Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

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jeremyb
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Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by jeremyb »

If you were going to get your drums and bass off a laptop for live sound, would you run each drum on a different track and out a different channel on your interface (meaning I'd need a new interface), or have them mixed into one or two outputs (current interface)?
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Eruera
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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by Eruera »

I feel like only sending your average FOH engineer a stereo submix of drums to work with would probably give them heart disease. If you’re running your own mix then just whatever works best for you.

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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by moliere »

From many years of doing electronic / sampled drums in various bands, FOH really like at least a separate kick and snare. They'd really hate drums and bass mixed together. So if you're absolutely limited to stereo outputs, do drums mono in one channel, and bass mono in the other channel.

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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by jeremyb »

Sounds like I should be resigned to the fact that I'll need a better interface for live, so given that, what's ideal?
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by Kris »

seems like even cheap interfaces have way more outs than ins.What are you using now?.

i actually prefer dedicated gear rather than laptops-i had an sp404 which kicked ass.

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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by jeremyb »

I've got an m-audio one but it's only two outputs, once we get to the gigging stage I'll invest in something with way more outs and ins :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Interface for laptop drums and bass for live use

Post by moliere »

I don't know the modern playing field in regards to interfaces. I always tend to err on the side of quality stable drivers than features when it comes to live performances. I'm still running RME Fireface 800s for live and studio work, but it's harder and harder to find laptops with dedicated firewire these days. You can buy dedicated rackmount multi-channel playback machines, but they're more expensive than most interfaces (definitely less hassle and way more stable though). A couple of the bands I do, I'm generally sending 8 channels to FOH ( I carry an 8ch Radial DI to assuage the soundman fears). I have my projects set up so I can drop to a stereo (or even mono) feed easily if the sound guy gets nervous.

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