Using my Mackbook Pro as an effects pedal on crack

[rega1]

I am a bass player. I am auditioning for a few obscure-sounding bands and want to take along a new dimension to my instrument.

I have been looking at Guitar Rig + the guitar rig pedal. Looks great. Just wondering whateveryone thinks about using my macbook as a session/live means of using these effects (as opposed to just using it for studio/recording)? i have the 2.53/4gb mac. Can I rely on my macbook to do all this without having a meltdown on me during the middle of a gig? I also have Live 8, but guitar rig looks a lot more user friendly in terms of using it as a live/session instrument for bass. I have visions of my macbook sitting on top of my bass amp, bass wired through pedal > macbook/guitar rig pro > back out into my bass amp.

Will this work? Or do I need something else before I wire my mac into the amp? I have a small behringer 4 channel mixer too, if that helps.

 

[RHELF]

That will absolutely work! I am a guitar player and I use guitar rig on stage all the time. As long as your cpu can handle the stress(it is a pretty cpu hungry program) you should be fine. There is also an Ampeg bass head/cab modeller in there too! If you buy it, hook it up and practice with it for an hour or however long your set would be and monitor the computer. I have a 2010 MBP I7 processor, 4gigs RAM, 500gb HD(7200rpm) and hasn't hiccuped once onstage.

 

[mroddjob]

As RHELF, as long as you have a decent enough MBP that would work fine.
Just a couple of words of warning: As a precaution, I'd put the MBP through some kind of effects loop pedal (e.g):
bass
|
effects -> MPB
loop <------|
|
amp/di (etc.)

That way, if the MBP does hiccup while on stage you can quickly bypass the MPB and carry on playing.

2nd: if i were playing in small dingy clubs where the stage is practically the dance floor i wouldn't want my MBP just sitting around with beer swilling drunks.
You could do something like getting a rack mount case, and get something like a lockable tray to put the MPB in (safety from beer spills and thieves) have the screen open just slightly to keep it switched on, cut some holes in the back for power/audio cables etc. You might want to add some kind of cooling fan as it'll be running quite hot with not much airflow under hot stage lights.
With the guitar rig pedal you wouldn't have to fiddle with the MBP on stage either.
Seems a little overkill and added expense, but much better than ending up with a beer soaked paper weight.