Ableton Forum

Has anyone ever gigged with a desktop before?

Yes, and it sucked. I only did it once, then got a laptop. You have to remember extra cables, carry around your machine, the monitor (god forbid you have a crt), keyboard, mouse, and of course a power strip with enough ports. It's just a bunch of extra shit to remember in addition to your your other gear.

I've also been to shows where there are three damn desktop PC's crowding eachother on a small table because the performers didn't have laptops. That was really weird.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a small form factor or rackmount computer with a small LCD monitor. Then you could store your other audio gear in the rack.

It sucks. Big time. Cool anecdote though; My pc once caught fire during rehearsals!

I assume you mean a desktop computer...

Been doing it all summer. IMO, desktop machines will always be more powerful, flexible and expandable than laptops. I need three video capture cards, so that rules out laptops for me.

When you're also dragging along a van full of PA, lighting, and video stuff, somehow the size of a desktop machine just doesn't matter!

Everything is flightcased, shockmounted, and pre-wired, so setup times aren't too bad.

This is a good question, because of the shuttle pc and small form factor pcs that are much less expensive than comparably powered laptops, where the harddrives can also be much larger.

There is some more setup wrt monitor and keyboard. But the difference is the hard disk being designed to expect sudden jolts. The long and short is that if you plan on moving a desktop a lot, you want a drive with a high G-Shock rating, and you want a good case for it.

Here is likely more than is reasonable or even helpful to read about the evolution of hard disks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk

having said that, it is very nice to be able to take the notebook around in a backpack and not worry about it.

How bout the imac?
Anybody used that?

Machinate wrote:It sucks. Big time. Cool anecdote though; My pc once caught fire during rehearsals!

Cause you were to hot, man

I started using an eMac...it's too heavy, with an imic as a soundcard ( I know...it sucks), but I got enough money as a dj to buy my first ibook.

i take my G5 with me when nessecary. My laptop cant handle half the stuff I do in a full blown set, and im still using plenty of stuff that isnt UB.

I dont mind it. You just get a good flight case for everything. Pull your drives, and go. Its a quick setup. ive got all my cables ready to go. I can set it up just a quick as my laptop. The flight case is on wheels so the weight doesnt bother me. Although the airlines sure like to fuck me up the ass with extra fees.

Anyway, i dont think its a big deal if you are getting paid well enough, but i wouldnt tote this thing to some $100 tab at the bar DJ night.

iMac + iLugger = iHappy

arctic ranger wrote:How bout the imac?
Anybody used that?

Sasha uses an iMac when he plays out. He also has his Maven controller and a trackball. Didn't see a keyboard.

the_planet wrote:

arctic ranger wrote:How bout the imac?
Anybody used that?

Sasha uses an iMac when he plays out. He also has his Maven controller and a trackball. Didn't see a keyboard.

Yeah, knew that one, prolly has somebody haul it round for him <--must be nice!!!

am gettin a imac soon, and am expecting no probs (if i ever play out) but was just wonderin if any regular dudes use it as well