Here is my 'ultimate rig' for live performance.
Full boat Rev C, 160G HD, 2G RAM.
M-Audio Axiom 61 controller for upper manual connected via USB, M-Audio Prokeys88sx lower manual via MIDI. I use a Roland EV-10 pedal in the Axiom, set to cc 11, and two sus pedals - one for the piano into the lower board, and one to control Leslie on-off in the Axiom. I can control volume via the lower keyboard slider, so I don't use a second volume pedal.
Concept:
The rig is set to Ignore Bank Select and Target Source,receive on all midi channels and Route cc's to plugin. Each instrument is on its own midi channel. Instruments that wish to change patch remotely are on the same mixer and midi channel. Instruments that should not respond to patch change go on different mixer tracks than midi channel. This allows me to create splits that only one side responds to midi patch change.
The Axiom 61 has 20 presets; I have other setups, but mainly use three - upper manual B4, FM7 and Minimogue control I have the drum pads set to do patch changes, so I have 8 presets available instantly on each setup. Additionally, I have the transport buttos configured as background pad overlay control - one button for on-off, four buttons for preset selection (on a totally different midid channel) and the last is a sustain (cc64) just in case. I have Preset 1 set up to select channel 15, which selects the SFX bank and lets me play them from the keyboard.
The lower keyboard has seven presets which send fixed patch changes (in order, 1, 3, 2, 5, 6, 8, 18 - it's their GM equivalents.) Channel change is easy, one keypress and note. By selecting diffent channels, I can control 7 presets on each of 16 instruments, if I have that many. What has to be done is mapping the proper presets to the available locations, which on the Receptor is pretty simple.
Layout: (Track=mixer track, channel=midi channel)
Tk 1: B4 ii, set upper manual ch 1, lower ch 6, pedals ch 16, Receptor selected as All/Thru
Tk 2: EWQL Silver string setup for a specialty patch on ch 12 (ignore this one)
Tk 3: Mr Ray 2.2 channel 3. Several electric pianos.
Tk 4: NI FM7, with custom presets.
Tk 5: MinimogueVA, with custom presets (eventually, all synth patches are works in progress...)
Tk 6: Trilogy bass module, Jaco Fretless bass. Ch 9, from C-1 to F#3
Tk 7: 4Front Piano ch 12 part of specialty patch (ignore this one also)
Tk 8: Mr Ray 2.2 ch 8, G3-C8, transpose -12
Tk 9: Mr Ray 2.2 ch 9, G3-C8, transpose -12
Tk 10: USB Plugsound Free Ch 10
Tk 11: empty
Tk 12: empty - this midi channel plays the specialty patch - cheap piano, string pizz and sus in 3 zones
Tk 13: Colossus ch All/Thru no patch changes desired. slot 1=ch2-Steinway B full, slot 2=ch 7, Steinway B F1-C7, transposed -12, slot 3=ch 7 Upright bass, C-2-E3, xposed +12 slot 4=ch8, GM finger bass, xposed +12, C-2 - F#3
Tk 14: USB Plugsound, mixer volume fairly low, this is the background pad overlay channel - ch Listen All, Play 14. range C2-C8
Tk 15 ch 15, sfz ch 15/1 This is set up as a SFX bank, just for fun
Tk 16 is set to Line In, for iPod backing tracks
I have EQ18, EQ10 and ParisEQ in various inout channels as needed, and Classic Limiter on the output.
Usage:
lower (primary) keyboard - I change channels to change instruments:
Ch 1: Channel 1, lets me play upper manual B3 if I wish,normally I won't select this channel on the lower keyboard.
Ch 2: Acoustic piano - Colossus Steinway is warm yet present
Ch 3: Electric piano - I have 7 variations available, still working on the presets but there is a lot of variety
Ch 4 or 5 - usually reserved for the upper manual to play FM7 or MinimogueVA
Ch 6: Lower manual B3, the volume pedal controls both manuals (and if I add pedals down the line, they'll work too.)
Ch 7: Acoustic bass and acoustic piano split, the piano is down an octave to get a good blend of lower and upper register.
Ch 8: Fingered electric bass and electric piano, piano responds to presets
Ch 9: Jaco Fretless bass and electric piano, piano responds to presets
Ch 10: Clav, plus other interesting keyboard alternative presets
Ch 11, 12 and 13: nothing (12 has a special patch, but it's useless for any other purpose
Ch 14: string pad: normally do not elect from here. This is activated by a transport button on the upper keyboard, and layers a pad behind the current piano/electric piano. Other transport buttons select which pad sound is used.
Ch 15: SFX, just for fun
CPU is at about 55% at idle, 53% available memory.
With this setup, I have a really huge assortment of options. Full Hammond sound, with drawbars (I miss the lower manual control, though.) Piano, electric pianos, clav,what more keys could you ask for? Classic DX7 adn Minimoog sounds, splits for solo gigs and on and on. Sfz with a good GM soundfont can easily be added (or replace the SFX bank) to add other instruments like brass pads - tho these are on the FM7. The pad-under-the-piano trick is an old one, but still sounds great...
I run this through a TOA D-4 mixer,almost impossible to find these days, but very cool - 4 inouts; the last has an XLR socket with phantom, all have left plug=left mono or a stereo TRS input. Right plug is mono if solo, or stereo R if both plugs are in. There is a foldback out and RCA line in also. On the front, each channel has bass/treble and pan, there is a dedicated mono sum with its own level and a tape in with level as well, all in a 1U device. Amp. 1U Stewart 1000 watt, 2 Bag End time-aligned TA12 Jrs. I made a custom stand from a good four-leg stand and some hardwae so the two keyboards are as close as possble (they're actualy velcroed to the stand and each other, very solid.)
Nirvana (NOT the band!!!) - and it's all lightweight and easily portable. I am finally feeling good about the capability of my performance rig, after 30 years of tryimg to solve the 450 lb Hammond Elephant problem and the 6-beer piano problem...
Oh, and if the Receptor fails, or something else goes totally haywire - the lower keyboard has onboard piano, electric piano, clav and a really cheesy organ, but it's enough to get through a gig!BTW, the organ is set to channels 1, 6 and 16 because I wanted the instruments in a logical prgression when selecting lower keyboard channels to select main sound - I also use this with just the lower keyboard (different multi, a lot of the same stuff) and with a different upper keyboard for other gigs (only till I can get the patches from the other keyboard mapped into this rig, though...)
