How to bring my equipment for a gig?

Hello there, after 2 years of getting to know my machines, and create several tracks, I feel like I am ready to to a live gig.

Right now my equipment for this live set consists in:

-Rytm MKII
-Digitakt
-Digitone
-Behringer Model D
-Keystep
-Eventide H9
-Strymon Big Sky
-SP-404 Roland
-Computer with Live
-Soundcraft MTK 12 (Might replace it with something smaller for the live set)

I’d love to hear some ideas, or pictures of similar rigs, and how to set up a carry on pedalboard or something strong, and fast to setup and un-set up in a club or something.

Thanks so much in advance!!

p.d: This are some of my songs : https://soundcloud.com/lucasbargenmusic/sets/lucas-bargen-original-mixes

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I have so many thoughts on this topic…

Take this with a grain of salt, of course. This is my experience. I play live all the time. I’ve done shows with various configurations of Ableton, Digitakt, OT, Moog Minitaur, Push, pedalboard, guitars, saxophones. I’ve done these shows solo, and with a full band. I’ve used backing tracks, sequenced instruments, combinations of both, Ableton as a full set of clips, Ableton only as a synth engine, etc…

My recommendation is to really think about what you want to “do” live. What do you really enjoy doing/tweaking?

…that’s a lot of gear. If you can put it in Ableton as a clip or sample (meaning, you’re not needing the hardware specific manipulation of it), I’d say put it in Ableton (as a phrase or sample), and leave that gear at home.

Lastly, focus on what’s engaging for you. If you’re having fun, it will come through in the performance. If you’re stuck in “utility” and focused on too much that’s not going to matter to an audience, it will come through in the performance.

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Thanks for your input!

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Too much gear imo… I would remove the computer has it’s not very enjoyable in a live environment (both for you and the crowd). Then you have 5 sequencers of some sort… I would stick to two (three max). I’d remove the eventide/strymon as elektron boxes have good enough verbs for live… and you already have effects on your mixer. After that it should be a breeze to carry/setup :slight_smile: Of course YMMV according to what you actually want/like to do.

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Thanks! Yeah I think the pedals are gone by now. Computer is mainly use for limiting and recording, not really using it live. So it could go too.

Challenge yourself to strip it down as much as possible. Tons of gear in a live situation will sound cluttered unless you or the person doing sound is very good at mixing, or if you’re only using each piece minimally. You can get away with a much more minimal sound in a live situation.

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Thanks! Any pedal board in particular you recommend? Or Dj Case?

First - Lucas, you rock! I follow you on insta/YT and its nice to hear you are planning to gig live. I have little to no experience playing live but am currently building a case (Stagg Pedalcase) for my DT/DN combo…

Some links that might be of interest to you:

The setups thread has occasionally some inspirational mobile rigs

More rigged:

Also @DaveMech has some video about his setup here:

Godspeed to you!

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long time ago i put for myself The Ultimate Rule Number One:
the complete rig must fit a backpack that is no more than 40L (but 35L is better).
including cases for every box.
this rule helps me to keep my rig on compact side.

i broke this rule several times due to using various big boxes for my rig, but always aimed to fit this limit.

recently i’ve made the ultimate exception from this rule: the mixer. because i want every single gig recorded multitrack, so Zoom LiveTrack L-12 does this perfectly, and it takes extra space, but worth it. (there’s also another benefit: simpler sound checks, because my rig needs just one stereo pair.) anyway, everything excluding the mixer still must fit 25—35L backpack, and that’s the point.

another thing to consider is: the less boxes, the better. it’s hard to operate more than 2 boxes, and hardly possible to operate more than 3 boxes. i have 4, but one of them is never touched, and one touched rarely, so all the fun happens with two main boxes.

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Thanks a lot! I appreciate it! Checking the video right now!!

Thanks for your input!

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Already loving that Dave Mech solution. That is absolutely what I’m trying to achieve. A case, beautiful, portable, easy to setup, and also ready to play in that format at home too!

Asking this question daily to myself. Still not sure if my setup is good, but I need every piece of it. My only rule is, that it has to fit on my guitar case, that I use as a table. I would love to make it smaller but I just gave up. I‘ll check out your stuff asap. Hope the live thing goes well. Good luck!!!

agreed. WAY too much stuff. how much do you plan on engaging with and actually using each of these live? the ones you’re doing that with the least, remove from the set and replace with samples/clips. rehearse with that a few times. then check back in and discuss it further.

There is some more info in this thread:

One bonus with those Gorilla cases for live use is the lid comes off.

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Actually I am trying to reduce it as we speak. I already spoke to the pedals and told them they’re gonna have to stay on the bench for this tour. They didn’t like it, but well, it is what it is. I really need Rytm, Digitone and Digitakt. And MODEL D. And I really need a smaller mixer. SP-404 is used to trig samples, so it could be replaced with something smaller. Maybe a PO KO? or something. Or maybe stop being so lazy, and leave one or two channels in the Digitakt for that matter. What I like about the SP is that I can play with different samples on the go. If I arrange them in the Digitakt, there will be fewer options per pattern for a live situation.

Thanks for your input

great thanks!

the real solution here is to buy an OT, transfer all your stems to it and add one or two machines as needed.

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Hey, I have similar size rig and I am gigging more, I got two cases where my gear is constantly at in my studio (like a pedalboard hardcase, I made to order at thomann), I just gotta disconnect the cables from my mixer, it is one of those thick multiple cable cord… so on one case there are my synths, the other is just mixer, compressor and pc running Ableton to record. I use a taxi to go to the gigs, and friends to help me carry it, its not very heavy, but I got a bad back, and now im thinking of how could I add wheels to this. This is a pic from last friday’s gig!

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Personally I think transferring everything to Ableton a bad idea, imagine the amout of work to reorganize his whole set?

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