One man band :)

raindog.promo · 18-01-2012 7:03pm #1

It gives me great pleasure to showcase my set-up which I've finally completed.

From left to right:
Bottom row:

Boss RC50 Loop station - This sets the tempo and holds 3 drum loops.

Guitar Pedals - Tuner, Space Echo (inc. Reverb - There's none on the amp) and overdrive. I have more, but these will do for now, degradation of my hearing has meant I've used distortion less and less.

Foot Pedal Keyboard - I'm using this to play basslines mostly, although it can play up to 5 instruments (synths on reason) simultaneously.

Midi Foot Controller - This is used to trigger samples and a number of other functions on reason. The foot controls let you fade samples in and out.

Top Row:
Fender Jaguar Special HH - Not the greatest guitar, but not the worst.

Laptop - This is running Reason 6 and will be replaced at some stage for something that is faster and sturdier as I plan on using this setup live. Any suggestions on makes and types of laptop to consider are very welcome.

Fender Amp - nice practise tube amp but it's only 5 watt (I think), I have a Laney LC30 II for live playing.

Oxygen 8v2 keyboard - Handy to have for whatever is needed.

Studio Monitors - Adam A-7 - I love these, give off a great sound with lots of clarity and a totally new experience when just listening to your record collection through them.

The reason for the setup is that I miss playing live and tried for ages to get a band together but it just wasn't happening, so it'll be myself and Lucy Gunning providing vocals. It'll take a fair bit of practise to get everything working but I'm very excited about it.
If you're interested, demos of some of the tunes I'll be working on playing live can be found here:
Soundcloud Link

Thanks.

JonathanAnon · 19-01-2012 1:05am

I bet you dont even play anything

What's the writing on the keys of the keyboards.. the notes?

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 1:20am

JonathanAnon wrote: »

I bet you dont even play anything

No, I have a team of highly trained Grunka Lunkas for that type of stuff, the music business today isn't about talent for god sake!!!

JonathanAnon wrote: »

What's the writing on the keys of the keyboards.. the notes?

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 3:17am

Are you talking about the other keyboard on the wall?

I was teaching myself music theory and working out piano so , they were a handy place to put down the basic theory. It worked too

Jambo221 · 19-01-2012 4:12am

Very nice setup, would love to have those Taurus style bass pedals.

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 4:22am

Jambo221 wrote: »

Very nice setup, would love to have those Taurus style bass pedals.

Thank you

If you do decide to buy, I recommend getting the 17 note ones instead of just the octave. I wish I'd thought of it before buying. I have to "retune" the pedals depending on what key the song is in, so instead of knowing the notes and playing them I have to learn the pattern of the pedals instead, if you know what I mean.

The MP117 seems like good value on thomann or musicstore.de. I really should have exchanged the PK-5A when I got it, but was too excited about trying it out.

Jambo221 · 19-01-2012 6:38am

Ah, of course, you wouldn't think you'd really need the range. Then again, I have a 49 key midi controller, it does the job but a full range would be great.

At the moment my main setup is my live rig, a Boss GT-8, 4-cabled into a half-stack and MIDI-USB to a netbook to control settings. The next thing on the list of things to get is a separate polyphonic tuner and hopefully a Morpheus Drop-tune. The MP117 would be great to mess about with, but it'll have to wait I guess.

Could you assign some extra note triggers to the Midi FC? Boost the range a little.

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 8:07am

Jambo221 wrote: »

Ah, of course, you wouldn't think you'd really need the range......

Yeah, but you don't realise until you actually sit down and look at it that all that melody has to be in the right order, for example if the c was a high c but you only had a low c, that's the whole melody pretty much ruined. Once you sit down and try to do it, it becomes very obvious. But you kind of assume out of hand that everything will be fine. At least that's what I did.

Jambo221 wrote: »

Could you assign some extra note triggers to the Midi FC? Boost the range a little.

I can, and I hadn't thought of that! I doff my hat to you sir, much obliged.
\m/

noby · 19-01-2012 10:34am

That's all very well, but where are the cymbals for your knees?

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 10:38am

noby wrote: »

That's all very well, but where are the cymbals for your knees?

Ah, that's what the nagging feeling I've been having was....

Jambo221 · 19-01-2012 6:54pm

noby wrote: »

That's all very well, but where are the cymbals for your knees?

haha, a couple of accelerometers on the knees to activate the crashes, and one on the foot to control the bass drum :P

Maybe a breath controller to control a guitar synth with a harmonica effect

Would love to see a voice-to-midi where you could control a synth by humming into a mic.

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 7:01pm

And my first and final gig ends when I have a massive and fatal heart attack half way through the fifth tune

rcaz · 19-01-2012 9:50pm

That's quality!

