I wanted to share with everyone what my set up for my live performance is in terms of gear. I believe in minimal yet effective set up and want to share them with you.
I use 2 pieces of gear, other than my soundcard, I use the Korg Nano and the LPD8. Below is a review of these as well as a little about my set up.
Korg Nano Midi Controller
The Nano series is as awesome for what it is as well as not quite the best piece of gear. To start I have had 3 of them. Yeah… that is saying a lot that I had 3 in 2 years. First thing it says is I keep buying them. There is some flaws in the Nano as well as awesome features.
The Ugly side of the Nano
Where the usb connects on them it snaps and breaks after use. Just the other day my 3rd broke and I am looking at getting a new one. another thing is that the buttons when you press them like to stick, and the over all quality feels a little cheap. The faders also aren’t as smooth as I would like.
The Good side of the Nano
The price is the biggest saving grace. It only cost $50 and now that the nano 2 has come out the MK1 goes for $30. That is great! Getting 9 faders, bus powered midi for that much… awesome.
It also has a cool program that comes with it where you can set the attack of the buttons. So they are smooth in and out. Only midi I have seen do that. Really useful for risers.
All in All… Totally worth it. Wish it didn’t break… but totally worth the price.
LPD8 from Akia
The second piece of gear I use is the LPD8. It is a midi controller that has 8 pads and 8 knobs. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this. Well one thing… The knobs are a little strange to turn and feel short. Not a big deal though. The pads are super quick in reaction and are velocity sensitive.
This goes for $60 and is solid and has yet to break after 2 years. You can also hack it in ableton to have it send midi data back to the LPD8 and then have the pads light up to tell you different things like when you sample will restart.
How I use the set up
I have taken these two midi and Velcroed them onto a board. This way I can hold it and dance around. Then I use the Nano as my master effects. Faders control all my channels: melody, bass, drums, accents, ambient, and such. Then I use the last one for my master channel with a/b fader and bpm. All the knobs are effects to that channel.
Then I use the LPD8 for my drum effects. 4 of the pads are triggering effects. the other 4 or to trigger my live session scenes, go up and down as well. Then the 8 faders are more drum effects like beat repeat, drum delays, and such.
This way I can control my whole set without having to touch the laptop. All cost me about $100… Freaking awesome!
