Mainstage is an expensive lesson....my advice, stay away.

@robert wilson

good news on gig! i have an important one tomorrow night, fingers crossed....

 

@hwt:

Lol nice rant indeed! I have the FCB1010, it is a great piece of kit for the money. Can't comment on what is best for you though.

@robert wilson

good news on gig! i have an important one tomorrow night, fingers crossed....

 

Good luck!

Just noticed you're in Scotland - where's the gig?

At the Underground in Dundee. Whispers are that local radio types may be in attendance (TayFM, fame at last !)

 

My first proper paying gig and there is plenty of potential for it to go tits up even without Logic playing at funny buggers.

 

What type of music do you guys do? Where was your gig?

 

(Sorry to go off topic ever so slightly)

At the Underground in Dundee. Whispers are that local radio types may be in attendance (TayFM, fame at last !)

 

Well, fingers crossed and all the best.

 

My first proper paying gig and there is plenty of potential for it to go tits up even without Logic playing at funny buggers.

 

Hopefully just pre-match nerves!

 

What type of music do you guys do?

 

A bit of a mixture - you can hear some of it at:

http://abelsoul.co.uk (hasn't been updated for wee while)

 

Where was your gig?

 

Stereo in Glasgow:

http://www.stereocafebar.com/

 

Nice little venue and the resident sound engineer is very thorough.

 

I have to say (in a transparently desperate attempt to drag this back on topic) that getting through the gig without MainStage balking was a huge relief.

 

I'll certainly consider using it for our next gig.

so is the gio just a big joke with big buttons and pretty lights. I,m still doing my own research on this but still cant decide as i don. see a whole lot of hands on experience on the gio yet .

 

I've had a GIO on order for about three months, but so far none have made it to the UK. It's been delayed three times now, and I'm starting to lose patience with Apogee.

 

However, I did see the prototype demonstrated at Digital Village in Romford last month, and I can tell you that it isn't just a joke, it looked really good - very easy to set up, and faultless control of the interface (both Logic and Mainstage). The looper worked perfectly, with the demonstrator layering five different loops, each recorded with a different guitar patch - I suspect delays in start/stop reported by others on this forum could be linked to a similar issue I had where the Playback transport controls were slow in responding. I solved this by limiting the number of sets (songs) in each concert to a max of about 10, as everything is loaded into RAM, and as you approach the limits, everything starts to slow down - just a thought.

hey there littlleeden how you doing over in the uk?hey this is great to hear you are the first person to have given me a hands on report on the gio .if all you say is true which ive no reason not to belive you its the uniit i,m going to buy. i,ve had one backorder since july.andwas just inform from sweetwater pro gear here in the us .that its been pushed back untill after nov. what has been aggravating for me is like i said your the first person who is not a salesmen or rep. who has given ahands on report. i ve seen it kind of demostrated on utube as to how it works with the amps and in logic nothing really on how it works with mainstage. all of the tecks at sweetwater or apple or apogee that ive talked with have all been vague on what and how it really works. its like they really dont know and they want to wait to say anything about it untill someone actuallys get there hands on one and drives it around the block so to speak.the reference to it bieng a joke with big buttons and pretty lights was because i read someone on this forum cant rmember who or when said that they should make a desktop model that bascilly would be a placebo button .i thought it was pretty funny .i love the humor that can randonly start on this forum . pretty smart people with a keen since and somtimes just a little sick bit of humor. anyways your response is propbaly a big help to a lot of people cause its seems alot are interested in gio mainly guitar players which i,m am. soi,m really looking forward to finding the right interface to start working with mainstage. i still think for the dollors it should have an expression pedal built in. whats your thoughs on this. oh yeah and why are they taking so long maybe their still working out the bugs. i dont know myself . some days i,ll ask my sellf why is there air. bill cosbys first comedy album. cheers and thanks for your rely.HWT.