Savage monitors! What interface(s) are you using?

raindog.promo · 19-01-2012 10:11pm

El Pr0n wrote: »

That's quality!

Savage monitors! What interface(s) are you using?

If by interface you mean soundcard, then I'm using something called a UGM 96. A direct plug in type thing for guitars for use with guitar rig type programs. Could most likely do with an upgrade. I was using a Lexicon alpha before that which was good but the levels on one of the outputs started dropping for some reason, most likely old age.

UGM96:

Not a bad little interface. I bought it for approx €100 a while ago. As I said, I think its main function is for playing guitar through an amp modeler program.
As a result, the latency is quite good. There does tend to be a few pops and noises from time to time though in the audio supply from it.
Review

Alpha Lexicon:

This is what I was using before and quite liked. Lots of decent features and good latency as well.
Stats/features

*NOTE* I downloaded and used ASIO4ALL drivers when running these interfaces. The ASIO4ALL driver is very easy to use and understand.

rcaz · 19-01-2012 11:22pm

raindog.promo wrote: »

If by interface you mean soundcard, then I'm using something called a UGM 96. A direct plug in type thing for guitars for use with guitar rig type programs. Could most likely do with an upgrade. I was using a Lexicon alpha before that which was good but the levels on one of the outputs started dropping for some reason, most likely old age.

Oh, cool. Then what about MIDI interface?

raindog.promo · 20-01-2012 3:20am

El Pr0n wrote: »

Oh, cool. Then what about MIDI interface?

A simple "Art" USB interface. one midi in, one midi out and one USB input.

2ZKlJldbqv3VSumZaBAbPVYwnlHk6mkvT9e9dNS-4YR2V9Sj3Ve-RiMqdah27ozR1SVILjHSaWfsI5HZpWqjIYxbTIEPHjxNJE7OeM5Cx6uqzNwfU8u4kCGmvHZ9Agvvais8RxIf1UcYGit23nInBQScxRaox1lt

2ZKlJldbqv3VSumZaBAbPVYwnlHk6mkvT9e9dNS-4YR2V9Sj3Ve-RiMqdah27ozR1SVILjHSaWfsI5HZpWqjIYxbTIEPHjxNJE7OeM5Cx6uqzNwfU8u4kCGmvHZ9Agvvais8RxIf1UcYGit23nInBQScxRaox1lt

€30-ish in Music Maker, I think.

raindog.promo · 15-11-2012 4:57am

And nearly a year later, the finished setup:

[IMG][/img]

slavetothegrind · 15-11-2012 5:29pm

very impressive, you must be a multi tasking machine!

you have to let us know when you play i have to see this in action!:)

raindog.promo · 15-11-2012 6:18pm

slavetothegrind wrote: »

very impressive, you must be a multi tasking machine!

you have to let us know when you play i have to see this in action!:)

Thanks. Got a good deal on somewhere to rehearse locally so only now am I working on the sound of the tunes (loads of reworking and learning/improving how to use Ableton and Kontakt was needed first) but plan to start gigging soon and get some recordings done now.

Some demos of tunes and experimenting with loops and programming can be heard here:
http://facebook.com/yourheartisadrummachine

And if anyone knows a violinist that would be interested in jamming, I'd love to talk to them!

\m/

Oink · 16-11-2012 2:03pm

Ok stop right there.

Seriously now.

What I want to know is: HOW did you talk the missus into letting you use the sunroom :-) ?

raindog.promo · 16-11-2012 3:38pm

Oink wrote: »

Ok stop right there.

Seriously now.

What I want to know is: HOW did you talk the missus into letting you use the sunroom :-) ?

Alas, I have no missus.
But the whole thing can be packed up and moved in 10 - 15 minutes. I'm planning on getting some BYOB gigs on the go or maybe playing in smaller venues which wouldn't have a PA so it's all focused towards being easy to move and setup. I have OCD

Gaspode · 20-11-2012 9:01am

You must have some feckin' memory to know what knob to push or crank to pull at the right moment, I can barely manage stepping on a volume pedal without forgetting my lyrics or the place in the song!
I've a bad habit too of looking down when hitting a pedal - with your setup my neck would be in a brace within a week.

Would love something like that though, fair play to you. You could make a mint renting it out to boardsies I'd say.

raindog.promo · 20-11-2012 10:02am

Gaspode wrote: »

You must have some feckin' memory to know what knob to push or crank to pull at the right moment, I can barely manage stepping on a volume pedal without forgetting my lyrics or the place in the song!
I've a bad habit too of looking down when hitting a pedal - with your setup my neck would be in a brace within a week.

Would love something like that though, fair play to you. You could make a mint renting it out to boardsies I'd say.

It's all to do with programming. Hours and hours and hours and hours of programming

The trick is to get one push of a pedal to do as much as is possible. But setting it up is a complete time-burgler.

One man band :)

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