Software

I (Joe) run Audiomulch on a mac (it’s available for PC as well). Audiomulch is a sound design application that I’ve been using for a few years and have grown to love immensely. It’s not a “kitchen sink” app (it doesn’t have oodles of plugins or sounds built in) but it’s extremely powerful and very extensible. This will be acting as the master clock so that the rest of our devices stay in sync, along with providing some custom-built synth sounds, drum programs and loops.

Matt runs Logic Pro 8 on a mac, specifically the MainStage component which is designed to be used as a live tool. Logic is a kitchen sink app – it’s got everything, including a huge range of instruments that Matt plays via his keyboard. It’s also got samplers, virtual synthesizers and a boatload of effects. It comes with a manual affectionately known as “the brick” which gets brought along to each of our rehearsals – put simply, it has a lot crammed into the package.

Hardware

Nothing too exotic here – just simple, reliable, (mostly) low-cost equipment.

• Two MacBook Pro laptops
  One early 2008 17″ (Joe’s)
  One mid 2009 13″ (Matt’s)
• Korg Electribe EMX-1
  Drum machine/sequencer and virtual analog monophonic synth. It’s got plenty of knobs and buttons which means that it can be interacted with easily live, which basically means it’s well suited to situations that require improvisation.
• Korg MicroKORG
  A very basic, no-nonsense synth. Can punch out some lovely warm pads and some monster basslines, while being simple and portable (and cheap!) enough to use casually.
• Akai MPD-24
  MIDI controller. Joe uses this to control sounds and parameters on basically any of the gear we use, including both software environments.
• M-Audio Keystation 88
  This is Matt’s MIDI controller keyboard. It’s got a huge number of sliders, knobs and buttons to rival a NASA control center! Matt can use this to play sounds on any of the synths and change parameters where-ever needed.
• Digidesign Mbox 2
  Joe’s audio and MIDI interface.
• Tascam US-122L
  Matt’s audio interface (it does MIDI too, but all his MIDI is USB or Network)
• Boss GT-6
  Joe uses this for his guitar, but it’s become increasingly useful as a MIDI controller. Often used to turn loops on or off when he’s busy playing guitar.

How we talk to each other

Mac OS X has a great feature called “Network MIDI” – basically, it’s a MIDI driver that sends MIDI messages over a network. As a result, we can wire up our two computers with a strand of network cable and access each other’s setups without having to connect up to a dozen MIDI cables.

We use MIDI Patchbay to re-route MIDI messages from one device to another. For example, if Matt wants to play the MicroKORG from his keyboard controller, he can make his keyboard transmit notes on Channel 6. My computer receives these messages, and uses MIDI Patchbay to send them across to the MicroKORG.

Thoughts (how can this be easier?)

In some senses this is a little more complex than it could be, mainly because of the ways we’ve decided to give ourselves control over each other’s equipment. It would be a lot simpler to simply have two separate universes, but the benefits of being able to squeeze as much functionality out of our gear as possible are appealing.

If you needed a simpler, easier-to-use setup you’d do well going with Ableton Live, which is the de facto standard for computer-driven live electronic performances. It’s another “kitchen sink” app, well suited to quickly getting things up and running. We considered running with this… but then didn’t because we were satisfied with what we were already happily using.

It’s all about letting people sing

We’ve found this something worth constantly reminding ourselves of, amidst all the geekery and excitement of discovery!

Prayer is highly recommended to keep all systems functional, both technical and spiritual.

Our set-up diagram

Finally, here’s the diagram we’ve drawn up to aid troubleshooting and set-up.

You can download and peruse a full size PDF (750kB) if you desire