I’ve been traveling a lot more than usual for both personal and professional reasons this year, and staying productive has been tricky. Several of my composer and producer friends have talked about their “road rigs” recently, so I decided that it was time to design a road rig of my own. First, I had to do some (aka A LOT of) software research to make my laptop roadworthy. Second, I had to find a keyboard that could handle my various production tasks and ALSO fit in a backpack. I’m pretty happy with my M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini, and it works with my home studio as well as my laptop. I keep an HDMI cable with me so that any monitor or television in my vicinity can be used as a second screen, and I’m a big believer in using a separate keyboard and mouse for this situation even with a laptop. Still experimenting with my iPad in this setup but it’s already a useful addition. Now that I have the technical piece of this puzzle sorted out, I’m back to the biggest challenge of all – the blank page (or screen)!
DAN HEGARTY 