General Music Chat

S.P.,
Some years back, I did a duo with a sax player. I sang and played my Yamaha SY55 live, but programmed the drums and bass on the 55. I used a Yamaha filer to store and play back the data. (used floppies)

Programming was a lot of work, but the duo was successful and fun, until we got tired of not being able to jam!

Nowadays, technology should make the whole thing easier, but there should still be a strong live element in the performance to keep it interesting.

I prefer gigging with real people these days, but if you put the energy into a MIDI gig, you might come up with something good.

Sorry I couldn't be of any real assistance.
Good luck
Howlin'

I recorded and mixed all parts (guitars, bass, drums, backing vox, keys) minus live guitar and vocal and gave the sound man a CD of the set in order.

A local guy does what you're talking about - brings his computer with song files that he plyed & wrote, etc. Ppl complain that he's too karaoke-like.

Be sure that you will get that from some ppl, no matter how much work you put into it.

If, however you use this equipment on perhaps 1 out of every 5 songs, I bet they'd be more forgiving, esp if you play well live as a solo.

I did that sorta thing yrs ago with a tape...what a hassle, concerning tape speeds!..but ppl seemed to like it a bit. But I only did it for one song out of maybe 10 or 15.

SP, don't bring that stuff to open mikes.
Just bring your guitar and 10 fingers.

S.P.,
Your songwriting and vocal abilities seem to me to be advanced enough to put together a good live act as a solo or with sidemen. Based on what has been said on this thread so far, I would suggest that you keep the creative juices flowing by composing with your home studio , but hone your live performance skills by arranging your songs for basic instrumentation. In other words, KEEP THE LIVE GIG SIMPLE! I for one would definitely be willing to buy another drink if you were playing your tunes live down at my local beer joint.

However,

If you were screwing around with overly complex and unnecessary equipment, looking like a fool, I'd probably opt to finish off my Guinness and return home and play my piano for myself.
Now get it together and rip 'er up!
Ya ain't gittin' any younger.
Howlin'

I mixed it up. Some weeks my 3 song set was live looped. Sometimes it was acoustic and vocal. Sometimes it was me playing and singing with backing tracks. It was a weekly open mic. I got a good reception but I almost always did. I will never play with backing tracks again though. I just feel cheesy about it.

Unfortunately at some point I will probably have to consider this myself. I say unfortunately because it's really hard getting support for a solo project unless there are wads of cash involved so this is my point.

Why don't you rewrite some of this stuff and send it out to local companies and get their feedback too? Now we all know this is really the hardest thing to get any feedback from but why not give it a shot? It cannot harm anything can it? You never know, you might find some people willing to lend a hand and so on.

I don't know whether I dare trust technology to the point of being solo on stage myself. (Though as above I may have to consider it) I work in that field all day long in various capacities and suffer the pitfalls it brings from time to time but you only get one shot in a bar or concert. If things fail there that's what people will remember.

Wires scare the heck out of me

One band I used to go see had a dat-tape arrangement which worked for them, funny how a Keyboard player lifts his hands off the keyboard and its still ringing in the chords

Simplest is best I think. Could luck with it in any case. Interesting topic.