In this article, we will take a look at 2024 and briefly summarize some of useful features, activities and things that stood out during the year.
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Gig Performer 5 and massive new features
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In May, 2024, after many months of active development and testing, we released Gig Performer 5 (v5.0.9). It introduced many major new features and updates. In September, 2024 we released version 5.0.20 and in November, 2024 – version 5.0.28, bringing numerous enhancements and hardenings under the hood. Here are some of the great major new features that stand out.
Our latest release is transforming what’s possible on stage with a suite of new features designed to bring a whole new level of capability to your live performances.
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GP Relayer
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Principal among the new features in Gig Performer 5 is GP Relayer, an exciting new plugin that provides the easiest way to share audio and MIDI between Gig Performer and your favorite DAW.
Simply insert one or more of these plugins into your DAW and one or more into Gig Performer, and you’re ready to move audio and MIDI data back and forth seamlessly. You can directly record high-quality, low-latency audio from Gig Performer for your next album. Alternatively, stream your DAW’s proprietary plugins’ sounds and MIDI effects back into Gig Performer for an unparalleled live performance experience. GP Relayer supports up to 10 relays simultaneously.
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MIDI Chord Maker
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MIDI Chord Maker lets you create complex chords using different sounds or block unwanted notes in a performance simply by playing a single key on your keyboard. For example, now you can simultaneously perform bass, strings and choir, each part using different chords in different inversions, all with one finger on one hand, thus freeing up your other hand to perform a dedicated piano part.
Chord Maker features MIDI learn capabilities to speed up your workflow when you map notes to chords.
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Audio Time stretching and Pitch shifting
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Gig Performer’s Streaming Audio File Player has been enhanced with new stretch and transpose capabilities.
It lets you flexibly and quickly tweak your audio tracks—speed them up, slow them down, or change the pitch—to fit any live performance or rehearsal scenario.
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Song Automation
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Song Part Actions allow you to define multiple actions to be triggered automatically whenever a song part is selected.
Use this feature to send any MIDI messages to hardware, send OSC messages to remote devices for selecting videos or even invoke GP Script functions.
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MIDI Rechannelizer
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Ideal for external gear integration and internal channel reconfiguration, the MIDI Rechannelizer is a powerhouse in flexible channel rerouting, enhancing your ability to manipulate and streamline MIDI flows. Using an intuitive grid-based interface, you can easily redirect MIDI signals to and from any channel or send multiple channels simultaneously.
For example, playing your MIDI keyboard on MIDI channel 1 will send multiple copies of the MIDI message on four different channels to your external hardware and multi-timbral software synths.
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Envelope Follower
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The Envelope Follower plugin lets you use audio volume to control envelope parameters in real-time—for example, wah-wah effects, which are particularly useful for guitarists. Or, if you wish to talk while playing music, Envelope Follower can produce MIDI messages that can control ducking, automatically lowering the music volume as you speak.
Using widgets, you can use audio volume to virtually control any parameter within your setup.
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Wiring Activity
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The Wiring Activity view displays connections as color-coded virtual MIDI and audio wires when any note is played, helping you to quickly understand and correct your audio and MIDI flow and audio levels. Playing your instrument makes wires illuminate to visualize signal levels — “Green” indicates that your levels are OK, “Yellow” indicates that your levels are getting a little high, and “Red” means that your signal is running hot.
Wiring Activity also reveals where the signal is broken so you can quickly and easily fix it.
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MIDI Transposer
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The MIDI Transposer plugin is a convenient, quick way to transpose note and polyphonic aftertouch messages as messages pass through the Wiring view.
It is very useful for quickly changing the key of a MIDI sequence, and you can insert multiple Transposer plugins to create harmonic variations.
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Other updates and improvements
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Of course, there are too many other enhancements to mention here. For example, the new Global Rackspace MIDI feature allows you to centralize your MIDI effects, key splits and transpositions in the Global rackspace. Similar to how Global blocks have been used to send audio in Gig Performer 4, this new update allows you to send a stream of MIDI to and from the Global Rackspace as desired, streamlining your MIDI processing.
