From joek1000@aol.com Fri Nov 18 17:42:16 2005
Subject:Re: OT New music computer?

Sorry - I can't answer that one! I'm not using the PC on stage. I use it for editing and
replacing sounds on my Virus rack, Motif ES rack, and AN1x. All three have graphical
interfaces that let you use your computer for editing. I also use it to get sounds into an
Electro rack.

I use an M-Audio Quatro for MIDI interface which works great but is sort of an overkill. It
has an audio interface but I wasn't too happy with the audio output when I experimented
with B4 awhile ago. At the time the Echo Indigo was popular on this list for B4 and the
other applications that were available at the time. I think that Walt and I both got ours
around the same time. It might be worth a direct question to the group to see if people are
still using it for live applications or if they have moved on to something else. M-Audio has
new MIDI/audio interfaces now and I'm sure they are improved.

If I was going to do the VST thing now I would probably go straight for the Muse Receptor.

I'm also experimenting with creating sort of a poor man's Music Pad Pro on the laptop.
Here is the Music Pad website:

http://www.freehandsystems.com/

I'm scanning in my charts and sheet music that I want access to onstage and then
combining them into a PDF file. If I set up the PDF file with bookmarks for the artists and
songs I can get to the right chart very quickly. The problem is setting up the laptop where
I can use the mouse and see the laptop screen. I'm going to get a flat screen monitor that
I can attach to the keyboard stand as a partial solution. You need the full blown Acrobat to
do this kind of thing. If anyone is interested you can ping me offline. Music Pad Pro is
around $1000 so I'm willing to get creative to get a similar solution.

Joe