A short guided tour of my guitar rig on the ELP Returns tour. Vigier Guitars Synergy Amps IK Multimedia Synth samples Jam Origin’s Midi Guitar 2 Line 6 Helix
The most fan friendly and humble guitar virtuoso in the universe! Amazingly plays effortless . Always enjoy Pauls behind the scenes and keeping ELP music alive!
Thanks for the video Paul! So glad to see you again in akron ohio. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. You've definitely come a long way and still amaze me with each show.
Thanks for posting, Paul! It's really kind of amazing how much functionality we can get with so little gear and such a low cost nowadays. I'm old enough to remember back 35-40 years ago when you'd have a whole 20-space rack of stuff and still not have the flexibility today's gear offers.
nice set up - I have been looking at the fishman midi software for recording some keys , strings , horns ect: I am not a very good key player so the guitar/midi makes more sense - I saw ELP at the california jam it was amazing Keiths keys were so loud it was spooky they were amazing carls drum solo was the best I've ever seen pulling the string with his teeth for the bell ask him about that - your an amazing guitarist young man - the world is watching you!
Thanks so much Steve. The Fishman Triple play looks great, but I've never tried it so can't comment on how well it tracks etc. It has a few features that you can't do with MidiGuitar2 (one being assigning specific strings to different instruments - on MG2 you can only set different instruments to different ranges of notes as it doesn't detect which specific string is being played, only the pitch of the note) but the fact that you don't need to install a midi pickup is HUGE - it works with all my guitars: acoustic or electric. I just don't think anything comes close to MG2 & it's a fraction of the price of any hardware solutions out there.
@@PaulBielatowicz so cool I will check the MG2 out - triple play does have a wireless set up now also - thanks for your reply enjoy your tour your awesome
Thanks Bob. Yeah, I use it every night on tour - there are definitely tricks to get it to work consistently live, but it is certainly possible to use it in a very reliable way.
Paul. Thanks for the overview and hopefully you guys will bring the new tour to St. Louis. Midi Guitar is an incredible tool that you are using so successfully. Have you checked out incorporating it into Gig Performer. It is a great piece of kit that can incorporate your amps and even expand the Midi capabilities of Midi Guitar. I'm super impressed with it and you could be a poster child!!! Well done.
I was in touch with the maker of Gig Performer a few years ago - he very kindly sent me a copy and it did look amazing. But I found, because my laptop is only doing the midi sounds, all I needed to run was MG2 & Sampletank4 - they do everything I could possibly need right now.
@@PaulBielatowicz Thanks Paul and it obviously works incredibly well for you. Amazing.You can write scripts to make sure certain notes are NOT triggered, sustain a sound while playing over it with MIDI (as opposed to just guitar) without sustaining the second sound etc etc. I found it really enhanced MIDI guitar if you put the time into it. And as for guitar Plug Ins, Mercurial Audio's Euphoria AmpBox is REALLY good. The new show looks great. I saw ELP in 1974 as my first concert. Hope it comes to STL.
DUDE!! My $150 Synsonic headless flying V's (from Korea, 1980s!)......NEVER go out of tune.............cuz that's one of endless perks of HEADLESS........[tuning pegs are insane].........and the cheap-o whammy bars NEVER go out of tune (!!!).......cuz that's a perk of headless!! (PLUS they're a LOT lighter AND no neck dive ever!) (And I can practice my guitars in a McD's drive-thru while YOU CANNOT!) Also.... my entire RECORDING rig........is ONE "Apogee Jam": looks like a LARGE lipstick container......USB in one end.....1/4 whatever in the OTHER end........with ONE knob for Level Input. SIMPLICITY IS GOD!! Looks like you've got some BIG red interface on the floor there, dude! And that's really funny.........some audiences were upset that they SEE NO AMP (so they think you're NOT REALLY PLAYING, blah blah)?? (Every single night I play out......some ppl say i'm Not Really Playing.....cuz i'm deliberately doing anti-guitar sounds and stunts, like ALL-reverse echo [so my hands do NOT match the sounds!] and loads of volume-knobbing in loops, which sound like keyboards instead of guitar..... or my insane loopstorms..........and my sign even says "100% GUITAR!!" but humans is bad with details.) SOMETIMES FAKE IS MORE ARTSY THAN REAL. EX: in my first band, we had a gig at the Knitting Factory, opening for a bigger band......but my musical partner FLAKED in advance.....so I had to VISUALLY fill the stage, ha ha.....and asked a female friend who wears camo etc....to PRETEND to be my Bodyguard onstage (ha ha ha) and one of my COOLEST friends (who played no instruments, sigh) on "bass guitar", but I told him to just look Badass and strike poses for the entire 30 minute set (!!!)......cuz he was great to look at....... ....and halfway thru the show.....i asked the crowd "did you all notice my bassist, Steve Mango, is NOT EVEN PLUGGED IN? [dramatic pause]....because.......they say SID VICIOUS only played ONE NOTE on the bass......in the Sex Pistols...........well OUR BASSIST.........never plays a SINGLE note!!" I love problem solving!
