Prophet 5 , Pro 3 , and Rev2 / 16 ; Arturia MatrixBrute and PolyBrute , a Roland System 8 and Jupiter X which cover all the iconic Roland analog flavors , and then a few specialty pieces like the Korg Wavestate , ASM Hydrasynth , and Access Virus TI .
The whole room is run through a Yamaha O2R / 96 digital console , which routes it all to my UA Apollo rig , and then it all ends up in Logic Pro . I ’ m a die-hard Logic user for over 30 years now and I ’ d be lost without it . I have multiple computers which run VSL VE Pro for large scoring sessions , because no single computer could handle all that . My main monitors are big PMC mastering monitors which I wish everyone could hear - they will leave your jaw on the floor ! I also use ADAM T8V monitors at my synth stations , and those are great too .
[ WM ] As Michael W . Smith ' s keyboard player and MD , your live rig must include some quality gear and tech inside the computer . Can you give us a rundown of what you use live ?
[ Jim ] It ’ s actually ironic - the live rig is nowhere near as exciting as it used to be , because it ’ s very sleek and simple now ! I ’ ve been using a 35-year-old Yamaha KX88 as my main controller because it ’ s still the gold standard - nothing made today feels like that . My whole live rig is really just a MacBook Pro running Logic for click / SMPTE / stems , and then MainStage running my BackStage Pass virtual instruments . That ’ s it ! Everything comes from the computer , and it is rock solid when set up right . You can find detailed tours of both my studio rig and live rig on my YouTube channel for more details .
[ WM ] You ' ve meticulously sampled and recreated your favorite gear and live rig so anyone can have access to them . What made you want to start this venture , and why is it relevant for people ?
[ Jim ] For years , people asked if I ’ d consider selling my custom sounds - especially pads and soundscapes for the worship stuff . I just never had the time or an ideal platform , but around 2018 , I started seeing major artists using elaborate MainStage rigs . The timing was right , so I decided to try building my own , and BackStage Pass was the result of that . It did far better than I imagined , and there are now 4 BackStage Pass libraries with more in the pipeline . I think it ’ s relevant because it ’ s the only way most people will ever have access to such unique collections of all these hardware synths and sampled so meticulously . Especially the really iconic 80s stuff like DX Dreams - very few people have those combinations of old synths & recording gear anymore .
[ WM ] What inspires you to create these packs ? What ' s the creative process ?
[ Jim ] First and foremost , these are sounds I want to use myself . I ’ m extremely picky , and they need to inspire me , be extremely playable , and translate in both high-end live and studio situations . Second , I try to capture unique sounds that I think will be useable by as many people as possible , and that haven ’ t been done before in the same way .
[ WM ] Where can we get hold of them ?
[ WM ] Are your sampled instruments relevant in a worship context ? How can BackStage Pass help a local church or volunteer worship team ?
[ Jim ] Absolutely ! While the “ paradigm ” of each BackStage Pass MainStage concert is different than many worship-oriented templates , they are designed mainly for auditioning and creating your own variations of the content - and then importing that into your favorite template or creating your own .