#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER FULL#
#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER PORTABLE#
#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER PRO#

We spoke to three audiovisual artists using Live as their performance hub, and asked them to break down a recent work intended for live performance environments. While some users may already be familiar with the many ways to make this possible (the topic has been discussed both in past articles and interviews and in conversation at Loop), here we aim to demystify some of the technical approaches you can use to create visuals to accompany music within Live.

#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER FULL#

For performers who want full control over the audio and visual experience, Live can act as a bridge for both parts of the equation. The prices range from nearly nothing to hundreds and there’s something for everybody.In a performance setting, visual expression can be just as vital to the show as the music itself. Most of them can run off batteries, if needed, and yet there are also numerous ways to power groups of them from a single mains power source. Guitar pedals are too much fun and too useful to waste solely on guitars! The pedal format covers everything from simple distortions, even in the mini-pedal formats, to complex programmable stereo machines with MIDI control. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but they are ubiquitous and we should take advantage of that. There must be at least one guitar pedal for everybody on the planet.

#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER PORTABLE#

With the right MIDI controllers, Reason can make a portable and impressive live system. Formerly an entirely closed system, which was also a guarantee of stability, Reason now supports VST plug-ins, extra contention in the form of rack extensions (with an option to either buy them or pay for a monthly subscription) and Ableton Link, for easier syncing with the outside world. There are times when the interface seems a little overwhelming, but it’s customisable and very powerful. Gadget runs on iOS – on iPad or iPhone – but also as a separate DAW, or a suite of individual plug-ins, on macOS (the plug-ins are also available for Windows, but not the DAW).

The interface is fun and colourful and the instrument controls are simple but well-chosen and effective. This is a DAW that hosts a library of instruments (they are the gadgets in question) and includes sequencing, effects and a mixer.

Korg’s Gadget takes cross-platform project portability to a new extreme.

#ELECTRONICS AND LIVE PERFORMER PRO#

The clincher for all of this is that GarageBand projects from Mac or iOS can be opened inside the far more ‘professional’ Logic Pro X, for final editing and mixing. GarageBand on iOS even has an Ableton Live-style view where you can trigger loops and sets of loops in real time to create an interactive performance template. GarageBand runs on macOS and iOS, on iPad or iPhone and the projects are interchangeable between these platforms – a portability concept that Korg takes to extremes with its Gadget software. There’s no need to feel guilty about using this free and very accessible mini-DAW to get your gigs done. Okay, maybe it’s not regarded as ‘cool’ and may not seem ‘pro’ – but Apple’s GarageBand is very underrated as a performance tool, especially if you’re more interested in keyboards and guitars than you are electronics and sound design.

Electronics and live performer