Which Helix output are you using to send the signal to the audio interface? I don't quite get how you connect your guitar to the audio interface, through the helix... anyways that's a hell of a rig!
I'm using one of the FX loop outputs to send from the Helix. The Helix is really versatile, and allows you to send a signal in an FX send without expecting anything to return.
How in the world can you get MIDI guitar 2 to track that well??? I have a very fast and powerful PC and the option of Fishman Triple play connect, and can't get anything useful from it....!
I think it has a lot to do with the input volume of your audio interface - I find it's best to set the gain to the minimum possible, so it doesn't register any false triggers. Also you'll find some sounds track much better than others - in particular sounds with softer attacks (synths, organs etc.) as opposed to very harsh attacks such as piano work much better with all audio-midi devices. Thats not to say that I don't use piano sounds with MG2 - there's one point in the set where I play one of Emerson's honkytonk piano solos, but it's being doubled by my guitar amp sound, so any minor discrepancies aren't too noticeable. Hope that helps! There's a fully functional free demo on jamorigin.com - check it out and reach out to me if you have any more questions
@@PaulBielatowicz Oh thank you so much! I'll take a deep dive later, this world of midi guitar is so frustrating and time consuming, so I have to back away once in a while ;-) Blessing to you :-)
Hi Paul, I just bought a MacBook Air with the M2 chip, 8gigs of Ram and 250Gig of HD and the have the same interface you have. I'm getting the feeling I might have to sell the computer and buy a more powerful one with RAM as I have lots of Plug ins but my questions is how to do you run the plugin's into your Synergy? I have the MONO version. Now, I want to run my Synergy but use the Plug Ins as my FX. Do you run the FX straight into the front of the amp or can they be ran into the FX loupe?
Hi Damien, the computer I was using in this video was an old intel MacBook Pro, so your Air is definitely faster than that; although I have just upgraded to an M3 max, with hugely better performance and results. All I use the laptop for is the midi sounds - guitar/amp sounds are coming from my helix and whatever amp im using on the tour (currently using BluGuitar amp 1 & cabinet). Hope that answers your questions
There really isn't much latency with MidiGuitar2. The software offers 3 different latency settings, and I actually have it set to the one that gives most latency, just to ensure my 2017 laptop keeps running smoothly. For me, because most of the time the midi sounds are doubling my guitar sounds, a small amount of latency isn't really a bad thing as it fattens out the sound.
@@PaulBielatowicz thank you for the response! Gonna try this out myself, I use Helix Native as my live sound so it has a smaaaaaalll bit of latency on it, trying to see how much it influences MidiGuitar2, extremely cool compact setup you have here!!
WHHHOOOOAAAAAA.....so the amp is for show.............BUT you still can shrink this rig dramatically, no? EX: you're telling me that NOTHING those two rack modules do........can be done by ANY software that would also be on the Macbook??? _(HA: I was always planning, if I had the time or spare cash.....[for only certain bands]......to build 5 giant racks BEHIND me on guitar......with all kinds of crazy blinking lights and switches........so it LOOKS like I'm fucking Tangerine Dream..........but 100% of the lights galore are just Radio Shack whatever, ha ha ha ha.)_ Again....I toured as a METAL guitarist, and my rig was 2 or 3 stompboxes and my headless flying v. NO AMPS. NO NOTHING. Direct. My ENTIRE setup was CARRY-ON on all flights! (Guess how many times they lost my gear!!) (ALL my other friends who tour say airlines lost their shit over and over!) (Never ONCE have i checked in gear!) PROBLEM..........forever........SOLVED. (That's how I roll.) WHEN I'VE TOURED THE WORLD AS A DRUMMER........my entire kit and gear.......fit in my SHOULDER BAG. (Roland Drumpad with 6 rubber zones. 2 drumsticks. 1 1/4 cable. Power supply. DONE!!) (And I could do a LOT more than any drummer with 50 pieces to his kit!!) I was doing multiple gigs PER NIGHT (!!!) in NYC (!!!)......every week every year! Cuz i could BICYCLE to the next gig, with the drums or guitar sorcery ON ME! (WHO needs a drummer? WHO needs a drummer that takes only 16 seconds to SET UP and be ready???) (And the Drumpad is flawless. It's EXACTLY as if I'm playing a JAZZ drumkit or HIP HOP or rock or sound fx!! PLUS it's NOVEL for all audiences, used to ordinary drumkits.) (Just lke my REAL drumkits are all VISUALLY novel as well, being half-sized or an innovative suitcase-drumkit I built.) EFFICIENCY IS GOD!!!
