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#1
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Need Multi-Channel Standalone Player For Laptop
heylo,
here's my situation. i play in a band that wants to use a 4 channel mix. we play some songs with pre-recorded beats and instrumentation. one mono mix for the drummer, one mono for the stage monitors and one stereo mix for the house mix. so i figure i can make a 4 channel mixes in wavelab. though in what format should i use? i want just 1 file for each song. my idea was to bring a laptop and run outs from a pro audio box. i know there's plenty out there with 4 channels out. so anyways... what software is available that is dummy proof? in the best of all worlds i'd like to set up a playlist. have the program play a track and then cue/pause the next track. then have the drummer either hit the spacebar or even better stomp on a trigger of some sort to play the next selection in the playlist. we have access to both pc and mac laptops. many thanx!!!! b.p. |
#3
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Hi B.P.
I have a thought about controlling the app. If the app you choose can be controlled via MIDI then you can use a programmable foot controller like the Behringer FCB1010 to send MIDI notes or program changes, and that should work. Also, I haven't looked for one, but there might be a small external keyboard-type controller device with Stop, Play, FF, REW buttons. I know I saw some around in the late 90's but haven't looked since. These were often configurable to send the keystrokes need to start, stop, play, etc. I'm going to be in a situation with very similar needs soon. Please keep me posted on your experiences with Wavelab. I've looked at it a little but know almost nothing about it. Also, if there are better alternatives I'd like to find them. Like you, a playlist that can be triggered would be ideal. Good luck and, again, please keep me posted. Dean |
#4
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That link doesn't work for me.
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#5
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One more thought...
I just saw mention of an app named Mixere in another thread. From the brief description it was not clear if playlists were an option or not, but it might be of interest since it plays back multiple WAV files simultaneously. Dean |
#6
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drichard,
yeah... i'll look into Mixere. off hand. it looks like this MIGHT work. it seems there are tons of DVD players that might work. of course, i just want a dumb no frills player.. no hiccups possible kinda thing. what about all those cool Super Audio/ DVD-A discs out there. aren't people ripping them into their computers? i'm still trying figure out the best format. WAVE? in wavelab i can't figure out how to save in 5.1. though i'm gonna try making a mix in cubase as it is made to do such things. there has to be a good solution as plenty of bands must be doing this or similar type of setup. frothy pears, b.p. |
#7
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#8
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quite helpful, kal.
you didn't see me winking did you. i'll add a nose. ;) but people will once the format becomes fashionable. windowmedia has a 5.1 format. but who knows... maybe it'll go the way of quadraphonic vinyl. |
#9
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Hey B.P.,
The Windows Media file format is something I've read about, but never actually tried. It sounds interesting, and the Windows Media Player does do playlists, so it's a possibility. The player seems a bit crude, but it should work. I did enough reading to find out that there exist extended multi-channel WAV file formats, but I'm not sure which (if any) apps support them. I should demo Wavelab and see what it does. I am also going to check out Ableton Live as a playback app, though I say that without knowing how appropriate it is for the task at hand. While it doesn't support surround per se, I think one could set up a stereo track to go to the mains, and use other outputs as needed. And while it doesn't support playlists, one could just put all of the songs for a set in one session. Again, I say that without actually trying it to see if it's a reasonable way to do things. But Ableton promises to have some nice features for live work - external triggering via MIDI, etc. As for other bands doing this - I know that one other band using extra tracks live (which is quite common around here for bands that play weddings and small clubs) is simply using stereo. There's a mono mix of the extra tracks on one side and a click track on the other. Of course the click track only gets sent to the drummer's headphones. They use a minidisc player live. But I'm like you, it would be so much nicer to do have the extra tracks in stereo. I'm not sure how one would go about creating a DVD with mult-channel audio, but that might be worth investigating. Again, please keep me posted on what you learn. Dean |
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