Stage keyboard or laptop + controller?

[pklima]

I can't play keys, but sometimes end up on keys in situations that don't require somebody who can actually play independent left and right hand parts or whatever. And it seems I've now ended up playing keys in a shoegaze band - simple pads and leads.

What's the 2025 way to do this? Is a laptop running something like Gig Performer + interface + MIDI controller the cheap and unprofessional thing to do, or is a stage keyboard the antiquated and sonically limiting thing to do? I honestly need to ask this question because I have absolutely no idea.

 

[el jeffe bass]

Both have advantages. A good stage keyboard should have everything you need play any gig, the downsides are the initial cost of a GOOD keyboard can be quite expensive and unlike guitars and basses the technology changes pretty quickly so for the most part you can take a beating on resale. I have decided that in the future I will pretty much stick with a good midi controller and VST’s (virtual synthesizer technology). You can buy a keyboard like the Novation Launchkey 61 for $329.99. It comes with some good VST’s and anything that you need that it doesn’t come with can be purchased for cheap or free. The limiting factor is your laptop or tablet. I use an iPad that’s set up for music production that works well, my next purchase will probably be Mac laptop. I have no idea how well other devices work. Good luck with whatever you decide. Playing keys is fun, addictive and can add a lot to your marketability as a musician.

 

[pklima]

Yeah, the keyboard route would be a lot more money... don't need a Nord Stage for sure, but anything reasonably modern with 61 keys will still be around $1500. I've been doing the computer thing in rehearsals, so I already have the gear for that, but... my music PC is a desktop so for portability I've been using an older Windows 8 tablet, and I don't know if I really trust that to keep booting up when I push the button, heh. Still, getting an SSD for that and reinstalling the OS (maybe even just go Linux) is cheap, and even getting a newer laptop would be a lot cheaper than a keyboard.

 

[Nemanja504]

Is a laptop running something like Gig Performer + interface + MIDI controller the cheap and unprofessional thing to do

No, it is a smart thing to do. Lightweight, powerful, flexible, great value for the price, excellent integration with other tools and future proof.

Plus trusted by artists such as Ruben Valtierra (Weird Al Yankovic), Tim Starace (YYNOT), Blue Weaver (Bee Gees), Robert Martin (Frank Zappa) ...

 

[Gefilter1001]

Is a laptop running something like Gig Performer + interface + MIDI controller the cheap and unprofessional thing to do, or is a stage keyboard the antiquated and sonically limiting thing to do?

Actually it's the smart way to go. You will have way more versatility at a fraction of the cost and less headaches.
Gig Performer has never let me down.

 

[pklima]

Thanks.

And in the meantime, I've realized that the laptop is the obvious choice because then I can also do a DJ set.

Of course using a stage keyboard as your MIDI controller/backup source of audio is the luxury option, but for a shoegaze band that's way overkill.

 

[Billyears IV]

I've dabbled with laptop / interface/ midi controllers using Ableton. Got fairly handy but I'm still not a keys player.

I love the range of synths, drums, quirky sounds available. Plus so many parameters can be midi controlled.

It is like learning another instrument (or 2) but that's good with me. You can assign chords to single notes and pads can be fulls weeping walls of sound, so don't have to be a pianist.

I've not done much live performance apart from contributing odd bits with guitar bands. It doesn't seem to be discussed that much, but reassuring when I chat with touring signed bands who do actually use laptop set ups..... It can work.

Aiming for a fuller electro dub dance type band.

Go for it!

 

[Nemanja504]

No question that Ableton Live is a great product

As the name says, it can be used live. Gig Performer is a different beast - it is basically not competing with Live. As the matter of fact, I saw quite a few guys using these two apps in tandem and that works remarkably well live or in studio.

Gig Performer is not a DAW, but a dedicated live performance solution. It also have visual routing, not the channel-strip model. You simply wire your plugins with virtual cables, just as you do with connecting pedals with patch cables.

Therefore, it is 100% focused on live use. It must be stable, reliable, and efficient. It supports the buffer size of 16 samples if needed (this also depends on your audio interface capabilities), and have extra goodies in it.

For example, the Chord Maker, that allows you to run wild chords with a finger, the Envelope Follower, that allows for crazy MIDI operations allowing effects such as audio ducking, auto wah, adding violin-like sounds to your instrument, etc. Should you use backing tracks, Gig Performer can slow them down, change pitch, detect the tempo, or automatically trigger actions (avoiding the need to use a MIDI controller).

It can accommodate multiple band members on a single computer. You can run a dedicated keys setup, vocal setup, and guitar setup as three instances on the same computer.

The learning curve is not steep, as everything is visual, plus there are many tutorials for whatever you need. The community is active and passionate.

 

[pklima]

In case anybody cares about getting into the weeds on specifics, here's what I've actually done so far: figured out my decade-old 18" tablet with Windows 8 on it (a brief trend before we figured out that if you want a touchscreen, putting it on a laptop works better) still boots up, been using that with an ancient cheap Alva Nanoface (budget licensed Babyface) interface and four-octave Korg microkey. This works fine for rehearsal where I'm not really going to be using different sounds for each song and it's pretty much just "pad" or "lead", but FL Studio is not the best software for it and it's got an HDD. So, I've found an SSD with Windows 10 installed from another old computer, stuck that in there and it boots up but it's only 256 GB so I cleaned up the non-music software, ordered a 1 TB drive, and will transfer to that then start installing stuff next week. Coincidentally I also found out that the touchscreen which I disabled five years ago is fine - it had started constantly, uh, touching itself in one spot, and I had to disable it to make the tablet usable. But if it's fine, well, it'll look cooler on stage than using a mouse, heh.

Thought about Linux (and Reaper by default I guess) as I've mostly been using Plogue's sforzando with my own samples and their DX7 emulation, and those are now available as beta for Linux, but with Windows I could use more exotic sounds like Soniccouture's Haunted Spaces or Majetone's Dream Kit Zenith (basically a synth made entirely from drum samples by a mad scientist drummer), plus the free Halion Sonic which would make life easier because instead of thinking about sounds I can just load the preset that the singer used in the demo recordings.

So, with Windows, that means Mainstage is out, though I hear a lot of users of that have been migrating to other software in the past few years anyway, and I'll probably stick with FL Studio for the next rehearsal or two, and then see about either Ableton Live or Gig Performer. First gigs might be in January, so there's time.

 

[Nemanja504]

So, with Windows, that means Mainstage is out, though I hear a lot of users of that have been migrating to other software in the past few years anyway

This is true, especially now that Gig Performer Essentials has been released with the price tag of $59.

For what is worth, you could've run Gig Performer on that Windows 8 with HDD (Gig Performer supports Windows 7 and later).

My recommendation is that you use a decent audio interface with good drivers, don't try to spare there. I use Audient iD4 on both macOS and Windows and it works great. Many people build hybrid rigs or 100% VST rigs around this interface.

 

[pklima]

Yeah, I wanted to upgrade the HDD for two reasons: reliability (it's a decade old and has moving parts) and speed of loading the bigger sample-based stuff.

Interface and drivers with minimum latency is like the feel of the keys, really important for most cases - complex piano parts and the like - but in the specific case of shoegaze I can certainly live with a longer buffer. And not like I have the keys skills for music that needs skilled keys, heh.