Rackmount Display/Keyboard for Receptor (? ... interesting)

[looneytunes]

Has anyone tried rackmount I/O like this with their receptor in a Road Rack? Seems like this might be ideal for a racked Receptor.

Regards,
Kevin L

[Hybernation]

Has anyone tried rackmount I/O like this with their receptor in a Road Rack? Seems like this might be ideal for a racked Receptor.

Regards,
Kevin L

Interesting concept. At that price though you can get a pretty nice laptop! Seems like a "rack mountable laptop without the cpu" should be cheaper than this

[looneytunes]

I saw this in an email ad from a vendor - it was about $400 cheaper than the retail. Still, at $1000, you probably could get a good laptop.

On the other hand, part of the reason for getting a receptor and racking it was to move towards a more roadworthy solution for gigging - this seems to cover making the I/O more roadworthy.

I'm still trying to rationalize it -- and I'm curious if any road-mongers with Receptor did something like this.

Regards,
Kevin L

[flattop]

I carry a 17" flat panel to each gig with a gig bag to put it in. The mouse tucks into the back of the rack. Takes about 3 minutes to set up. The flat panel and gig bag will cost you less than $200. Take the $800 you save and take your wife/gf/SO to an incredible B & B for a long weekend. They will then be much more inclined to tolerate your expensive musical desires.

[thesoundsmith]

I have an 8" touch-screen display I bring, but I was hoping someone would make drivers for it to use the touch/moouse functions. As a monitor, it's not bad - a bit fuzzy, cause the resolution is too low, but if you know your plugs, it's not a problem, really. I live with the trade-off, but I still haven't given up hope that some kind LINUX-lovin' soul will create drivers for these puppies and let us avoid the mouse/keyboard.

[guypelletier]

Now, talking about touch screen, that's something id really like!!! the problem is you need drivers and stuff... how can you install that in Receptor...???
(Funny, most of the controls in Receptor are 'touch screen ready" meaning there a bit big...!!!


So... any hints for the touch screen way of life with Receptor??


g

[thesoundsmith]

It's not a difficult problem - writing drivers is child's play for OS authors, the kind of thing you give to the new hire ("Oh, gee, do I gotta?" )

But it's a VERY low order priority for them, so we won't be seeing it for a long time (like once v2.0 is stable, which typically means v2.21) SO don't hold your breath, but if you were a Linux hacker - er, coder, anything is possible - if someone were to present Muse with a working and reasonably well tested driver set to be made optionally available, I'm willing to bet they would have some interest - on a totally caveat emptor solution...

[Paul D Smith]

My personal choice is a cheap second-hand IBM Thinkpad; install a streamlined Linux/BSD and a VNC viewer and you're good to go. It works out much cheaper than those rackmount things. If I could afford it I'd buy the Wacom Cintiq 1024x768 touchscreen and try to get it working.

[tmleith]

Take the $800 you save and take your wife/gf/SO to an incredible B & B for a long weekend. They will then be much more inclined to tolerate your expensive musical desires.

My nomination for post of the month. That's some sound investment advice.

I had reason to consider this very issue today as I delicately discussed with the GF my "need" for a new computer. She's clever, and it didn't take her long to realize the only thing my current setup can't accommodate are my more ludicrously ambitious--and CPU intensive--flights of musical fancy.

Alas, a long weekend in Montreal at a cushy B&B might be the answer! Now if only our feeble US dollar would suck it up and show a little backbone, fer crissake.

[MyMusic42]

Has anyone tried rackmount I/O like this with their receptor in a Road Rack? Seems like this might be ideal for a racked Receptor.

back to the original question of this thread, i was very intrigued by this option. i, too, don't want to use my laptop live, but would like a better solution that carrying around a screen, keyboard, and mouse.

even though i don't understand why the combo units you mentioned are so expensive, i was able to find some for as low as $760. still expensive, but a little more realistic (for me) than $1300 or $1400.

my plan is to get on of these and put them in an SKB 3 or 4 spcae rack. i've seen some rackable LCD's that only take up 1 rack space. the keyboard and LCD slide out and the keyboard has a trackball or touchpad already built in--thus i don't need to worry about a mouse.

overall i think it'll be an easier more compact solution than having lcd, mouse, keyboard, and receptor as seperate pieces. with them all contained in a rack, set up/tear down will be simpler. thanks for the heads up.

here's an example of a less expensive unit:
http://www.rackmountsales.com/15_Rackmo ... s_s/65.htm

[looneytunes]

Hi MM42,

I (sort-of) agree with you.

I am inclined to pay 'a bit' of a premium for IO and LCD - especially rackbound and engineered to handle road conditions. After all, this is part of the same reasoning why we bought Receptor.

However $1000+ is much more of a premium than I would personally wish to afford. Even $700+ gives me pause.

In general, I'm waiting to hear experiences from someone else who has gone this route, and how reliable it is. I would expect there to be little risk of failure (in comparison to using a dedicated laptop for the same application). I would also expect to hear of a higher convenience factor for being able to leave all connections wired within the Rack - leaving less to setup/breakdown before performances.

Anyway - I'm remaining optimistic and hoping to hear of some successes.

Regards,
Kevin L

[jimrogenski]

A better solution is to mount your LCD monitor on a microphone stand. In this way it can be positioned in front of your keyboard for ease of viewing, like a music stand. I use a moview monitor mount like this:http://moview.com/Handlers/ImageHandler ... ImageId=46 Removing the square base makes some cylindrical holes available which fit many microphone stands. (some modifying may be required) I find it very convenient for performances, however it is a bit clunky to transport. But the important thing is to make it easy to see during your performance. It's much more difficult to do with rack mounted equipment.

[MyMusic42]

looneytunes: i agree that $1000 on top of the price of the receptor itself is a lot, but if i can get it to work it'll all be worth it. right now, i'm still looking at prices and am seeing $650-800 for what i want. yes it is a lot, but it is such a CLEAN solution. the LCD is premounted and prewired. the receptor is prewired. all i really need to do is plug in a couple of power cords, a midi cable and a USB cable. if i get it to work, i'll send you pictures and let you know my experiences. if it doesn't work out, i'll also let you know that, too!


jimrogenski: i had not considered mounting the LCD on a microphone stand; thanks for the idea. i will consider it, however, my ultimate goal is to minimize setup as much as possible. having to bring a microphone stand and something to transport my LCD complicates transport and setup. i'd rather have everything all prewired and in the right place. i'm probably going to use an apex stand (i.e. http://www.zzounds.com/item--ULTAX48) and place the SKB rack/receptor/monitor on top. just to give myself a bit of comfort, i'll probably velcro the skb rack to the top the apex stand. i've put a 4 or 6 space SKB rack on top of an apex stand for years without any incidents, but a little velcro insurance never hurts!!!