So Mainstage 3 ... bargain of the century

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Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
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 
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Comments

  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    Looks good.  Software is definitely the future for keys, and for me now, guitars as well.  No need for clutter/cables/modules and racks.

    Does MainStage also support DAW integration, i.e. can you use the instruments as plug-ins or is it just a live tool?
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  • sweavesweave Frets: 65
    Re DAW integeation: according to daughter, you can output Mainstage to Logic but doesn't work if using Reaper..or you can record within Mainstage as mp3 and then import into DAW
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    John_A said:
    Looks good.  Software is definitely the future for keys, and for me now, guitars as well.  No need for clutter/cables/modules and racks.

    Does MainStage also support DAW integration, i.e. can you use the instruments as plug-ins or is it just a live tool?
    You can use the same plugins with  Logic and Mainstage and the same iPad remote ... so you can control everything with touchscreen which is useful. 

    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.  
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    I'm not using logic (Cubase). If I can't use the instruments as plugins in Cubase I could always run MainStage on my iPad via another interface and run that in to cubase as audio 
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  • John_A said:
    I'm not using logic (Cubase). If I can't use the instruments as plugins in Cubase I could always run MainStage on my iPad via another interface and run that in to cubase as audio 
    I think Mainstage is macOS only and not available on an iPad. 
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    John_A said:
    I'm not using logic (Cubase). If I can't use the instruments as plugins in Cubase I could always run MainStage on my iPad via another interface and run that in to cubase as audio 
    I think Mainstage is macOS only and not available on an iPad. 
    Ah, thought it ran on iPad. I do use a Mac for recording but wondered if there was a way to use the main stage instruments with cubase
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  • mike257mike257 Frets: 374
    It's the hub of a lot of pro touring players keys rigs. Great piece of software. Not owned a Mac myself for a few years, didn't realise it was that cheap. No brainer for less than £30!
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    Just answered my own question :)

    https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/
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  • John_A said:
    Just answered my own question :)

    https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/
    Bit late to the thread but there’s also this:

    https://existential.audio/blackhole/
     
    open source audio routing on a Mac. 
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  • John_AJohn_A Frets: 3775
    John_A said:
    Just answered my own question :)

    https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/
    Bit late to the thread but there’s also this:

    https://existential.audio/blackhole/
     
    open source audio routing on a Mac. 
    Solved the problem by ditching Cubase and moving to Logic.  So far I'm very impressed
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  • The keys player in my band has used it for years but not without problems. He used it on his personal, daily-use computer which was full of all his other music projects etc. which slowed it down a fair bit.

    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!
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    hassleham said:
    The keys player in my band has used it for years but not without problems. He used it on his personal, daily-use computer which was full of all his other music projects etc. which slowed it down a fair bit.

    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!
    Yeah that's good advice in general when it comes to using laptops for music. I use a 14 year old Macbook Pro running Protools VI's as my keys rig when playing live but that's all it does. There's no other software on it. Just OSX and PT. Updates, wifi, ethernet are all disabled. No issues at all in the last few years (defo none this year cos done fuck all gigs hardly !) 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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