Just wanted to say we finally got everything set up for practice tonight and it was awesome, so much more functional and quick to setup compared to the circus tricks I would have to do with Mainstage 1.

 

The setup is as follows:.... Mainstage 2, and Axiom 61, a MPD24 and the FCB1010 into a MBP then outputting to a Presonus Firebox (allowing us to have independent outputs for the keys, drum machine and vocals).

We had vocals split in to a bus so we could control dry vs. loopback levels. No problems, zero delay upon recording (with one of the FCB1010 footpedals controlling the loop output signal level), while also had the keys recording into their own independent loopback while 2 playback plugins (one with a pre-recorded drum machine and they other with ambient sounds,) hummed along..

 

 

so all in all we successfully used 2 loopbacks and 2 playbacks set to record/ overdub for about 10 minutes without stopping or any delay after the initial loop while switching between 11 patches.

 

I would recommend the app iFCB as it made the mapping of the FCB1010/ Mainstage super easy. Couldn't imagine how long it would have to take if I didn't have that option.

 

oh and this is it in action from tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY_Pntk4W8I

 

-brian

Always interesting when the OP deserts his own thread, no?

Good enough for NIN = good enough for me. It may not be perfect, but I'm not a professional (yet ).

No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance.

.

 

Hmmm. I guess I'll have to re-evaluate my career status. Mainstage working well for me, concert tonight. I'll try not to look at the full-screen awesome graphic representation of my ridiculously complex patches while I'm performing.

And remember, no looking at your instrument either...

No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance.

.

 

Hmmm. I guess I'll have to re-evaluate my career status. Mainstage working well for me, concert tonight. I'll try not to look at the full-screen awesome graphic representation of my ridiculously complex patches while I'm performing.

 

As a keyboard player, you might get away with it, however, as a guitarist-vocalist, you won't find anyone professional looking at a mac. Name one person on an arena level and I'll shut my mouth. Plus, what exactly are you doing at a festival with bright sunlight and a barely readable screen?

No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance.

.

 

They would usually pay someone else to look at the screen for them.

And remember, no looking at your instrument either...

 

Only shoes! (If that's your scene)

Well shut my mouth and call me suzy.

No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance. Name one person on an arena level and I'll shut my mouth.

.

 

I'd be careful about using those absolute sentences...

 

Just did Glastonbury this summer, outdoors, and I looked at my screen...oooh...does 160,000 people qualify as arena level?

Then did Wembley Arena. Keith Emerson sat in with us and said my organ sound in Mainstage was the best he had ever heard.

Our tour was 25 cities, with Mainstage right beside me every night.

 

Played last night for 2000, Mainstage was flawless. Heading to NYC for two more.

 

And when did a $500 tool qualify as expensive, I mean if you're a pro?

 

Gee...

 

FYI all you Mainstage fans, I'm using a MBPro & a MOTU Traveler, everything running great.

No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance. Name one person on an arena level and I'll shut my mouth.

.

 

I'd be careful about using those absolute sentences...

 

Just did Glastonbury this summer, outdoors, and I looked at my screen...oooh...does 160,000 people qualify as arena level?

Then did Wembley Arena. Keith Emerson sat in with us and said my organ sound in Mainstage was the best he had ever heard.

Our tour was 25 cities, with Mainstage right beside me every night.

 

Played last night for 2000, Mainstage was flawless. Heading to NYC for two more.

 

And when did a $500 tool qualify as expensive, I mean if you're a pro?

 

Gee...

 

FYI all you Mainstage fans, I'm using a MBPro & a MOTU Traveler, everything running great.

You're a keyboard player which is not the kind of instrumentalist I'm talking about. Sure, you can set a mac off to the side while you sit.....guitarists, however, don't have that luxury. I can't think of one person that plays guitar and sings that looks at a mac through the show.

 

And yes, $500 is expensive no matter how you slice it.

 

I also have a really hard time understanding how you were able to play a 160K person festival in the bright sunlight and still read what was going on your laptop. You must have some kind of cover to prevent glare and reduction of image quality.

