[STEWART COCHRAN PERFORMING WITH 54 SECONDS]

STEWART COCHRAN: What I have with me, I have a Nord Electro 73 which I have built in to an old Fender Rhodes box, so that from the audience perspective it looks like I'm playing a Rhodes. It's (1) for looks but it's also, because the way I got it set up, and you probably should try get some footage of it, because everything stays plugged in. I've got a sub mixer inside the Rhodes box so the Electro, the 1010, everything stays plugged in. All I do is pull out a pedalboard, plug the snake into it for the controllers, and plug into USB to the back of that M-Audio, plug in that computer thing, and there's one power cord.

PATRICK OGLE: [OVERLAPPING] The case is just so it's set up?

STEWART COCHRAN: Yeah. The case is so it's set up plus you know, the Rhodes -- I mean the Electro is a really great keyboard but it's this little dinky red thing which is like [STEWART COCHRAN GESTURES SOME FORM OF DISGUST].

PATRICK OGLE: [LAUGHS]

STEWART COCHRAN: So, you know.

[STEWART COCHRAN PERFORMING WITH 54 SECONDS]

STEWART COCHRAN: And then I have that MIDIed to a JV-1010, Roland JV-1010 sound module, and then I'm also running Apple's MainStage. I got it right here in fact. Yeah, I'm running Apple's MainStage now. I also have an M-Audio 49 Axiom on top, which can control either MainsSage or the JV-1010, so in any event -- in the event that MainStage goes down, I can immediately bring up the sounds on the Electro or bring up the sounds on the 1010, you know, as a backup, or I just use them for layering, setup like that.

PATRICK OGLE: The MainStage then fails?

STEWART COCHRAN: The MainStage has not failed me yet.

PATRICK OGLE: Have you had any problems with stuff [OVERLAPPING]

STEWART COCHRAN: I'm pretty happy with -- What's that?

PATRICK OGLE: Have you had just anything fail on you?

INTERVIEWER: Actually, you know you have to talk about your laptop blowing close so you [OVERLAPPING]...

STEVE COCHRAN: Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: ... [OVERLAPPING] your settings...

STEWART COCHRAN: That's true.

INTERVIEWER: ...to when it was screwing us down to nothing.

STEWART COCHRAN: We were doing a cruise ship gig. We were doing a cruise ship gig, and everything was going great except we're outside, and the laptop kept blowing closed, and or course it goes into sleep then you got no more sound.

INTERVIEWER: So you have to change those settings so it doesn't go to sleep when --

STEWART COCHRAN: Yeah. You have to change the settings so it doesn't sleep and...

INTERVIEWER: Which you've done of course.

STEWART COCHRAN: ...and you have to add wind resistance and Velcro and duct tape and extensive -- but I like using MainStage because you know the Electro is not meant to be a MIDI controller but you can map out everything that you need, even control that over velocity, you can control that with different expression pedals to bring sounds up so, you know, I'm pretty happy with this rig. I used that -- you know, I used to drag out everything: Minimoog, ARP Odyssey, Rhodes, Clavinet, you know, a digital piano, I had a Leslie with me and everything and --

PATRICK OGLE: Was that your band outside with U-Haul on it?

STEWART COCHRAN: Yeah.

PATRICK OGLE: So putting that in there is a lot of fun?

STEWART COCHRAN: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know -- but I'm just, you know, trying to strip things down these days.

[STEWART COCHRAN PERFORMING WITH 54 SECONDS]

STEWART COCHRAN: When I'm recording, if I want ARP Odyssey, that's what I'll bring because I love that instrument, and I'll bring out my Minimoog because I just -- there's a certain sort of visceral feel to those instruments that you just can't get with software instruments.

I think that 95% of the people are not going to know the difference between a software ARP Odyssey and the real thing. You know, only the geeks are going to know. But on the other hand, you play differently if you're playing the real instrument. It's like you can play the most high-quality digital piano ever but it's not going to give you that tactile feedback that a real piano will. Same thing with a Minimoog, you know, and you can't ever -- you know, a Minimoog, ARP Odyssey, you can't save your presets; you have to dial them up as you go, and there's something about that that I really like, so in the studio I will pretty much use the real thing when it's available.

PATRICK OGLE: I got it so I guess with any kind of synths and you’re...?

STEWART COCHRAN: And that goes that for the Hammond, that goes for acoustic piano or Rhodes or Wurlitzer or whatever, but then you start weighing up reliability and weight, of course, and so you try to make the best compromise you can.

[STEWART COCHRAN PERFORMING WITH 54 SECONDS]

STEWART COCHRAN: Yamaha C3 grand piano [LAUGHS]. I mean I --

PATRICK OGLE: You probably wouldn't want to take it out on the road.

STEWART COCHRAN: I probably wouldn't take it on the road. I mean more than -- because I have a lot of the old gear that I really like, what I need is somebody to haul for me.

PATRICK OGLE: So you just need kind of a manservant?

STEWART COCHRAN: More than anything, I would love to be able to bring my Clavinet out on the road. It's such a specialized instrument but it can do so much more than like an electronic Clavinet can do. Trying to think if there's anything, I'd really like those Motion Sound keyboard amps that ones that have the spinning Leslie inside of them and can do this sort of this spectral stereo, you know, if you're talking about something new, I'd love to have one of those. And I'd like to have the Moog Voyager, you know, because you can save your presets and do many things with them like that. But really I'm pretty happy with that.