Minimal acoustic setup?

[bjohn]

I have only one regular live-sound gig per year (three concerts at one event) plus the occasional need to do my own sound when we are performing. I've been using a QSC Touchmix since 2017 and it's been rock-solid and excellent, but there are known hardware issues that can creep in over time so I'd like to have a backup. All my gigs are acoustic, no virtual instruments, nothing electric, no drums.

I'd rather not buy a backup mixer that I'll never use otherwise; instead I'm thinking of getting a Sound Devices MixPre 10 (which has 8 inputs, all I need, and two balanced outputs that can go to my speakers; I never use monitors). The MixPre can act as a pre-fader or post-fader USB interface so I was thinking I'd run it into Reaper for the very few effects I need (EQ, reverb, occasional compression for specific instruments or the MC's mic).

I would use the MixPre extensively for recording so it would get used for other things, not just sit in a box waiting to be used as a backup in case the Touchmix fails. I already have a MixPre 6 and love it, but the MixPre 10 has 8 inputs and I need that many for my gigs, plus it has balanced outs.

I can control the MixPre with a control surface and send the post-fader signal for each channel to Reaper and then send the stereo mix out via USB to my outputs. I have a Windows laptop (Thinkpad) running Windows 10 and have been using Reaper on it for a few years for recording with no issues, but I've never used it for live sound.

Apart from doing some tests at home and ensuring I set the right buffer size, are there any other considerations I should be thinking of?

[BenK-msx]

Obviously reaper and laptop & those interfaces can do almost anything tho for me preparing to do some live acoustic/busk stuff as practice and getting word out about services, I've gone with an old small usb powered interface plugged into my phone and audio evolution app for basic FX, eq verb etc to clean Sound up. It's mini daw so easy to use for a reaperer.

Latency is fine (using a 256 buffer I think.)

Phone isn't challenged 10% loss bat in an Hour approx.

Got a used battery powered pa too I upgraded to use power tool batteries..
Want to keep outlay price down as I see how things shake out.

Potentially an option to consider for u.

[bjohn]

Originally Posted by BenK-msx

I've gone with an old small usb powered interface plugged into my phone and audio evolution app for basic FX, eq verb etc to clean Sound up. It's mini daw so easy to use for a reaperer.

Interesting option! I also thought about going into an iPad for this. I do need 8 channels, but I bet using one of the iPad daws like Auria Pro or Cubasis would work.