Midi/Audio Drums For Live

[Moe110]

How do you any of you guys set up midi drums for live? Im talking the entire set up. Give me in detail what you use to start/stop your audio or miid drums, what products you use, what works for you, what doesn't or hasn't. We have need to have total control (where possible) without actually being at the laptop.

Im running Logic Pro X with a macbook Pro 13" (2013 model) and using EZ drummer with plenty of add on packs etc. For having the options aswell we will have the audio drums recorded in the studio and the midi options available to us (just depends on the venue and sound)

Any help you guys could give will be much appreciated.

 

[Genome]

Done this a couple of times. Used Superior Drummer Metal Machinery on a Macbook. Your real audio take would probably be preferable, but if you go the MIDI route, then be sure to use a room mic mixed in with the close mics - it adds a lot of energy and dimension that might get lost otherwise. You are at the mercy of the PA though.

We had everything set up in one project and let the project run through the whole show without stopping, adding some gaps between songs and audio cues in our ears to let us know the next song was coming up, so you will need an interface that has the ability to send separate mixes to FOH and to your ears. We used a Scarlett 18i20 and MixControl.

 

[Moe110]

Done this a couple of times. Used Superior Drummer Metal Machinery on a Macbook. Your real audio take would probably be preferable, but if you go the MIDI route, then be sure to use a room mic mixed in with the close mics - it adds a lot of energy and dimension that might get lost otherwise. You are at the mercy of the PA though.

We had everything set up in one project and let the project run through the whole show without stopping, adding some gaps between songs and audio cues in our ears to let us know the next song was coming up, so you will need an interface that has the ability to send separate mixes to FOH and to your ears. We used a Scarlett 18i20 and MixControl.

Thanks man. That definitely sets us on the right path. The interface will be easy to sort out. I assume with the room and closed mics, do you mean in the drum program itself ie ez drummer etc? We will definitely have the one project set up but as far as timing it perfectly with the breaks and count ins i think we'd like total control over that. Do you know any foot pedals that work well for this and how they would be set up with macbook/logic pro x?

 

[Genome]

Yeah, the mics in Superior Drummer/ez drummer. We multichannel it out to separate tracks in the DAW and use some EQ/Compression plugins and leave them on live so we can adjust if need be - the mac should be able to handle that with no stability issues.

Can't help with the foot pedal thing though I'm afraid!

 

[p0ke]

Do you know any foot pedals that work well for this and how they would be set up with macbook/logic pro x?

I'm pretty sure any midi-controller should be able to do this, just get an interface that has midi in/out. You just map it so that certain CC's trigger certain functions in the DAW and that's it. Basically you'd need only one button, which you'd map to play/pause and you're set. Then put some room between songs so you have enough time to pause before the next song starts. Or actually, it might be better to have separate play and pause buttons, so you don't accidentally tap it twice