Linnstrument in a band: boring practicalities of your setup, please—before I ditch operating systems for Eurorack

[jsterne]

Hi Everyone,

EDIT: simpler version of the question: you have a Linnstrument, an iPad or iPhone, another MIDI interface with knobs and such, and an audio ADA for an amp or PA. What hub are you using to hook it up?

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Happy Linnstrument user here. For those of you who play with other people in a band setting, how do you hook it up to an iOS device, audio device and knob controller, and then hook that up to a PA or amp with a minimum of cabling, power supplies, and such? Do you know of a hub that doesn’t begin with a tiny cable hanging off the iOS device that is likely to fall out at the worst possible time?

More info: it’s a rock band, we play originals, have a practice space where we write and rehearse, and we gig, often in “less than ideal” performance situations.

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TLDR background: I’m a bassist by trade but have started using Linnstrument in one of my bands as a change-up for parts of songs. I love it, my band mates love it. I mostly do ambient sounding piano parts and stabs, or weird and wild synth sounds and arpeggios. But I’ve run into some boring issues that have nothing to do with the design of the instrument.

I’ve been using a laptop because of course it’s the most powerful solution. Mostly it’s out of the way, but I feel like it’s the giant object waiting to be broken, and every time I want to adjust something, I have to light up the screen and then mouse click and squint. So I’m considering iOS. There are great pianos and synths, and I could 3D print a stand to put the iPhone or iPad on my Linnstrument. But then: DONGLES. I want to also use a box of knobs (DJ Tech Tool Midi Fighter Twister) for doing crazy stuff with delays and such in breakdowns and at the end of songs and have visual feedback. Apple now as JUST ONE input on my iPad and iPhone and NO headphone out.

How do I hook it up so the Linnstrument is powered, the iPhone or Pad gets power and MIDI from the Linnstrument and knob box (also USB), and audio interface (also USB)? Every hub for iPad I’ve found seems to have a tiny cable which means it hangs off the end. Ditto the “camera connection kit”. I don’t want the thing falling out at the worst possible time.

Alternatively, I could give up, buy an Expert Sleepers general CV for GM piano sounds (good enough for live rock! Especially with the Linnstrument’s expressivity), and repurpose a 3U Eurorack case. The General CV is stupid expensive for what it is, but I’d use the stuff in other contexts, and you can’t argue with 1 function per knob for effects and an analog filter for nasty basslines. (Or attenuators for voltage control to create crazy patches and then return to “home base).

TIA.

[c0nsilience]

If I was playing live with the LinnStrument I would connect it and an iPad/iPhone to an iConnect MIDI interface and have that connected to my MB Pro->DAW. I would have the audio from the DAW come out to a Universal Audio Apollo interface and run that into a QSC TouchMix 16, which would then go to the IEMs/monitors/mains.

[mijiti]

I use my Linnstrument live at church. I use my macbook pro as the synth (primarily Audiomodeling instruments) - that powers the Linnstrument and lasts for a rehearsal and service without using the PSU (about 1.5 hours, although not playing all the time. I have 50% battery remaining at the end, and the battery is old and 'shot to pieces'

I agree on the 'thing waiting to be broken', and have no great solution, but have avoided the pointy-squinty problem by setting up the Linnstrument&DAW to control everything, so I don't have to look at it when playing. I change instruments through changing the channel and use the split mode with CCs and map the CCs to the synth params like 'bowing mode' and 'harmonic content' that I fiddle with less and use the real-time expressiveness for breath and expression-type activities.

For sound output, I have a DIY box that plugs into the headphone jack that gives me a headphone feed and has an XLR to feed the PA. It has a couple of volume knobs so I can turn my PA output off if I need to practise during the talking between songs. And I can do my own foldback mix

[Tj Shredder]

I have an iPad mini as well as a Macbook Air 11“. I would expect the iPad to break before the Air. In your case I would take the Air for its power and use Mainstage as synth rig. No need to look at the screen if you prepare it well... (for PC there is Gig Performer as Mainstage alternative)
With the I pad and a camera connection kit it should work as well though... Even without the cck it could well run on the iPad battery for the length of a show, but batteries will loose capacity over time...

[SteveElbows]

I generally think that dongles hanging off the ipad look scarier/riskier than they actually are. They look a little clunky and can get in the way a bit but they dont generally fall out, and in scenarios where they might fall out, that can be preferential to the alternative which is the ipad being pulled to the floor via the cable being yanked.

If you are only worried about powering usb peripherals then a powered usb hub is sensible once you go past more than 1 usb device (or if your one device is a power guzzler by usb standards since the ipad has its limits). If you want the ipad to receive power as well then the 2nd version of the camera connection kit is the way to go, since as well as a usb port it gives you a lightning port that you can plug into the normal ipad charger. Then with that plugged into the mains you can probably get away with using an unpowered usb hub for quite a bunch of usb peripherals.

The situation is a little different with the latest ipad pros that have a usb c port. You'll probably be able to run a simple and fairly long usb c cable from the ipad to a hub. And these ipads with usb c can supply a lot more power to peripherals, and I was able to use an extremely cheap, unpowered usb c->4 usb 3 port hub and run the linnstrument in full power mode at the same time as a usb-powered audio interface and some other usb devices. But this was all running off the ipad battery, which was impressive but obviously has a downside. Since usb c has a lot more power options, I'm hoping that there are/will be powered hubs that can charge the ipad at the same time, but I havent explored that angle yet, and they might come with the short, built in cables so start to resemble dongles again.

[John the Savage]

If it helps at all, here's an under-the-hood look at my current travel rig:

Hmm... Not sure why my photos won't attach... Sorry.

Cheers!

[jcub]

I use LinnStrument on stage with an iPad holder attached to a keyboard stand with my other keyboards and LinnStrument attached to a Line 6 Helix via USB. I have an extra long USB braided cable from the LinnStrument to the Apple adapter with USB and Apple lightening inputs. Animoog is my app of choice for live use.

[John the Savage]

The Line 6 Helix is currently at the center of my live rig too. A useful and unique box it is: i.e. connectivity like no other. If I had to replace it, I'd be at a loss for routing solutions, to be sure (nervous grin).

Cheers!

[Tj Shredder]

If it helps at all, here's an under-the-hood look at my current travel rig:

Hmm... Not sure why my photos won't attach... Sorry.

Too big? try jpg and smaller. I think the limit is 500k... (ran against that as well in the past...)
Or upload it to a picture host and embed it...

[jsterne]

We used email. John was super helpful walking me through it.