Show me your Cantabile Rig!

Hey!
There’s Cantabile stickers???

Yes, I I required them after purchasing the license c3 and they arrived a few days later

Sweeeet! :musical_keyboard:

How do you go with the DX7 velocity value limit? Do you remap that in software?

No… that controller is almost totally dedicated to being my Hammond so velocity isn’t an issue anyway. Frankly I forgot it even had that problem! Ironic, because I always thought the keybed on a DX7 felt pretty good.

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Yeah. I totally agree with you on the DX7 keybed. They have great action imho.
The first synth I purchased was a DX7 in the 80s and it is still in my rig and used regularly.

hey there, I’m using cantabile 3 with a Nord Stage 5, a Roland Juno DS, an Akai Professional LPD8 trigger pad to switch songs and tweak effect and a Tascam US-4x4 (below the Notebook).

Sold my heavy Kurzweil (22 kg…). Also sold my Rack mixer I used to have to mix the (previously 3) Keyboards. Happy to have a slim not very heavy equipment now. Thanks to cantabile.

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Nice! How are you keeping the Akai mounted up there?

Used velcro fastenings for that. Used this also to put the Notebook on the Tascam. 1 Euro on E-bay… http://www.ebay.de/itm/-/331920299021?roken=cUgayN … depending how much you take, it holds like glue…

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Very nice!! I would be a little concerned about the laptop receiving extra heat from the gear below it, but if it works for you, that’s good. Looks like a very light, but powerful rig. Cantabile 3 really has lightened my load too.

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Thx for the hint, will keep an eye on that. I left some space between the velcros, I think it can “breath” enough but you never know… Yes, the K&M stand with the additional stuff to combine all the stuff is quite flexible so its very compact.

Have a new additional hobby now: seeking cables with minimal length (jack, usb) and angled where necessary :slight_smile: like this: http://www.ebay.de/itm/-/112300320867?roken=cUgayN or this http://www.ebay.de/itm/-/111227090896?roken=cUgayN

But what i found recently is veeeeery nice for being fast on live gigs: Dummy Plugs from Neutrik

With this, you can reduce the chance to plug in the pedals on the wrong (unused) place. The only dummy plug i miss is one for midi, they don’t do that. Can get it here: http://www.ebay.de/itm/-/151386050194?roken=cUgayN

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Just added another ‘old girl’ to my basic setup.
$30 bucks on ebay - couldn’t leave it there at that ridiculous price.
The most powerful XG/MIDI device in history. A PCI XG/Hard Disk Recording/Multi effects processing, 12 Channel mixer and synthersizer card with more features than you can imagine
Twenty years old hardware and software. The venerable SW1000XG synthersizer (PCI Card) and XGEdit95 (as well as VoiceMeeter pro)
The whole setup runs fine under Windows 8.1. Whilst VSTs and modern synths are great this is the easiest quality setup with the lowest latency.
Cantabile drives it flawlessly.

The only fly in the ointment is the ASIO driver is a bust un W8.1 but the WDM / KS is fine.
It’s old but there are still a few good patches of the 1200 in there.

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Here is mine. :slight_smile:

Currently setting up for my Carreg Ddu project where my live playing will be more guitar focused, but the same Cantabile rig was also used in Welsh Floyd (which I have now left) and will be used in other keyboard focused projects.

Onto the Cantabile rig

  • Laptop running Cantabile (of course!) which hosts the backing tracks mixed down from Cubase. I have the tracks as four channel WAV files - two for FOH and two for cues.
  • Nord G2 Engine - Modular synth in a 1U rack) - not currently used in this venture, but will be in others, and it adds very little weight to the rack!
  • Behringer RX1602 stereo line mixer for mixing the sources (laptop, guitar pedals, etc.)
  • Shure Transmitter for In Ear Monitoring (backing tracks and Click)
  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB interface which gives me four channel output (two for front of house sound and two for click tracks, and of course MIDI IO
  • DMXIS USB Interface - you use a VST plugin inside a VST host and use MIDI notes in a track to select DMX lighting cues
  • MOTU MIDISPORT 2x2 USB MIDI interface

Finally a view of the back of the rack, so you can see it is designed for easy connection on stage - no fumbling inside the rack looking for hard to see connections! I need to add some extra couplers for extra channels into the mixer, and also I think I will get an IEC mains inlet from Radio Spares (the bottom plate has a cutout for one) so I don’t have a dangling mains lead during transit, which is always a nuisance.

I’m designing this gig rack with flexibility in mind for a larger keyboard rig as well. I am currently dropping all of my soft synths onto this laptop so I can use them in Cantabile. The 3 MIDI Interfaces the rack gives me, allows me to connect several items with fully duplex MIDI and I will use the MIDI processing capabilities of Cantabile to effectively provide Master Keyboard duties in terms of selections, splits, channel routing, etc. I currently gig with a Kronos X61 on the top tier and an EX5 on the bottom tier, but wish to retire the EX5 from gigging. I was considering the Montage, but people say it is hamstrung in its Master Keyboard capabilities (need to look into that).

I decided using Duplex MIDI between the boards (instead of my current method) will give me a lot more flexibility, and it doesn’t matter about the EX5 replacement being a good master. In fact with all of my soft synths on the laptop, I may consider just having a MIDI only controller for the bottom tier. Between the Kronos, Nord g2 and a plethora of soft synths, if I cannot get good sounds out of that lot then I might as well give up! :slight_smile:

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Can I ask what the tripod table on the right is, it looks nice and solid? I’m after something to put a Launchpad Pro on.

Nice to see the Nord G2 Modular, Derek! I have two of them, and love them to bits. Such a shame Nord never really continued that product line.

Neil

Hi, Neil.

Yes they still sound great. Have had mine ssince late 2005 and I will never part with it. It is good to have it in the live rig again. :slight_smile:

Hi Neil

It is a Pulse Laptop/Projector Stand. I was using two of them in Welsh Floyd for the laptops and they are very study. They are height and tilt adjustable as well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EVI7GLM/ref=pe_385721_143792151_TE_item

The only faff with them, is if you wish to break it down to remove the plate (e.g. for storage/packing down) , you need to undo the nut and pull the retaining bolt out to separate the plate from the stand, but its a simple job.

Cheers
Derek

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Niceone, will pick one of those up and cheers for the bolt tip. Not sure what’s going on with my left and right.

I was able to compensate, and assumed it was right when locking from the “stage”! :wink:

Yes, indeed! I may be dyslexic, but I know my rights! (Ta-Dum!)

Terry

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