To see all other improvements, you can check out other updates in our documentation and the Release notes page. You can also watch this dedicated Backstage with Gig Performer episode and this YouTube Playlist to see these new features in action.
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Gig Performer Partner Program
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We announced the launch of our new Partners page. Gig Performer teamed up with top-tier plugin and software developers in the music industry to bring exclusive discounts to our license holders.
If you haven’t already you can check out our current partners at this link.
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Gig Performer Merchandise
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We created a new Merchandise page. You can now Own the Stage® not only with your music but also with your wardrobe!
Check out our Merchandise page at this link.
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Backstage with Gig Performer interviews
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In 2024, we continued with our popular live show, Backstage with Gig Performer. We have interviewed nearly twenty consummate professionals in the music industry to provide you with their best ideas, tips and tricks.
We hope these interviews will inspire your live performances and make your journey with Gig Performer the most pleasant experience.
Here is the list of interviewed artists along with links to the episodes:
- Rubén Valtierra – Shares how he is using Gig Performer to power his keyboards for the upcoming Weird Al Yankovic World Tour -> LINK
- Harry Triendl – Shows you how he created a massively powerful 3 button set-up for his shows -> LINK
- Jeremy Knorr – Shares his experience transitioning from an extensive collection of hardware for touring to exclusively using Gig Performer -> LINK
- Karl Treier – Showcases three ways to sync external gear to Gig Performer’s clock -> LINK
- Dave Boulden – Demoes his premium extension for Gig Performer – Advanced Song Chooser -> LINK
- Ali Askin – Shares tips of how Gig Performer helped him master multiple different genre’s of performance -> LINK
- Leo Diaz – Shows you how he is using gaming device ASUS ROG Ally to make music -> LINK
- Ken Matson – Talks about how he condensed several keyboards and a lot of heavy gear into one MIDI keyboard with Gig Performer -> LINK
- Chris Bartley – Explains how to use Ableton Live to listen to a drummer and automatically calculate the tempo -> LINK
- Joe Luca – Gives tips on how to play authentic recreations of cover songs using Gig Performer -> LINK
- Miguel Pontin – Shares how he switched to Gig Performer and toured Spain -> LINK
- Justyn Clark – A seasoned musician and software engineer, shares his unique insights into live performance and audio plugin hosts -> LINK
- Dave Phillips – Shows how he uses Gig Performer to power his keyboards for his Peter Gabriel tribute band -> LINK
- Brodie Stewart – As the keyboardist from the Fleetwood Mac tribute band Seventh Wonder, he will demonstrate how he uses Gig Performer, TouchOSC, and forScore in his live performances -> LINK
- Karl Ludwigsen – Shows how rackspace variations supercharge his live rig -> LINK
- José Pedro – A FoH engineer from Prestige Sound talks about live sound engineering -> LINK
- Igor Paspalj – Wisdom from the Guitar World’s Electric Guitarist of the Year 2020 -> LINK
- Christian Siedschlag – A DDMF developer showcases Metaplugin to record audio between Gig Performer and Pro Tools using GP Relayer -> LINK
- Eddie Huerta – Shares his experience with Gig Performer and what it’s like working across multiple music genres -> LINK
YouTube videos and Shorts
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A highly active year for the Gig Performer YouTube channel. If you are not already subscribed, make sure to subscribe so to not miss any of new features, feature reveals or tutorials.
