Solo Performers

[nickstmoritz]

Hello to everyone

I am a solo performer in pubs and clubs UK. Hard work on your own, but you do get to keep all the money...bwah ha ha ha

Are there any other solo's out there - if so, what is your set up? How do you play your backing? What's your system?

I have recently moved to a Yamaha QY100 which imports midis and replays them rather nicely. The only problem is the loading gap between songs. This takes a minute which I think is too long. So I recently moved to recording all my songs onto mini disk, this speeds things up a bit.

Tell me yours and I will tel you more of mine

[Suzanne]

Hi Nick

I'm also a solo performer. I use a Roland MTS300 Midi Sequencer to play my midis and it works fine. :)

[Nyxan]

Hi Nick,
I also do some solo performing and like you I use a Yamaha sequencer but I use the QY700 and instead of loading the song into the machine I leave them as midi and hit the preplay button.
Makes for a faster song turnaround

[wolfie5150ca]

Hey nick
I'm in a duet and i currantly use my computer.
ive strung all my midi file in 4 usable sets, have programed
stops in between and also use it to change midi chanels
for my effect racks. The program is Cubase VST 5.0 bt
Steinberg....very user friendly and effeciant....i've also recorded
some back up vocals included in the midi files

[nickstmoritz]

Thanks for all your replies.

I am interested in wolfie's setup - using Cubase on the PC - what generates the sound...the PC? or an external tone generator?

Also - how do you record voice into midi? I'm still new to this game so I would be very interested how this works.

thanks friends

:p

[wolfie5150ca]

the sound is totally generated by the sound card...the better the card the better the quality...right now i'm using a sound blaster live card......which is internal to the computer
cubase uses the basic 128 midi sounds that are standard
midi instruments...i've had people comment on how true the sound is...they thought there was 4 and 5 piece band playing
without looking at us...

[wolfie5150ca]

once the midi file has been configured to your liking
(i.e. deleted parts such as harmonies or guitars or tempo
changes), cubase allows 96 separate midi track and
i believe 24 audio tracks. you can import wave files or record
your own vocals thru the mic. input on the back of the sound card.
then...you can add a billion different effects for your vocals or recorded instruments thru cubase with their many effect racks

[wolfie5150ca]

cubase is the best piece of equipment i have...although there
are other programs out there like cakewalk...i cant comment on
how good they are...i found cubase user friendly and consistant

i also tried recording my own c.d. with this program.....it was as if
it was proffesionally done. i couldnt tell the difference after the
final mix... hope this helps
any questions...you can reach me at
drust@cogeco.ca

[nickstmoritz]

David

thanks for all the info, I understand how it works now. That's really useful info and has got me thinking.

This obviously means at gigs you have to cart your computer around!! I have a laptop, but the sound card can't be changed, so I am assuming that you lug a desktop pc and monitor around with you?

again thanks for all your help. This has been very useful

Nick

[Ronny]

I work a two piece and run my midis thru a Yamaha PSR 640. Am generally very pleased with the results. The only thing is the guitar sounds are crap and my partner only plays rhythm so I rely on the keyboard for lead bits so generally we tend to steer clear of songs with huge solos.
I tend to think it's the sound system I use which gives the great sound. Use 1.6k h&h rig.
Played a gig recently and after the beer break we played Californication. Someone came up to us after the gig and said they actually thought it was the cd in the pub, the quality was so good.
As for loading times that can be a problem but I find the bigger the file the longer it takes to load. Generally I go for the smallest midi file of a particular song that I can get, try not to exceed 35,000 - 40,000 bytes.
I have found that the bigger files are not necessarily the best. Loading times can be a problem when people are dancing so I'm considering buying a second keyboard, running it thru the pa with the Yamaha and flipping between the two.

[wolfie5150ca]

nick

your right...i lug the pc and monitor....but it beats
setting up a drum kit...he he he

i wish i had the dough to get a lap top to use instead

i understand an external sound card can be purchased



If music be the food of love....play on!

[willi001]

WOW, LOTS OF EXCELLENT INFO..I am playing in a 4 piece band(well 3 players and a singer) our guitarist is more rythm so we use a Korg Trinity on some songs to fill in the sounds. I use Cubase to do some editing and do the rest right on the sequencer. I really enjoy the full sound we can get....
Willi...

[tillerman]

I can't even imagine! Good luck,Though!

[Paddy]

Wow the Korg Trinity: we take our hats off to you Korg.

Nick, I us a QY700, which is pretty damn good for the money and you can get a second hand one for about £300. I take my hat off to you, been solo for about fifteen years now, started in the north of england and now in the south. Payed my way through college doin solo work, good luck to you. I use the QY to change my vocal effects and now my lights through midi. I use EV speakers, souncraft Folio SX and an amp I built when I finished my HND and actually new enough to do so. I play guitar and sing and use just midi files for everything. They have worked for me for about 12 years and so I can say I never had a problem.

If you need any advice on the best way to go, let me know, I'd be only to glad to help. I know its not really cricket but here's my email address:alan@connolla.freesereve.co.uk, and we can maybe chat abouty gear, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to electronicy type things and I like to play and get the best!

I think I'll start a thread saying lets chat about solo acts! There must be loads of us and all sorts of experiences, lets share stories!

