Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

For live, I had my EVO hooked up via 5-pin din MIDI to an Akai MPK-49 (http://www.akaipro.com/mpk49). I mapped the big sliders on the MPK to the EVO\u2019s volume, filter cutoff, filter freq, LFO rate, and some other useful params. I mapped the drum pads to send patch/bank changes for my favorite patches. There are 12 pads with 4 bank switches, so I could program up to 48 patch changes. Once you spend the time to set it up it works really well, just press a drum pad for a new sound. On stage I taped a piece of paper over the drum pads with song names over each pad in the order of the set list. I also use the Akai to trigger my Virus TI Desktop and Hammond module. The Virus TI does not have an easy way to organize the thousand patches into favorites (neither does the EVO), so the Akai\u2019s ability to send patch changes though the drums pads came in especially handy for stage. Akai makes MPK versions with 25, 61, and 88 keys.

I also have the Evolver Mono Keyboard, but when playing live I use the Desktop for portability, convenience, and keeping the MEK safe. I just throw the EVO into a padded pocket of a gig bag. I like the look and feel of the Akai and find the feel much better than the MEK.

Setting this up is a bit time consuming. You canR17;t simultaneously use the USB/PC editor program while using the Akai\u03357;s MIDI output, so I did all the programming on the Akai itself. It would have been nice to set up programs on the computer, press an Akai pad, and verify the correct patch was sent, but no-can-do. The Akai bank and patch numbers are zero-based (0-126) while the EVO is one-based (1-127), so all settings had to be off by one. Another potential disadvantage of the Akai is that it doesn\u2019t do keyboard splits and layers. It\u2019s also slightly tricky to switch instruments in the Akai playing live: turn the big wheel to \u201cVirus TI\u201d program, push the big wheel down to load the program, press a pad to trigger a patch change if needed, now play the Virus TI. Then switching to the EVO: turn the big wheel to \u201cEVOLVER\u201d, push the big wheel down, press a pad to send a patch change to the EVO, play the EVO patch. Programming a working system requires some quiet time and alpha brain function, but once you have it working it\u2019s great. The Akai is designed mainly for software-based music making, but it still works pretty well with the EVO\u2019s 1980R17;s retro tech.

Good luck,

-- Iain

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