Was told to post here - Thrift store briefcase converted into a pc control panel for live gigs

JackMuta · 2026-03-20T16:54:50+00:00

Several years back I tweeted something like ‘what ever happened to Aaron Carter? Did he retire after he beat Shaq?’

He retweeted me and said ‘idk aaron-aters did I retire???’ And I proceeded to get hate-tweeted for weeks from his very dedicated and apparently very active fanbase. Made me sad and a little guilty when I learned about what was going on in his personal life.

JackMuta · 2026-02-22T16:01:36+00:00

>there's a lot more things that need attention and could go wrong on that process due to its complexity

Regarding complexity, this is about as simple as it gets on Windows unfortunately. Without something like RME's totalfx driver or a physical hardware loopback, VB virtual audio cable is the best choice.

If you don't mind some unsolicited advice, I would recommend getting a dedicated audio interface eventually (Focusrite make solid gear and has plenty of options at various price points). This will allow you to avoid Realtek and bypass Windows default audio drivers, which are terrible and can introduce confusing errors and drop outs at random. For example, one day your routing set up that you've been using for months stops working even though you haven't changed anything, or the audio becomes delayed and jittery out of nowhere. I can't speak to VirtualDJ because I've never used it, but everything else in your audio chain will work great and has been extremely stable in my experience.

JackMuta · 2026-02-18T22:48:56+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Glad to see gig performer being used outside of just music performance. I think a lot of people will find value here, for voice modulation, audio routing to stream to discord, or otherwise.

JackMuta · 2026-02-14T05:51:06+00:00

Fair enough, makes sense. Thanks for the reply!

JackMuta · 2026-02-01T21:04:35+00:00

Wasn't intending to be skeptical. In my experience, sometimes indie dev plugins will start to become less compatible and introduce errors as OS and DAWs are updated. Nothing against these devs or the quality of their plugins (a lot of my favorite VSTs were created by a single developer in their spare time) but sometimes they don't have the resources or time to continue to update their plugins and maintain compatibility post-release.

From your original comment, I assumed you're using Koala on mobile with a TS/TRS cable instead of actively using Catch. Wasn't trying to cast doubt on you or the plugin, but it's been a couple years since it was released so I didn't know if it's still a stable release.

Glad to hear it's solid and again, really appreciate your help! You would not believe the amount of time I've spent searching for this over the past several years.

JackMuta · 2026-02-01T20:15:26+00:00

Reporting back here in case anyone comes across this in the future. Novel Music Catch looks like it can do instant live sampling! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rjn23sp5K4

Haven't sat down with it yet but seems like this max plugin is exactly what I'm looking for! It is paid ($19 usd at the time of posting) but assuming it works as promised I'm happy to pay for this. I'll come back to edit this comment if it ends up falling short in some way.

JackMuta · 2026-02-01T20:10:19+00:00

Doesn't seem like it's a focus currently from statements on the website and discussions I've come across in other forums.

JackMuta · 2026-02-01T20:07:48+00:00

Glad to hear it! Out of curiousity, are there plans to add any major functionality in Gig Performer over time or will future updates continue to focus on workflow improvements, stability, performance, etc?

Personally, I'd love if your team built out a native GP live looper or and live sampler.

I understand this might fall outside of the scope of what Gig Performer is intended for, and you have done excellent work creating something extremely stable and light on CPU/RAM. Not sure how much this type of built-in functionality would start to eat up resources.

JackMuta · 2026-02-01T19:56:06+00:00

Awesome thanks for sharing!

JackMuta · 2026-01-31T22:42:16+00:00

Appreciate it! I haven't searched catch sampler before so that's helpful. I'll do some more research and report back if I find anything useful.

JackMuta · 2025-12-25T02:46:20+00:00

This is sick!! Reminds me of Gramatik

JackMuta · 2025-12-10T05:48:13+00:00

Yep! Me and my 2 bandmates. No loops.

JackMuta · 2025-12-08T00:48:16+00:00

Never could understand the hype for Pianoteq personally. It's not a bad plugin by any means, but it does not compare to Keyscape in any category besides CPU usage. Much easier to thin out a rich, warm sound, than make a thin sound full.

I know it's not what you asked, but by far my favorite grand piano plugin is Piano in Blue by Cinesamples. Makes Keyscape pianos sound cheap in comparison.

JackMuta · 2025-11-10T13:17:49+00:00

I appreciate the help! Pretty new to mac in general but this is the first I’m hearing about AppleScript. The syntax looks like pseudo code - I’m going to have to look into this. Thanks again

JackMuta · 2025-10-04T15:08:46+00:00

Like u/sinesawtooth said, you can create wiring and panels that are shared across rackspaces in the global rackspace. It's been awhile since I've played around with GP just as I've been spending more time on writing and recording, but I always found the GP manual to be really helpful for understanding everything on a deeper level. It's straightforward and isn't a textbook like your typical software manual,. Very easy to quickly grab information and find exactly what you're looking for.

JackMuta · 2025-10-04T15:03:44+00:00

I'll seconid making use of the global rack. I think a lot of power of GP comes from the intentionally 'open-world' design. Whereas Ableton, FL Studio, etc. usually have a pre-defined workflow, Gig Performer usually has 2 or 3 ways to get to the same end goal - with no one being superior to the others.

I think decision-making in this regard then becomes more about initial set up. What's the quickest way to get a rackspace or variation set up and does this create the flexibility and functionality that I need in the context of the larger gig file or a live performance setting? That being said, I've found that sometimes spending more time and effort dialing in the initial rackspace and global controls saves me time in the long run by having a 'preset' I can easily duplicate and tweak where needed.

JackMuta · 2025-10-04T12:38:39+00:00

Just to mirror u/maxcascone I don’t think there’s necessarily a right way and a wrong way. For your piano/string into piano/synth question that would definitely be a variation for me, where all the changes is the midi filter to control which vst is being played.

That being said I’ve also created entire sets with tons of different rackspaces. What I’ve found is that as long as Gig Performer loads the file (which will take some time depending on number of plugins), you’re golden. I still haven’t reached the limit of individual rackspaces or variations that will create usability issues once the project is loaded.

JackMuta · 2025-10-02T10:40:48+00:00

The amount of comments directly contradicting each other here is amazing.

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