stefkeB

I've started thinking lately to get up to grips with performing alone with more than simply a guitar. I have most of the hardware and software I need (I think), but to link it all together takes some planning.

One of the tricky things is the lack of hands you have when playing guitar. And the fact that even though you have two feet, you need at least one to stand up. So only a foot controller seems reasonable.

But I have too many buttons to push:

• my POD X3 Live has a few buttons to switch banks, effects and a pedal for volume or wah and the necessary lights to see what you are doing
• my Marshall amp has a footswitch board with some buttons, which I use to switch between the two channels, turn reverb on/off and turn FX loop on/off. It has LEDS to see what you are doing.
• When I connect my MIDI keyboard to my laptop, I can set it up to control the Ableton Live software, using the sliders and buttons and (if attached) the hold-pedal
• When I was experimenting with the looper pedal, I have two additional pedals.

And then I need to attach a microphone (possibly into the POD X3 Live dedicated XLR input), set the MIDI keyboard on a stand, find a place to set the laptop and the audio-interface (so I can send the sound from Live to the PA), USB for POD, USB for MIDI, FireWire for audio-interface, several cables from guitar to pre-amp, then via FX loop to the POD, back into the amp's power stage and then an XLR out to the PA (or use the mixed signal from the software, but then it is already inside a stereo signal with the rest of the sound). Anyway, the amp is not the best place for the rest of the sounds (synths, samples etc...).

Tricky. And in the music shop they did not know how to help me. They advised to check http://voodoolab.com/ for a MIDI foot controller. I thought about using a MIDI controller, sending everything to the laptop (damn, I need more USB ports), write some custom MIDI application to translate everything into different signals: e.g. MIDI to amp for switching channels, to POD for switching banks, to Live for starting loop recording.

Any hints?