Pushing the I7 to the limit!
16 Sep 2013, 23:44I just wanted to find out how far some had pushed the limits of the I7.
For example, we have a fairly large band which has 3 keyboardists.
We also have a percussionist with an Octapad and Axiom 25.
We also have a guitarist with a 2 octave keyboard for small parts. (Flutes, French Horns...)
There are times when we are running all 5 of these musicians through the unit at the same time for live shows.
I have 3 parts designated for the other 2 keyboardists and 4 parts designated for myself.
(The fourth part is setup for whenever I need to play a part with the Yamaha Breath Controller Unit, BC-3)
I have 1 part for the percussionist and 1 part for the guitarist.
So we are using 12 of the 16 parts.
I use an 8 port midi box to merge all the signals and reroute them through the midi out and then into the I7.
The 3 keyboards run out stereo from 3 of the 4 stereo outputs.
The other 2 small boards run mono out the 7 and 8th outputs.
We have a computer running Sonar which triggers everyone's patches at the beginning of every song.
I have one midi cable running from the computer into the 8 port midi unit.
Sonar triggers the studio set at the beginning of the song, then a split second later it sends the 12 patches for the 12 parts. Along with separate panning, volume, and reverb control changes.
The I7 only has 1 reverb unit, so the 1 keyboardist (Which has a motif) uses the main reverb unit in the I7.
The other 2 keyboardists have Fantom units. (His an X8 and mine a G8.)
We run our stereo outputs to the mix in on the Fantoms, which we then use the inboard reverb units from the Fantoms. This also in turn balances the outputs, getting rid of the need for DI's.
The guitarist runs his feed through his effects processor with an A-B switch.
The percussionist never uses reverb because he mostly uses timpani's (Which the I7 timpani's have a very nice natural reverb) and other parts. (Such as bells and whatnot.)
Although there are times when we use only one part per person. When we are playing strings or brass I have it setup with one part panned the entire keyboard with a strings or brass section and then the upper half also plays a trumpet or violin and the lower half has a trombone or cello. We do have to monitor how heavy we are playing and adjust voices accordingly, or we run into polyphony issues.. So far we have not had a problem with polyphony.
For example, we have a fairly large band which has 3 keyboardists.
We also have a percussionist with an Octapad and Axiom 25.
We also have a guitarist with a 2 octave keyboard for small parts. (Flutes, French Horns...)
There are times when we are running all 5 of these musicians through the unit at the same time for live shows.
I have 3 parts designated for the other 2 keyboardists and 4 parts designated for myself.
(The fourth part is setup for whenever I need to play a part with the Yamaha Breath Controller Unit, BC-3)
I have 1 part for the percussionist and 1 part for the guitarist.
So we are using 12 of the 16 parts.
I use an 8 port midi box to merge all the signals and reroute them through the midi out and then into the I7.
The 3 keyboards run out stereo from 3 of the 4 stereo outputs.
The other 2 small boards run mono out the 7 and 8th outputs.
We have a computer running Sonar which triggers everyone's patches at the beginning of every song.
I have one midi cable running from the computer into the 8 port midi unit.
Sonar triggers the studio set at the beginning of the song, then a split second later it sends the 12 patches for the 12 parts. Along with separate panning, volume, and reverb control changes.
The I7 only has 1 reverb unit, so the 1 keyboardist (Which has a motif) uses the main reverb unit in the I7.
The other 2 keyboardists have Fantom units. (His an X8 and mine a G8.)
We run our stereo outputs to the mix in on the Fantoms, which we then use the inboard reverb units from the Fantoms. This also in turn balances the outputs, getting rid of the need for DI's.
The guitarist runs his feed through his effects processor with an A-B switch.
The percussionist never uses reverb because he mostly uses timpani's (Which the I7 timpani's have a very nice natural reverb) and other parts. (Such as bells and whatnot.)
Although there are times when we use only one part per person. When we are playing strings or brass I have it setup with one part panned the entire keyboard with a strings or brass section and then the upper half also plays a trumpet or violin and the lower half has a trombone or cello. We do have to monitor how heavy we are playing and adjust voices accordingly, or we run into polyphony issues.. So far we have not had a problem with polyphony.