During an intense pre-production day in Paris ahead of their European tour, the team at Backstage Explorers went behind the scenes with Norwegian progressive metal band Leprous. At the heart of the live keyboard and playback rig managed by Harrison White (live keyboardist and band manager), one small black box plays a critical role in controlling the show: the LIOBOX 2.
Total Flexibility for a 52-Song Catalog
One of the defining features of a Leprous tour is that they change their setlist every single night. The band keeps around 52 songs spanning their entire discography loaded and ready to trigger at a moment's notice.
"This device is one of the best pieces of gear I've ever bought. It's a super smart MIDI controller that I use with Ableton Live."
— Harrison White
Changing Songs On the Fly in Seconds
Thanks to the LIOBOX 2, Harrison can adapt immediately when lead singer Einar Solberg decides to change the song order right before or even during the concert:
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Instant Navigation: Harrison pauses the session, scrolls through the song list using the LIOBOX 2 jog wheel, finds the requested track, and hits Play.
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Synchronized Automations: Launching the track instantly sends required MIDI commands across the entire stage:
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Guitar racks switch to the correct preamps and FX patches.
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Synths and VSTs recall the proper patches.
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Timecode triggers the lighting show sync.
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"It's the interface that controls the brain of the whole band and keeps everyone in sync. It's a really fantastic piece of kit."
— Harrison White
🎬 Watch the segment in the original video (from 05:06 to 06:27):
