Always bass with the left hand while switching sounds in the right hand?

Just bought  my first MacBook Pro and bought Mainstage. On some live gigs, I have to always play bass with the left  hand (Scarbee Pre Bass for Kontakt) while in the right hand I want to  be able to switch from piano, to organ, to Rhodes, to Wurly, etc. I have already figured  out how to  create a Concert, a Set within it, and Patches within that and to  set the key ranges. Where do I go from there?

You use the Inspector to set the key ranges.

One cool thing is that MainStage has a dynamic option.

 

1. Add the channel strips you want in the Channel Strips area. i.e. A Piano and a Bass Channel strip.
   
2. Select one of the channel strips and use the Layer editor in the Inspector. The inspector is the bottom area in MainStage.
   
3. Set up the range you want.
   
4. Add a floating range to your layers.

 

As  I said, I figured out how to set the key ranges, no problem. What  I cannot do from one keyboard is play both hands and hear the bass and piano simultaneously and then freely switch sounds in the right hand.

I see. I misread and though that you had issues with the last step.

The premise is to create patches. Create a bunch of patches, all including the bass channel strip.

You can just copy and paste the bass channel strip onto all your patches. To save resources you can paste as alias.

 

That's one way to solve things.

A better option in this case is to create the bass channel strip at the Set level instead.

This way it will carry along all your patch changes until you exit that set.

 

Hope that helps.

A better option in this case is to create the bass channel strip at the Set level instead.

This way it will carry along all your patch changes until you exit that set.

 

Hope that helps.

Exactly! How do I do that, step by step please? I appreciate the help, Eric as I cannot find this so far in the User Guide.

Sure.

1. Select the set level in the Patch List.
   
2. Create your bass channel strip in the channel strip area and set up its range.
   
3. Create all the additional patches for our left hand inside that Set.

 

Thanks, let me give that a try.

Never mind, I figured it out. Thanks Eric!

I'm glad you managed to fix it.

Have a blast now Jay!

I'm glad you managed to fix it.

Have a blast now Jay!

I am, MainStage is awesome for this!  I need to buy a new controller. It must be lightweight and semi-weighted, with faders. I would prefer 73 or 76 keys, but most of  the new ones are 61 or 88. Any recommendations?

MainStage is an incredible application as long as you understand the limitations.

I really love it.

 

I don't have any recommendations on lightweight controllers with more than 61 keys.

Most 73-88 - key controllers today are with Piano"ish" action and are often quite heavy.

 

The new Acuna 73-keys is pretty light compared to the other controllers out there. I can not recommend it and I'm not really fond of Studiologic but it's an available option.

There is a Kurtzweil Product: SP4-7 (SP76II) | Kurzweil that is seems light too. Looks kind of plasticky but who knows...

Maybe there's a cheap old synth that could work?

 

My preference in the 88 department are the Doepfer keyboards  but those are damn heavy

I like the old Novation  SL MkII | NovationMusic.com keyboards if you are content with 61 keys. The keybed on that model is quite good if you are ok with semi-weighted keys.

I'm glad you managed to fix it.

Have a blast now Jay!

I am, MainStage is awesome for this!  I need to buy a new controller. It must be lightweight and semi-weighted, with faders. I would prefer 73 or 76 keys, but most of  the new ones are 61 or 88. Any recommendations?

I use an old Korg 01/w Pro with MS. 76 quality synth keys(yamaha keybed), loads of pedal inputs(to switch up or down patches), aftertouch, a numeric key pad to send program changes and they sell for peanuts. If you need loads of faders and knobs it's not the best choice though. I'd look at those kind of keyboards as all the new ones are cheap chinese keyboards with uninspiring feel to the keys. And if you want to play safe, you program a couple of combis with internal sounds so if your system freezes, you bring the volume fader up and the show continues.  

Blink

I am, MainStage is awesome for this!  I need to buy a new controller. It must be lightweight and semi-weighted, with faders. I would prefer 73 or 76 keys, but most of  the new ones are 61 or 88. Any recommendations?

I use an old Korg 01/w Pro with MS. 76 quality synth keys(yamaha keybed), loads of pedal inputs(to switch up or down patches), aftertouch, a numeric key pad to send program changes and they sell for peanuts. If you need loads of faders and knobs it's not the best choice though. I'd look at those kind of keyboards as all the new ones are cheap chinese keyboards with uninspiring feel to the keys. And if you want to play safe, you program a couple of combis with internal sounds so if your system freezes, you bring the volume fader up and the show continues.  

Blink

But isn't that pretty heavy though?