Yeah! Technology has come a long way since I started touring. I love my massive pedal board, but wouldn't swap it for the functionality and flexibility of the setup I have now.
The most fan friendly and humble guitar virtuoso in the universe! Amazingly plays effortless . Always enjoy Pauls behind the scenes and keeping ELP music alive!
Thank you so much! ❤️
You flipping make it look so easy, of course we all know that it is not. Thank you. I have always admired his genius, rip. Paul, you are a genius too.
Thanks for the video Paul! So glad to see you again in akron ohio. I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. You've definitely come a long way and still amaze me with each show.
Thanks so much! So pleased you enjoyed the show 🙂
Great short video Paul. I shared this on facebook for friends in Chicago. Cheers!
Thanks for posting, Paul! It's really kind of amazing how much functionality we can get with so little gear and such a low cost nowadays. I'm old enough to remember back 35-40 years ago when you'd have a whole 20-space rack of stuff and still not have the flexibility today's gear offers.
It really is! And I flew to the start of the tour with my entire rig in a suitcase... didn't even have to pay excess baggage! 😅
I love the Peavey just sitting there, lol.
😂😂😂
Fantastykkkk guitar heroes. Unico speciale
Great video Paul. It's always cool to see how you make this incredible music.
Thanks Richard!
Hi Paul, being part of team Dentist in New Jersey, we see you guys whenever you're around. Great tour, great sound. Be well, Happy New Year.
Wow Paul! Nothing like having a live recording studio and sound system at your feet! That's incredible, and the speed is mind blowing!
Haha it really is! Still blows my mind every time I plug in!
Excalibur! Perfect touring guitar.
Such an amazing guitar! And that paint job!!! 🥰
Wonderful video, you have certainly put together an awesome rig to produce the very unique sounds of ELP!
Thanks so much! 🙂
Awesome Ty Paul ❤ hope to see you soon back East
I hope so too!
Good stuff!
Thanks very much!
nice set up - I have been looking at the fishman midi software for recording some keys , strings , horns ect: I am not a very good key player so the guitar/midi makes more sense - I saw ELP at the california jam it was amazing Keiths keys were so loud it was spooky they were amazing carls drum solo was the best I've ever seen pulling the string with his teeth for the bell ask him about that - your an amazing guitarist young man - the world is watching you!
Thanks so much Steve. The Fishman Triple play looks great, but I've never tried it so can't comment on how well it tracks etc. It has a few features that you can't do with MidiGuitar2 (one being assigning specific strings to different instruments - on MG2 you can only set different instruments to different ranges of notes as it doesn't detect which specific string is being played, only the pitch of the note) but the fact that you don't need to install a midi pickup is HUGE - it works with all my guitars: acoustic or electric. I just don't think anything comes close to MG2 & it's a fraction of the price of any hardware solutions out there.
@@PaulBielatowicz so cool I will check the MG2 out - triple play does have a wireless set up now also - thanks for your reply enjoy your tour your awesome
it would be interesting to watch the more in-depth rig rundown. but otherwise... sick!
Thanks Paul. I learned from that.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it!
amazing video!
i find that you have to play carefully with midi guitar 2, to make it pick up every note - so using it on tour is super impressive!
Thanks Bob. Yeah, I use it every night on tour - there are definitely tricks to get it to work consistently live, but it is certainly possible to use it in a very reliable way.
now we see the magic behind the wizardry
Glad you enjoyed it. I should do a more in-depth look at specific song sounds
@@PaulBielatowicz That would be most excellent !!!
