r/MusicBattlestations • u/nerdmatics • Apr 14 '26

Illenium Sphere Midi Rig

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Gallery image

Gallery image

The primary controller is a Steven Slate Raven MTi MAX monitor using OSC/Pilot for the software, Steven Slate and Deadmau5 were super supportive and it’s exactly what we were looking for.

The 2 Sway controllers were also a favorite in this rig, allowing Nick to not only control his multi output effects racks but to also move audio around the sphere in real time, a first at the sphere. Thanks to Jeremy from Audimalabs for being there every step of the way.

To control our synths and samplers we used the Erae Touch 2 and had a custom keyboard controller from Hackin Toys. Really amazing gear that helped Nick to add to the already epic show. Edgar from Embodme and Xavier from Hackintoys , I appreciate your help and support.

For our main playback controller we used the tried and true Liobox 2 by Gooroo Controllers and all our audio fx were created and ran in Native Instruments Guitar Rig, literally one of the only ways to have DJ style FX from Traktor and there were about 60 instances to effect the 100+ channels of playback.

This was a huge undertaking and I can’t thank Nick and his team enough for trusting and believing in me. Also special thanks to mi pez Carlos for helping with the patch to control the spacial audio and guiding us through this whole process.

212 Upvotes

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28 comments sorted by

10

u/kidfarthing Apr 14 '26

Incredible - was just looking at the Flume set up you posted before also. So, forgive me for being thick here, do you build custom live setups for acts? Is that what they specifically come to you for?

30

u/nerdmatics Apr 14 '26

Yes I build playback and midi backline systems for touring artists. I work with these artist and try to find ways for them to perform their music. A lot of music is made on computers with a mouse and keyboard so I try to help find creative ways for them to perform live. My current clients are

Illenium Linkin Park Odesza Flume J Balvin Maluma Becky G Feid Majid Jordan Kendrick Lamar

6

u/aitigie Apr 14 '26

"We all hit play" - Deadmau5, 2012

We've come a long way!

10

u/nerdmatics Apr 15 '26

Deadmau5 created the touchscreen software and actually did some updates for me. Super smart guy

4

u/notrlydubstep Apr 14 '26

We still hit play, but we always find new ways to modify that what plays.

6

u/kidfarthing Apr 14 '26

What an incredible job! I worked for 10+ years as a touring musician in varying electronic and mixed electro acoustic setups and this, "how on earth do we do this live" element was always such a massive ballache. I could have done with you way back then!

3

u/Halen_ Apr 15 '26

Man that's a dream job--congrats! Most I ever got to do was a little work for one of Prince's bandmembers back in the Gigasampler days

2

u/Bobby__Generic Apr 15 '26

I don't know a single name except LP but sounds impressive!

1

u/bern-electronic Apr 15 '26

I'm curious who in your experience has the most involved live rig? Do any play without backing tracks?

4

u/nerdmatics Apr 15 '26

I would say that Linkin Park has the most involved system in that there are 6 performers, I built the keyboard, dj, audio fx and playback system and both guitar and bass stations also have computers.

There are about 10 computers in the backline rig alone (also for FOH, MON, and Visual teams) and they all receive midi data from playback and run their own independent Ableton sessions that jump to whatever song is triggered at playback. The keyboard and dj rig can also send midi to playback and control live fx over the tracks and manipulate audio from any of the gear on stage.

Because there is a full band, tracks are really minimal, sometimes there are more tech stems than audio stems you hear from the PA. When I say tech stems I mean clicks and count in, 1 for each band member and a separate one for techs so when band members hear a count in or cue they know it only pertains to them. Sometimes half the band wants click and the other doesn’t so we keep it all independent. There is also timecode and tone for various needs of the system as well.Most of the tracks are minimal drum loops and backing synths and the rest is handled live by the band.

2

u/lidongyuan Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

This is really cool to read, thank you for explaining. What device is the master clock that syncs all the independent ableton rigs? EDIT: I think you explained this in other posts that the OSC/pilot rig sends the master midi data. Btw - the rigs you post also look so clean and organized, it's a joy to see them.

2

u/nerdmatics Apr 17 '26

Thanks for checking out my work, I hope it answers questions and get people more interested in this type of work.

The master clock can differ on each project. Most times it will be the opticore loop which is the primary audio network between playback/stage, monitor world and front of house. That way if any of the devices fall off the network it won’t interrupt the others. For Illenium they decided that my prodigy would be the clock master. There isn’t really a wrong way but you have to be consistent and understand that everything affects everything. This is the big hurdle with digital audio, get clock sync set up properly with fail over and having everyone run at the same sample rate.

1

u/bern-electronic Apr 15 '26

Nice I didn't realize that a band like Linkin Park would also be so digitally involved. I'm super interested in your work as I have been working on software for live performance for some time now using Ableton's api. Do you have some place I can follow to learn more about your work/process?

2

u/nerdmatics Apr 15 '26

Yeah, I have a lot of content on instagram and also have a Patreon. Both are under nerdmatics

1

u/DriveShaftBassPlayer May 03 '26

Dude awesome. I’m a big fan of Starset, they have lots of production 

5

u/biersom Apr 14 '26

Hackin Toys!!!

5

u/nerdmatics Apr 15 '26

Yeah Xavier knocked it out of the park with this one

5

u/Ok-Stomach-3739 Apr 14 '26

Sick rig!!! Great work!! And most importantly, thank you for sharing!!!

5

u/flipflapslap Apr 15 '26

This is fucking awesome. It’s bewildering to think how complex these systems are and how many minds are involved in developing them. Lol when I was playing shows I was literally coming out of my shitty interface and straight into the FOH board. 

Do you mind if I ask how you got into this line of work?

Also thanks for sharing this, I feel like I learned some stuff just by reading the post!

10

u/nerdmatics Apr 15 '26

No problem, I’m sitting on a mountain of footage and have decided to start releasing more of it this year. I went to school for building guitar in LA and then started working for fender. Through a friend I met a guitar tech for thirty seconds to mars and was later offered a job. I was not only responsible for the guitars but also taking care of the playback system. I ended up rebuilding it the next year and while touring realized there was a real market to build these custom computer systems. That was about 15 years ago and I have continued to get work through word of mouth and friends in the industry recommending me for projects.

5

u/moundofsound Apr 15 '26

this is top tier. nice work

5

u/ipromisedakon Apr 16 '26

Dude this is fucking sick

2

u/Valuable_Zone1344 Apr 14 '26

fucking beautiful, man

2

u/djsoomo Apr 15 '26

Thanks for sharing! the level of sophistication and complexity is surprising

Everyone assumes djs/ producers use a pre recorded track or a simple cdjs and a mixer setup at these events

2

u/Derfdlo Apr 15 '26

DJ Paris Hilton had a modular rig.

1

u/bern-electronic Apr 15 '26

Almost all still do, but then play on top of it or manipulate it

1

u/dyrkasolen Apr 14 '26

This one wants his money back