To all who play live with GR4/Kontrol 3/laptop

I am considering going this route, ie; GR4>Kontrol>laptop for live use with my cover band. To do this I will have to purchase a laptop, probably used, and I know that with all the differing components and such with all the different brands/types of computers, some people have problems with it running smoothly.

So, to all who use the above configuration, can you please list what laptop you use and it's relevant specs, along with which OS you use also. Just want to buy one I know can work well with this setup.

thanks in advance

sam

 

Hi,

MBA 13" core i5 for me, running Os X Lion.

Pros:
It's lightweight, thus easy to carry.
It's much more powerful than its size make you think it is.
If you turn the screen's brightness down (or off), it can run for hours on the battery while powering the RK3.
It runs Os X, which I've learned to love for the stability, and no maintenance.
When you'll change, they have great resale value (compared to other brand), even when the specs are obsolete. A 4 years old Apple laptop is still worth about 30% of its original price.

Cons:
They might be more than your budget.

Cheers

 

thanks for the reply, i'll check those out but i'm pretty sure they are out of my price range.
sam

 

When considering using GR live with a laptop make sure to have a hardware backup. Computers are less reliable than road gear. They are notorious for coming up short when you need them the most and have the least amount of time. If anything goes wrong you will need something you can use in a pinch. Even if it means carrying a small amp and mic in your trunk to run through the PA. Just think about what you would do if the computer crashed and prepare in advance.

I recommend getting a Mac. Buy a refurbished Mac direct from Apple. They come with the warranty of a brand new product. You can get an extended warranty like a new product as well. They are thoroughly inspected and worn cosmetics are replaced. I have purchased a refurbished IPod, Apple Cinema Display and MacMini from Apple. I could not tell they were ever used. They have performed as if new.

Check the Apple Store (online) periodically as the inventory changes all the time and things move fast. If you don't see something keep checking. They only offer things as far back as 3 years (2009) original release date as of today's date (4/2012). Most things are from 2010 forward. You could go the used route as some vendors (not private parties) offer short warranties but I do not advise doing so. If it were for your personal use it would be okay but for a gigging situation it is too risky. The Apple refurbished stock meets strict standards. They will unload it rather than offer it as refurbished if it does not meet a level of quality conditions.

 

i'll give them a look see, but I was hoping to spend less than $400 on a laptop and i'm guessin those are still more than that.

i plan on bringing a small practice amp and mic with me to gigs just in case

 

I play live with GR4, Kontrol3 and a Macbook Pro. With a budget of $400 I'm not too sure what you are going to find. Possibly an older Macbook on craigslist/ebay.

If it helps justifying a larger budget, think of how much it will cost for a decent combo amp that can do what Guitar Rig does. Then add in the flexibility of being able to take the laptop home and use it for doing home recording. Personally, I'd invest more in the hardware running the platform to make sure its stable, reliable and holds value over time.

 

thanks for the replies!
actually, there are a lot of used laptops in seemingly very good condition on ebay with core 2 duo processors of 2.5 Ghz and up, with 4 gigs of RAM and a decent sized hard drive for under $400. For example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteBoo...28700166?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item19cde7c206

the elitebook gets good reviews and would seem to be powerful enough. it's just one of a few models i'm looking at. Not sure about the graphics card/shared memory stuff which i've read is advisable to avoid. have to do more investigating. Also still up in the air whether or not to go with windows 7 pro, or stick with tried and true windows xp to run GR4 pro and rig Kontrol. Also still not sure if the extra money to buy Rig Kontrol 3 is worth it, or if 2 will do just fine.

sigh.....so many ?'s......

sam

 

With your mind set on such a small budget you will not find anything reliable.

You might get lucky, however, luck is not something to rely on when performing live.

Buying used gear from anything but a reputable brick and motor storefront with some guarantee/warranty is about as unreliable as you can get.

 

Believe me, I wish the budget could be bigger, but it is what it is. I suppose if I went with a used Kontrol 2 pedal instead of the 3, I could spend more on the laptop. I do have a Peavey ultra combo tube amp that sounds great that I could sell but I hate to part with it. Something to think about though.

thanks for the comments

sam

 

Well, I ended up getting a used Lenovo Thinkpad T400 with core 2 duo at 2.53 Ghz with 4 gigs ram and 250 gig 7200 rpm hard drive with windows xp sp3 for a little over $400 from a reputable ebay dealer, and with some tweaking of computer settings in xp to optimize audio, it's running very well! Getting 8 ms of latency running 96k in high quality mode, running through a rig kontrol 3.

Sounds killer!

I also have a YouRock guitar running into the midi in on the rig kontrol which is controlling sampletank and samplemoog running as vsti's in Reaper, which also is working perfectly and sounds great. This is going to cut my setup/teardown time by at least 75%. And save my back.

Hopefully, as long as i take care to baby and protect the laptop on stage, it will be dependable. Time will tell.

hopefully this helps anyone else out there who may be looking at a similar laptop for running Guitar Rig and Rig Kontrol live, but wants to know if it will work on that system.

cheers,

sam

 

I'm running PC laptop with GR5, RK3. I control output send volume with a small USB pre-amp. I tried to play live thru reaper but get too much hiss. Are you running GR player live on your laptop? Or is all your signal going thru VST via reaper?

 

i am running GR4 standalone Live on the laptop, not as a vst. Not sure why you need a preamp on the output. I just run a 1/4 in cable to a direct box, and then xlr to the snake to the board and the sound guy does the rest.

 

Same as mrj here.

 

thanks - yea the pream may be overkill. Seems to give me a little extra clean boost without clipping. My sound guys are volunteer and often cant 'find' the electric guitar in the mix. So i have to self boost volume to cut thru the mix

 

I have a macbook air as well and everything has been running really great, though others might go with the idea that it is underperforming compared to other higher spec'd options.

It all boils down to being able to accommodate what you need on the regular so that you can go with something that just suits you well. I agree that you would not need something that is much more powerful but I guess that people could always go with something that fits just right.

 

i'm guessing that if the sound guy can't find you in the mix, he likely has the bass and drums way too loud and poorly eq'd. At least that is my experience. What is it with a lot of sound guys anyway? Do people really like that much bass and kick drum?