You're a keyboard player which is not the kind of instrumentalist I'm talking about. Sure, you can set a mac off to the side while you sit.....guitarists, however, don't have that luxury. I can't think of one person that plays guitar and sings that looks at a mac through the show.

 

And yes, $500 is expensive no matter how you slice it.

 

I also have a really hard time understanding how you were able to play a 160K person festival in the bright sunlight and still read what was going on your laptop. You must have some kind of cover to prevent glare and reduction of image quality.

 

 

Must have something to do with being a PRO.

 

( btw - he's the guy on the keys ... )

http://www.cluas.com/indie-music/Portals/0/blog-images/Sound-Waves/UK_SpinalTapDwarf_400.jpg

unless you got the credentials don't argue jones.

unless you got the credentials don't argue jones.

I apologize Mike...or is it Jordan? I didn't know one had to have "credentials" to have an opinion.

seems like you are set on it NOT working for you.

 

move on to something else then

 

until you are convinced that enough 'arena' guys are using it...then you can mimic their setup

I purchased mainstage to get rid of the enormous setup I have to do for each show (I've gotten it down to under 30 mins). $500 later, plus a FCB1010 and the Uno Firmware, I've come to the conclusion Mainstage is a toy for unprofessional use.

 

The looping doesn't work at all like a Line6-DL4 does. Whats the use in having pedal lights if they don't correspond to what's happening in MainStage? When I hit record, it takes a few seconds to start....when the loop is done, it's off by several seconds sounding like crap. You never really know if you're looping or not because the lights on the FCB don't correspond to what's going on. No professional would ever look at a computer screen during a live performance.

 

Good try Apple, but you've got A LOT of work to do before it's halfway decent to take on stage.

 

 

The original complaint is about the Looping/playback feature. I am not confident in it for now. EDJ is right about the screen idea, but that would be the fault of the specific controller.

 

If the foot pedal has the capability to mimic Main Stage on/off functions, then freedom from the screen would be possible.

 

So in essence, Main Stage could be set up and then the computer placed off in the shadows. The performer should only need worry about playing and switching patches. Pro or non-Pro. It's not a big deal if a screen is there or not.

 

The computer sitting there looks no different than a music stand with performance notes getting in the way. I will most likely always have it by my side, but I also feel it would look more professional without it in sight.

use the gio for your guitar...acoustic or electric and the awesome transport control {useful in the studio too}, and something like the apogee duo for mics...a very standard setup and very high quality...

I use it for rehearsals in the studio all the time, no problems.

sorry jones, i seriously get on here late at night and turn into an asshole.. haha

unless you got the credentials don't argue jones.

I apologize Mike...or is it Jordan? I didn't know one had to have "credentials" to have an opinion.

 

One doesn't have to have credentials to have an opinion, but when it differs from someone who has more, a wise person asks himself, "Hmmm, what is this person's experience and knowledge telling him that perhaps I am missing?"" and backs off to think aq little about it before responding. That is how you learn.

 

I realize this view is in stark contrast to the prevailing ethos which maintains that all opinions are to be considered equal, regardless of differences in the level of training, experience, record of accomplishment etc,

unless you got the credentials don't argue jones.

I apologize Mike...or is it Jordan? I didn't know one had to have "credentials" to have an opinion.

 

One doesn't have to have credentials to have an opinion, but when it differs from someone who has more, a wise person asks himself, "Hmmm, what is this person's experience and knowledge telling him that perhaps I am missing?"" and backs off to think aq little about it before responding. That is how you learn.

 

I realize this view is in stark contrast to the prevailing ethos which maintains that all opinions are to be considered equal, regardless of differences in the level of training, experience, record of accomplishment etc,

 

"When opinion is stated as fact, it is no longer opinion." - Shivermetimbers, 1345bc

Thank you Asher.. you spoke my thoughts in the right words..