Good software for using MIDI keys live?

[Samthomas]

Hi all,

I have a Line 6 KB37, which is a recording interface and midi keyboard. I want to start using it to play live synth/keyboard parts, along with my laptop. I am completely new to this, so answers to the following would be gratefully appreciated!

1. Currently, I'm using Cubase to jam with my friends. Like, opening up cubase, setting up a MIDI track, hooking the whole thing up to some speakers and playing like that. But it occurs to me that Cubase is probably a massive resource hog considering I'm not looking to record or mix anything - I just need the functionality of playing the keyboard sounds. Is there other software that will basically let me plug my MIDI keyboard in, open up the program, choose a sound and just play? I'm assuming this is a REALLY stupid question, but on this topic unfortunately I am REALLY stupid, so... I don't mind paying up for good software, but it seems like the MIDI part of cubase is exactly what I need - hundreds of sounds all ready to go.

2. Sometimes, when using certain presets, there's a crackling sound when I play. The laptop I'm using is good enough spec (200+gb free HDD space, 3GB ram, vista) so I'm thinking maybe I need to play around with some settings to fix this, am I right?

...That's about it. Any other general wisdom that you have that might help me play my KB37 live would be veeeeery much appreciated. I'm usually quite good with music (I do have a degree!) but this whole area is just stumping me. Sorry if I made anyone facepalm!

~~

 

[Anon_LL]

Software recommendations for you are hard without knowing what sounds you want to access and the quality of them etc. but unless you are unhappy with Cubase I don't see why you would want to change. It might use a lot of resource but it's not like you'll be running multiple applications, streaming video and stuff whilst playing live.

There is software out there with very high quality samples but you do pay for them as well. If you have access to a nice piano at your university or something then you could make your own samples yourself for free... if you're willing to put the effort in.

 

[goz211]

Crackling sound?

Download and run the dpc latency checker and post back with what you can see.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Cubase as a resource hog - not sure it is actually but what sounds are you using? The VSTs that come with Cubase or ...?

 

[Samthomas]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I want the sound to be clear - I'm going to playing in a few different settings, the most concerning of which is a live drum'n'bass/hip-hop sort sort of band in mid-large hall venues, so the sounds there are very varied - big lead lines, crazy effects etc. The other is playing synths in a pretty standard rock setup.

I'm not at university sadly I should definitely have made more of the facilities when I was there!

Am I right in thinking (sorry again!) that a VST is basically a sound preset? If so, I'm mainly using the Steingberg HALion One VSTs.

I will d/l that program and run it when I'm home from work. I always thought latency was apparent in a delay rather than a distortion of the sound.

Cubase isn't that bad with resources I suppose, I was just thinking that it can't be the most efficient way to load VSTs purely for live use. I know how fussy computers can be, I'd be terrified of getting BSOD halfway through a song!! I'm willing to dedicate a laptop solely to the music software required to play live sets if need be. Cubase is great though, easy to use when you get the hang of it.

Thanks again for the replies

 

[goz211]

Halion One is the VST - not the presets. VST is a virtual instrument modelled in software. You can get VSTs that replicate real life hardware like an organ (VB3) or a vintage hardware synth (OP-X) - or even a hardware effects unit. It can also be a sound producing instrument that was never hardware like Eric Pershing's Omnisphere.

Some will run in "standalone" mode - most I've seen need to be run from within another software program - a VST host.

I bought and used Chainer for years - not sure if it'll run on your operating system.

Try Cantabile Light:

http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/lite/

The link is to the free version. Next you need to find out if you can run Halion outside Cubase. My version of Halion One needs to be called from within Cubase.

You didn't mention your audio rice crispie issue - what happened when you ran the latency checker - what did it say? Was it green bars for at least a minute?

 

[Samthomas]

The latency checker is showing lots of green, some yellow and a few red, maybe in a 60:38:2 ratio... What can I do about this?

It mentions drivers. I can disable almost all the drivers except for the ones necessary to run cubase if needs be - the laptop will purely be a music tool.

 

[goz211]

You can't have any yellow or red. That's your rice crispie crackles in the audio.

