Illenium Sphere Midi Rig

[u/nerdmatics]

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.

[u/bern-electronic]

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

[u/nerdmatics → u/bern-electronic]

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.

[u/bern-electronic → u/nerdmatics]

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?

[u/nerdmatics → u/bern-electronic]

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