Paul. Thanks for the overview and hopefully you guys will bring the new tour to St. Louis. Midi Guitar is an incredible tool that you are using so successfully. Have you checked out incorporating it into Gig Performer. It is a great piece of kit that can incorporate your amps and even expand the Midi capabilities of Midi Guitar. I'm super impressed with it and you could be a poster child!!! Well done.
I was in touch with the maker of Gig Performer a few years ago - he very kindly sent me a copy and it did look amazing. But I found, because my laptop is only doing the midi sounds, all I needed to run was MG2 & Sampletank4 - they do everything I could possibly need right now.
@@PaulBielatowicz Thanks Paul and it obviously works incredibly well for you. Amazing.You can write scripts to make sure certain notes are NOT triggered, sustain a sound while playing over it with MIDI (as opposed to just guitar) without sustaining the second sound etc etc. I found it really enhanced MIDI guitar if you put the time into it. And as for guitar Plug Ins, Mercurial Audio's Euphoria AmpBox is REALLY good. The new show looks great. I saw ELP in 1974 as my first concert. Hope it comes to STL.
Excellent rundown Paul !!! Cheers mate!
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Nice (no sorry, that was an earlier band!) Are you doing any shows in the UK?
😂😂😂 at moment we're only playing "America" (how's that for a link from The Nice to ELP?!) but hopefully U.K. next year 🙂
👏👏👏👏🇬🇧
DUDE!!
My $150 Synsonic headless flying V's (from Korea, 1980s!)......NEVER go out of tune.............cuz that's one of endless perks of HEADLESS........[tuning pegs are insane].........and the cheap-o whammy bars NEVER go out of tune (!!!).......cuz that's a perk of headless!!
(PLUS they're a LOT lighter AND no neck dive ever!)
(And I can practice my guitars in a McD's drive-thru while YOU CANNOT!)
Also....
my entire RECORDING rig........is ONE "Apogee Jam":
looks like a LARGE lipstick container......USB in one end.....1/4 whatever in the OTHER end........with ONE knob for Level Input.
SIMPLICITY IS GOD!!
Looks like you've got some BIG red interface on the floor there, dude!
And that's really funny.........some audiences were upset that they SEE NO AMP (so they think you're NOT REALLY PLAYING, blah blah)??
(Every single night I play out......some ppl say i'm Not Really Playing.....cuz i'm deliberately doing anti-guitar sounds and stunts, like ALL-reverse echo [so my hands do NOT match the sounds!] and loads of volume-knobbing in loops, which sound like keyboards instead of guitar..... or my insane loopstorms..........and my sign even says "100% GUITAR!!" but humans is bad with details.)
SOMETIMES FAKE IS MORE ARTSY THAN REAL.
EX:
in my first band, we had a gig at the Knitting Factory, opening for a bigger band......but my musical partner FLAKED in advance.....so I had to VISUALLY fill the stage, ha ha.....and asked a female friend who wears camo etc....to PRETEND to be my Bodyguard onstage (ha ha ha) and one of my COOLEST friends (who played no instruments, sigh) on "bass guitar", but I told him to just look Badass and strike poses for the entire 30 minute set (!!!)......cuz he was great to look at.......
....and halfway thru the show.....i asked the crowd "did you all notice my bassist, Steve Mango, is NOT EVEN PLUGGED IN? [dramatic pause]....because.......they say SID VICIOUS only played ONE NOTE on the bass......in the Sex Pistols...........well OUR BASSIST.........never plays a SINGLE note!!"
I love problem solving!
Which Helix output are you using to send the signal to the audio interface? I don't quite get how you connect your guitar to the audio interface, through the helix... anyways that's a hell of a rig!
I'm using one of the FX loop outputs to send from the Helix. The Helix is really versatile, and allows you to send a signal in an FX send without expecting anything to return.
@@PaulBielatowicz Great!!! Thank you!! 😁
How in the world can you get MIDI guitar 2 to track that well??? I have a very fast and powerful PC and the option of Fishman Triple play connect, and can't get anything useful from it....!
