MIXING LIVE SOUND FOR LOOPING PORTABLE
MIXING LIVE SOUND FOR LOOPING SOFTWARE

'Send the computer to the PA and your basic guitar signal to an amp.' 'If you plan to add backing tracks with the guitar sound you might want to split the sounds,' says Michael Ross, author and editor/publisher of the blog, guitarmoderne. The Pigtronix Keymaster also provides two loops and reamping, as well as the ability to integrate XLR connections. For a more complex rig, you might add Radial's LoopBone, which adds a second loop (but no mix control), boost, and the ability to serve as a remote footswitch.

MIXING LIVE SOUND FOR LOOPING SOFTWARE

You can use it to switch the computer in and out of your signal chain (which also acts as a safeguard if your software crashes) and mix the computer's sound with the direct guitar signal going to the amp and preserve that elusive 'feel' that comes when the guitar and amp are connected. A ReAmp or similar widget can convert the output from your interface into an amp-friendly level and impedance control.įor more control-and to integrate your device with other effects-a loop switcher like Radial Engineering's BigShot Mix (one of several signal switchers the company makes) can work well. But if you want to integrate it into a guitar set up, you may need to add a buffer between the computer and the amp's input. The interface's line out should work well feeding a PA, keyboard amp, or power amplifier. If you're planning to use your computer as an effects device, you've got two options: go through the PA, or plug into an amp. Many of these have MIDI ins and outs, along with zero-latency audio monitoring that lets you mix sound from the inputs with sound playing back on the computer-in essence, letting you use the computer as a personal mixer. But some options, like the Presonus FireStudio Mobile, offer more channels if you need them. If you plan to do all your mixing inside the computer, a 2-in/2-out device will do. You can fi nd compact models from PreSonus, Avid, M-Audio, Line 6, Roland, Native Instruments, Alesis, and others.

MIXING LIVE SOUND FOR LOOPING PORTABLE

If you're using a laptop, portable USB or FireWire bus-powered interfaces (which get power from the computer's USB or FireWire port) are ideal-as long as you're careful to keep the connections intact while you're performing. So while you could feed the built-in outputs from your device to an amplifi er or mixer input, you'll probably get better performance from an outboard interface, especially one that has balanced line outputs and some onboard mixing controls. Whether you're using a computer, tablet, or smartphone, the way you plug in to the sound system matters. If you don't want to bring your laptop to a gig, you can do many of the same things with a mobile device. And with a good interface and the right controller, you can take advantage of its sonic power while maintaining the energy of a live performance. With a laptop, you can bring the software you actually use for production and integrate it into your performance. Thanks to their versatility and storage capacity, laptops are becoming increasingly popular onstage. In both cases, you'll need to preload your device with the parts you want to bring onstage and make sure that you've got the right patches active for every song. Or, you could opt for a standalone loop player/phrase sampler. Keyboard players probably have it the easiest: A sampling workstation can store a lot of instrument patches, and many have enough memory to let you load in loops, which you can then trigger live.

There are several ways to produce studio tracks onstage. A big part of the magic of live performance is the spontaneity, the improvisation, the ‘mistakes' that actually end up taking the song in really interesting directions, that make every performance unique.' 'You're at the mercy of the computer rather than reacting to the vibe and the emotion of the crowd. 'A real danger with playing against a pre-recorded track is that you're now locked into the structure of the song as it was recorded,' he explains. The 'interactive' part is the key, says indie artist Greg Friedman (who has used computers in both solo shows and with his band, Montalban Quintet. But there's a middle ground: integrating some of your computer tracks and eff ects into your show in a way that you can interact with during your performance. You could rearrange the song and use whatever live instruments you have available to get close to the original. You could sing and play along to a static backing track (though many people feel that's like doing Karaoke). We use sounds to inspire parts, build backing tracks before we create melodies, and cull upon a myriad of eff ects to give our songs a 'sound'-often long before they're completed.īut what happens to that sound when you showcase the song live? You have a few options. There's no doubt that computer software has blurred the lines between writing music and producing it.

Mixing live sound for looping