mrhudson Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 Good afternoon - I'm a pianist-now-keyboard player in a band and need a live rig! I'm somewhat unimpressed with hardware keyboard sounds after having used Logic for 6 months or so with my Duet - my afternoon at Guitar Center left me fairly uninspired (tried the rd700gx, yamaha s90es, etc.. decent but.....) So, I'm intrigued about going the Mainstage route (vs muse receptor, another option). I want to try to spend less if possible. Here's what I own already - kurzweil sp88 (could be the controller), my Apogee Duet, 24"iMac with 3GytesRAM, LogicPro installed along with Mainstage. So, I have all that I need to run mainstage really. So, a few Mainstage questions: (1) Would I be nuts to take my home 24" iMac to gigs? I was using Mainstage yesterday on the iMac and it was working just fine, no stability problems (I have 3 gbytes ram, intel duo, running 10.4.2). Also, THIS OPTION IS FREE - just bring the computer! Any crates/cases for iMacs that would make this safe/feasible? I could just get a 10k external drive & run Ivory and be all set. This option is very cheap and just uses what I already have. (2) "Take an iMac to gigs??!!? You nuts - buy a new macbookpro!!" Of course, this costs at least $2500 more than the free "use iMac" option, but is more naturally portable. I'm concerned (based on some apple.com discussions) that I might buy a new mbp, with the newest OS, only to find that the stability I see on my iMac doesn't carry over to the new MBP. And, at that point, I would have bought a MBP for nothing - and blown my "otherwise" keyboard budget on a MBP I don't really need. I'd only be buying the MBP to use mainstage on. Any suggestions/considerations - I'd love to hear them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLukeH Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I think the iMac idea is pretty cool (think of the ogling screensaver capabilities), it's purely a case of safety. eBay normally have a good selection of crates and cases for items, I'm sure there's quite a number of people shouting out for that kind of thing, I know most of my video editing chums would love one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhudson Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 I could buy one of these, drill holes in the back to run cables out of? Can you run an iMac lying down like this? Would seem to be safe in here though! http://www.casesbypelican.com/computers/apple-imac-24.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLukeH Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Why not old chap? Be free and merry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokmik Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 In a band you might do more chords than you would as a concert pianist. classical pianists do all the fancy piano concertos. That's the main difference that comes to my mind. Dallas piano lessons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dRaff Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 That case will cost you about $600. For $1000 you can buy a brand new 13" White MacBook from Apple. I am using a 2.2 ghz Core 2 Duo, and I upgraded the ram to 4gb (max), and the hard drive to an internal 320 gb drive. Both upgrades were VERY affordable. I use this laptop on stage with Mainstage all the time and have yet to experience a problem. My setup is very simple as I am mainly the frontman/vocalist, so I only use Mainstage for a few keyboard parts and percussion parts here and there along with a M-Audio Axiom 49. But, for my experience, it has been solid. I say leave the iMac at home and get a nice portable Macbook. You can also leave the iMac as your general "home" computer for email, internet, iPhoto, etc, while leaving the MacBook to use solely as a music machine. That's my $.02 anyway! d Raff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robmark Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Along those same lines, if you have Logic/Mainstage loaded on your iMac, can you also install it on a laptop or are there licensing issues? Thanks, Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 yes you can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobco631 Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 I'm playing keys in a cover band and have been using Mainstage for over a year. Originally I previously convinced the guitar player to purchase a Macbook Pro and apogee duet for this and other purpose That laptop is quite new and running Leopard and in use for months on many gigs I found it quite problematic. Midi input was USB via an M Audio KSPro 88. Perhaps that particular build of Leopard was a bit buggy but bottom line I could never really rely on the Midi to be that solid for whatever reason and consequently I always had a Yamaha CP 70B for my main piano, super heavy and a pain to set up, time wise, travel wise and pedals and custom looms, ac, a techs nightmare, mine. Another point of contention was a particular patch on Omnisphere, Steps of Eternity, which I tried out as an intro to 'Dreams' Fleetwood Mac tune. On the laptop with Leopard the arpegiating {sp?} was never reliable, cpu spikes for days, so for these and so many other reasons I finally folded and started using my tried and true G5 with super stable Tiger build, believe it or not I've also forgone the delicious Apogee front end and just blast right out the stereo mini into a DI box for want of less cabling firewire, all that peripheral nonsense, ... for live the built in interface is fine, super tight latency and such a joy to count on, rock solid. I strap an apple studio 17 inch display onto a dual keyboard stand, along with track ball, Kensington, and a few other hardware controllers and enjoy a reliable rig that I struggled to achieve with the Mac Book Pro.. Mind you the G5 is a beast to carry around, the reliability far outweighs the Mac Book which would leave me stranded at the best and worst of times, with Mainstage that is..... my two cents anyways Bobco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dRaff Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 bobco631... I would LOVE to see some pics of this rig. Got any you can post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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