Completely revamping my rig - need help!

[samhicksmusic]

Hi guys!

So I’m craving a complete overhaul of my live rig and thought this place might good for a few ideas/pointers. This is going to be a really long and probably awfully worded post so I don’t blame any of you if you don’t get further than the first paragraph. Many thanks in advance though!

My main gig is with a touring circus show called Circus of Horrors (yes, I ‘ran away with the circus’, no, I’m not a lion tamer). Super fun gig to play, half as much a glam metal gig as it is a circus show. For the last four years my rig hasn’t changed - Nord Stage EX88 and a Nord Wave, both connected via MIDI. Stage sends the patch changes and also occasionally each keyboard controls each other (e.g. if I want B3 on the top keyboard or Wave samples on the bottom keyboard). It works pretty great, but I want a little more flexibility, as well as smaller keyboards.

So here’s my current idea:

I’d like to keep the Nord organs and electric pianos as I’m yet to find any that I love more, even on soft synths. For that reason I’m thinking perhaps a 61 key Nord Electro. As well as that I’d like a 49/61 key MIDI controller on top.

I’d then like to set up a rack. In the rack I’d like a Macbook Pro most likely running MainStage (gonna grab me a new 2016 one pretty soon). It’ll stay closed in the rack and I’ll probably mirror the screen to an iPad - I’m on top of a bandstand so it’d be nice if I could leave the rack on the stage so I don’t have to lift too much stuff up there. I’ll also have an interface in there, and a wireless system for my in ears.

At the moment I send both of my keys into a mixer and send one stereo signal to FOH. I have another mixer which I send the same signal to, as well as taking a mono signal for my monitor feed. That way I get a stereo mix of my keys and can independently control the level of that alongside the rest of the band. What I’d now like to do is route all the audio through the Macbook/interface. I’ll send the Nord’s audio into the Macbook, then control the level of the Nord in each patch in MainStage (I’d also like to use the Nord as a controller). I’ll then send a stereo mix from the Macbook to FOH. I’ll also have a stereo monitor signal either going directly into the IEM unit or via the Macbook.

So my shopping list is this:

Keyboards:
- MIDI Controller (recommendations? Something that works well with MainStage preferably.. a few knobs and sliders and some pads too)
- Nord Electro 5D 61

Rack:
- Audio Interface (I’m not too good with this sorta thing so I’m still not entirely sure what I’d need.. ideally don’t really want to spend more than £200 on this)
- Wireless system for IEMs (recommendations?)
- Wifi router to mirror Macbook screen to iPad

Any suggestions for the above are much appreciated and likewise I’m open to ideas for slightly different setups that would achieve a similar result.

Cheers!

[samhicksmusic]

- Wifi router to mirror Macbook screen to iPad

No longer needed, you can do it via cable (yes!) : https://www.duetdisplay.com

[samhicksmusic]

Thanks maxpiano - I have considered using duet - I've used it before and it's an amazing app, the only thing is I'd need an incredibly long Lightning cable. Not impossible I guess it's just a case of finding one from a reputable manufacturer.. or I guess just getting a USB extension! Probably a little less risky than going wireless..

[maxpiano]

Exactly, it is about reliability (and about the distance, you can extend the USB side, as you wrote).

With regards to your other questions, you should specify how many keys and type (synth action, semiweighted, weighted) you want the master to have.

As an audio card for the Mac in that price range, I'd go for a Zoom TAC2 or 2/R.