx in sx as they are an integral part of my sound.
getting the promoters to supply certain gear is somthing that had completly slipped my mind too - nice one!!

**Jimfish** · 24-07-2003, 09:01 PM

your like a little devil on my shoulder tempting me into that mpc..

**crime** · 24-07-2003, 09:32 PM

Gwan! you know you want to! Try it! it won't get you hooked!

**DJZeMig_L** · 24-07-2003, 10:22 PM

and the quantize/ shuffle on the mpc is quite unique.. also the key repeat/ filter funtion... eheheh...

Still Mark I havent' touched 1 4 a while but I seem 2 remember creating a prog. with a sample spread over the pads with diferent tunings just like a normal keyboard... but i could b wrong!!

Z

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