It's a good spec for a laptop - you will get it working but there's going to be a bit of trial and error.

1st - do you know how to disable the wireless connection. Try that, run dpc and post back.

 

[Samthomas]

I've done that, and it got a LOT better. now I only have one higher bar, just in the yellow, every 15 seconds, and all the green bars in between are very low!

I hooked it up to my keyboard and the crackles are much less frequent, I don't want to go crazy disabling drivers in case I accidentally disable something vitally important though.

 

[goz211]

Just remember to disable the wireless when you're using it for audio.

Vista ain't great (for us musicians ) to be honest. I had a lot of issues with a new laptop - and at the time I couldn't buy a new one locally without Vista on it. All solved when I got the local techie team to take Vista off and put XP on.

My next music machine will be a Mac - less footering about and downloading fixes and updates.

Last thing - I had to disable the battery on my (XP) laptop to get it all green with DPC. I had to follow instructions from the links on the DPC page to do it so I can't take you through it here, sorry.

 

[Samthomas]

I have an XP Disc and key from an old machine... How great would you say the difference in performance is?

I know what you mean about MACs. I just can't get my head around how good Windows is for everything else (gaming, just general computing that MAC OS isn't compatible with yet). I might save up for a mac though, just for less hassle with music. Although, my MIDI keyboard won't be helping - it can only connect to computers via USB, which is a shame.

I saw the option of disabling the battery but didn't fancy it - I might cross my fingers and give that a try after work.

Thank you so much though - you've helped me loads, the crackles are almost all gone now and using certain sounds I get none . Legend.

edit: XP disc, not vista.

 

[goz211]

XP vs Vista

I was on an Atari for years (midi only) then midi+audio took me through Win 95, Win 98, XP, Vista then back to XP. I'm not a gamer - XP has been very stable for me. Some issues under Win 98 just disappeared when I went to XP at a friend's suggestion. Vista was a forced upgrade and it quickly became obvious that it was going to be trouble. Musicians are a very small part of Microsoft's customer base. Everything I have is now back on XP - and working great. I have XP on both my desktop and laptop. I won't be going the Win 7 route when the time comes for another forced upgrade - I'm Mac bound having spent a year using them for teaching in college. There's less messing about and updates make your machine run faster - which they should but it just surprised me after my Microsoft OS experiences.

Disable the battery - try it - then switch it on again. It may be all you need to do.

 

[senturion]

Not sure if you're still looking or not, but I had purchased Native Instrument's Komplete Elements 7 (now v 8 is out). It is fairly inexpensive and has quite a few excellent sounding organs, drum loops, synth, strings, keys. I HIGHLY recommend it. It has brought my music performing and recording library to a new level, without dropping a lot of dough to do so.

Also, one of the included programs is Kontakt 4. It allows you to do what you are asking. Pick any of the included instruments and play them. I actually use a midi Korg nanoKONTROL fader and M-Audio Keystation 88es with this software. You can layer multiple sounds to add the basic functionality like in my Yamaha S80, but for less, and it is versatile and expandible. Also if other people ask me to play for them, I can plug into their keys and still use my software and fader to bring my board with me. Changed my musical life.

 

[senturion]

Thank you!

Halion One is the VST - not the presets. VST is a virtual instrument modelled in software. You can get VSTs that replicate real life hardware like an organ (VB3) or a vintage hardware synth (OP-X) - or even a hardware effects unit. It can also be a sound producing instrument that was never hardware like Eric Pershing's Omnisphere.

Some will run in "standalone" mode - most I've seen need to be run from within another software program - a VST host.

I bought and used Chainer for years - not sure if it'll run on your operating system.

Try Cantabile Light:

http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/lite/

The link is to the free version. Next you need to find out if you can run Halion outside Cubase. My version of Halion One needs to be called from within Cubase.

You didn't mention your audio rice crispie issue - what happened when you ran the latency checker - what did it say? Was it green bars for at least a minute?

THANK YOU goz! This software is exactly what I needed! It works great! And the perform version is certainly worth the $139 price tag. With Win 7 64-bit, an I3 processor and 8GB of RAM, this is the perfect fit for me.


Thanks!