Mainstage 3 free download mac Patch#

When I map a fader on my Nanokontrol (or my controller) to a specific parameter, I also map the fader to bypass the plug-in when the fader reaches the bottom. To get around this, there is a nifty trick that I use when I have lots of layers and patches in my rig. To better understand this visually, change your concert settings to pre-fader metering and you’ll see that regardless of your fader being all the way down, dry signal is still getting sent to the plug-in. Just because you have turned down the volume and you see no signal coming through on the level meter, the computer is still using CPU to run MIDI information through the VST. All this does is increase the risk of audio glitches and dropouts because you are giving your computer less time to process all of the information you are sending through it.Ī common misconception that some people have is when the volume is down on a track, it doesn’t take up CPU. Although it adds a very minimal increase in latency, it is always safer to have this on.Ĭhanging this setting to “Less Latency” seems appealing, but I urge against it. MainStage adds an additional output buffer to protect against overloads due to unexpected CPU spikes. If your MainStage concert features heavy processing or layering, change to 512 or, in rare cases, 1024. These are standard buffer sizes that yield lower latency times. Next, click on “Advanced Settings” and ensure the settings are set correctly: Globally disable feedback protection: OFF This setting isn’t really necessary I just like having it on so that I can diagnose the problem easier in a live set or practice. If you are using an external audio interface, the Sample rate should be set to the sample rate of your audio device.ĭisplay audio engine overload message: ON First things first, navigate to the audio tab in MainStage preferences and double check the following settings.Ĥ4.1 kHz is standard. This one may be obvious, but it is without a doubt the most important step to ensure your MainStage runs fluently. To create an alias, copy the channel strip, click edit in the header menu, and click paste as alias. This is obviously a primary example, but if your concert features heavy layering, lots of processing plug-ins, or lots of patches lined up, then you can really use aliases to your advantage.

Mainstage 3 free download mac Patch#

So if you want to change the piano in patch 5 only, you will need to convert the alias back to a normal channel strip by navigating to the gear icon in the channel strips workspace and clicking Convert Alias to Original. In other words, changing the piano alias EQ in patch 5 will also affect the aliases in patch 1-4. Every time you make a change to any instance of an alias, it changes every alias you’ve made in your concert, including the original channel strip. If you’re thinking about using aliases, there are a few limitations you need to be aware of. This is what an alias is-a copy of a virtual instrument that connects back to its primary source. Essentially, MainStage only has to process 1 piano, applied to all five patches. Instead of creating 5 separate instances of the same piano in each patch, you can create one instance of piano in patch 1 and create aliases (or copies) of that piano in patches 2-5 that link back to-or are sourced from-the original piano you created. Here is how they work: Let’s say you have a set with 5 different song patches, and they all have the same piano in them. So I want to share with you a few tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years to help you avoid suffering from CPU spikes, harsh feedback, audio drop outs, MIDI FX not responding, and other potential issues.Īliases reduce your RAM and CPU load because they reduce your MainStage concert’s resource usage. You may have had a similar experience (or worse), but most MainStage users know that live performances can be disastrous if CPU isn’t properly managed, or you are not set up correctly. With nobody else playing, and a few hundred people staring at me in silence and ready to respond in Worship, I just stopped playing. There was no recovery without stopping, and I began to lose all sense of time. It sounded like my piano was inside of that slap chop commercial, with that guy chopping out the audio every half of a second.

As I started to play, I began to suffer from the most intense audio dropouts I’ve ever experienced. I came up after the sermon with the band and we started playing Bethel’s ‘It Is Well,’ which features a piano intro.

My worst performance nightmare happened a few years ago during a set in Toronto.