Topic: My gigging station! Featurning a PSR-E433...

[SciNote]

I'll start with the YouTube link...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHsqICQJSfc

For some reason, when you first call up that link, it looks like YouTube is showing the screen symbol indicating that the video is not available, but when you click the play button, everything works and plays as it should.

So, for a while now, I have been putting together a portable component system designed for gigging, or what you could call a gigging station.  I start with a basic cross-beam stand, then I built a structure that mounts on top of the stand that allows me to use two keyboards at once.  At around 40 seconds in, you can see how I built a bracket that hooks on to the top bars of the cross-beam stand to help keep the entire keyboard set-up from tilting backwards and falling off the stand.  I thought that having the second keyboard on top would make that component unstable, but it really is more solid than I thought it would be -- maybe because the top keyboard is not set as far back (away from the keyboard player) as I originally envisioned.  But it's still not a bad idea to have this bracket for extra security.

I also built a custom stereo amp for this set-up.  This amp is actually based on two small amps that I got off of Amazon, and you can briefly see the front of them at around 1:31.  One powers the mids and highs, while the other powers the woofer.  I have no idea how long these amps will last.  I have been playing with this set up at home almost daily, and they have not given me any trouble yet, but I haven't been playing them very loud.  They can get very loud, however.  You can also see that there are two satellite speakers that hook to this amp.  The main amp does have two speakers built in for the mids and highs (in addition to the woofer), but the satellite speakers provide much better sound as, of course, you get much better stereo imaging that way.  I may eventually upgrade those satellite speakers.  There is a switch on the back of the amp that selects between the internal and satellite speakers.

The background song is an original song called "The Land Speed Record" that I recorded several years ago.  The PSR-E433 is the sole instrument used in the song.  It is a multi-track recording, using both the keyboard's internal 6-track sequencer, as well as the Audacity digital audio workstation app.

The other keyboard shown in the video is a Roland Gaia SH-01 synthesizer, which definitely adds a lot of versatility when playing live.

[BogdanH]

Hi,
I always enjoy looking at DIY-ers videos and I think you made a nice compact setup.
The only thing that made me thinking is the keyboard stand... At that height, bottom legs are very narrow and if it happens someone bumps from the side it might tilt -at least so my thoughts.
These X-stands are such a compromise. I mean, they are cheap and very portable, but that's really the only advantage. They are stable and wide enough at lower positions (sitting while playing), however that X part is such an obstacle for legs (foot pedals) -at least that's my experience. Being a hobby (home) musician I don't play standing, so instability on high positions doesn't really concern me.
I too have X-stand right now and I'm deciding to get something better in next days. It's a long term decision, so I'm ready to pay a bit higher price..ok, there are limits 

Just sharing my thoughts.. wish you fun with your setup,
Bogdan

[SciNote]

Yeah, stability is definitely a concern.  Certainly don't want all that equipment tumbling to the floor!  That's why I put that bracket on the lower part of my "topper" that holds the two keyboards.  But yeah, someone could still bump in to it and knock it all over.

It does seem pretty stable, however.  I can sometimes really start whaling on it, and I never get the feeling that it's about to tip over.  I've also thought about setting it up for playing while sitting, and I can simply just set that X-beam one notch lower to do that, but then I would have to carry a bench with me, as well.  I also thought about using bass pedals (which is what I do with my home set-up), but that would be even more equipment to carry around, and like you said, the base of the X-beam stand would get in the way of putting any sort of conventional bass pedal set-up there.

[Franck Simplement]

Hello, I just saw your post is the video and I find the idea interesting, well done.