Whew ... one down, one more test run to go.
So, Thursday night - small room, small crowd, but reasonably high energy. It's a millennial crowd (I know, I feel like "The Intern"!") and they drink fast, talk loud and stay up late. Perfect for an old guy like me, right? It's funny, every night I finish up feeling like I didn't "connect" as well as I'd like, but then I get warm hugs and positive responses from patrons and management before I leave. Go figure.
OK, back to the report card:
The single biggest, best part of using the 4x last night was the vocal processor. I've owned many TC products, and this one is by far the best sounding one ever, and that includes my VoiceLive-3. Something about the tone of the harmonies, and the overall transparency really impressed me. I did things vocally that I might not have done on my 900 because I liked the sound so much.
Of course, the Piano, Rhodes, Organ and bass all sounded fantastic too, but I did not buddy up to the drums as much. It's not that they sounded bad in any way - far from it, but it relates to my one single, biggest HARDEST part of the night ... monitoring from further away. (I'm SO used to "in my face" range)
I have excellent gear, and I know a thing or two about gain stages, mixing and compensating for room and audience acoustic challenges, but I'm an old dog, and this new (to ME) trick of using external monitors just changes how I hear everything. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but last night, I was not comfortable with the drum tones. I need more time to experiment, but my best 2 options are:
1) using two TC FX150 monitors, at each corner of the KB ... or
2) using IEMs. This is not my preferred option, but I still may give it a whirl. It will save on space, setup time, and maybe give me the ultimate control that I seek.
I've only used IEMs in a large, show-band environment before, and we had a full time engineer on a HUGE monitor desk giving us anything we wanted in our headphones. Mixing myself "might" be more of a challenge ... not to mention the "cut off" from the room acoustics. As I type, I'm talking myself right out of this option. LOL - we shall see.

So, overall, I'd give it a solid B+ for the night, taking into consideration the fact that the user was not in his highest comfort zone.
Size, weight, looks, accessibility - these are all A+ features, and I'm sure that with a little more time on the road, I'll tame this sonic beast into submission.
I keep reminding myself that I'm in my final renaissance, and change is always harder as we age. The one thing that remains is my passion for my craft, and my dedication to my audiences. (that's 2 things, right? duh) Tonight is a simpler task - just straight piano and vocals. I can do that in my sleep.
More after the "gig" (you're welcome)

UD ... some people are their own harshest critics, and I believe you are in that category ... You graded yourself B+, but I'll bet the audience would have graded you more around A++ ...

Dave try TWO Bose compacts one on either side of you in stereo about 4 ft away L/R...it will make a big difference!

Yes, what DNJ said. Except I use Maui 5s now.

me too the LD Maui's are amazing. !!

Thursday night, I actually did use 2 Compacts (because of the size of the room, and the age of the crowd). I'm fine with mono, when it's appropriate, and I'm fine with stereo when it's appropriate, but I don't subscribe to "ALWAYS" stereo. The tone of the drums is not "bad ... it's just because they are not "in my face". I'll work this out, and use what the room calls for, like always. I'll say one thing about stereo - as a one man show, I do like the spread out back up singers. I can make the kb sound just great in any amp situation, but having the illusion of people all over the stage is slightly better than all in one place.

Steeo/Mono is definitely not this issue I'm wrestling with. It's monitors.

I think you need to go the IEM route asap......report back inquiring minds want to know...

Friday night:
Dueling piano show - hi energy, power chord, pop-fest, sing-a-long style
(NOT my favorite, but hey ... $$$$$)
I only used 4 sounds last night: Piano,Rhodes, Guitar and strings ... much like many of my go-to sounds for my right hand in a normal show, but the emphasis was on acoustic piano most of the night. (WAIT! I played a harmonica solo on "Isn't she lovely" - that was fun) When my dueling partner took the lead, I'd embellish with strings or melodic tidbits in between his chording. When I took the reins, it was usually piano, sometimes with a string pad.
Tone-wise, everything was as it should have been Both of us matched our basic volume and tone so we could intertwine all night. The big difference was the vocals. We're both very strong singers (I'm 20 years older than this young pup), and both used TC voice processors (he bought a TC Harmony Singer, on my recommendation, after hearing what I did with my PA900), but the big difference is that I have the controls for mine right at my fingertips. This is huge for me, because I constantly adjust and vary the harmonies in real time. There's never a "set and forget" vox preset for me, because too many things change with little, or no warning during a performance.
I had to give him a harmonizer lesson. He was like many new users - so excited to hear himself in triplicate, that he used it too loud, and too often, and most times, forgot to turn it off when he spoke to the crowd, which, in THIS art form, is a LOT. We've all done that, right? lol

All in all, it was a great show - crowd was happy, bartender (not a redhead, but a real cutie-pie) was thrilled when we each gave her $5, and the night went by without a glitch. (hitch? which is the common expression? ... hmmmm)

So, A+ for tonight, but that was as expected - it was 90% vocals and 10% piano. That's the way of my world. More tweaks, more edits and more reviews to follow ...

They do make IEMs with ambient room mics built in. Without that feature, I would feel too disconnected with the audiences at our gigs. Westone makes a few models.

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=...wICA&adurl=

Thanks for being fantastic and reporting real life experience to this forum! You ROCK!!

A cheaper way to get room noise is to just put a mic out in the room somewhere. That way you can blend in how much of the room you need to hear. I fussed all weekend with my rig, and came up with a pretty good solution that involves a single TC FX-150 as a stand mounted monitor. (My kb stand is the "X" style, so I have a small mic tube mounted on each end - one has a boom for my mic, the other holds the TC!) This is a way cool piece because it allows you to monitor several things at once, and if you need to... even send the outs of CH1 and Ch2 separately to an end destination. I send the kb into ch 1 & 2, and use the built in DI to send them out in stereo. I still monitor in mono, but I can hear my mains too.
I'll take some pictures on Tuesday and post a detailed report on it's functionality on the job.
***
I will share one cool tip today:
If you're not much into the DNC controllers, like me, and you play a combination of LH bass and arranger bass ... try setting up your three buttons over the joystick like this:
1] Style bass mute
2] Style acc 1-5 mute
3] Bass & Lower Backing (this one assumes that you have your lower sound off when the arranger is playing)

Scenario 1: You're playing a tune that has an acapella break coming up, but you want your drums to continue, and chords sent to the harmonizer ... push #1&#2, continue to finger chords. Your harmonizer will change correctly without hearing the chords played. When the break is over - hit the switches again. It's also great in smaller, more intimate setting to mute all of the arranger tracks (except bass and drums) for the beginning of a song, and bring in the "band" later on, like in a chorus or last verse situation. It's a cleaner, less "canned" sound for the beginning part of the song, which, many times, is a bit simpler anyway.
Scenario 2:
You're in arranger mode with the left hand silent ... I use this exclusively to thin out the arrangements, because I play mostly full chords with my right hand, and don't want too much going on that I'm not controlling. The song ends, the rhythm stops and you want to milk the last chord while you show off vocally, or announce something of importance ... well, the kb is silent below the split point! Push #3
That gives you an instant bass note for the ending transition. You can also hit the manual bass button, but it's a further reach. You can stretch your pinky over to the DNC button while playing, sometimes.
Hope this was not too confusing, and someone can use the tip!!
(BTW - thanks for your kind words, John!)