As I mentioned in a previous post, The Cassandra Complex have been getting ready to play some shows at festivals around Europe over the next weeks. We’ve got a pretty different live setup than the average band, so I thought you guys might like to see it:
Paul
- Asus F3jc laptop
- Echo AudioFire 4
- Cubase 4 (running backing tracks and VST instruments)
- Terratec Komplexer
- HALion One
- Korg MS2000 (master keys and vocoder)
Volker
- Fernandes Revolver guitar
- Yamaha bass
- Lexicon GT-2 (for guitar)
- Johnson J-Station (for bass)
Andy
- Gibson SG guitar
- HP laptop
- Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2
Rodney
- Asus F3jc laptop
- Echo AudioFire 4
- Cubase 4 (running backing tracks and VST instruments)
- Terratec Komplexer
- Shure SM58 mic
Paul and I have identical setups so that if one computer goes down we have a backup. We’ve also got backing tracks as WAV files loaded into Andy’s Guitar Rig just in case both Cubases go down – it’s unlikely, but you never know!
We got Guitar Rig a couple of months ago, to experiment in whether we could replace all the guitar gear with a laptop and software. So far in rehearsal it’s been sounding great, but we haven’t had it on stage yet. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday. IF it all works out (and I think it will) we’ll probably replace Volker’s gear with a laptop too, either running Guitar Rig or Line6’s Toneport stuff. Or just get one of the new mega POD XTs.
Normally in the studio we use a LOT of synths and samplers, but we’ve tried to cut right down for these shows. We were spending too much time fiddling with stuff and loading times were becoming silly. So we’ve cut it right down to using HALion One for basic piano/string sounds (it’s not perfect, but it’s quick and it works); and Terratec Komplexer for synth stuff.
Komplexer is rapidly becoming one of my favorite plugins – it’s basically a Waldorf Micro-Q with a new (and much better) interface. Dead easy to edit and has some awesome analog sounds. Great arpeggiator too – we’re using that a lot live, synced to the drums inside Cubase.
We just got the Echo AudioFire 4s because we really wanted some high quality, sturdy and stable audio interfaces that didn’t take up a huge amount of room. When you’re flying from show to show you really don’t want to lug around big racks full of stuff. The AudioFires fit that bill nicely – the AF4 is tiny, but it’s solid metal construction, so hopefully it’ll be able to take a few knocks.
We’ll see what happens on Saturday… And yeah, I am actually quite nervous I have to admit!