help me put together a live (soft) synth rig

[Let it burn...]

Titel says it all.

I'm planning to put together a synth rig so i can use some soundscapes live. I play in a post-rock band and i'm thinking of some sigur ros kinda synths but i have no idea what they use to get those ambient sounds.
Budget is limited to 700 eur atm and i already have a bunch of guitar fx pedals that i will use with it.

So, here's what i'm considering:

- microKorg with mini Kaosspad
- some cheap ass notebook with Absynth 4 (already have the software) and a midi controller.

keep in mind that it must be ultra-portable because of the limited space we have on stage and in the van (we use a bunch of amps and guitars).

What do you guys recommend?

 

[Let it burn...]

nobody?

i'm thinking of buying an eee pc 901 and putting 2gb ram in it and an m-audio axiom 49 as controller.

 

[Razorjack]

Microkorg or an X50. Much more stable.

 

[Manicompression]

Actually Id like to get some input on this too, I would like to use absynth live and have the midi controller, but what is the best way to get that in a live setting???? How do I best get the sounds off the computer and to the audience.

 

[Let it burn...]

Actually Id like to get some input on this too, I would like to use absynth live and have the midi controller, but what is the best way to get that in a live setting???? How do I best get the sounds off the computer and to the audience.

I'd say use a macbook (pro). Most of the bands that use synths live use a mac and an audio interface to rout the audio to the foh desk but macs are out of my budget range atm.

 

[Manicompression]

I have a laptop, Its no Mac but I dont really plan on using the synth stuff so much that if my laptop crashed it would cause the performance much damage, I have a Firepod, but I would rather not have to drag my nice peice of recording equipment to less than ideal places, just to use it as a glorified audio output. Ive seen dudes who actually use the Roland keyboard amps, and then the sound guy mics it, the dude who was playing said that he liked the way the speaker interaction worked to his advantage. So heres the question why not use the Headphone output on my computer into a small amp of some sort. advantages / disadvantages ?????

 

[Let it burn...]

most band around here use their synths through the FOH PA but i guess and amp would be nice as a monitor on smaller venues. I don't think it would benefit your sound though.