Embarking on the exhilarating journey of live performances, every musician craves a setup that’s not just reliable but also brimming with the potential to unleash creativity in the spur of the moment. Enter my Camelot Pro setup, the knight in shining armour for my musical performances. In this digital era where the gigs meet (even more) tech, Camelot Pro has emerged as a beacon of innovation, especially for those of us who find ourselves hopping on and off cruise ships, serenading the sea with our tunes.
Imagine having a setup that not only travels with you across the oceans but also ensures your sounds and patches are just a tap away. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Well, Camelot Pro has turned this into reality, offering a seamless experience that rivals, and perhaps even surpasses, the once go-to MainStage with its complex gear requirements. The beauty of Camelot Pro lies in its cross-platform functionality, a feature that resonates with the nomadic lifestyle of musicians like myself.
For years, we’ve tangled with cables, fretted over the compatibility of our gear, and spent countless hours ensuring our setups are just right for the next performance. But what if I told you there’s a way to bypass this gear-heavy ordeal without compromising on the quality of your sound? My Camelot Pro setup does exactly that. It’s not just a setup; it’s my musical companion that ensures consistency, quality, and that spark of creativity, whether I’m performing under the starlit sky on a cruise deck or in the pit of a theatre.
Let me share the details of my Camelot Pro setup, the gear that makes my performances on a range of gigs including cruise ships much easier, and how this incredible platform has revolutionised the way I perform live.
Why Camelot Pro?
As a keyboard player, I’ve been a user of MainStage for many years and for theatre productions has served itself fairly well. Over time though, I’ve found it increasingly lacking in flexibility in the range of contexts I need access to my sounds. Whilst it’s possible to get fairly granular in the manipulation of patches (layers, effects, splits, etc), it’s felt more and more clunky both in terms of the software and it’s hardware too.
Mainstage has felt like a fairly poor relation when it comes to apple software without an obvious product roadmap nor the developers truly understanding the needs of gigging musicians. During the covid lockdown, Audio Modeling hit my radar for their non-sampled, SWAM engine products. Whilst looking at their website I encountered their “Camelot Pro” page and fell into a rabbit hole of YouTube videos watching the wizardry in action!
1. Cross-Platform
Unlike MainStage, Camelot Pro is cross-platform and works on a iPad too. The great thing about this approach is the consistency in progamming/operation no watter what device you are using. Whilst Camelot Pro isn’t available for Android devices it is available for iOS, Mac and Windows. But there is a slight caveat to creating and then transferring songs/scenes between these devices.
As Camelot Pro is a (highly advanced) MIDI patchbay, the apps/sample libraries you have on each device may vary, therefore there will be some manual updating of connections to patches, effect generators and the like. That being said, splits, layers will all remain present. This is most obvious when programming on an iPad and using iOS-only apps and sending the file(s) to a MacBook. Increasingly though, many libraries are also available (or at least becoming available) on more than one platform. Pianoteq (modelled pianos etc) are cross platform.
2. Portable Flexibility
Whilst I do own the desktop version of Camelot, I rarely use it. This isn’t because it is any different from the iOS version – it’s simply that the iPad version is so bloody useful and PORTABLE! I love being able to programme my sounds wherever I am (frequently on train journeys, often backstage!) and building setlists from my existing “songs”. As a keyboard player, Musical Director and in my role at Sonic Artistes, I play in many different contexts and jump into different musical products including party bands with set musical arrangements.
This requires access to sounds quickly and consistently (sometimes fairly complex especially for 80’s music) and many of the ships and indeed venues on ships have different keys/synth setups. Therefore working out how to programme and access patches quickly can cause problems so the most efficient way to run these performances is with my trusted Camelot Pro setup.
3. Multiple Contexts
Whilst the concept of using Camelot Pro on an iPad is impressive in itself, being able to programme Camelot Pro in a musical theatre context using a desktop adds options for different sample libraries, more complex audio routing (although this is still achievable with an iPad!) and potentially a more permanent setup such as West End or touring productions. The great thing about this is that the interface is the same, not requiring a period adjustment to learn new software on a different device. That being said, I’ve used my iPad on theatre productions and it was unwavering on its reliability, robustness, particularly on 3-show panto days!
4. Control
For me, being able to layer and split is a crucial part of my programming and Camelot Pro has this functionality in spades. As with any software there is always a learning curve but I genuinely believe if you’ve used MainStage or any kind of DAW in the past, you’ll take to it like a duck to water. For me, Camelot Pro makes sense and the interfacing is logical and obvious. I love being able to layer choose regions where the sounds occur, all at the touch/drag of a finger – something I found somewhat time consuming using a desktop.
Alongside software instruments (which I use exclusively on my iPad), you can also control MIDI devices with an insane number of pre-progammed/listed devices called smart maps, check them out here. If you have compression tools, effects processors then you can easily integrate these into your Camelot Pro setup. This coupled with an solid audio interface will give you the ultimate control over sound design.
5. Toolbox of Goodies
Alongside the incredible power of programming for keyboard players (and not just keyboard players…..check this out guitarists!), Camelot has some other truly outstanding features such as track (and multi-track) playback. This is great (and highly reliable) for running click tracks/stems etc. Not only this but whilst running tracks, Camelot Pro will automatically switch scenes (change patches) at hitpoints you programme. A complete game-changer.
There is also a PDF score reader built into the app too which many would find useful especially if you are simply using it for reference. Fantastic for busker, rehearsed gigs etc. I personally still use forScore on another iPad to read from as the functionality of forScore is far more advanced that in Camelot Pro – simply an observation and not a criticism.
My Gear
iPad Pro (11 inch, 128gb, Space Grey)
Yamaha MD-BT01 (Bluetooth Midi)
Roland RMIDI-B10-DUAL Midi Cables
How is it connected?
Software/Apps
Camelot Pro (Camelot is a setlist manager, digital mixer, software instrument and effects host, PDF music score reader, multitrack audio player, and highly advanced MIDI patchbay and router.)
With the following packs:
- TRITON Best Selection $9.99
- Wurley Electric Piano $4.99
- Ivory Mobile Grand $14.99
- Organ & Clav Collection $9.99
- Module Performance Expansion $19.99
- 80’s Electric Piano $9.99
- Orchestral Dreams $9.99
- Hybrid Synth Essential 2 $3.99
Want to see Camelot Pro in action?
Check out my recommended videos:
Exploring the functionality of Camelot Pro with the Creator.
Performance of Beat It (using plugins only) by Davide Puxeddu
How Beat It was created by Davide Puxeddu
Getting Started with Camelot Pro (Audio Modeling)
Piano & Orchestra with Camelot Pro (Audio Modeling)