Here is a partial list of some videos and Shorts we released on our YouTube channel:
- How To Send Audio and MIDI Between Gig Performer and a DAW with GP Relayer -> LINK
- Getting Started with Gig Performer : The Basics of Live Performance Software -> LINK
- How To Alter Pitch and Tempo in Gig Performer 5’s Streaming Audio File Player -> LINK
- Gig Performer Free – Cherry Audio Edition and Synth Stack 5 -> LINK
- The Power Of Hosting Overloud TH-U In Gig Performer -> LINK
- How Joe Luca Plays Authentic Recreations of Cover Songs Using Gig Performer -> LINK
- Top 10 Reasons To Build Your Live Guitar Rig In Gig Performer -> LINK
- How to play your VST plugins live -> LINK
- Stop Worrying About Latency: Igor Paspalj Explains Latency Concerns -> LINK
- How To Use The MIDI Chord Maker in Gig Performer 5 -> LINK
- Using The MIDI Rechannelizer in Gig Performer 5 -> LINK
- Marty Wade Creates an Epic Synth Jam with Gig Performer Free & Cherry Audio Synth Stack 5 -> Short
- Decent Sampler XML Generator -> Short
- How to use GP Relayer to play Ableton’s built-in synthesizer, Meld -> Short
- Easily Power Global Instruments From Your Local Rackspaces Using MIDI To and From Global Rackspace -> Short
- How To Create A Gain Reduction Meter In Gig Performer -> Short
- Igor Paspalj shredding in Gig Performer at a buffer size of 32 samples and only 4% CPU -> Short
- How To Create A Wah Wah Effect With Gig Performer’s Envelope Follower -> Short
- Dave Schulz of Wang Chung Takes a Killer Organ Solo Using Gig Performer -> Short
- Igor Paspalj Shredding Full Throttle At Various Buffer Sizes -> Short
- Weird Al’s Long-Time Keyboardist Shares What Gig Performer Can Do That His Hardware Couldn’t -> Short
Make sure to check out other content on our channel. We converted many tips from our Backstage show into Shorts.
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Gig Performer videos on other YouTube channels
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We are excited to see more and more Gig Performer videos on YouTube channels from other music makers. Needless to say, these videos are not affiliated with Deskew Technologies. We simply find them on the Internet.
We’ll mention these videos:
- DECAP finds Gig Performer which completely replaced his UAD DSP devices -> LINK
- Blurring the line between Acoustic and MIDI with Gig Performer and MIDI Guitar 3 -> LINK
- How to set up MIDI Guitar 3 with Gig Performer -> LINK
- How to use Roland Ax-1 keytar to change rackspaces -> LINK
- How to set up the Korg Kronos as a MIDI controller and audio interface for Gig Performer -> LINK
- Gig Performer setup for hobby musicians -> LINK
- Bank and Patch Selection for U-he Diva, Bazille, and Hive -> LINK
- Vernissage im Kunst-Welt-Raum -> LINK
- Playing Guitar Synth Live -> LINK
- Toto – Africa tutorial -> LINK
- KeytarJeff Keytar Solo -> LINK
- How to Efficiently Learn Songs -> LINK
- How I Use ANY Send FX Plugin On ANY Desk With Gig Performer -> LINK
- Electric Kalimba into tons of guitar FX -> LINK
- How to create a virtual disk for Gig Performer and set up dual boot from that disk -> LINK
Bonus: we have compiled many YouTube videos in German and in Portuguese. If you don’t speak these languages, YouTube does a great job translating the captions into your native language.
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Gig Performer in Action stories
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We have indexed more than two hundred stories from various artists playing various instruments and in various genres. If you want to see what setups your fellow Gig Performer users have or see their experiences with Gig Performer, these threads are a valuable resource.
We’ll present you with a list of some threads created in 2024 to check out.
