core is the ‘Connections’ view. In this view
you can add plugins, effects, and MIDI and
audio routing to the screen and connect them
together by clicking and dragging virtual patch
cables between them.
If you’ve ever used Reason or the older ‘MIDI
Environment’ feature in Logic Pro, this workflow
will be very familiar. It also might make a lot
of sense to those who’re familiar with wiring
up complex guitar pedalboards. For others
who are used to a more traditional DAW
channel strip stack it might take a little time
to get comfortable with this method of putting
together the components of a sound.
For example, let’s say you wanted to connect
your MIDI keyboard to Kontakt Player running a
piano plugin like ‘The Giant’. In Gig Performer,
you’d first add a MIDI Input block that references
your MIDI keyboard, then add Kontakt as
a plugin, then click and drag a patch cable
between the two so that Kontakt will receive
a MIDI signal from your keyboard. Then you’d
drag two more virtual patch cables from the
audio output of the Kontakt plugin block to the
Audio Output area of the ‘Connections’ view.
Starting out this can feel pretty intimidating, but
this Rackspace oriented signal flow is also what
gives Gig Performer a really impressive amount
of power and flexibility. You’re really only limited
by your creativity and the capability of the
plugins you have.
PANEL, PANEL, PANEL
If the ‘Connections’ view is the guts of the
beast, then the ‘Panel’ is the shiny covering.
This is where I think I can draw the most direct
comparison to MainStage. If you’re familiar with
the visual workspace feature in MainStage then
Panels will be a familiar concept to you right off
the bat.
In the Panel view you can create a custom visual
on screen made up of buttons, knobs, faders,
text, etc and then connect those controls to
parameters in the ‘Connections’ view and then
to your MIDI hardware for tactile live tweaking.
One of the really cool features here is that
Gig Performer can dynamically change
between different combinations of Panels
and Connections (together referred to as
‘Rackspaces’) without any fuss at all. This is
something that just isn’t possible in MainStage
and it opens up loads of potential for dynamic
live performances that show/hide functionality
as you need it. This possibility is one of the
things that I found most exciting during my time
with the software.
TIME TO PERFORM
Another cool feature is the unique way Gig
Performer handles patch management. This is
where you can tell that Gig Performer really is
100% focused on just that: performing gigs.
Within a master project file (called a GIG file)
you’ll create ‘Setlists’. Each Setlist is made
up of ‘Songs’ and each song can contain
as many ‘Song Sections’ as you’d like.
Each Song Section connects to whatever
Rackspace you need for that section.
August 2020
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