VST Setup advice?

[michaelmcg92]

Hey guys
I am currently in my second year of studying music at college. Soon we will be starting a new block of Live Performance where we basically form a group and work on a setlist which could be 20mins-1hour.
I am usually limited to just piano playing but this year I am hoping to expand on to playing with different sounds using VSTs through my laptop. (of course it depends what music we do as a group).
But if I were to be doing this I wonder if you could give me some advice on what hardware I might need?

I have a Lenovo Z570 laptop, 6GB ram 2.3 I5 Processor etc, I have a USB-MIDI cable and would be using progs like xPand!, Alicias Keys & Session Strings (NI) and possibly Omnisphere. Thats all so far haha I wondered if I would have to connect my laptop to an external Audio Interface then from there to the PA system but im not sure :S help appreciated :wink:

p.s. If you really know your way round this stuff, info on connecting a keyboard & and an ipad 2 would be helpful too - just incase some DT songs pop up :biggrin: Sorry for the essay!

[mmichaelc]

You could just use the headphone socket on the laptop. It depends how much quality you want and how far you want to go. If you're doing gigs then an audio interface would be ideal.

Your keyboard should connect using the usb-midi cable so you have no problems there. You could plug the ipad into the PA as well. I think some companies sell jack adapters for them.

[pchanze]

I really recommend you to buy a usb audio card. The risk of buzz with the internal laptop card with a PA is fairly high ... There are some good one that are not really expensive (m-audio fasttrack for instance)

[SoulFire]

Get a USB Audio interface for sure. Get one with MIDI connectivity as well so you can plug your keyboard straight into it, instead of relying on a USB MIDI cable, which can be unreliable. As an interface, I recommend the Lexicon Lambda, it's great. From there, just run a line out of your USB Audio Interface straight into your PA and you should be fine :)

Also what host are you using, or planning on using? From personal experience and ease of use, I would recommend Acoustica Mixcraft 5, but if you want something more indepth take a look at some of the other ones on offer.

[michaelmcg92]

Hey guys thanks a lot for the replies this has helped a lot - looks like USB interfaces are the way to go :) lol just hard to know what'll work cos its not actually my PA system it'll just be whatever kind of setup they have at college or wherever (if) we end up doing gigs.

@SoulFire I have a copy of Brainspawns 'forte' - would you say mixcraft 5 was better? If we're going down that road, I use Pro Tools 10 for recording my compositions - would that be suitable? I wondered if PT would be too heavy on the system on top of my VSTs for live performance?

Thanks again guys :wink:

[SoulFire]

ProTools is a bit of a hardware hog yes, but it's always worth a shot. I haven't used ProTools as a host myself, but as far as I know it should work for what you're looking for. Some of the other guys on here may be able to help you with that.

http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/index.htm

Take a look at that if you're interested in Mixcraft tho. The main benefit I found with it is the ability to have unlimited tracks and unlimited layers per combi. Splits and layers are also SUPER easy to set up, which is a lot more than can be said for a lot of the other hosts. But like I said, if you already have ProTools, that's an incredibly powerful piece of software, so see what you can run with that without having to buy new stuff :)

[sparkey]

Audio interface is something that will be always useful

How your keyboard connects to the P.A.

You seemed a bit unsure so here is a run down
Basically if you are using a P.A in a practise room, you can take the 1/4 stereo outs, and plug it straight into the mixer (they all have line in's)
(the Audio interface has two 1/4 jacks on it, stereo)

If you are playing on a stage, they will have a snake/dropbox. This takes all the stage inputs to FOH, the mixing desk in front of the stage. These are XLR (mic) connectors exclusively.

The stage hands will have a D.I. unit which will accept your 1/4 outs and transform them into XRL inputs. so you don't have too worry about a thing

This is standard everywhere. I like to keep a D.I. just incase they don't have enough / whatever. But you don't need this as all engineers like to use their own D.I's

What interface. Honestly doesn't matter, just tick these boxes
-Don't bother with beringer / art
-2 mic inputs (very useful if you want to record anything later on)
-2 line outputs (you shouldn't need more unless you have hardware effects or -something)
-Midi I/O

(That said i use a beringer interface live, because its small, but its cheap and nasty, I only use it because it has to be plugged in for my strange MIDI keyboard to function, but they are both industructable, so they suit my purposes, but I wouldn't wish them upon anyone else)

Don't go overboard, nice and simple

DAWS.

Work with what you enjoy

Personally pro tools is a bad idea live.
What if it crashes, you are waiting at least 5mins for it too start again
Plus how long your laptop takes to start up...that is not a good look


Stick with Forte.
Learn how to use it's racks, it is designed for live use, very handy tool


I use Cantabile live myself, same thing as forte
I find these far more intuitive for a keyboard player.

Also more resist to crashes, and easier to boot up.

using a full featured daw live would suit a electronic musician, who is triggering and controlling loops and full audio sounds kinda thing.

pro tools when recording, I would rather shoot myself in the foot then take it with me on stage.

Hope this helps =)

[mmichaelc]

-Don't bother with beringer / art


I didn't know art were in the same league as beringer...

Also, +1 on forte or cantible. Really good programs.

[sparkey]

In terms of reliability I would rate Behringer higher.

But they are both budget equipment

ART tends to make specialised oddities for cheap that are hit and miss
And not really moving up in the world

Behringer does everything, typically solid items at a reduced fidelity
That said, like Korean cars 5 years ago, they are moving up in the world quite strongly

That's my opinion anyway where would you put them