micro composer(MIDI Sqquencer) vs. computers

[mikerenwick]

hi, I have few questions that is bothering me during this holliday season and since it is consider to be "the most wonderful time of the year", I figured I should do something about it.... but enough with my yapping

I have alot of material I want to tinker with and use it on both live peformance and on recording. As a first step, I got myself a good deal on MIDI controller and sound module(A-33 and JV-1010 respectively). And I was assuming that I was going to get computer and just tinker with it and use it for the stage as well. But, (as result of of my lack of foresight), I didn't realize that laptop cannot be used on stage all that well. Is this a myth or reality that laptop cannot be really utilized on the stage? Alas, another option opened up as I should get micro composers. However, can microcomposers match the functions of software programs? Not in terms of recording, but in tinkering of sounds and laying down the basic tracks on the stage. And even if I decided to get a micro-composers, I am still very much in the dark about what I should look for specifically. The brand of music we play I guess have somesort of resemblence to bands such as Stone Roses which really was not synthband, but more of a rock band with synth accompanying it. I guess, this is more of peformance question than really a recording question, and I am so sorry about that... Happy Holidays, Mike

[Dragon]

Bands use computers on stage all the time (a lot of rack equipment has microprocessors built in already). Your biggest problem will probably be seeing the screen if wacky lights are being used. Using good quality audio with laptops is a bit trickier, but there are numerous MIDI hardware plugins for laptops, using USB, parallel, or PCMCIA cards. Most laptops will work off battery power for 2 hours or so...try that with your Marshall stack!

Computers are the most versatile tools around for working with music, since they can be programmed to do just about anything.