Matt's
EVI Gig Rig
July 2004

Matt's "Experimental" Gig Rig - July 2004

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Here was my "Gig Rig" circa July 2004

This Gig Rig was my "Experimental Rig". It was designed for more adventurous playing and experimenting with the inclusion of the very cool Electrix Repeater 4 track looper. This rig features three completely different types of synthesis- the REAL ANALOG Akai EWV2000, the physical modeling Yamaha TURBO VL70-m, and the sample-based Roland XV-5050. All of these modules are of course loaded with the Patchman Music wind controller banks for them. If you wish, you can use the very same sounds I am using. Complete details and mp3 demos of these soundbanks are available at the Patchman Music website. Please note that the patches loaded in your synths are really 50% of the rig. It is critical that you choose synths that are capable of responding properly and quickly to the MIDI data that a wind controller transmits. Even if you get this exact same rig, you won't sound nearly as good until you load the synths with the proper wind controller sounds.

In addition to these three synths which are all chained together via MIDI, I have a Boss SE-70 in the rig for effects (especially for the EWV2000 which contains no internal effects). The SE-70 is a great device. Aside from great sounding reverbs, delays, etc..., it has several effects that are not commonly found on other effects processors. It has 2 vocoders, a guitar synth, bass synth, (these synths can track any mono acoustic instrument complete with a dynamic enveloped filter and amp envelope!), a tuner, a 60 cycle hum remover, a vocal remover, TRUE stereo reverbs (stereo in and out), great sounding distortions and pitch shifters, a 20(!) tap delay, 16 stage chorus, 40 stage phaser, a sampler, and on and on. It can chain a large amount of effects for massive processing. It can respond to MIDI controllers and up to 3 pedals. It's a pretty cool device. It is capable of doing all sorts of things to your sounds. The guitar and bass synths algorithms can be used with an acoustic source as pitch-tracking synthesizers! That's right, this thing will track monophonic audio signal and synthesize it (internally only- it doesn't do pitch-to-MIDI conversion). It sounds great! The SE-70 is in the effects loop of the TOA D3 Mixer (shown at the bottom of the rack).

In the top part of the rack above the Akai EWV2000 is an Electrix Repeater loaded with a 512meg Compact Flash Card. This is an amazing device that lets you record and loop up to 4 tracks and overdub and bounce them to your heart's content. It's an insane piece of gear. The loops are stored permanently in the CFC card. This also means you can load your favorite drum loops and play to them at the gig. The Repeater also allows to you pitch shift and change tempo completely independently of each other! Yes, you can change the pitch of the loop without changing the speed. Yes you can change the tempo of the loop without changing the pitch! The stereo output of the TOA mixer goes into the Repeater then the stereo output of the Repeater goes to the PA. The SUM (mono) output from the TOA goes to my Yamaha MS-60 monitor.

I am usually triggering all the modules simultaneously either on the same note, or I transpose one or two of them an octave. Since the EWV2000 has rather sophisticated chord capabilities via its MIDI OUT, (each note of the chromatic scale can be a different chord value) and the XV-5050 is polyphonic, I am exploring using chords with this system.

The TOA D-3 mixer is great for my situation. It is the only single space line mixer I could find anywhere that had the exact features I needed for my particular my wind controller rig. It has a main stereo out with separate volume knobs for Left and Right for that. Then, most conveniently, it has a separate MONO SUM OUTPUT which is used for my powered monitor. There is a separate volume knob for the SUM OUT. Then it has a 1/4" stereo headphone jack on the front also with a separate volume knob for it. It has 4 STEREO inputs (2 inputs on each) each with volume, pan, high and low eq, and effects send. Input number 4 also accepts a phantom powered mic complete with 48v switchable phantom power and XLR jack! I can use the Mic input for my vocal mic. It has an AC cord (no wall wart!), and also stereo effects returns and stereo tape returns (again both with knobs), LED clip indicators on each input plus overall clip LED. These are really excellent mixers and they seem to be designed exactly for this type of application. Unfortunately, they have been out of production for a long time. If you need one, I try to maintain a stock of these mixers on my used gear page at:

https://www.patchmanmusic.com/UsedGear.html

I have found that layering the XV-5050, a single TURBO VL70-m, and the super-fast real-analog Akai EWV2000 is an absolutely awesome wind controller experience. The three types of synthesis combined really compensate for the other's weaknesses. The EWV adds a bit of sizzle to the brass section sounds even though it isn't the most realistic emulation. Also the EWV adds those few milliseconds of attack sound while the MIDI modules are computing their data so having the EWV in there makes the system FEEL faster.

This rig is capable of pretty much anything. It allows me to really sound like a horn section, any solo instrument, or any type of freaky lead sound that you could imagine!

The dangling wire on the right are to my Etymotic ER6 In Ear Monitors which I use for silent testing/patch programming or monitoring at the gig if we get too loud. The large monitor on the left is the Yamaha MS-60 powered monitor. The stand is an old keyboard/mixer stand made by Unison (I doubt they are in business anymore).

Below are two pictures of this "Experimental Gig Rig" July, 2004...

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PATCHMAN MUSIC HOME | Wind Controller Soundbanks

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