- Conrad St. Clair – The musical director for The Furious Bongos, a touring Zappa band -> LINK
- Alex Faust – this is an excellent article showcasing how he switched from hardware to Gig Performer -> LINK
- Dave Phillips – A story about the Journey from Mainstage to Gig Performer -> LINK
- Terrance Robinson – still very excited to have Gig Performer powering his live performance after a full year -> LINK
- Mark Dandridge – Keyboardist/Keytarist from the band, BOCA – Band of Consenting Adults -> LINK
- Francis V. Capistrano – a keyboardist, sound designer, and the director of NarfSounds -> LINK
- Terry Schmitt – Finally found a home using Gig Performer, after travelling through several iterations of live rigs ranging from hardware to hybrid, to various software solutions -> LINK
- Herold Yvard – How he uses a small mobile phone strapped to his guitar to control audio effects on his rig -> LINK
- Jake Litwin – Shares sound design tutorials -> LINK
- Visual Bassic – Katrin Bethge and John Eckhardt create audiovisual experiences combining live projections with electronic music -> LINK
- Jim Erwin – Seven (!!!) different players used his rig in that in a show! -> LINK
- Miguel Pontin -> A summer tour with Gig Performer -> LINK1, LINK2
- Rizky Ashary – A guitarist, gamer, YouTuber, and content creator -> LINK
- Karl Ludwigsen – Lots of different projects, all based on Gig Performer -> LINK
- Jim Ketchum – Shares a great overview of his live keyboard rig -> LINK
- Magnus Sidborn – Had a jazzy session recording for a Swedish TV channel -> LINK
- David Jameson – Shares his setup for a theatrical performance of The Wall -> LINK
- Thomas Torhan – Shares photos from a tribute to Journey and Women of Rock show -> LINK
- Choton Barua – He completed his very first gig using Gig Performer, and he “couldn’t be more thrilled with how smooth and enjoyable the experience was!” -> LINK
- Viktor Lukačka – A keyboardist from Slovakia with great Depeche Mode covers -> LINK
- Bacchus Live – Details about Korean live karaoke setup -> LINK
- Adam Rawlings – Showcases vintage and alternative keyboard stand ideas -> LINK
- Paul Hassinger – Gig Performer setup for a hobby musician -> LINK
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A special shout out goes to Angel von Powerlord! 🙂 His heavy metal band always puts up a good show!
Read his stories here: LINK1, LINK2, LINK3.
Of course, make sure to check the other threads and see the setups of other Gig Performer users.
We invite you to share your Gig Performer in Action story with us.
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FREE Gig and Rackspace files
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We are very grateful for every contribution from our awesome community members. Sharing gig files allows other community members to easily take their hands on gig design concepts and inspire their own ideas.
Apart from gems that you can find all across the community, we’ll present here some of the new gig and rackspace files – free downloadable templates crafted by our diligent community members.
- X4 MIDI for keys – A flexible template for dealing with layers and splits for the keys, including on/off control for sustain pedal and pitch bend, and on/off control + scaling options for modulation wheel and expression pedal -> LINK
- BIAS FX 2 Panel – A nice panel for Positive Grid’s BIAS FX 2-> LINK
- Mikko’s template – A rackspace template from keyboardist Mikko Patama -> LINK
- All In The Pool – Chris Ginther’s template for delay spillover, auto-wah engage and more -> LINK
- cRAyZEeeY SSL Panel – Panel for the Waves SSL G-Channel Plugin -> LINK
- Gojira X – Rackspace for the for Neural DSP’s Gojira X plugin -> LINK
- 6 Channel Template – Template for VCS-1/B-3x plugins -> LINK
- 8x sample player – A nice sample player using the internal Streaming Audio File Player -> LINK
- Organ rackspace – Keyboardist and YouTube content creator in Portuguese, Marcelo Gesualdi, shares his organ rackspace -> LINK
- 2 Keyboards / 4 Plugins / Auto Bypass (V5) – Power user Erik Schütz once again shares with us his craft -> LINK
- Auto Wah Effect – Create auto wah effect using the bundled TH-U plugin and the Envelope Follower -> LINK
- Violin-like sounds on a guitar – Make your guitar sound like a violin using the Melda plugins and the Envelope Follower -> LINK
- Multi keyboard and multi split with song selector – Damian Adams shares his work he has been developing for months -> LINK
- All S-Gear Amps – A great looking template for all amps from the S-Gear guitar plugin -> LINK1, LINK2
- Gallien Krueger 800RB – A rackspace panel of the Brainworx/Plugin Alliance 5 version of the Gallien-Krueger 800RB plugin. -> LINK
- Chord Lock – Auto hold pads with sustain pedal -> LINK
- Arturia KeyLab MkII LED scriptlets – Allows your controller’s lights to stay in sync with Gig Performer, so your controller button lights match your widget states -> LINK
- Real-time Analyzer -> A real-time analyzer designed to give large clear visual feedback when you are ringing out a room during sound check -> LINK
- Diva, Bazille, and Hive – Bank and Patch Selection for U-he plugins: Diva, Bazille, and Hive -> LINK
- MIDI Controlled Audio Gate – Alexander Peter shared a gig file he created that allows him to keep his vocoder sounds crystal clear and reduce the overall noise the vocoders create during rehearsal -> LINK
- TONEX – A simple rackspace for IK Multimedia TONEX -> LINK
- CCM Template – A solid template for Contemporary Christian music (CCM) -> LINK
- SooperLopper – A looper template by Harry Triendl, enhanced with a small script -> LINK
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Blog articles
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The author of this blog article prefers written text over videos, because it can read way faster than people in videos can speak or show 🙂 If you are like me, here is a treat for you. These articles will provide you with new stuff in a easy to follow format.
