Am I doing this the hard way??

hi everyone,

 

Here is my situation... I'll like to play pre recorded vocal lines when playing live, which can be adjusted with tap tempo... I have made five buttons on my layout.

 

1. tap tempo,

2. play button for vocal line 1

3. play button for vocal line 2

4. play button for vocal line 3

5. play button for vocal line 4

 

Since I don't have a fancy midi controller, just an ole Alesis Qs6, I assigned them to notes A#1, B1, C#1, D and D#1 respectively.

 

The four short vocal lines are loops....I made em using apple loop utility, so that they have tempo info. I brought them into Mainstage as playbacks, "synched" them and they work fine as "one shots", when I change the patch tempo...speed up, vocal lines play faster,... slow down, vocal lines play slower.

 

My question is, since my tempo and play buttons are notes on my keyboard... these five keys on my keyboard are no longer available in other patches as keyboard notes?? Is there a way for other patches to accept these five buttons as just regular notes and not buttons??

 

I think I have a parent child problem or hierarchy design issue... I'm I going about this the wrong way?

 

Thanks for the help everyone

anyone? Guessing I can't have my keys on my keyboard be dual purpose, controllers and also play notes??

 

I'm thinking I may have to get something like an M-Audio axiom61 to pull this off. Assign my playbacks and the tap tempo on the panel buttons/pads instead of using my keyboard keys.

Hi

 

How about one of the small Korg Nano controllers as a separate device for these purposes?

 

CCT

Hi

 

How about one of the small Korg Nano controllers as a separate device for these purposes?

 

CCT

 

CCT,

 

yeah, looks like I need more mappable controls. To minimize gear and keep my both hands on only one device...I leaning towards getting a "real midi controller"... I've been researching a couple

 

M-Audio Axiom 61

Novation Impulse 61

 

 

Anyone own one of these midi controllers? What are your reviews on these? Or any other suggested midi controllers??

 

I am split between live use and home studio DAW use. Features I like are: light weight, the weighted key feel, 61 key range, aftertouch, plenty of mappable faders, knobs, drum pads and buttons.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

If you need to play the vocal lines during patches changes (therefore vocal lines players would be at either the Set or Concert level), I would suggest that you either transpose (either way down or way up) the igniter keys (tap tempo, etc) or the playing patches ones...

On the other hand, If you need to actuate these vocal lines on other part of your performance than those where you play your keyboard patches, then I think that setting the igniter keys on Patch level, so when you change from thse patches to those where you play the keyboard, those (formerly igniter) keys are now available to play notes...

However, I think that with the transposition trick, both ways could work...

UPDATE: I solved this by using the Novation impulse 61... it just has a lot more "control" with pads buttons etc...and changing the kind of midi messages it sends. My tap tempo and play pads are all CC's and of type Press/Release on Mainstage....works like a charm.