So I was about to pull the trigger on a new keyboard for live use. The setup I've used for the last 3 years has been a midi keyboard triggering virtual instruments in Protools. It's been good but it was hacking a DAW for live use so a compromise ... it worked but wasn't designed for live use really.
So I saw Mainstage 3 on the ap store and thought for £28 I will try it, for that price it probably won't be great but worth trying.
Wow, I've only just got into it but the sounds are great, really usable and the performance screen is exactly what you want for live use. Plus you can configure your controllers to control any of the most useful functions.
And it doesn't need the latest Macbook. It will install on OSX versions as old as Mountain lion I installed it on my 2012 Macbook Pro, no audio interface just straight out the headphone socket and it was fine. No problems and very low latency. Likewise on my 2015 Macbook Pro. You can install it on any machine you are signed into the ap store on.
Haven't got into the guitar sim side yet but it comes with a load of amps and stuff.
£28 ... crazy !!
www.2020studios.co.uk
Comments
Does MainStage also support DAW integration, i.e. can you use the instruments as plug-ins or is it just a live tool?
I'm going to go with a Korg i300, which is a basic workstation synth and I'm gonna use that keyboard midi'ed up to Mainstage with outputs from Mainstage and the Korg going to FOH. Then if there is a computer issue the Korg sounds are still there which gives me redundancy at only £200 more than buying a new midi KB controller
The piano's a lone are worth the Mainstage price and then some ... plus it's nice to see you don't need a bang up to date machine to run it.
https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/
https://existential.audio/blackhole/
open source audio routing on a Mac.
As we learnt more material and the shows got more advanced, his mainstage project got slower and slower to load different instruments between songs and we even had points during shows where it would stop completely, glitch, or even send a load of digital clipping out of the FOH. We pestered him to invest in a new setup but he never bothered.
We played with a dep a few times who used our usual keys player's project but on a macbook used solely by the dep for mainstage and gigs and it ran flawlessly.
I do agree that it's great software for the price, and the sounds are brilliant. Just be careful what machine you're running it on and that you're not keeping too many instruments in the same project. Test your projects thoroughly before you gig with it!