Amiga as a live music controller
 

Iya,
(Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong section, couldn't quite find a perfect place for it and I figured it was probably a bit of beginner question).

Possible stupid question incoming, but trying to google for this doesn't bring up many relevant results: Is there any amazing reason to use an Amiga as a music controller in a live environment (preferably a reason better than street credz)?

I've been looking for a way to incorperate a new sound into my bands performance, and I've got an Amiga 1200 and considering we were looking into incorperating a sort of retro sci-fi feel, the lightbulb inside my head flickered. Looking on Wikipedia turns out some bands who did use them in the 90's, but it doesn't say how and there are no videos of their live performances on YouTube. Anything else I've found is in a controlled studio environment.

Is there any reason to use an Amiga over a laptop\midi controller, or is it just too much of an uphill struggle even considering it? Seems a bit of waste just sat on my desk, I'm sure the poor little guy aspires to be more

Thanks in advance!

Hi! I really hope that someone here can guide you!

Knowing that there is another Amiga out there mixing it up, sounds fantastic!

I hope so too! If someone can do it with a NES, why not an Amiga?

The only thing I can see being the actual problem is the software side itself. Unless there's some software out there that just boots straight into it and allows switching samples via the keyboard, I guess I'm gonna have to get one of those PSOne LCD screens and latch it onto the Amiga. Can imagine that being a nightmare to use on stage though :\

Theres a video on youtube of a guy called ctrix at debug live, he's using 2 a500's iirc in a live setting, might be worth watching to see what he's using.

get a sampler, find some software and do some realtime sound effects
and tell us how you get on, good luck and may the ribbits be with you

I fear the sound quality with a 8 bit sampler and realtime effects like TechnoSoundTurbo software wouldn`t good enough.

I guess there don`t exists any software for live music performance. Of course you can use an A1200 just for fun. About 10-15 years ago Amigashockforce used two A1200 + soundcard + digiboosterpro for live act. Maybe it depends on what kind of music/style/result/art/... you plan. You can have a look at sound/mod-player, sampling/midi software but how handy that is I don`t know. Just play some samples via keyboard is easy by using tracker software like protracker, octamed, digiboosterpro.

At least KONEY and these Aussies used an Amiga in their performances (quite sure Akira himself did aswell, but can't find any post about it right now).

I did something similar way back in the 90s for a friend's party. I used a Technosound Turbo MIDI adapter (I'm sure that was the model... I've still got it somewhere) and Octamed Pro running up to 64 channels (although I think, in reality, we only used 16!!). The sound was generated by my mate's uncle's Korg, so the sound was pretty fantastic! Remember, MIDI is only the signal. If you have a good enough sound generator you can get professional sound controlled by any device capable of communicating via MIDI.

We also ran a couple of audio-visual demos on a huge 33" CRT TV :laughing Vision Megademo IV never looked so good! The audio for the demos was piped through my Kenwood pro-logic amp and, at the time, seemed brilliant. Whether or not it would hold up today remains to be seen - I've got a Korg Piano Generator which can be controlled by my Acer Aspire One Netbook. Small, light and pro-sounding.

Best of luck with the project and let us know how you get on :great

Thanks for the awesome responses! I've been looking into each one since yesterday. Think it's just gonna be a case of getting it set up so it's functional and then just assess it from there.

The idea was to use it in a 80s inspired rock\metal band, the entire band is focused around a sci-fi concept similar to that of The Terminator\Flashback etc, using fairly dark synth sounds. There's no actualy requirement to have an Amiga in the band, I just thought it'd be one of those "Hey, that's kinda interesting" things and give me something extra to do on stage :P

Wether the performance of it will actually suit a band environment remains to be seen, but hopefully I'll know in due time :D

Indeed I think the best way is to try it out, audio quality is`t everything
Though posting your experiences back here is ;) especily if you got pics and/or some vids

anyway good luck and have fun, and space cadets every where get ready for take off again