Amp Sims LIVE: ?s on setup/programming

[wishtheend]

I tried searching for a specific thread but could not one so hopefully this isn't too redundant.

I'm starting a band where I'll play equal amounts of bass, guitar and synth. Looking to run a pc/laptop setup and use amp sims for the tone. I understand amp sims, impulses and all that good stuff - but have not done a drop of MIDI programming so that's where I need some advice.

Q1: Anyone have suggestions on the best low-resource/low-latency app to host the vsts in? My comp is 2.6ghz quad/4gb ram w/ firepod as interface and I'll only be running one channel at a time. Currently using Sonar 8.5 as DAW but feel it may be bloated for live.

Q2: What is the proper way for channel switching when using multiple amp sims for different tones (ie one for dirty, one for cleans)? Also, is there a way to only load one impulse plug, and have the channel switching only change the active amp (all amp outputs would be routed to the same impulse)?

Q3: Assuming I'll need a MIDI footcontroller, any suggestions on which are most realiable/easy to program?

Just looking to talk with some guys who have some good experience with running this type of setup live who can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

 

[Jormyn]

Q1: My money would be on Reaper. Cheap for a DAW, as lightweight as you can get, and has a reputation for being flexible and rock-solid.

Q2: In Reaper, the most straight-forward solution would be to have a track for each of your amps and then throw them in a folder with the cab impulse on the folder track. You could set up a few macros to handle arming/disarming each track, though I'm not experienced enough with the macro system to tell you what actions you'd want to use.

Q3: Unless you're one of those silly people that gag a little when Behringer gets mentioned, their FCB1010 (I think that's the model) seems pretty common.

 

[raisedfist]

http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/musicproduction/v_stack_product.html

 

[Kadmium]

For live VST stuff, I absolutely love Brainspawn Forte. Basically, you have a setlist, which is a list of songs in order, and songs have "scenes". A scene is a snapshot of effects, with routing, settings, tempo, etc saved. They're listed in order, so you don't really have to remember which setting is your lead tone with heaps of reverb or the clean tone with the ping-pong delay, you just hit the "next" button to go through the night's set. There's a performance mode, with big text giving you the song and scene name (and what's coming up next). It's pretty simple to set up, and very easy to use.