Playing live with Mainstage

[keyguy]

Hi, I want to use the MIDI Expression when I am playing live. Can you tell me if this will work:
I will use a USB controller keyboard into my laptop. I will also plug in the USB MIDI Expression to the laptop and use an expression pedal. Will the MIDI Expression show up on the same virtual instrument? Can I use a Mainstage instrument and control it with the keyboard and the expression pedal at the same time? Thanks!

[Rob]

While I haven't used Mainstage before, I'm just gonna go ahead and say yes. In fact, I don't know of any DAW that does not allow multiple midi tracks to be sent to a single instrument.

Regards,
Rob

[Rob]

I had a quick look at the Mainstage manual and yes Mainstage will work with any number of MIDI devices and you'll have no problems mapping MIDI Expression to pretty much any on screen parameter.

Regards,
Rob

[James_S]

I had a quick look at the Mainstage manual and yes Mainstage will work with any number of MIDI devices and you'll have no problems mapping MIDI Expression to pretty much any on screen parameter.

Regards,
Rob

Hi,
I just got my MIDI expression yesterday (impressively quick service!) and started to play with it last night with Mainstage. Admittedly, I didn't spend long on it, and I'm new to Mainstage as well, but it seemed to work ok as a basic pedal (CC64). I now need to get my head around how to use it to do patch changes.

Out of curiousity, are you planning on doing an AU plugin (like the VST one) which would allow a per patch setup in Mainstage / Logic?

Cheers
James

[Rob]

Hi James,

Glad you've got things working and thank you for providing some feedback for potential customers in regards to the deliviery service. I wish I could take credit for that, but I just drop it off at the post office which is about 200 meters down the road.

You can configure it to send patch changes using the Control Application. Just go to the MODE drop down box and you'll see it there.

As for an AU version of the control application, it's in the works. I was hoping to release it along with the VST version, but there were a few issues that I haven't had time to deal with. I've been busy with other things, but I'll be looking to release it in a month or so.

Regards,
Rob

[James_S]

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the information - I got it to work ok with patch changes as well, although it works better with the Inc/Dec setting, otherwise it always goes back to the same patch. That would obviously be more useful with the VST / AU version, so you could use it more creatively.

I can certainly manage with the version as it stands, but will look forward to the AU version to add even more flexibility to a very useful product!

Cheers
James

[Rob]

I got it to work ok with patch changes as well, although it works better with the Inc/Dec setting, otherwise it always goes back to the same patch.

I've used a few MIDI devices that have inc/dec modes and they always reset to PC 0 after you power them off and on again--drives me crazy. I went out of my way to ensure that MIDI Expression would always go back to the last PC value when powered back on. Same goes for toggle positions for sustains and footswitches. It was a lot of work so I'm glad someone noticed.

Regards,
Rob