Flenix

To close off conversation here, I've started a new thread about my new AU here: BeatNotes: MainStage Automater plugin so any ideas/moral support can go there please (At time of writing, I've got as far as my plugin can send hardcoded messages at X bar/beat to mainstage, and it also works with external hardware for example my Line 6 Pod amp. Next up: configure the messages so other people can use it!)

Hello all - hope I'm posting in the right place! So, after some discussion and trial-and-error on this thread, I decided to make my first plugin. It's quite a simple plugin, which is why I'm surprised it doesn't already exist... basically, you stick it into MainStage and so some setting up, and then you can configure it to output midi message X on bar Y. The idea being that you just press Play on Mainstage, and play along to the click - when you reach the chorus you'd have a PC queued up and automagically MainStage will change the patch you're using to your chorus one. Hooray! It's by no means ready for a public release yet (It works but values are hardcoded right now) but I just wanted to test the waters a bit and see who would want it, and then what features you may want? Currently I'm planning to just make it super-basic, you'll probably be able to queue up about 12 messages, and define which bar they should be sent on. I figure that's more than enough, because you can always just have a second instance running on the other patch if you need more. Is there anything people would want other than Program Change? would being able to configure the MIDI channel be helpful? Anything else you can think of that would be nice? Let me know! (Also, the plugin will be freeware, but donations accepted ;D)

That's what I figured. For now it will literally just be X message at Y bar, but eventually it'd be good to make it like a micro DAW with a full piano roll so you can play a MIDI instrument from it, then you as the performer do more with tweaking dials and stuff, which I think would be cool for DJs. So I'm open to suggestions on extra bits I can do once the core function works. Also open to ideas on a name for it (Currently working title is BeatNotes, but I'm sure someone can come up with something better)

Another update on this. I found out the crashes were because I'd changed the sample rate to try and reduce latency, and for some reason MS didn't like me doing that - switching it back has made it stable again. Ableton isn't much better for automation. You have to either have one really long track with your entire setlist on, or load individual files as needed. Neither of those are very good for automation with speed... and that's when I had my newest idea. As mentioned above, I'm from a coding background. So now my newest idea is creating a new Audio Unit which takes MIDI input for the clock, and can output MIDI messages. You'd then have a sort of timeline and you just tell it "At bar X, do Y" - which could then send a message straight into MainStage to change a patch, or out to external gear, or anything else. The best part is that it works WITHIN mainstage, so you can have different sets for each song, create the channel strip at a set level with the plugin and configure it for that song, then just press play - it'll go through as you've set it up to do, and then stop at the end. You press one button, you're onto the next song, press play and off you go again. Such a simple solution and yet no one has done it... Of course the AU will be available when it's finished for anyone else who wants a similar thing I'll offer a VST one for windows people in Ableton too, who knows it may be useful to them but it only takes 5 seconds longer to compile if I output a VST...

Honestly, ever since I've started trying to automate it, MainStage has been having a tonne of issues; either crashing, stopping playbacks, or the MIDI controls from my keyboard becoming super-unresponsive (I turn a knob, 10 seconds later the laptop processes it). After the second crash at rehearsal yesterday I decided I'm gonna just switch to Ableton. It has all this stuff built in, and it seems a lot more people use it for live (even though it doesn't look as pretty...). Googling around a lot of people have done the same, it seems MainStage just isn't that reliable. Maybe I'll try it again when MainStage 4 comes out... hopefully they'll add a MIDI timeline by then because personally it does seem like a pretty major feature for anyone playing live...

Alright, one more question; How do I tell PureData what patch I'm currently on? That way I can use some sort of If method to decide how many bars it should count for, and then which program change it should send - or whether it should just "stop"?

