Organizing an on-stage setup

[MOK19]

Hey all, I could use some help. I'm a computer music veteran, but new to mobile stuff, having just 'discovered' it's potential the other day. And I'm a novice at-best regarding matters of the stage & band.

Yet, A vocalist friend of mine has asked me to help her figure out how to bring mobile tools and options to her live band's on-stage setup. They're a classic configuration band, who do mostly covers, but my friend wants to introduce some live signal processing, sample triggering, and anything else that might be a useful, reliable, user-friendly addition to the stage. Most likely it will be only her handling that tech, and outputting a signal via mobile device - I imagine others will want their instruments steered clear of all the wacky computer mumbo jumbo.

I've been doing a lot of reading on what's out there, but it's a lot to take in. Can you folks help me understand what the total setup might look like?

1) My first impression is that an Apple tablet is the only competitive choice at the moment. Is this true? I don't like that notion, seeing as I don't like Apple, but I want to go where the reliability(and low latency) is.

2) What does the stage signal chain look like, for instance for a vocalist? The mic is analogue, the stage mixer is analogue, but a tablet is digital. What conversion options and setups do people use?

3) I'm not an Apple guy, nor have I yet bought/used a tablet. Is USB port competition a problem? Or other ports? For example, I would imagine that the tablet's output would go through USB, but a midi controller will want USB also... I doubt 5-pin would be happening, unless its unavoidable. And what about also inserting your phone into the setup, in addition to the tablet? I'm not clear on how all those connections might come together. If this is a problem, how do performing musicians deal with it?

4) Preset management. Different songs will want different things - different vocal fx, different sample sets, maybe some keys, etc. This would be less a problem were it all happening in a single program, but have the impression that this isn't realistic...? Would one tend to strictly limit their tools/capabilities, in order to ensure the performance interface is fool-proof? Or is there a means of tying multiple tools together into something that boils it all down to pre-arranged "Next. Next. Next." presets, or something like that? Any exploration around this idea would be appreciated.

5) Is what I'm talking about exceeding what's advisable for merely a tablet? Are we in laptop & dedicated-attention territory? If that's the case, where's the line?

6) Random suggestions?

Thanks peeps.

[jopy]

I can't respond to everything here, but I've also been incorporating an iPad into my live music setup lately. I also can say that I don't care much for Apple in general, but there are many, many more high quality apps for iOS compared to Android. There's simply no competition on that front.

Regarding phones, an iPhone actually can run some apps, but not all, and it seems like most of the best ones I've seen (e.g., Nave, Galileo organ, iGrand, iLectric piano) are only available for the tablets.

Running through a bunch of tools is not super easy, but I've not found it to be super easy on a laptop either. I switch between the apps I listed above between songs, and it works okay, but it's not "Next. Next. Next." easy either. I actually practice transitions between songs to make things go more quickly. I also have two other hardware keyboards in my setup, so if I need to, I have ample backup. I don't use audio in live, but it is certainly possible. It depends on the singer's willingness to work with the technology on stage. I know that for a lot of musicians who are primarily performers, that's a total buzzkill; neither of the other two guys in my band will even remotely consider touching a computer or the like onstage.

Everything you'd run in, including MIDI, goes through the lightning cable (comparable to USB), but the audio out is from a headphone jack. I think (please correct me if I'm wrong) that's pretty much the same as with Android or most laptops using an internal soundcard. I use the iRig Pro for an interface, and it does indeed use a five-pin in for MIDI. The iRig can do phantom power for mics, and it will take XLR or 1/4" jacks. The audio is probably somewhat degraded in the transition into the iPad and back out, but it's not something I can hear in the mix live. It's definitely not fizzy or super digital sounding to my ears.

I don't know if this helps, but this is Kimbra using just an iPad to process audio live with (live recorded) loops, which might be useful for seeing what is possible and hearing sound quality:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd7GLvMYSHI

I hope that answers some of your questions. If there's anything else you'd like to know, I can try to answer.

[gjvti]

hm, if you are specifically for reliable live vocal processing - maybe you should look here.

From my experience iPad earliest models are not very reliable - when heavily loaded, I have occasionally faced to crackling sound and had to increase buffers/latency (not a solution for live use). If you got the latest models (air series) obviously this would not be an issue, but you also need some i/o option - hardware i/o dock (there are couple of them from Akai, Behringer and others) or compatible soundcard (I have used Tascam iU2 and RME UCX) or hybrid interface such as iConnectMIDI+ (quite complex to set up) or their latest iConnectAUDIO (which is not yet available I think). Software options - there are really plenty of them for ipad.

Alternatively - mobile Android and Windows have yet to mature, I think, and are appropriate for early adopters, rather than those who are looking for reliability and smooth workflow.

[psionic]

I haven't yet used Set List Maker, but from other forums I regularly visit users generally give rave reviews:

http://www.arlomedia.com/apps/setlistma ... /home.html

http://www.arlomedia.com/apps/setlistma ... tures.html

It supports Android and Apple, with more features for Apple devices.