Yup - Hive is my go-to-synth for most things virtual-analog. I like how everything is on one page, easily laid out. Now, with the new wavetable addition, I’ve also managed to squeeze some hard-sync sounds out of it. Only for broader pads, I go for Blue II by Rob Papen. It’s so easy to build complex pads with it that don’t max out the CPU…
That’s a principle of mine - even when I was playing with backing tracks (that was drums and bass only - we were missing those two musicians at the time), I played all keyboards parts manually - no exception! The only “cheat” is that sometimes I use arpeggiators (Queen Radio Ga-Ga bass comes to mind) or sometimes some loops on a trigger pad. But as long as I trigger those loops manually, I still feel I’m not cheating too much
But of course, we are not a tribute band - we’re allowed to mess with the original material and make it our own… Makes life easier and gives a lot of creative freedom.
I don’t know your setup, but I use stereo in most everything with this particular band. That said, I looked at the “common” tab on Hybrid, and in the global settings, the pan was sitting at 12 o’clock. So after some thought, I think this is mono, but the chorus setting may have some separation in it. Try experimenting with the pan, and maybe send a far right or left out as a mono. I do not have my rig available to test it at this moment, but I really think it is mono as it is. Not positive tho. I will be able to check it this evening when I get to my rig, and report back to you.
Do you go out through your own FOH mains or do you have a pair of speakers in the backline?
Here’s a VB3 tidbit (probably should go in the other thread). I read a thread on Keyboard Mag that Crumar had keyboards in Aspen Pittman’s (Spacestation v3) booth at NAMM. I had been researching if those make VB3’s Leslie emulation sound awesome. What I found out is it’s tricky to use the Spacestation because it can’t be right near you. I never have much say in where my Alto TS115a’s get placed (usually only one). I wrote Guido and asked him about the Spacestation, he replied he had never used one and then recommended the Alto TS112 as optimal for VB3. I had read elsewhere that the 12 inch woofer sounded punchier and had better clarity. My TS115’s were free because some hip-hop producers left them behind when they moved out of space next door to one of my clients. The woofers were blown so I replaced them with Eminence Kappa C’s which sound great (added 10lbs though)
In the 3-piece band, we have inears for monitors and powered speakers (signal from QSC Touchmix) in front, to the left and right of stage. So, I AM the FOH guy.
We are not playing in any substantial venue with an FOH guy yet (many venues here, but very little FOH support). In my other bands, I send left and right signal out to FOH, if available, and another L&R out to my amp, which is actually a 600W, 15 inch + horn, powered monitor. It takes a stereo input, and combines the signal into a mixed mono. It usually resides behind me and somewhat to the side. In some situations, I will use 2 of these monitors, spread across the stage, with hard L&R mono to respective sides. In that situation, the whirling of a Leslie across the stage is almost a sexual experience! The monitors make a great keyboard amp, and don’t weigh a ton.
Thanks for the info on the Spacestation. Heard about it, but have not checked it out yet. I will tho.
I tested the Hybrid patch, and it sounds exactly the same out of a mono feed. When in a stereo field, there is a very, very slight separation, which I think is in the detuning setting of the patch. The pan control changed nothing.
Thanks to all for sharing advice. The set went really well. The owner of the bar came up to me after the set to ask how i did the “cash register sounds” and mentioned the Hammond organ and Rhodes wah sounded like the album.
I settled on a table type keyboard stand with a mic attachment bar to hold the laptop platform. The advantage (as opposed to scissors stands) is that two people can quickly carry it all assembled on stage and just plug power and audio in.
On-Stage KS-7150 table style folding keyboard stand
On-Stage KSA7575+ with Gator mic quick connect
I then assembled two identical rigs that pop onto the Gator connector:
On-Stage MSA5000 laptop stand with a Gator quick connect
Behringer UMC202
D-Link powered USB Hub
Lenovo X230.
Everything is zip tied in place so nothing can come loose. I can swap out to the backup in less than a minute.
During testing one laptops applied Windows 10 updates on restart I set it to only do that between 4-7am. You can’t trust those settings. From now on I will be perform multiple restarts before I head out to the venue.
I’ve decided to simply build out the MSA5000 laptop stand into a 1U enclosure under it with an interconnected back panel so the cables aren’t exposed and the inputs are all in the back.
Hi, I have been loyally screwed by Windoze updares having a mind of its own during sound check. In the end I purchase some Win 10 pro OEM licenses from Software Geeks (quite cheap) and got control of my update schedule back.
Glad it went well, it is atisfying when people come up to you wanted to know where your Hammond and Moog sounds are coming from (for me a combination of Kronos and Cantabile right now (mostly Kronos, but as we start doing more new songs I am looking at moving more into VSTs on Cantabile
Hi Derek - one of my biggest fears is the damn windoze updare screwing things up for me. Can you elaborate on what you did to regain control of the schedule?? Cheers!
Hi - I’m using a simple sample player called Grace. It’s free, and REALLY simple to drop samples in, assign to keys… plus it has the other features such as LFO, Modulation etc… worth a look
The monitors make a great keyboard amp, and don’t weigh a ton.
