Provinz

Provinz is a band who have gained success playing organically as a band without relying on a click or backing tracks. It was important to maintain this freedom for them, so the approach here was to make the Ableton system as musical and minimalist as possible. The majority of the songs are still played without backing tracks, there is just a handful of new songs that require tracks to deliver the energy and vibe of the studio production in a live performance setting.
A redundant Mac Mini Ableton system with AbleSet and MIDI infrastructure was installed. Since it needed to be easily tourable and off stage, a 19" roller rack with a screen in the hinged lid was designed with spare space to house other musical components (Butt-Kicker & bass amp) to keep things compact and efficient. The playbacks are operated by the drummer Leon using an iPad networked into the AbleSet system so that the control stays within the band and the performance system feels just like incorporating another instrument into their acoustic core. And since AbleSet was now being used to manage the entire setlist, we decided to use this opportunity and also added patch changes during songs that do not have a click or backing tracks. It was also important that the rack is very low maintenance and does not require a separate operator. For this reason, it was designed in such a way that it only has to be pushed into position, wired and switched on to be ready to go.