Tag: iPad

Practicing on the road with a mini keyboard

So here I am. I’m back from a short vacation. Just one and a half weeks. Long enough to have this feeling of really having traveled, but probably short enough to pick up the daily routines in no time. Usually I need a full week slow down to idle mode and then a week to start up again. One and a half week does not really cut it then, but it will have to do.

The choice for me was to just step out of the daily routines of practicing and playing live and then step in again, or bring some gear and practice on the road. Actually the only thing you need is anything between a phone and a laptop to be able to sing here and there, but if you also want to practice playing keys and singing there are some choices to make.

This time I chose to bring an iPad, a (Windows) laptop, the Zoom U-24 audio interface and a mini keyboard, the Komplete Kontrol M32. It gave me several options of practicing singing and playing the keyboard. The good thing about the M32 is its build quality and the playability given its limitations.

Is a midi keyboard with 32 mini keys something you can play on? Maybe. I found out that it is just a little too cramped and limited for my songs, but it was close to having a keyboard most of the time. It does fit into a backpack. Maybe it’s more suited to just playing around then practicing full songs? Jamming along some new song ideas? I brought it along, so it would have to make do. Your mileage may vary.

An iPad, an USB-C hub and a mini keyboard
An iPad, an USB-C hub and a mini keyboard

The most lightweight option is the iPad and the M32, but I had to bring a small USB-C hub to connect the two. Once connected and loading up Garageband, I was practicing a few songs in no time. Perfect for a few songs I really wanted to practice on. The iPad speaker audio quality is reasonable.

A laptop and a mini keyboard
A laptop and a mini keyboard

Then there is the option to scale up a little. Bringing the laptop allowed me to load up Ableton Live and the full live sets, or just load a basic setup to play piano sounds with the M32. A Windows laptop however only gives you Windows audio output which is notoriously slow and gives you latency. Unless you load Asio4All drivers of course. I tried it and it worked fine. The laptop speaker audio quality was not very special maybe even a bit too soft.

A laptop, a compact audio interface, a headset and a mini keyboard
A laptop, a compact audio interface, a headset and a mini keyboard

The full scale option was also at my disposal. By connecting the audio interface I had my full live set and low latency audio and I could practice any song just like always. Except of course for being limited to the 32 mini keys. The full set was also great for writing songs, or just some playing around. This time I needed a headset to hear something or portable speakers. The audio quality was outstanding.

All in all the experiment was a success. I have practiced a few songs. My vocal coach assured me that a short vacation is actually good for your voice, so I did not practice every day. I must admit I accepted the risk of using the mini keyboard also because I use a microKorg in my live setup. Mini keys are not a no-go area for me. I hope you can use these experiences to choose your own on-the-road-practice-setup.

Soundbrenner Pulse wearable metronome, the verdict

After diving into the basics and getting it to work it was time to really start using it. First off, the concept really works. I have songs without drums. Practicing these can be tough, so I tried working with a click track in the monitoring. That helps if you get in the flow. But after using the Pulse a few times it was completely natural and my mind “felt the beat” and leaned into it. It was important for me to tone the default “hard buzz” of the Pulse down to a more subtle vibration level. Now it really works for me. The battery life of the device is excellent for me, I have been practicing for hours now on end and its not even half empty. Charging it is a bit fiddly though.

There are however several problems with the product. If you look over the appearance, because it looks and feels very plastic and rough at the edges, what are the real problems? At this point and time, for me the Ableton Link feature does not work reliably. If in an Ableton Live session the tempo changes for a new song, I do not know when of if the metronome app will pick this up. This should be a simple bug to fix, or I have a unique setup in my WiFi network, Android version (latest version of Android Pie – 9), or something else is wrong. I am willing to try an iPad in the near future to see if it works better.

Then there is of course the problem that its three devices. Your laptop, a phone or tablet with the Metronome app and the Pulse all have to be fully charged and setup to make this work in a live situation. On several occasions I had to reconnect the phone to the Pulse to make or keep it working. Even if sync between laptop and the Metronome app does get fixed all devices need to be on a perfect working WiFi network on stage and how realistic is that? I think you can see that this device is probably at its best while practicing or in the rehearsal room. Only if you have a dedicated professional crew on stage to keep it working it might just work.

In short, I cannot do without anymore when practicing. I would never try to get this to work in a live situation. Maybe it all gets fixed in the next version, the Core. Lets wait and see.