- Gig Performer as an ultimate enhancer
- Why a graphic interface is superior to the channel strip model
- Best practices for a rock-solid software-based setup
- Creative Tool: Envelope Follower
- The Decent Sampler XML Generator – Free Download (also see this Short)
- Using Kontakt to stream multiple backing tracks
- Ways to send program changes to external synths
- Don’t mix plugin formats from the same company
- What is GP Relayer and how to use it
- Be careful with updates
- Which plugin format is better: VST vs VST3 vs AU
- The Importance of the Ultimate Performance Power Plan (guest article)
- Scrolling Your Lyrics or Lead Sheets
- A Note about Total Cost of Ownership
- Seasonal Gratefulness for the Gig Performer Community
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Articles from our Community
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Here’s a list of valuable articles from our community members.
- Hot Backup – Part 1: Decisions
- Hot Backup – Part 2: The Software side
- LED Key Zones -> LINK
- How to replace a key on the Studiologic SL88 MIDI controller -> LINK
- How to use virtual cables along with QLC+ to route system sounds into Gig Performer and monitor their levels -> LINK
- What are instances and how do I use them -> LINK
- Dropbox Backup and Workflow -> LINK
- How to reset the Windows Audio system without reboot -> LINK
- How to use GP Relayer with Studio One -> LINK
Sound Design with Gig Performer
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The Sound Design forum was very active in 2024. Our community members have posted gig files or video tutorials for specific songs.
We have created an index of these threads. Click here to access it.
There are also commercial sounds packs for Gig Performer available at Narf Sounds!
Click here to learn more.
Honorable mention: Using Auto Sampler in the Sound design process -> LINK
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Other notable activities and content
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We won’t mention all the stuff from 2024. We’ll cherry pick some interesting happenings.
- Our website has had a complete redesign. We’ll continue improving it in 2025 to perfectly suit the needs of future customers.
- As the part of the redesign, there are some new pages such as Merchandise and Additional Downloads.
- Robin Bigwood of well-known Sound On Sound magazine reviewed Gig Performer and gave very positive remarks.
- Fully fleshed out TouchOSC interface -> Download
- Anyone who purchases Cherry Audio’s Synth Stack 5 will receive Gig Performer Free, a brand-new lite version of Gig Performer. See this video of these two in action.
- Our giant Resources repository is updated with new content. New resources are: How to use GP Relayer with DAWs, Finger Tap resources, and Gig Performer and Ableton Live resources.
- Download the amazing Lyrics extension for Gig Performer -> LINK
Honorable mention: GP Support Act – Apple Script that catches silly mistakes, i.e. not plugging in your MIDI keyboard.
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What’s next?
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We are heading into 2025 trying to outshine successful 2024. We have great passion for developing Gig Performer and providing you with the thrilling new content!
Behind the scenes, we are already testing new amazing additions to Gig Performer. We constantly feel the pulse of our community and compile ideas for new content to support your music making journey.
Thank you for being the part of our community — we are grateful for all your support!
If you have any questions or you want to share your feedback, please visit our Community.
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Share this article to support Gig Performer and spread the word!
Own The Stage® with Gig Performer®
Nemanja Pudar
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Related topics:
– Retrospective — 2023 Year-in-review
– Why Gig Performer? Because!
– Gig Performer as an ultimate enhancer