MMU

Also just to emphasise for anyone reading that I think the idea of a "MIDI mute" or "input mute" for External Instruments is actually required in MainStage itself for better control of multi-synth setups. This request is independent of the iPad control tool.

Thanks for this! I can check this out but I suspect it can't load stuff that changes between patches such as names of strips etc.... That's why I'm trying to get Logic Remote improved - because it truly integrates bi-directionally with MainStage. (NB: I adjusted my original post just now following more experimentation this evening : ) )

Final point: thinking about the mute issue, I realise I don't really need two mute buttons on Logic Remote. All I really need is an option in MainStage to select between audio and MIDI mute for an external instrument channel strip. Please Apple.... : )

Quick clarification. My request for a MIDI in mute for external instruments means that the MIDI data sent on the "MIDI output" in MainStage's external instrument channel strip would be muted. MainStage's MIDI output is the external instrument's MIDI In and I think we all understand what this is....

Here's some feedback I'm going to give Apple on controlling MainStage with Logic Remote. I thought it might be interesting for the wider community too.... --------------------------------------------------- Hi there, I have some feedback on controlling MainStage during live performances via the Mixer page in Logic Remote on an iPad. (1) Please could you consider making the channel strip mute/solo button touch areas larger to stop “finger misses” when striking from a distance and needing to change things quickly while playing.... The touch areas are are too small for me and also it's strange the buttons are above the faders rather than below (like in MainStage) which would make them closer to the musician I think in most setups and easier to reach. (I've edited this point to no longer complain about failing to "grip" the faders as I've now worked out how to grip a fader by striking my finger anywhere on a horizontal line passing through the fader. NB: small extra point: there is a bug when tapping Solo with multiple strips selected - only a single strip is solo'ed. Compare this behaviour with clicking mute or solo in MainStage when a group of strips is selected.) (2) Please could you add a second mute option for external instrument channel strips to allow muting MIDI In as opposed to Audio Out for an eternal instrument (this would be useful in the MainStage UI as well). This is important for multiple keyboard setups where sometimes you want your master synth to send MIDI to a secondary synth and sometimes not. But you don’t necessarily want to mute the audio of the second synth as it has its own keyboard which can be played independently. In my case I never want to mute the second synth’s audio as its keyboard should always work; I just want to mute/unmute the MIDI In coming from my master keyboard according to the needs of the moment. Fixing these issues would enable me to completely avoid using my laptop’s keyboard/trackpad to control MainStage which is a really bad option in a live situation. It will also allow me to migrate to a planned headless setup with a new Mac mini I am about to purchase (the Mac mini can be physically anchored so more secure in a stage environment). Many thanks for considering these requests. BR, Mark PS: As a final suggestion, if you really want to improve Logic Remote’s MainStage integration could you please consider supporting a touch UI option for AU plugin developers to allow sound editing and selection in Logic Remote on an iPad - now that would be so fantastic and make exploring sounds in plugins so much easier!

Looking at the RME forum (see link below which also references other forums), seems users worldwide with new Mac HW are having similar audio problems so I'll wait for Apple to sort this then come back to computer audio. These major issues with audio quality happen from time to time sadly.... The spikes I'm hearing were not present in the same AUs a few months back with older (weaker) HW. (Things also degraded performance-wise when I updated Mainstage before updating my HW). I have the absolute best MacBook Pro money can buy (incl Vega 20, the only thing not maxed out is the SSD) so I'm sure this is an issue on Apple's side. Note also that only really OS code can block audio threads which generally have priority over everything else. The issue could also be Apple's USB stack as I use a RME Babyface Pro audio interface which connects via USB. I've spent many hours of my life debugging audio issues and have now learnt it's best to enjoy a few months off music and wait for the bugs to be fixed. : ) https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?pid=136293#p136293

I also have seen worse performance, even with today's Mainstage update, although I have also recently upgraded my laptop to 2018 MacBookPro i9 which might be involved in my issues. Lots of spikes like below, even when not playing !!

Thanks for the reply. I would really like a solution that is more general than just omnisphere and also something that doesn't require a lot of custom setup. I also think what I am proposing still keeps the alias concept intact as any changes to the alias are global (i.e. alias has a single state at any moment in time and represents a single instance in memory). Less advanced users would never even be aware of the option to load new settings into a channel strip alias on patch change. Anyway thanks for the discussion and let's see what updates to Mainstage bring. I also own Cantabile (on PC, coming to Mac soon), so hopefully we'll see a bit more competition in this market in the future.

I don't think sets help as again every new channel strip occupies new memory. I could use multiple concerts but changing concerts on-stage seems pretty risky.... In the case of Omnisphere, I can with the latest update I believe use MIDI messages from a controller to change sounds but this circumvents Mainstage's system for managing plugin settings and is not general for other plugins. I think what I proposed is the right solution - for channel strips which are shared between patches (in Mainstage these are called aliases), Mainstage should allow plugin settings to be changed when a patch is selected. Just like an external synth can have MIDI program change messages sent when a patch is selected (see original post). Some plugins with extensive samples use huge amounts of memory (and they often have memory leaks making the situation worse) - it seems ridiculous to force users to load, upfront, all the sounds in a concert. : ( Anyway thanks for your helpful comments.

Thanks, I had already submitted my request there. I was just interested if others also wished to save memory by being able to change sounds on a channel strip already loaded into memory rather than needing *a new channel strip in memory for each sound*. For example, if I have two Omnisphere sounds (i.e. plugin settings which may be multi-timbral), A and B, I would like the choice whether to have two instances of Omnisphere in memory (one for sound A and one for sound B) vs changing the sound of a single Omnisphere instance (which may entail a delay due to sample loading). If you have lots of patches, you will see that memory usage increases really fast with Mainstage. And using channel strip aliases at the moment is not as useful as it could be as plugin settings are not easy to change when a patch changes. Memory is a major bottleneck for me when using Mainstage and this feature would make a huge difference for me as in my performance environment it is often possible to tolerate a e.g. up to 20 second delay when changing the settings of an instrument plugin. I would at least like the choice of having new plugins in memory for each patch vs changing their settings on patch change.

Note: you can see memory used per patch as explained here: http://ericwbarfield.com/blog/2016/6/20/mainstage-mondays-figure-out-whats-eating-your-memory

Just like a new sound can be dialled up on external HW on patch change (via MIDI Output on External Instrument Channel Strip Inspector), need ability to dial up new sounds (i.e. plugin setting change) for a channel alias on patch change. This would allow users to choose for each sound whether to allocate memory with a new channel strip or save memory but take a delay (due to setting change/sample loading etc) by changing the plugin settings of a channel strip alias. At the moment, a new channel strip must be loaded into memory for each sound which can be very expensive. I wonder how many others would like this.