Guys, who plays live? On what? How do you get easy access to the sounds you want? Buttons on the keyboard? Footswitch? Seems to me the modern Triton, Fantom, Motifs etc. are not well designed for live playing. Or am I missing something?

I use a T3 and an SP100 for all my gigs.
Switching banks & patterns (T3) is a breeze, usually just a 2 button push, sometimes only a toggle up or down.
That's one of the main reasons I like it so much.
As for my SP100, my only changes on this unit are from Piano to String or a combi of both.
I've tried the Tritons, and first of all, I find the touch screens to be a pain, and even when I've finally got the hang of it, patch changes just take too long for my liking.
More often than not, I need to change banks and/or patterns on the fly, during a song possibly 2 or 3 times. The T3 has been great for this.

...Just my thots...

------------------
...shboom

I use a Roland RS5 and used to use a Yamaha. Both of these have user presets that can be called up with a button press, pretty quick.

I own a MOtif ES. FOr live gigs it is a bit on a heavy side but a layout is pretty good. I mean I'm blind and I have no issue finding the right sound/performance. Programming it is as easy as it gets.
Sure, it took some time to learn about it's front panel layout but that's the case with everything out there.

Usually it is just a matter of reading the manual and not spending tons of time trying to discover everything yourself.

My friend uses Phantom X and his quite happy with it's front panel user interface and controls. I can't say much about the Triton but I've seen a few posts here describing it as a good synth but also mentioning some odd things about some of the parameter related confusion and issues. Mostly stuff like "parameter copy" but nothing major. I'm sure it's been dealt with by now given the amount of updates it has undergone since i'ts release date.
But since I haven't got much experience using one myself I'll leave it up to Triton owners to talk about it's ups and downs.

My experience with using things like touch screen date back to the times of Korg Trinity (I picked one up just as they came out). No issues in the studio but when using it for live performance (hands getting sticky from playing for hours etc) using touch screen became a bit difficult. I've heard a few friends of mine mention the same thing. Nothing really major though. Most of the time it was just a matter of cleaning my hands and the touch screen. LOL

Big fan of old T3s since they are as easy to use as it can be and since their FX and synth engine are pretty straight forward and simple it is hard to screw up. Wish they still made them like that today.

Touch screen might appear cool in the music store but most of us would rather just press a button or two and may be move a slider up to desired value instead of sliding fingers on something that just doesn't feel right.

Okay, another thing about today's Korgs is as Shboom put it. THey get sluggish. Especially when jumping from one sound to another. Z-1, Trinity and Triton all suffer from that. ONce internal FX are disabled it is no longer an issue but who in the world would hook up a Triton to a multi FX processor just to speed up patch changes? I'm not that dedicated to using Korg.


Yamaha and Roland on the other hand don't have those issues really. ROland isn't ideal for multitimbral use from my point of view and some sounds don't quite "cut through" sort of speaking (as in they get lost in the mix easily due to all the abnoxious pan settings and huge reverbs that ROland tend to get crazy with on their presets). However, some would disagree so I'll just dismiss it as being my personal opinion and not more than that.

As far as using optional controls and so on... Foot pedals go well with my guitar rig (Roland GPX-700, Roland VG8 etc). However for keys I'm quite alright with buttons. Works for me. On mmy ES8 it's just a matter of selecting the right mode and than using bank and program buttons. Easy. No issues. Master mode is awesome. Basically save whatever you like into it. It can be a sequencer setup, a multi or a single. Scroll from one to another in a split second. No sluggishness or any of that. Nor I'm having hard time finding the right sound.

Okay, that's my $00.02


-ED-



[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 11-04-2005).]

Just wanted to add an important note, at least with regards to buttons.
Ya gotta be cafeful not to over punch, and by that I mean, as was my case, you get carried away during a set or song, forget for a moment, and punch the button too hard.

SNAP!!..all of a sudden your button is half an inch below the surface, and you've still got a gig to finish.
So a word to the wise..."be careful".
Great...so now we're at $.08

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...shboom

[This message has been edited by shboom (edited 11-04-2005).]

Hey 3351
I have been using a Roland for about 3 weeks now and the problem that you described is exactly what I thought was happening.(the kind of not being distinct/getting lost sound). Got any remedies? or do I have a whole lot of user presetin' ahead of me?

[This message has been edited by ToddL (edited 11-07-2005).]

Hi I too use Motif (ES 7 and S90). I use the Seq Play mode. The mode generally used to playback sequences. In this mode I can chose any of the 16 channels on the fly. Button are on the right side of the boards though. I can have piano in channel, strings in channel 2 and Piano and strings in channel 3.... Then I can toggle around the two or layer them on the fly as I want. Very cool.

The Mo's are very powerful. The trouble is though (but not for the ES) sometimes you loose some effects in this Seq Play mode, or rather one is limited to just 1 or 2 insert effects. But the ES allows for 8.

I used to use a Roland XP-80 which is fantastic for changing Midi Channels on the fly.


But that's basiclly how I do it. I preset my programs to channels in seq play mode or performance mode, or mix mode (what ever the manufacturer calls it ) then just change midi channels live.


Best wishes
Bob
<><

On stage

Roland V-Combo (VR-760)

Piano's programmed on presets

Hammonds on the fly with the drawbars.

I don't need much other sounds as we are doing mainly 70ties pop/rock but if another sound is needed I just put them under a preset.

Only volume and sustain pedal.

Yes. You can make it sound good in the mix by illiminating all the abnoxious pan setings and getting rid of all the loud and useless reverbs. Some use of EQ is also required. I find that most Roland factory patches have a healthy range of lows and mids but they tend to lack in some hi-mids and therefore sound a bit hollow and "washed out". A compressor/limiter is also a big helper since it basically helps flatten the sound a bit (by this I mean illiminate redunndant dynamics liek sound going from extremly quiet to an annoyingly loud). Basically all of the above.

Most guys I know who use Roland workstations in their studios or live normally tweak up a few sounds of their own to fix all of the crap that Roland continuously keep putting into their factory sound sets.

-ED-

i use an Alesis ion, which can have up to four sounds on call at any time. pretty handy, especially considering you can have a set of four sounds connected with a setup, and have up to (i think) around 70 setups stored on board. one or two setups per song, 8+ sounds reasonably easy to reach.

unfortunetly, its a real "hit or miss" game, as mentioned before. with the ion, there are so many buttons and knobs on any given square inch of the surface that you can't really go wild and just throw a hand where you think the button is.

think accidentilly hitting the FM knob along with that nifty lead you finished the night before.

screeeech.

I've been away for a bit. Thanks for the tips ED