Topic by Michael H

  • Avatar
  • Michael H
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New York
  • Registered: 23-11-2009
  • Posts: 304

Topic: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

I'm a firm believer that if we could make it easy to bring and use a laptop on gigs, many of us would say goodbye to digital keyboards altogether, and wouldn't even consider them anymore. Then we'd just need a good controller- no more digital pianos and workstations that go obsolete in a few years.

So, are there any live laptop users here who can recommend their own working system, or ways of putting one together, that are:

~ solid and safe (because laptops are fragile); and
~ practical to transport and gig with (because big rolling racks and roadies aren't for most of us)?

Personally, I'm considering a 6-8 space rack system with a sliding shelf: start Pianoteq and other programs and a host like Cantabile, close the lid (use a laptop cooler), slide it back in the rack, control everything remotely. The main problem is that it's bulky. If a netbook could handle it- with a little velcro- it would be a no-brainer

Michael

Reply by feeble

  • Avatar
  • feeble
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Yankton, South Dakota USA
  • Registered: 21-12-2009
  • Posts: 40

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Panasonic and others make ruggedized laptops.  Not cheap though:

http://www.panasonic.com/business/Tough...oducts.asp

Reply by etalmor

  • Avatar
  • etalmor
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Haifa, Israel
  • Registered: 15-05-2007
  • Posts: 238

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Hi Michael,

I believe that you should try to keep it as simple as possible.
I currently use a laptop and an external sound card on stage.
I use the existing music-stand screws of my keyboard (roland fp3) to attach a simple DIY shelf (made of wood), that supports the laptop and a (firewire) sound card. This way I can operate everything directly.

By the way I read charts off the laptop screen using acrobat reader.

Moreover, to control vst parameters I use a korg nano-kontrol via usb.
That's 4 devices (keys+laptop+sound card+korg nano) and 4 cables (usb, firewire, midi, pl).
I'd like to carry less, but I wouldn't like to sacrifice controllability and sound...

regards,
Eran

M-Audio Profire 610 / Roland Fp-3 / Reaper / PianoTeq!
www.myspace.com/etalmor

etalmor's Website

Reply by Michael H

  • Avatar
  • Michael H
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New York
  • Registered: 23-11-2009
  • Posts: 304

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Hi Eran,

Thanks for sharing your setup info. Yeah, I think you’re right, simplest would be best- I definitely need to keep reminding myself that.

Yours sounds like a great setup! I especially like that you can have music/charts displayed using your laptop and Adobe Acrobat, so you're not giving up your music stand function. How do you 'turn pages' with that? If you have a photo of that shelf hookup I'd love to see it.

In my case, attaching a homemade shelf to the keyboard stand itself might be doable (no music stand unfortunately). The one aspect of my setup that I'm satisfied with so far is my midi and soundcard hookup, which takes hardly any space at all. I use an Echo Indigo PC slot card for audio, and an Edirol UM-1 USB adapter for midi. Both the latency and sound quality are very good.

Best,
Michael

Reply by skip

  • Avatar
  • skip
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Sydney, Australia
  • Registered: 21-12-2007
  • Posts: 1,059

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Note that the military have a system they call "COTS", standing for "Commercial Off The Shelf". It's for situations where they decide that rather than spend a fortune on mil-spec equipment, it would be better to just have some spare, cheap, commercial grade units that could be used if a fault develops.   If I were going to go live with my laptop, I think I'd follow this approach.

Greg.

Reply by Michael H

  • Avatar
  • Michael H
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New York
  • Registered: 23-11-2009
  • Posts: 304

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Thanks Greg, good thought!

Hmmm..a backup computer wouldn't even have to be cosmetically great, just fully functional. Nice.

Michael

Reply by etalmor

  • Avatar
  • etalmor
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Haifa, Israel
  • Registered: 15-05-2007
  • Posts: 238

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

So here's my setup (without cables)

keys & DIY shelf apart

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_DZnMss_ApQg/S0okguYRaCI/AAAAAAAABJ4/cQvIptJzT8I/s512/IMG_4937.JPG

shelf mounted on keys
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DZnMss_ApQg/S0olNdfcdBI/AAAAAAAABKY/mJ-bHBAu92o/s720/IMG_4938.JPG

keys + laptop + m-audio pro-fire 610 + korg nano
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_DZnMss_ApQg/S0oknfNAzJI/AAAAAAAABJ8/plX8aeP9LLo/s720/IMG_4940.JPG

b.t.w I don't turn pages during playing - it's jazz charts, so they're short - just improvising on the changes. Between parts, i flip the pdf pages via bookmarks or html links into a specific pdf doc+page.

regards,
Eran

Last edited by etalmor (10-01-2010 20:30)
M-Audio Profire 610 / Roland Fp-3 / Reaper / PianoTeq!
www.myspace.com/etalmor

etalmor's Website

Reply by Michael H

  • Avatar
  • Michael H
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New York
  • Registered: 23-11-2009
  • Posts: 304

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Very Cool Eran! What a nice, efficient setup, and it doesn't take a lot of space either, and it looks good! I like that everything is within easy reach.

Looks like having those music stand holes on your keyboard made it possible. Perhaps I could drill a few holes?

Thanks for putting the pictures up, you've given me some good ideas! BTW, nice keyboard that Roland.


Regards,
Michael

Reply by Michael H

  • Avatar
  • Michael H
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: New York
  • Registered: 23-11-2009
  • Posts: 304

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

What did you use, screws or bolts for the shelf? And I guess the weight above keeps the bracket pressed against the keyboard?

Reply by etalmor

  • Avatar
  • etalmor
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Haifa, Israel
  • Registered: 15-05-2007
  • Posts: 238

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

In fact these are bolts (thanks for the correction Micheal).
I added a couple of nuts on each bolt so that i have a better grip.
It's not the keyboard's original bolts - because i needed some extra length to hold the brackets.

The weight does hold the brackets in place - they recline against the keyboard body on their bottom. The fact that the keys are 18 kilos help balance the weight of the gear ...

The only thing i don't like about this setup is that the hard drive is exposed to shaking when I hit the keys ... maybe sometime in the future i'll get an SSD ...

- Eran

Last edited by etalmor (10-01-2010 22:06)
M-Audio Profire 610 / Roland Fp-3 / Reaper / PianoTeq!
www.myspace.com/etalmor

etalmor's Website

Reply by etalmor

  • Avatar
  • etalmor
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Haifa, Israel
  • Registered: 15-05-2007
  • Posts: 238

Re: Safe and Practical Setups for LIVE Laptop Use- Suggestions?

Michael H wrote:

Very Cool Eran! What a nice, efficient setup, and it doesn't take a lot of space either, and it looks good! I like that everything is within easy reach.

Looks like having those music stand holes on your keyboard made it possible. Perhaps I could drill a few holes?

Thanks for putting the pictures up, you've given me some good ideas! BTW, nice keyboard that Roland.


Regards,
Michael

thanks,
it took some evolutionary steps until i got to this point ...
my previous setup was made of a cradle made of plastic water hoses that sled into  the music stand (one of its top pipes) and held the laptop reclining on the keys. I liked it (was very light) - but i didn't have the sound card back then

M-Audio Profire 610 / Roland Fp-3 / Reaper / PianoTeq!
www.myspace.com/etalmor

etalmor's Website