Alright, shall give that a go. It does seem really odd that this isn't something built into MainStage though, considering it's such a fundamental feature in other similar programs like Ableton... EDIT: PureData is insane, quite complicated but I imagine it'll be capable of some pretty useful stuff for my scenario. Thankfully I have a coding background so I've picked it up pretty quickly so far... but I showed it to the rest of the band and they were totally confused

Hello all. I've been using MS for a while, but I decided I want to try and automate some of my stuff for live usage. However, after a couple of hours of searching, I can't find ANY info to help me! Basically, what I want to do is play a click track/metronome, and when it reaches bar X, then it should do something (As a bare minimum and a good example, change patch). MS has a function to count the bars which have passed since you pressed play, so I find it very hard to believe it can't then do something when it reaches a certain bar? I wasn't sure if it's maybe something AppleScripts can do but the internet is devoid of any information on using them alongside MainStage - but from what I gather they're more just automating key presses and less actually listening for things to happen. Anyone got any ideas how I could approach this?

Yup, newbie mistake. My Expression knob had somehow gone to 0, can see it right there in the screenshot. Not entirely sure I know what that knob's supposed to do, but I'll just keep it on full for now

Hey all. I've just jumped over to using Mainstage instead of Logic for my live setup. Not sure why it took me so long; I had no idea Mainstage was so much better for it! However, I am having one issue. My mainstage rig consists currently of my AKAI MPK49 keyboard running ESX24 for a piano sound, my MPD16 through Kontakt to play various samples (Purely can't stand the MPK's pads... ew), Vocals running through (which are sometimes used with Razor and the MPK for a vocoder), and my guitar into Guitar Rig. I'm getting a problem with my audio. The keys/pads stuff, I can hear absolutely fine. I press a pad, it makes a noise, I press a key, it makes a noise. However, the live audio (guitar/vocal), I see as an input, but I don't get any output. Not really sure where to start with fixing it. Guitar track has the correct input selected, and I can see it if I map a meter to the input level. That's as far as it gets; nothing shown in any output meter, and no sound. I guess the best I can offer right now is just a screenshot. (Still playing around with the layout and detailed mapping so please excuse that!) http://img.ctrlv.in/img/15/02/01/54ce94c3e9a54.png Click to see properly. Also any tips for rookie mistakes would be much appreciated! My planned setup is to control it with my FCB1010, the 5 upper switches will control patches on here. All patches will use a single instance for my guitar, which runs Guitar Rig, and the patches within that are controlled by the 5 lower switches on the FCB. Thanks in advance

I've got an AKAI MPK49 and MPD16 running through it at time of writing. My Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 has it's own dedicated port on the macbook, figured that's the most vital of my USB devices. However, I've also got a Behringer FCB1010 footswitch and a Numark Mixtrack Pro II on their way to me in the post as we speak, both of which will be joining my live rig. USB hub is a 7-port 2.0 one. I've also tried an unbranded 3.0 4-porter but that was cheap tat; as soon as I hit a pad on my MPD, the MPK keys stopped working until I rebooted it.

Hey all. In the process of setting up my live keys rig with Logic, I bought a few USB cables off the internet. Pretty cheap, but figured they'd at least do the job. Oh how I was wrong; my gear was dropping out left right and centre. SO; what should I be looking for in USB cabling? I saw these "Chroma Cables" which seem to be pretty good, and they're $12 in the US. However, I live in the UK, where they're the equivalent of $50 a pop... just a tad too much really, considering I currently need 4 and will probably want a few more as I add more gear. I'm still at very much a novice level too, I need something that works reliably but I don't exactly want top-end touring grade if it's going to cost me $200. Can anyone advise anything else? Is there specific good brands I should look for, or just certain qualities (eg braided cables) I also want them as short as possible. Currently no device has a USB connection more than about 40cm from my hub (A belkin powered one, before you bite my head off for using it )

Hey guys! Hope this is the right section... Basically, what I want to do is use the vocoder from Razor, with live vocals, in Logic. Currently, I can only get the vocoder to work with pre-recorded vocals which play on a track. Pressing play and playing notes on my keyboard gives me a vocoded sound on a recorded track. However, if I don't press play, I just get my voice clean, no vocoding effect. I can get live vocoding to work in Reaktor standalone, but I'd much rather have it in Logic where all my other live VST stuff lives. Any tips?

Yup, that seems to of made things considerably better. However, I've noticed tracks seem to disarm themselves for recording if they are selected and I then select another track. Much less of an annoyance because I can just re-arm it, but is there any way to stop it doing that? Thanks

Done Sounds very promising, shall give it a try when I get my macbook out next!