Al

[egrogsacul]

Find yourself a band, it'll help in the long run

[warrenaxe]

Hi,
I play guitar in a four piece band (live drums N guitar). I do all my Midi sequencing on cakewalk and use cubase for my audio parts. I use a Roland Sound Canvas, Korg O5/rw and Akai S2000 sampler. I also use some soft synths if need be. I then transfer them down to Mini disk sans Drums N guitar with just some percussion as a click track. I have made backing tracks for an Elvis Impersonator using the same setup with backing vocals et al. It works just fine. If we play in a club that calls for nonstop music we use the mini disk in program mode and its one song after the other without a problem

Cheers
Warren

[TonePoet]

Hello,

I perform in a duet (E. guitar & bass), and I program MIDI drums & keys in Cakewalk, then mix down to to a stereo track, which I then load into my Creative Jukebox MP3 player as a .wav file. I used to drag my key system to gigs, but this has made setup & performing MUCH more enjoyable.

J

[The Keeper]

Hey, a lot of good setups, each to their own desires. I work solo, I use an old laptop I got for $100 at a garage sale, midi'd out to an sd35 roland sound canvas. I use one chanel to my effects unit, it turns on at the start of the song, off at the end of the song, so I don't have to keep stepping on a pedal. I could also assign a channel to a guitar processor via mid, to change the guitar sounds in particular spots in the song, but that's for later. I play keyboards as well, so I swap between the 2 instruments. The sd35 also has a disc drive, so if the computer packs it in at a gig, I have disks with the midifiles on for backup. If the sd35 packs up, I have all the songs also recorded to minidisc, also some songs for during my breaks. Any songs with backup vocals are on minidisk, but I like the idea of using cubase as the player and recording backups on the file..

egrogsacul, do you play in a band for a living? If so hope you have better luck than me. I did the band scene, heavy metal, rock, cabaret, etc, been solo for 10 years, and nothing beats it!!! No one but you gets the money. I get payed quite well, do around 4 or 5 gigs a week, and the rest of the time I program midifiles.

[The Keeper]

Paddy, good idea, start a thread, I'll check it out for sure

[mushroom]

i work solo and duo. I run a laptop with cakewalk pro audio and use a korg nsr5 sound module. Works great and sounds fantastic. We both play guitar live so we only use drums, base backing etc, and my partner has a goden with a midi interface (which can change the sounds) and play any instrument almost authentically, great sitar sound. We make a living playing other peoples music twice a week and play our own music for next to nothing... sad isn't it! Anyone interested in hearing some awesome blues/rock originals? My partner is equal to none as a blues singer... interested? just email and ye shall recieve.

[lostdave]

I work in duo and I am really picky about the sounds that I use...
I got sick of lugging my Sound module rack around to gigs(i Have a few) So I bit the bullet about 2 Years ago and went Minidisc.
Mix the Bass and drum to the left and everything else to the right. Gives Me a bit of Mix control and apart from one gig about 100kms from home, where my MD player decided to give TOC errors on all but one disc(have since fixed and carry a spare now) it has been reliable. I now run a 2 RU Sony MD player recorder...and the time that it has saved me in setup is fantastic.

I can now run my "big" lightshow at more gigs....but that's another thread


Dave

[Littleoldme123]

i work in kareoke

[Will Power]

Hi there, I work the Dublin scene as one man band (I dont actually play..shhhh) But I use a KORG i5s keyboard, and ive recently bought a wk2 midi aranger , the Korg is really fast ! You can store up to 25 files on 1 floppy. But the WK2 is fab you can store up to 2500 songs on this. I can also set it up in partitions, and when I open a folder, i.e just say im doing a set of 60's songs, I can put these in one folder and set it to play all songs in that folder, one after the other, no waiting !!

[jon-paul]

Yes i do the same mini disc rules for solo acts because it quick and reliable you could use a laptop though and run that through your PA it works well depending on your processor and ram

[AdamFoster]

I'm tempted to get a basic performance keyboard, and then a laptop to keep the sounds/samples on

[brc 103]

I'm in a 2 piece guitar band (got a confession - I can't play keyboard at all) but I have a roland em55 - it takes the disks. so what we do is get a half decent midi file and use the bass, drums & anything else needed, (edited through cakewalk) then from the pc to floppy - then through the keyboard back to the pc - into cool edit pro (changing from midi to audio) then adding any guitars & harmonies needed - and then (as if that wasnt enough) recorded onto cd to record onto mini disk.

You might think its a round about way but the reason we do it that way is that the keyboard is a better sound than the sound card.

We get a very good sound that way and its easier to make a track when the bass & drums are already there, my alesis sr16 is lonely now LOL

btw
cheers merlin for that dr hook song, appreciated it :-)

[jackmarshal]

when i perform solo i send stereo outs to 2 channel faders for music with the drum volumes set to zero. drum sounds are sent through midi out to an alesis dm-5 drum module where i have four separate outs configured with 1kik 2 snare 3&4 stereo kit
this allows me to control drums separately on four more channel faders with 20 bit digital drum samples pretty complex but sounds very live

[D!NO]

2 piece player here...I play korg i3 and other guy is on guitar...we keep midi tracks to a minimum...nothing worse than hearing a full orchestra while looking at two ould fella's..lol
Tracks go on to mini disk, which is fast and reliable, and get any where up to 28 songs per disc..[dont have a proper stereo mixer, so it doesnt matter if the songs are recorded in mono to get extra space per disc]