Eddie Jobson's Keyboard Rig

[Nev]

There is an interesting post on the Eddie Jobson/UK Official Fan page on Facebook this past Thursday from Hans Tobeason, a keyboard tech that has helped Eddie develop his live rig over the past few tours.  I have copied it out here for those who don't FB

Tech Talk re: Eddie's Touring Rig

Eddie's current keyboard/violin has been developed over the past three years to give him the ability to get the sounds he needs and still fit everything into a minimum of checked luggage-sized cases (currently six), plus some carry-on. The configuration for the present 2012 tour is as follows:

Three VAX77 MIDI keyboards (infiniteresponse.com). Eddie and I worked with the inventor, Van Chandler, testing and iterating early pre-production models of the VAX. We helped Van tune the action and weighting, as well as debugging the velocity response (and various other tweaks and suggestions). This is, quite simply, the best MIDI controller keyboard available today - plus, it folds in half. We carry it in custom flight cases as checked luggage - it's 50lbs in its case.

Three 17" MacBook Pro laptops running Apple's MainStage software. The laptops have 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSDs. They are loaded with Arturia, Native Instruments, Spectrasonics, Line 6, and Apple plug-ins. Eddie primarily uses CS-80, minimoog, Prophet V, B4 II, Omnisphere, EXS-24 (piano and organ patches), and PODFarm.

The two VAXs in Eddie's main stack each feed their own laptop via Gefen USB extenders. The third laptop is dedicated to violin processing and some specific sample/sequencer feeds. The third VAX simply feeds through one of the two main VAXs, acting as a "clone" keyboard for when Eddie is playing downstage center.

The three laptops are networked together through an ethernet hub, so that each can "see" signals going to the others. This is needed, for example, in order for Eddie to use what we call the "B Pedal" - which is one of the three "volume" pedals on the floor under the VAX stack. The B Pedal (and the Panic pedal, which is a modified Yamaha sustain pedal) feed into a custom stomp box I built around a Teensyduino board (pjrc.com/teensy/teensyduino.htm). The stomp box translates the pedal inputs into MIDI, which is then sent to one of the laptops, again via a Gefen USB extender. That laptop then distributes the MIDI signals, via Audio MIDI Setup, to the other two laptops. The stomp box also houses two stomp switches, for patch changes "up" and "down". The box sends a MIDI signal when a stomp switch is "stomped", which is again distributed among the three laptops via AMS. MainStage is programmed to respond appropriately when it receives any of these MIDI signals. That's how, for example, Eddie uses the B Pedal to do pitch bend - the B Pedal MIDI signal is simply patched (in MainStage) to the pitch bend of, e.g., the minimoog.

At Eddie's violin position, there's another of my custom stomp boxes, again with two stomp switches for patch "up" and "down", and with two pedals (here it's volume and wah). It's identical to the other stomp box, and just sends MIDI to another one of the laptops. All the pedals are customized Ernie Ball volume pedals - I replaced their log pots with linear pots and consolidated the jacks down to a single TRS jack. Each of the VAXs in the main stack has one of these custom Ernie Ball pedals plugged in acting as a MIDI controller (usually for volume). Each VAX also has a sustain pedal plugged in (usually sustain, but sometimes Leslie speed). The VAXs have one sustain input and three expression inputs available - and they do the MIDI translation internally. I could probably use one of the unused expression pedal inputs for the B Pedal, but it could get a bit complicated sorting out the MIDI channels in that case - so I just use the stomp box, which sends on a distinct MIDI channel.

We're also using two small Lilliput monitors - one at the violin position, and one on top of the keyboard stack - to mirror a portion of the MainStage window so that Eddie can see which patch he's on (I use an app called CamTwist to do the mirroring). The violins use Line 6 G-50 digital wireless units, into an Apogee Jam, into one of the laptops.

The laptops' headphone outputs feed into Whirlwind pcDI boxes, which feed the FOH mix, and also loop through to feed three myMix units (mymixaudio.com), which feed Eddie's in-ear monitoring (Sensaphonics via Shure wireless) as well as record the shows. A myMix IEX-16 unit takes various feeds from the FOH console so that all inputs (drums, bass, vocals, etc) are available to the myMix heads.

That's pretty much it. Obviously, I've left a ton of detail out. Happy to respond to any questions. I hope everyone's enjoying the tour!

Not much to it then!! :shock:    :shock:  

[JimD]

...feed into a custom stomp box...

It's my personal opinion that you've only really really REALLY made it when you get your own helper to make a custom stomp box  

That said though, you have not actually "made it" just by having a helper to make a custom stomp box.

But nevertheless, a custom stomp box is "quite the thing" and I'm not giving up the dream yet (41 years old and still not able to remember all the notes on the geetah).

No offense to anyone proud of their musical achievements who do not need a custom stomp box - 'tis just the Jim D opinion  

Great article, thanks for posting it!

[rogerg]

damn, that's crazy.

[MarkOneMusic]

I love the look of those VAX 77s.  Quite apart from the fact that they do poly aftertouch, the fact that they FOLD IN HALF to pack away is awesome.

That and the fact that they've worked with Apple to seamlessly integrate with mainstage.

[Nev]

I love the look of those VAX 77s.  Quite apart from the fact that they do poly aftertouch, the fact that they FOLD IN HALF to pack away is awesome.

That and the fact that they've worked with Apple to seamlessly integrate with mainstage.

Hans responded to a comment on the Facebook page over what key weighting Eddie uses with his VAX 77s

Hey Hans... just curious, is Eddie using the new heaviest-weighted actions in any of his boards? I had a chance to play one of the new actions, and I *love* it... just curious which action(s) Eddie prefers.

Hans Tobeason:  He's using the "Heavy" action - not the new "Ultra Heavy". We've never tried the Ultra Heavy - though Eddie has always felt the action could be a little more "substantial". Van's original design (which was, and is, genius) had only the plastic keys, which were super-lightweight. The keysprings came in two stiffnesses, with three attachment points, allowing for six different "feels". When we first got the prototype VAXs, Eddie was adamant that the keys needed to have more mass - so we began experimenting. I cut up some bits of wood and stuck them under the keys, etc. Van quickly agreed with Eddie's assessment, and started sending us versions with metal weights added under the front edges of the keys. The current "Heavy" weighting was the maximum Van was comfortable with given the strength of the keyspring at the time - he has since been able to source a slightly stronger keyspring, which allowed the "Ultra Heavy" key weight. Once this current tour is over and the dust has settled, I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie tried out the "Ultra Heavy" weight.

[Pedro]

Crikey, that makes it sound like pressing a key is similar to depressing a clutch pedal...(...and by depressing I mean pressing down...not giving it loads of bad news...)

[rogerg]

heh

[Mordwin]

I'm sorry Mr Clutch, but Mr Cable no longer wishes to hang about with you...

Pretty depressing for the car owner too that one!