Okay, it's kind of like using the Bugati Veyron for the sole purpose of transporting your sickly cat to the vetirinarian. But hear me out. I got roped into doing a Broadway musical for a month, in a space so confined that it could only be described as torture. No space for a music stand or anything else - like performing in a telephone booth without walls to hang stuff on. So, with 10 days notice I memorized the 20 new show tunes and perform them four times a week while still doing my "real job". This gig requires both acoustic and electric guitars (I have space for one guitar stand over my MFC-101 - "I" am the second guitar stand); electric plugs in the front and the acoustic plugs into FXL return. Presets are configured appropriately to have both guitars plugged in at all times. I use two capos - one for the electric and one for the acoustic. The show tunes aren't "Rock" tunes, exactly - not two verses, a chorus and a bridge. They're all over the place with key changes and time signature changes. And capo changes within the songs.
Enter the Axe-Fx II XL+ LCD display. Thanks, Cliff, for the "+" in "XL+". I have the XL+ strapped to the side of one of the sets where I can barely see it but even at that terrible angle I can read it well enough. And I can fit enough characters into the Preset Name to prompt me which guitar, key and capo position to start the song with. So "Use2be-Ac-Capo3-Eb-Fing" will kick the song off correctly. I know that this means the tune is called "Used To Be", I use the acoustic guitar, put the Capo on 3rd fret, it's in Eb and I finger-pick (as opposed to "Pick" for using a pick). That's enough of a prompt to get me through 20 songs without a screw-up.
Long way to go to get there I know. But the Axe-Fx II XL+ is functioning as a somewhat limited teleprompter. Having reflected on this predicament for a week or two (in my "spare time" - lol) It occurs to me that there is a market opportunity here. If there's anything already out there anyone knows about please let me know. Here's my thought - if it's useful to me it'll be useful to others:
-G
Enter the Axe-Fx II XL+ LCD display. Thanks, Cliff, for the "+" in "XL+". I have the XL+ strapped to the side of one of the sets where I can barely see it but even at that terrible angle I can read it well enough. And I can fit enough characters into the Preset Name to prompt me which guitar, key and capo position to start the song with. So "Use2be-Ac-Capo3-Eb-Fing" will kick the song off correctly. I know that this means the tune is called "Used To Be", I use the acoustic guitar, put the Capo on 3rd fret, it's in Eb and I finger-pick (as opposed to "Pick" for using a pick). That's enough of a prompt to get me through 20 songs without a screw-up.
Long way to go to get there I know. But the Axe-Fx II XL+ is functioning as a somewhat limited teleprompter. Having reflected on this predicament for a week or two (in my "spare time" - lol) It occurs to me that there is a market opportunity here. If there's anything already out there anyone knows about please let me know. Here's my thought - if it's useful to me it'll be useful to others:
- Make a "mic stand" that has a totally flat and fairly thin "base", so that it will fit under the MFC-101. The MFC-101 is heavy enough that when combined with the mic stand's base it will be stable.
- Buy an iPAD clip so it can be mounted onto the mic-stand
- Buy or write some MIDI-controlled software for an iPAD - this software, controlled by the MFC-101, can "teleprompt" anything you want it to, including scroll the music score, lyrics, notes, Set lists - whatever
-G
teleprompter (actually, I don't know it the Preset Name on the Axe-Fx is 25 characters or not - but you get the point).
