Wondering about the possibility of an all-in-one setup:
Has anyone done this? I love Cantabile but keep flirting with the idea of a new hardware rig, to reduce rehearsal and gig faff.
I mounted a Dell 2-in-1 11" on top of an EMU Xboard 49 that had a Behringer UCA202 and 1/4 jacks attached with Gorilla 2 sided tape onto it for sitting in open mics playing mostly Hammond parts. Ran on batteries for over 2 hours - All I needed was a 1/4 cable from the keyboard amp to plugin in and go.
You will need to ventilate the keyboard chassis with a small fan if you put the NUC inside.
I think the Stream deck could be easily mounted on top of the keyboard, perhaps using the spring loaded tablet holder so you can remove it easily while transporting the keyboard.
This thinking is all in the don’t build your own keyboard “enclosure” box. Once you do that the project is way more complex. Christian from Germany designed a very nice custom keyboard.
Group-Buy / Collection of Ideas for CantabileKeyboard - Related - Cantabile Community
Here was the first iteration: NanoKontrol 2, UCA-202 and GSI VB3m running on a Pixel 4a
I drilled holes in the top of the Xboard 49 and glued threaded surfboard fin nuts underneath for the thumbscrews.
The on/off switches on the USB hub are to be able to reset. I needed that to switch between IK’s android piano and VB3m
Here is the Dell 2-in-1 showing the UCA-202 and USB hub mounted on the back. I can’t find a photo of the 2-in-1 folded the opposite way and turned around and mounted so the screen faces the player.
The USB hub has one cable from the XBoard, one from the UCA-202, a logitech mouse/keyboard receiver and a faster USB WiFi dongle.
Nice socks… 
BJ’s finest!
At least sandals were not involved as well…
The keyboard Christian built for me referenced by @dsteinschneider in that thread is actually NOT an “all-in-one”, rather a customized MIDI/USB controller for my Cantabile setup. But it’s a real beauty, and it’s soooo much fun to work with it!
But Christian also built an actual integrated Cantabile all-in-one keyboard - unfortunately, he quit the custom-keyboard business before it became a viable product for the market. But the prototype looked very tasty indeed:
Cheers,
Torsten
Hi Torsten,
I don’t remember seeing the keyboard Christian built for you. I love the arcade buttons. What did you decide on for the 9 controls above the sliders. The ones on the EMU XBoard would fit perfectly and I like their feel. I’ve seen them for sale on eBay and at Syntaur.
Christian’s Cantabile keyboar is beautiful. I’m pretty sure he built several functional ones for himself
How do we reinvigorate Christian’s project? The image looks fantastic, just what I’m after. Although I love the arcade machine buttons on Torsten’s…
I’m going to shelve this idea, although I’m still looking for cheap controllers with enough room inside them… Will keep you posted.
Thanks for the comments all
It’s not exactly what you are asking for, but I built a Cantabile rack with 1) a Behringer digital mixer; 2) two ‘headless’ Dell micro-PCs, each with a USB audio interface; and 3) rack-mounted voltage mains and I/O connections. I use it with a Studiologic SL73 and a Nord Stage as controllers. The Dell PCs are set up to run songs without any outside intervention other than the knobs, etc. on the two keyboards; however the rack I chose has a slant top for a laptop, which can control them by Windows RemotePC. The three PCs communicate with each other using RTPmidi and a dedicated 100baseT network. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now, and it’s quite stable. The advantage that the rack method has is if I wish to change a PC or audio interface (I started with Gen7 PCs, and moved up to Gen12), I don’t have to worry as much about physical mounting issues, interconnects, etc. It’s also easier to keep thermal problems at bay.
Thanks all. I’m currently pursuing the idea of an installation within my Novation 61SL MK2. I like the action and it suits my needs.
There exists a recess 30cm wide x 12.5cm deep x 5cm high at the right of the board. It measures up favourably for a NUC and small audio interface e.g. Behringer UM2. I have identified suitable cutouts for cable access.
I don’t need frequent access to the GUI for my purposes, but would connect a screen and controls when engineering my virtual rack. I have no such need during gigs and only rarely at ensemble rehearsals, so the idea would be an auto-boot of my main Cantible song on plugging in the PSU (this is what I do currently with a Surface Pro 3 and works very well, albeit slow to boot).
Any caveats? Am thinking I would take the lid off the NUC. Do I need an additional fan, or will vents cut in the KB casing suffice?
Over the years we’ve removed either the front “grill” or lid from tower PC’s that were overheating. A NUC might have a very engineered cooling process that could be affected by removing the enclosure.
I have a couple NUC 12’s in a rack, so there’s much more room for air to circulate than your situation. I haven’t had any problems, even gigging outdoors in the Florida heat at 90+.
However, just to be safe when I built the rack I added a couple USB fans on either side of the NUC case, one pushing air into the NUC and another pulling it out on the other side.
Apparently there is a mod for a water cooling system for them, if you want to go that route. And if you search there are many other ways to improve the cooling on a NUC, such as replacing the thermal paste, etc. Overall I’ve been quite happy with the NUCs, plenty of CPU and RAM, TB ports which I needed for my interface, relatively low cost (but a DIY build would of course be a few hundred less), small footprint and low weight.
Tom
May I ask where you bought the NUCs?
Most everything I’ve seen has been about the same price as laptops
