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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Jul 2012
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I use a package called OnSong with my iPad2 which can also put out lyrics to the screen if you want; shows the chords and lyrics of course, and allows you to create "sets". You can also auto-pull back chords and lyrics from the web if you need a particular song. iTunes is useless. This package was created mainly for people playing in churches I think, and so created specifically for playing your backing tracks. It also always cues at 0 and and you have the option to stop and when it starts it starts automatically from 0 which is good. Loads of other stuff. The only thing I wish it included was EQ for individual songs, which would really polish it off, I've written to them about that. Here is a link http://www.onsongapp.com/perform/It also can be used with a foot pedal for starting and stopping songs which seems cool. Cheers Greg
Last edited by greg64; 04/15/13 08:16 AM.
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Joined: Sep 2009
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I've been using an iPad with the ForScore app for a couple of years now.
ForScore can display a fake book page with the audio file already attached. Two birds, one stone.
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iPads are very cool and all that but Pooh is talking about cheapest. $500-600 is not cheap. I keep looking at them, lots of friends have them and I think they are cool and pretty useful but every time I think about it I find something else more useful to me for that kind of money. $200 or so I would probably get one but not six.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Just to give some perspective I'll describe my system that is on the other end of extreme.For me I not only want to sound like a band I want to feel like a band.
I use a laptop with RB. My tracks are then setup to go to an ESI Gigaport HD+ that is a USB 8 channel Playback interface. These 8 channels then go into a 16 channel Hardware mixer. I use a TC Helicon Harmony GXT for vocals into 2 more channels and finally play bass through a Tech 21 VT Bass pre into another channel.The output of the mixer then goes to a 31 band mono EQ. The output of the EQ to a BBE Sonic Maximiser.Then to an active xover. The Freq. above 100 Hz goes to a 1000 Watt Crown and out to a pair of 15"& horn tops. The freq below 100Hz goes to a 1500 watt Crown and out to a pair of 15" subs.
I have pre built everything so that setup is about 20 minutes.
I also have a pair of 10" subs and 10" + horn tops that I can use instead of the big speakers for smaller gigs. All else stays the same.
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John,
I believe that the TC Helicon Harmony GXT is designed to work from a guitar input. Does it work well with your bass signal for harmonies, or do you set the key manually?
Regards,
Bob
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Quote:
John,
I believe that the TC Helicon Harmony GXT is designed to work from a guitar input. Does it work well with your bass signal for harmonies, or do you set the key manually?
Regards,
Bob
I have built a style that is just piano playing chords in root position.I then convert this midi part into audio. This track is not routed through the ESI card but to the internal card in the lappy. The head phone out is fed to the GXT guitar in. Works real well.You never hear this part as I don't feed the guitar output of the GXT to anything.
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Interesting. Thanks. I'm toying with the idea of using a GXT for my wife's harmony vocals, but she plays bass. Might work better for us to take my guitar output to feed the GXT. And here I thought I had all the gear I would ever need!  Regards, Bob
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In my opinion, using a laptop opens more possibilities than other systems that do nothing but play a track.
The Laptop lets you play from a sequencing program. Sequencing programs (Like Power Tracks, Real Band, Sonar etc) usually have the ability to work with both audio and midi, and also offer more routing possibilities. Routing options can let you do things like send the bass track to a bass amp, guitar track to a guitar amp etc
The MIDI can be used to control devices such as lights, volume, effects, patch changes etc all without having to stomp on pedals or distract you in any way.
Midi driven devices also include vocal processors, which can let one performer sound like many by providing harmonies in real-time.
A sequencer also lets you keep your songs divided into separate tracks... so if a friend wants to sit in for a few songs or the whole gig, you can must the instrument he plays. Or, if you use the tracks to flesh out the sound of a whole band, and the keyboard guy gets sick or quits before a gig, you can turn that track back on and never miss a beat.
