My Genos Setup For Gigs

[Pianoman]

Here's my setup for tonight's gig.
I normally set up in the afternoon then go home and sleep, in order to be fresh for
the gig.

Best Regards.
Abby.

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[Toril S]

Nice setup Abby! But this long room with all those windows is not easy to get a good sound in!! Good luck with your show, you always sound so good! They are lucky to have you as their entertainer!!

[Pianoman]

Hello Toril.

It's a terrible hall to play in.
I normally dial down the main accompaniment reverb to about 20 in here.
Down from 64.

Thank God I only play in here once a week.
It's only for the month of May and October.

From the 2nd of June we shall move to the big stage outdoors.

Best Regards.
Abby.

[hans1966]

Hello Abby, I congratulate you for the configuration of your team. I agree with you that sometimes it is difficult to achieve a good balance in the sound for live show, mainly depends on the scenario where you are. I sing and play my keyboard and sometimes I go with a singer with whom we make voices. and on several occasions I find a feedback on the microphones, which is sometimes difficult to organize even in open stages, but in the end everything is fixed, I agree with Lee that it is better to get away from the corners, because mostly are the cause of that feedback. As for your Genos, I recommend a little patience, since it is a very complex instrument. I have an S775, I am discovering things and continuously retouching some records and other times creating them, because I regularly create a package of different sounds as needed. Now your Genos which is the flagship of the series has 100 times more things to work with and configure to achieve an ideal sound.

 There are two things to keep in mind:
 
 1. preferences and / or requirements: personal tastes (sounds in concrete, effects, songs in particular) all the songs are different, not only in their musical harmonic structure, there is also an intention in the lyrics and the instruments or voices that are  to express that intention. in this last is where a good configuration of the keyboard is required, besides knowing how to interpret and / or sing the songs (which you do very well) because this is the support you have (to put it in some way) to transmit a message or intention (to listen or to dance) therefore as a keyboardist and singer that I am I agree that my keyboard should be the partner ideal in all my performances that allow me to correctly transmit a specific musical message both to dance and to listen .

2. Available Time : I have the S775 since the end of February of this year and I have changed several times the expansion packet adjusting to the low expansion memory of the instrument (280Mb) therefore I have reconfigured my records many times.
 The point is that to be able to configure a 100% instrument very well, you have to spend up to years to achieve an effective level of performance.
I know that with time you will discover things that you do not see at the moment, due to the great work flow What are you have in these days, but in the end you will achieve the desired result. a hug. Hans

[Lee Batchelor]

Abby, what mixer are you using in those pictures? Thanks...

- Lee

[Pianoman]

Lee, I am using a Yamaha EMX 5016 powered mixer with passive JBLs.
I also have a Yamaha EMX 5000 as a backup, that one can see in previous
picture uploads and in my videos.

Best Regards.
Abby.

[Lee Batchelor]

Thanks, Abby. Great gear all around!

[Yinon]

Hi Abby,

Small question - how do you carry an MP11 to a different gig every night?
Does it require 2 people to lift?

Thanks

[Toril S]

I se the MP11 is 34 kilos! So it can be lifted by one man, but it is a rather heavy burden. People don't think about how much physical work it is to be a gigging musician. I am glad I mostly play at home!

[Bachus]

Love the setup, the MP11 has the best keybed available on any DP..
And makes a great masterkey on top of that

It doesn't get much better then this for a pianist i guess?

[Pianoman]

Hello Bachus.

The MP11 indeed has the best keybed and action of any available DP.
I had the chance  to try both the Yamaha CP4 and the KawaiP11.

The CP4 was lighter, with more piano samples, and hundreds of synth sounds.
But it's the Kawai keybed which won me over.

It only has 40 voices, but that's more than enough for me, I only use 3.
And it's  32 or 34 kilos.

Best Regards.
Abby.

[Pianoman]

Hi Abby,

Small question - how do you carry an MP11 to a different gig every night?
Does it require 2 people to lift?

Thanks

Hello Yinon.

I carry it in a Soundwear piano bag which has wheels.
The bag is pretty solid actually and I wheel the piano up and down stairs
without any problem.

As long as it's not too many stairs and also always making sure that it's the wheels
that hit the ground first.

Best Regards.
Abby.

[Pianoman]

I se the MP11 is 34 kilos! So it can be lifted by one man, but it is a rather heavy burden. People don't think about how much physical work it is to be a gigging musician. I am glad I mostly play at home!

Hello Toril.

Yes it's heavy, but I'm used to it.
As I explained to Yinon above, 90% of the lugging around is done while using the
Soundwear piano bag's wheels.

Only 10% of the moving actually involves lifting the piano itself.
Mostly when setting it up and tearing down, as well as lifting it into the car.

I also lift a 42 kilo Subwoofer at least 6 times a day.
The total weight of all my gear comes to 185 kilograms.

I normally lose up to 10 kilos of body weight in the first 3 weeks of my gig season.

Best Regards.
Abby.

[Toril S]

Holy Santa Claus! I take my hat off! But you sound fantastic, just watch out for your back! Take care!

[mikf]

And people were recommending you carry spare equipment

[Pianoman]

And people were recommending you carry spare equipment

Yes, but unfortunately I have no more space in the car.
The good thing about Ibiza is that most gigs are within a 20 kilometer radius
at the furthest.

Since I always arrive at the venue around 2 hours before the gig, I can quickly
detect any anomaly and rush home for a spare or borrow something from a friend
in order to fulfill the gig contract for that evening.

I learned the hard way to always carry headphones and immediately test the principal
gear ( Mixer, Keyboard, Piano, Microphone) before getting down to setting everything up
and doing all the connections.

It's the first thing I do when I arrive anywhere for a gig.

In 2017 I spent an hour setting up only then to find that the mixer wouldn't go on.
Luckily it just happened to be the power cord.
The hotel manager quickly called their maintenance guy, who found me a cord
from their office supplies spares.

It was embarrassing and now I have spare cables and power cords in the car
for all my instruments.

Best Regards.
Abby.