I’ve watched multiple VJs introduce a new HDMI dongle, HDMI mixer, or HDMI preview monitor to their setup days before a show only to watch them drop signal throughout their show and lose connection with the projector (which would then reconnect, but the screen would turn “No Signal” blue or black for a few seconds every couple of minutes). I had a Samson midi controller go to sleep on me during a performance, which had me scrambling through their awful user manual PDF on my phone trying to figure out how to “wake it up” without ruining the performance mid-way through. A few examples of this: I’ve seen external SSDs overheat and fail (I’m not saying which brand, but they weren’t cheap). If you don’t have time to test it fully, don’t add it to your setup. Whether it’s learning a new midi controller, or breaking in a new hard drive with thorough testing. Sometimes adding gear might seem like a dream come true, but I’ve seen it turn into a living nightmare for other VJs and video professionals. You need time to learn and troubleshoot your hardware. Take this with a gain of salt, but this pre-caution comes from my experience in film and video production. Hardware Tip: No new gear for a new show.
I had a USB SSD that I could boot from without upgrading my MacBook Pro or partitioning my internal boot drive. On another occasion, I needed to roll forward my OS version to interface with some recent software updates. We fixed a few disk utility settings, and they were back up and running with their show computer. I was once in Boston and an hour before a show, the DJ’s computer crashed, and one of my bootable thumb drives saved the day. If you can, I recommend picking up a few USB thumb drives with decent read/write speeds, and then loading bootable versions of Mac OSX onto them as recovery drives. That being said, always carry a clear garbage bag with you! Whether you have to wear it as a poncho, pop it over your suitcase when running through a storm, or cover your laptop, a clear plastic bag will allow you to see your laptop screen even if all hell breaks loose. If you’re working on a crazy punk show with drinks flying all over, a silicone keyboard cover might save your life.
And if it’s a laptop (MacBook Pro, PC, whatever) I definitely recommend some sort of case with protection. Computer Protection! - A bumper case and a clear garbage bag.
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