Thinking out loud about a computer based live setup...

[laxu]

Well, as I always have my main Macbook with me, redundancy isn't an issue.
Also, as said, Minis still have a moving fan inside, whereas MBAs don't.

IMO having fans is a plus. It's not like Mac fans are that loud on the M-series machines and it would be a good fallback to avoid any throttling or cramped quarters issues.

Mac Minis don't make too much sense to me in this scenario when you would still want a display, keyboard and mouse to use if needed. Sure, you could use portable USB monitors and a BT mouse/trackpad, but at that point...why not just use what is built into the laptop?

iPad is not going to work that well for controlling MacOS, it's built more as a "use the iPad as an extra screen" where you can do almost fuck all with the touchscreen itself.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Are you going to be working in a more solo performance gig situation now?

No, at least not really. I have a little low profile duo with a bass player, but in that setting I prefer to keep all tech stuff minimal (apart from using the extremely simple looper of my rusty Zoom G3 here and there).

I assumed you meant for the band gigs

I would as well use that setup for band gigs (simply because it'd just be a killer sounding setup, better than anything I've ever used before), but as said, there's absolutely no necessity to improve anything there, my current setup would suit me for absolutely anything I'd ever been asked to deliver. As said, this is all about "want", not "need".

 

[Sascha Franck]

IMO having fans is a plus. It's not like Mac fans are that loud on the M-series machines and it would be a good fallback to avoid any throttling or cramped quarters issues.

Fans can fail. And in case they do, it's game over. So no fans is a plus for me. I'm never experiencing any throttling, either, simply because that MBA has an insane amount of CPU headroom for anything I could ever think of. I just tried, it's even 4 fully maxed instances of HXN that I can run on one single realtime thread.

Mac Minis don't make too much sense to me in this scenario when you would still want a display, keyboard and mouse to use if needed. Sure, you could use portable USB monitors and a BT mouse/trackpad, but at that point...why not just use what is built into the laptop?

Exactly. And when you calculate the extra cost and extra hassle, those additional, say, 3-400 Euros pay of pretty quickly.

iPad is not going to work that well for controlling MacOS, it's built more as a "use the iPad as an extra screen" where you can do almost fuck all with the touchscreen itself.

Yeah. I'd really only use it as a Mainstage remote control or for running TouchOSC. Or maybe for some funny gesture fun in the more distant future.

 

[dk_ace]

So I gather you're not using any modelers?
We're talking 4ms max here. In physical world terms, that equals 1.3 meters. Do you have your cabs mounted straight to your head and can we have a picture of that?



This can happen with any setup. I had more amps going down than digital devices during gigs. And that's what backups are for.



I want to never stop twiddling.



No, I don't need it at all. This proposed setup is all about "want". In terms of what I need, I could've stopped around 3-4 years ago already.
So this entire thing isn't even remotely driven by real demands but purely by something that I want for fun.



Never. The sounds I'm getting out of that stuff inspire me to play more and they inspire me to play different things.
Have a look at your very own Sunday Ambient series. Is that following the EJ approach? Not at all. And yet you seem to be having quite some fun, plus it generates a lot of musical output. It's basically the same thing, really. Just that I'm using a guitar for things and can as well use the setup for any traditional tones as well - which, in return, will even be the best tones I ever had and super easy to deal with as I will be the one to define all the ways how I like to deal with them (global blocks included, just as one practical example).



I did exactly that for one musical show and later on expanded it a bit into a hybrid setup for another musical show.
I stopped using it because a) it was only really decent in an orchestra pit, b) under very controlled musical conditions, simply because there was too little CPU juice available back then to allow for some leeway, so every patch had to be programmed per tune and I couldn't slap much "just in case" stuff in.
Later on it got a short ressurrection, I was then fooling around with a modular host (namely Energy XT, which unfortunately stopped being developed any further), but CPU power still wasn't there.
And I also used my Macbook for two gigs that came up when I wasn't expecting them, so I had to travel there from my parents home where I fortunately had my Rig Kontrol with me.

Anyhow, all of these gigs went absolutely fine. But things have been severely limited in terms of sound quality, sound choice and handling. These days, that's completely different, my actual MBA could possibly run 20 of those rigs on one single CPU core.

Yeah the NI rig tonally wasn’t anything that wowed me. It sounded fine, nothing remarkable but it was definitely a good tone. They were always really stoked about how it sounded which is all that matters.

D

 

[Tito83]

I was thinking a lot about this a few weeks back. Mini PC's became quite powerful these days, not only Mac's - but I understand why go with it. The idea of using multiple plugins is a very very cool one, but for me at least quite hard to make it all gig ready as far as programming goes. If I was going to be stuck with a single plugin, I might just stick with a hardware modeler.


Then I found this:



I mean, tone wise this is really close to everything one might ever want, including the Jam Origin midi stuff makes it even more over the top. Programming seems like a nightmare.

If anyone is into gaming, Steam released the Stream OS, which can be installed on different portable hardware. I imagined someone could release a Gig OS, designed to be installed on these mini pcs and make the whole process a bit easier, with faster boosts, free of bloatware, optimized for audio and more reliable. The goal would be to create a certain standard of operation to facilitate integration. If maybe this gets popular enough, it might put enough pressure on plugin developers to follow the set standard. Starting with a store might be a stretch if not done by a big company, but I could see it being monetized by having a store selling verified plugins. All the installation and authentication handled for you. Just like Steam OS, you buy and play.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I was thinking a lot about this a few weeks back. Mini PC's became quite powerful these days, not only Mac's - but I understand why go with it. The idea of using multiple plugins is a very very cool one, but for me at least quite hard to make it all gig ready as far as programming goes. If I was going to be stuck with a single plugin, I might just stick with a hardware modeler.


Then I found this:



I mean, tone wise this is really close to everything one might ever want, including the Jam Origin midi stuff makes it even more over the top. Programming seems like a nightmare.

If anyone is into gaming, Steam released the Stream OS, which can be installed on different portable hardware. I imagined someone could release a Gig OS, designed to be installed on these mini pcs and make the whole process a bit easier, with faster boosts, free of bloatware, optimized for audio and more reliable. The goal would be to create a certain standard of operation to facilitate integration. If maybe this gets popular enough, it might put enough pressure on plugin developers to follow the set standard. Starting with a store might be a stretch if not done by a big company, but I could see it being monetized by having a store selling verified plugins. All the installation and authentication handled for you. Just like Steam OS, you buy and play.

I was literally going to dig up and post this exact video. I love the concept and the execution but when he dives into the programming is when I check right out!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Then I found this:

Great idea but a nightmare to set up.