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Before I even considered bringing Agrippa93 to a live audience I never really concerned my self on how exactly I’d be able to deliver the full sound in a performance. In my earlier recordings I had no regard to actually being able to play all the stuff that was in the recordings, which would sometimes reach up to 36 tracks of instruments. With the current A93 lineup the underlining mission is to create a higher quality music that can be delivered to listeners in a live audience. This means what you hear on recordings is what you will hear live. This presented a few challenges for me, who in the past had been very liberal with my industrial sounds including synths, sequencers, and samples. In the writing process I’ve had to rethink what I can perform during a show and what would be impossible to pull off.

VoiceTone Create

Vocals – Originally I used 2 different guitar effects pedals to create the sound on stage. For a general vocal sound I used the Digitech PDS 1000 Digital Delay and to achieve a distorted effect for certain songs I had the Boss Heavy Metal HM-2. Both pedals were ancient and caused all sorts of signal issues and even times some extreme feedback. Finally after the Digitech shit the bed I decided it was time to cough up the cash and get something designed specifically for vocals and was easy to use in a live situation. After doing tons of  research and review reading I settled on the TC-Helicon VoiceTone Create. This gave me the diversity to expand my sound having 99 presets and 5 banks holding 2 effects each in them. In most cases I only use 1 of the sound banks, which has both my general vocal sound and my distorted (used for Forever Wasting Time and Face of Fear) and they’re only a foot tap away. Eventually I could expand on this and use up the other 4 banks with some custom settings. I do plan on expanding my vocal sound by eventually adding the VoiceTone Double from the same company, which will give me backup vocals based on my own voice output.

M-Audio Axiom Pro 61

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Keyboard - When we 1st hit the stage in September 2009 my keys set was based on the M-Audio Radium 49 running Mainstage along with the iControl for sample selection, which although was limiting and seems toy-like now, was actually a step up from the Evolution 225c MIDI keyboard controller. As my sound expanded, so did my needs. I stepped up to a major upgrade, which is the M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 Keyboard with every bell and whistle I could possible imagine. This is a board that I can get much more out of and grow into it as I expand my sound application.

With 61 keys the range is plenty for what I do and I don’t have to worry about switching octaves and losing my place for the next song. Everything is fully programmable, which means using Mainstage I can assign any button to any function I need including sample triggers sound bank changes and they can all switch from song to song. The 8 drum pads in the upper right corner  are ideal for this and I have each assigned to a synth pad trigger. For example for the song Evocation all of the drum pads are assigned to the knocking percussion sound during the syncopated parts of the song that include all instruments. This way I can hit them like a real percussion instrument to get a better reaction than tapping one of the keyboard keys.

Using other controllers I can adjust the master output level and panning of my sounds for a better mix and also mute the whole system with the push of a button. All assigned properties in Mainstage. Now with a transport (play, stop, rewind, etc.) built right into the Axiom Pro I can do away with using the iControl for activating prerecorded samples. It’s as easy as selecting the right patch and hitting the play button like in the intro for Forever Wasting Time or the sample “crash” in Evocation. I haven’t found an assignment for every button on the keyboard, but I’m sure over time I’ll use most of them.

MainStage – Running on my MacBook which is connected to the Axiom Pro is the heart of the system: MainStage. Without this program the Axiom is just a big pretty piece of button infested plastic and circuits. This allows me to import any synths or playback any samples used in the original recording session in Logic Pro flawlessly. As you can see from the screen shot above, I laid out the the entire Axiom Pro control catalog in the design so I can make reference to each and assign what I need. Each of the drum pads was assigned a note value so that a particular sound can be triggered by just a tap. Seeing as Mainstage was designed for live performances the user interface in performance mode is easy to see on stage and makes life so much easier.

Expansion – Eventually I’d like to expand my rig a bit to include a MIDI foot controller, which will allow me to select and trigger samples from the front of the stage while I’m singing. This will also give me more freedom to add sounds in the recordings during vocal parts that I could activate live to maintain integrity in the performance.  My mostly likely pick will be the Behringer FC1010 MIDI Foot Controller, which is right in my price range and offers some expandability and has received very good reviews. I’m always looking to improve on whatever setup I currently have, but right now I’m not really seeing anything that’s in need of an upgrade. The only issue with constantly upgrading is the learning process of new equipment and mastering it so that it goes flawlessly during performances.