Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong — and probably at the most inconvenient time and place. However, a corollary states that whatever you’re prepared for won’t go wrong. We don’t know if that’s true, but we do know that in the world of live gigging, you need to be prepared for just about any eventuality.
With that in mind, we present Volume 2 in our series on the items every keyboardist needs, the Keyboardist’s Essential Toolkit, courtesy of Sweetwater Director of Product Optimization, Daniel Fisher. The KET includes everything you need to keep the gig rolling in the face of problems — at least from a keyboard standpoint!
Gather these items, store them in a handy bag, case, or toolbox — and don’t forget to take the kit along with you to the gig — and never fear Murphy rearing his ugly head at a gig again!
- Spare audio cables
- Insert cables (1/4″ TRS on one end, two 1/4″ TS on the other end) to come out of headphone jack if necessary
- Really long 1/8″ TRS female to 1/8″ TRS male cable (for ear buds or an emergency long stereo run)
- 1/4″ female to RCA male adapters (to use tape input on mixer)
- 1/4″ female to 1/4″ female adapters (to join cables)
- 1/4″ female TRS to 1/8″ male TRS adapter (lets you go into an MP3 player input)
- MIDI female to MIDI female adapter (lets you join MIDI cables to make longer one)
- Extra power cables (especially if your gear uses any non-standard types other than the usual 3-prong IEC type.
- Hum eliminators, one for AC and one for audio cables
Extra Bonus Points
To ensure the show will go on, pack an inexpensive backup keyboard such as a Roland Juno DI, E-MU Longboard 61, Yamaha MM6 “Mini Mo,” or Korg PS60.
