Why do you use computers?

[drummer girl09]

I see so many drummers use computers live...I'm thinking that it's for the metronome purpose, but that can't be all. What is the other use?

[drummer girl09]

Was this a stupid question; another thread on this? I looked this subject on the search engine and I could'nt find anything.

[oops]

There's lots of reasons you'd use one live:

You could use it as a metronome.

You could use it to interact with your drum triggers, so basically as the brain to give your kit it's sound.

You could use it to set off electronic samples to play along with.

You could use it to record your performance.

[Davo-London]

Plus if it's an Apple Mac it looks cool!

Actually if there any triggered pads then there would be a reason to use one. Having said that I use a Roland TD12 and rely on the brain for my functionality.

Davo

[drummer girl09]

Oh didn't know any of that, ha. Thanks guys.

[Cymbalrider]

It's because the singers are lip-syncing! *cough*

[dougaha18]

I asked a guy why he brought his laptop to the show and he said it was just mets and loops

[Fiery]

A band I saw once used a laptop to play the click track to the drumer, additional keys, strings, choirs, samples etc for the lack of a keyboard player, plus to control all the effects for the guitars and bass (the guitarists never had to touch their pedals) and to control the light effects which were in synch with the music. So, in essence, the laptop was their sound tech, light tech and keyboard player. Made for a really great, flawless show.

[Garvin]

Email..................

[mrchattr]

I know a trio that uses it for metronome, and midi keys, horns, strings, etc. The band plays stuff like "Jump," by Van Halen, and none of them play keys. It all comes from the computer. They are one of the most popular bands in our area, and only have to split their fee three ways at the end of the night.

[eddiehimself]

Was this a stupid question; another thread on this? I looked this subject on the search engine and I could'nt find anything.

it's not stupid that you asked the question if you genuinely don't know the answer.

Okay there are many uses for a computer as a live performance tool:



As a metronome/click track
Should you want to record the live performance, you can use a laptop with say cakewalk with an auxillary output of the mixer plugged into the soundcard.
As a guitar/bass amp or FX processor using a program such as AmpliTube: an improvement over just DI-ing like most bassists do.
As a midi synth player or you could even record parts onto the computer and play them back during a live performance.
As a mixer; most good recording/sequencing software can send out channels to particular "buses" which would allow you to send different mixes of a backing track or if you used a PC audio interface as your mixer, the sounds from the other bandmates as they're being played into certain monitors so that each band member as well as the audience and the engineer can have the appropriate mix being sent to their ears. This is pretty useful so that for example you as the drummer can hear the click track but it's silent to the audience.

[freebirdgdw]

Why it's to check on DrummerWorld mid-gig of course.

[dougaha18]

Why it's to check on DrummerWorld mid-gig of course.

lol yep i do it all the time

[rickysymo]

What you all have shared are really interesting reasons about computers and shows. Thank you for the added information guys.