And as Notes Norton said, it gives you enhanced ability to change songs on the fly
With a laptop You can play from chord charts and keep the lyrics on screen
and many sequencers include a "juke box" feature that lets you set up play lists, and then it plays the songs in order. There are also USB foot pedals available for not much money that let you control the flow of the songs hands-free
And these days laptops are often less expensive than "pads&pods"... its a case of supply and demand. Now is a very good time to buy a laptop... you can get a lot of functionality for not much money
Anyway, these are the reasons why I opt to use a laptop.
But, as stated earlier.. if I only wanted to play a backing track, I'd definitely use an MP3 player of some kind.
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I am looking for the simplest, least expensive product to play back MP3s - with a decent sized screen that I can actually read/scroll the song titles and obviously with decent quality... I am NOT interested in a phone... thanks.
i5 3.20GHz, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD OS, 12tb HDD, 4gb gForce vid card, 32" monitor, Audient id44, Win10 x64, BiaB/RB 2023, Reaper 6,IK Multimedia Total Studio 3.5 MAX, Waves 10
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Pat, Notes and others make some excellent points for using a laptop. In fact in an earlier post,. I also extolled the laptop/netbook virtues. However, recently I've had problems with it. Initially, I thought it was the mp3 software player that I was using so I switched to Windows media player. It does the same thing with wmp also--sort of like some buffering process like when you send something to the printer.
The problem is this.....When I push play for the 1st song, it doesn't play and the little circle just keeps spinning. This only happens with the first song. I use playlists for the types of gigs we do. So far, the only way I've found to combat this is to get everything setup and then put the netbook to sleep. I wake it up when we get to the gig. I've had this happen twice and the last time was with an audience of a couple hundred people. Well, that's pretty embarrassing. I'm going to check and see if the same thing happens if I don't load up a player pgm and just double click on a tune in a folder instead. In the mean time, I've ordered a little Phillips mp3 player to use as a backup. There's really no time to futz with this kind of stuff in the middle of a church service. The sound quality is fine. I only use single play. My ears are wide open to suggestions. Oh yeah, I also have a Nexus 10 that I haven't tried for gigs since I'm not certain of it's reliability.
Stan
Cornet Curmudgeon
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I tried to find a standalone mp3 player that would do single play, but after hours of searching, they no longer seem to be produced.
Bob (Notes) way is the best and most practical for the types of gigs we do. We don't have any gigs where we play more than 18- 20 songs so we just have those songs in a folder in the order that we want to play them. To do this, we number the songs ( 01, 02, etc..). We use Win Media Player. With the folder open we just double click on a song. I use the mouse pad to go to the next song. We talk to the audience in between songs except at church.
I took most of the programs off of our ASUS Eee netbook. The wifi is set for manual connect only. I upgraded to a usb external sound card -- Creative Soundblaster THX which comes with a volume control and remote. The sound now is pretty good compared to no sound card which is terrible. Lots of good reviews on the THX which was only $56 on Amazon.
Cornet Curmudgeon
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"...but I am looking for the simplest, least expensive product to play back MP3s - with a decent sized screen that I can actually read/scroll the song titles and obviously with decent quality... I am NOT interested in a phone... thanks." Laptop/Windows Media Player/MiniLyrics. Works great. Here's the link for MiniLyrics: http://www.crintsoft.com/ Free. Can't get much cheaper than that. Regards, Bob
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I'm wood shedding now getting rid of the rust. I should be ready in a month or two for some guitar trio gigs with biab holding down the bass & drums & yours truly on the guitar.
I'm thinking of a lappie with biab & usb output. I think I'll run my guitar into a pod. I kind of like the thing.
For a portable PA rig I'm thinking of something like the Fender Passport 500 Portable PA.
Comments.
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The Fender Passport is a toy. Better a small mixer and a pair of powered speakers on sticks.
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The Fender Passport is a toy. Better a small mixer and a pair of powered speakers on sticks. 90 DB is right on track with his advice. I LOVE my 15" Mackie Thumps fed via laptop headphone/RCA jacks through a small mixer. Break A Leg! Later,
Last edited by Danny C.; 06/12/13 12:32 PM. Reason: added info
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