I’ve been slowly selling off some amps and other gear to invest a bit more in recording/live gear for a laptop-based setup. The brain of the whole thing is a Macbook Pro (Mavericks) with 16GB ram, a 250GB SSD, and a 1TB HD replacing the CD drive.
The audio interface is a MOTU Ultralite MK3 Hybrid. I also have an iConnect iConnectivityMIDI4+ with an iPad Mini with Retina hooked up to the 1 port. There’s a 4-port USB hub hooked up to the back/hub input and it has an Akai MPD18, Akai LPK25, Korg nanoKONTROL2, and a Keith McMillan SoftStep hooked up to it.
I’m currently running a trial version of Ableton Live 9 to see if it’s the proper program for me. Also considering Reason and Mainstage.
Outboard gear includes a TC Helicon Voicelive 2 and MIDI-capable guitar pedalboard. Future considerations include an Korg KP3+, Elektron Analog RYTM and Moog Minitaur.
I sat down last night and spent several hours working out connections but as somebody coming from a guitar-centric, analog-based world (guitar/pedals/amps) it’s quite a learning curve. What I would like to eventually achieve is to start/stop loops with the SoftStep (including setting tempo), some internal, some playing external gear, with each loop changing my pedalboard and also sending clock to multiple devices.
For those of you that have been down this road, or a similar one, before, what do I have in store for me? Any tips? Is there light at the end of this tunnel?
Step one - slow down. You’ve got a bunch of stuff to figure out - there is no way an internet post or two is going to make it all work. Don’t buy anything else right now.
Step two - get off the internet and just try stuff. You aren’t going to blow yer house up so feel free to experiment and maybe record something along the way.
Now since you said something only in particular about the McMillan device, I would focus on that first and get it controlling playback and tempo in Ableton. Your DAW (whatever it is) will likely be grand central station - with sound and midi generation happening there. From there, you can expand.
Try to stay positive and keep yer mind open cause again, tips are not going to substitute for the months of time you really need to put in with the gear, on yer own or with a knowledgeable friend.
Consider it a lot like a guitar. When you started playing guitar you didn’t just take all those strings, frets, amps, cables, pedals, di’s, picks, tuners, straps and it all made sense. I imagine you started slow - first figure out the strings, then the frets, then chords…etc. Remember how much time you put into that and get ready to do it again…though I bet with your experience you will be a little faster this time.
Good luck - I hope this at least gets you going with the one device…add the others as they become necessary.
^^ what he said - to put it in perspective I’ve just spent best part of a week figuring out routing from MacBook with Live9 through iconnectmidi4+ out to Push plus soundcard and external hardware etc - my setup has about a third of what you’ve got going and I haven’t even scratched the surface of the iconnectmidi which I’ think of as my hub rather than the laptop - I’ve got iPads and pedals and Elektrons and beatsteps and mcmillans all waiting to be added - but until I’m confident that I can route consistently through the iconnectmidi , everything else is waiting.
Is it awesome? Yes, but now I’m scared to touch the routings in case it f*ks up.
Eventually I’ll be able to say plug a qunexus or beatstep into the iconnectmidi , controlling any hardware synth on the desk using iPad for effects/recording and/or midi controllable pedal effects (timeline etc) sans laptop.
It might just be me, but I find the iconnectmidi. Config tool to be a bit pants - maybe cos I’m left/right dyslexic and it looks like something built in Fortran circa 1978 and squeezed through a spreadsheet - horrible grid of wtf.
Thanks! This is all good advice. Since posting this thread I’ve started to narrow down what I’m looking for specifically and have actually returned many of the controllers in favor of an all-in-one solution - something to become familiar with, to work with and within the limitations of…
So some decisions have been made including the choice to work with Albeton and also to keep the SoftStep, as I think a foot controller would be ideal for anything live/guitar-based.
I also purchased a Nord Drum 2 (detailed in another thread) which has present what I consider an almost ideal workflow, a good balance combination of software and hardware. This will also weigh in on any future purchase.
For now, it’s time to delve into Ableton, either creating new tracks or reengineering old ones into new versions. Wish me luck!
This is a valid point and I think I’ll take a similiar approach - I spent an entire evening just watching iConnect videos trying to sort out routing and it’s such a capable piece of hardware… I’ll try adding only one piece of gear at a time and slowly build on the set from there.
