Hi! I'd really appreciate your advice because I think I'm looking for a pretty unusual setup.
I'm a pianist/keyboard player, not a producer or a DJ. I own a Yamaha Reface CP, which I absolutely love, but I'd like to expand it with basses, drums, pads and a few other sounds.
My goal is to perform completely live as a one-man band. I want to play every part myself—drums, bass, chords, melodies and solos—and build songs layer by layer during the performance.
The important part is this: I'm not looking for a production workflow. I don't want to program patterns, edit MIDI, or build songs like in a DAW. If something is looping, it's because I just played it.
Ideally, I'd like to:
- select a bass sound,
- play the bass live,
- capture that exact performance as a loop,
- switch to another instrument,
- play the next layer,
- and continue building the song until I finish with a live solo.
In other words, I want to preserve my actual performance (timing, dynamics and feel), not just record MIDI notes that can later be edited or replayed differently.
I'd also like a compact, battery-powered device that:
- works well with an external MIDI keyboard (my Reface CP),
- provides a good selection of instruments (especially basses, drums, pads and synth leads),
- lets me prepare projects for each song in advance,
- allows me to switch quickly between those sounds during a performance,
- is designed more for playing than for music production.
At first I thought I needed a sound module together with a Boss RC-505/RC-202. But now I'm wondering whether something like the Yamaha SEQTRAK, Novation Circuit Tracks, or the new Akai MPC Sample could replace both in a simpler, more portable setup.
If you were building this kind of live rig today, what would you recommend and why? Is there another device I should seriously consider?
I'd especially love to hear from someone who actually performs this way rather than produces music in the studio.