I think it has a lot to do with the input volume of your audio interface - I find it's best to set the gain to the minimum possible, so it doesn't register any false triggers. Also you'll find some sounds track much better than others - in particular sounds with softer attacks (synths, organs etc.) as opposed to very harsh attacks such as piano work much better with all audio-midi devices. Thats not to say that I don't use piano sounds with MG2 - there's one point in the set where I play one of Emerson's honkytonk piano solos, but it's being doubled by my guitar amp sound, so any minor discrepancies aren't too noticeable. Hope that helps! There's a fully functional free demo on jamorigin.com - check it out and reach out to me if you have any more questions
@@PaulBielatowicz Oh thank you so much! I'll take a deep dive later, this world of midi guitar is so frustrating and time consuming, so I have to back away once in a while ;-) Blessing to you :-)
Hi Paul, I just bought a MacBook Air with the M2 chip, 8gigs of Ram and 250Gig of HD and the have the same interface you have. I'm getting the feeling I might have to sell the computer and buy a more powerful one with RAM as I have lots of Plug ins but my questions is how to do you run the plugin's into your Synergy? I have the MONO version. Now, I want to run my Synergy but use the Plug Ins as my FX. Do you run the FX straight into the front of the amp or can they be ran into the FX loupe?
Hi Damien, the computer I was using in this video was an old intel MacBook Pro, so your Air is definitely faster than that; although I have just upgraded to an M3 max, with hugely better performance and results.
All I use the laptop for is the midi sounds - guitar/amp sounds are coming from my helix and whatever amp im using on the tour (currently using BluGuitar amp 1 & cabinet). Hope that answers your questions
Just a stupid question maybe, how are you handling the latency from the audio to midi and the interface ?
There really isn't much latency with MidiGuitar2. The software offers 3 different latency settings, and I actually have it set to the one that gives most latency, just to ensure my 2017 laptop keeps running smoothly. For me, because most of the time the midi sounds are doubling my guitar sounds, a small amount of latency isn't really a bad thing as it fattens out the sound.
@@PaulBielatowicz thank you for the response! Gonna try this out myself, I use Helix Native as my live sound so it has a smaaaaaalll bit of latency on it, trying to see how much it influences MidiGuitar2, extremely cool compact setup you have here!!
Where was this
Not entirely sure, but it could have been The Arcada in St. Charles, IL... or possibly The Des Plaines Theatre.
WHHHOOOOAAAAAA.....so the amp is for show.............BUT you still can shrink this rig dramatically, no?
EX:
you're telling me that NOTHING those two rack modules do........can be done by ANY software that would also be on the Macbook???
_(HA: I was always planning, if I had the time or spare cash.....[for only certain bands]......to build 5 giant racks BEHIND me on guitar......with all kinds of crazy blinking lights and switches........so it LOOKS like I'm fucking Tangerine Dream..........but 100% of the lights galore are just Radio Shack whatever, ha ha ha ha.)_
Again....I toured as a METAL guitarist, and my rig was 2 or 3 stompboxes and my headless flying v.
NO AMPS.
NO NOTHING.
Direct.
My ENTIRE setup was CARRY-ON on all flights!
(Guess how many times they lost my gear!!)
(ALL my other friends who tour say airlines lost their shit over and over!)
(Never ONCE have i checked in gear!)
PROBLEM..........forever........SOLVED.
(That's how I roll.)
WHEN I'VE TOURED THE WORLD AS A DRUMMER........my entire kit and gear.......fit in my SHOULDER BAG.
(Roland Drumpad with 6 rubber zones. 2 drumsticks. 1 1/4 cable. Power supply. DONE!!)
(And I could do a LOT more than any drummer with 50 pieces to his kit!!)
I was doing multiple gigs PER NIGHT (!!!) in NYC (!!!)......every week every year!
Cuz i could BICYCLE to the next gig, with the drums or guitar sorcery ON ME!
(WHO needs a drummer? WHO needs a drummer that takes only 16 seconds to SET UP and be ready???)
(And the Drumpad is flawless. It's EXACTLY as if I'm playing a JAZZ drumkit or HIP HOP or rock or sound fx!! PLUS it's NOVEL for all audiences, used to ordinary drumkits.)
(Just lke my REAL drumkits are all VISUALLY novel as well, being half-sized or an innovative suitcase-drumkit I built.)
EFFICIENCY
IS
GOD!!!
That is the smallest professional rig I've ever seen in one of these behind the scenes tours.
Yeah! Technology has come a long way since I started touring. I love my massive pedal board, but wouldn't swap it for the functionality and flexibility of the setup I have now.
You cheater 😁 Pin some microphone, you will be much credible.
😂😂😂 wasn't my idea to have the amp there! I'd probably be even more embarrassed to go the extra step and put a microphone there just for show 😂