Going all software (?)

[MPN21]

I have seen quite a few Mainstage users switching to Gig Performer. I run GP in my Windows 10 and MBP. As for Camelot Pro, I have it in my iPad, but I don't think I will run it in either Windows or Mac as Gig Performer does all that I want. Also, I am looking into Key Stage for my iPad as there seems to be a lot of love for it.

[ElmerJFudd]

Would you say Gig Performers greatest benefit is also being lighter on resources?

[EricBarker]

I just took a look at Camelot, and sadly, I would say it's very barebones and missing many basic features that I've come to rely on:

 

- It doesn't seem to have any way of preloading all patches in a project. Since I switch songs fairly quickly (dance band, gotta keep the sound going), I typically like to have all patches loaded on startup, even if it takes a few minutes to boot up.

 

- No virtual instrument rack or alias system like Gig Performer or MainStage. So if you have a piano in every song, it's loaded each time.

 

- No customizable interface with your own virtual controllers.

 

- NO OMNI MIDI INPUT, but it looks like while you can output to, multi or omni channels, you can't input from them, unless in MPE mode. This is a big deal-breaker for me, and I'm kind of stunned, as every other host I've ever used has this.

 

- "Multiple Scenes per Song" is really only skin deep. Even though they do provide some structure, you can't cycle through them without leaving and going to the next song. Often times I'll have 2-3 patches in a song, and like to toggle or cycle through them with a foot pedal without it moving on to the next tune. I've yet to see any built-in solution for this, so I made my own MIDI router program to do this. Was hoping Camelot would finally have this, but sadly not.

 

- No text edit per song. They have "attachments" but they only pull from external files. You have to use a text editor to make your notes, and load them in. With MS and other hosts, I write notes to myself during rehearsal per song.

 

It's still version 1.0, brand new. So it's not completely surprising it's not completely feature-packed, but this is far more barebones than I anticipated. I love Audio Modeling's instruments, but sadly, Camelot is far from a slam dunk in my book. Maybe it's extremely CPU efficient, and maybe it will eventually become everything I'd hoped, but not today

[EricBarker]

Looked at Gig Performer, and it looks a lot more robust, more like MainStage but with a different flavor. I like the signal flow concept, though I'm not sure how useful it is, I'm fine with channel strips (the website says "no more confusing busses and aux sends" but that's what we're all used to), but I'd be totally down with signal flow like Reaktor, Reason, and Max/MSP too. What I'm NOT seeing is a text note-taking space, which is strange and seems like an obvious oversight. though maybe it's there, they're just not advertising it.

 

It seems like Gig Performer is VERY "patch" based, even more so than MainStage (which is also fairly patch based), instead of "song-based", where each item is a self-contained song with it's own patches and text notes, etc. I organize all my MainStage "patches" as songs, in alphabetical order. Each has some notes (usually chord changes). MainStage isn't exactly intended to be used this way, but you have the option. Not sure I could do that in Gig Performer. The old host I used, "Jambalaya" was even more song-based. But it was pretty basic and the guy who made it finally retired and stopped supporting it.

 

So in the end, after cursory looks, I still think MainStage is probably the best option. It may not have VST3 support, or iOS, and it might be a CPU hog, but for running live keyboards on a Mac, I think it provides the most flexibility from what I'm seeing.

 

Then again, Gig-Performer looks very deep, I could probably program it to do anything, but it looks like it would be a lot more work and I would be fighting it's "intended" workflow.

 

Someday I'll commission my own host!

[MPN21]

Would you say Gig Performers greatest benefit is also being lighter on resources?

That's what users of Mainstage who switched to GP would say. I have MS in my MBP, but I haven't used it much at all. GP runs very smoothly in Windows 10 as well. Among all the hosts I used and owned such as Cantabile, Forte 4, and BloXpander, Gig Performer is the the most intuitive, flexible, and powerful.

[TKN]

Thank you so much for all the feedback guys!

 

Today I bought a MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 with a 2.7 GHz processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for $ 900.

 

I'm downloading MainStage3 now, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

 

I was going to ask if you are using an external sound card for the MacBook Pro, but I see that many use the internal sound card of the MacBook Pro. I was going to use my Steinberg UR44, but now I see that I don't need it.

 

Thanks so much for many good advices!

 

 

[zukskywalker]

KeyStage kinda hits home for me and my all iPad rig project. Two controller boards with the bottom 88 having failsafe barebones backup internal voicing. Obviously not pro but neither am I.

So far very impressed with the horsepower of 2018 iPad.

[TommyRude]

There's a fairly in depth discussion here about iPad v. Mac

 

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/30138/is-ipad-really-better-for-live-performance-than-a-macbook-pro

 

 

[Markay]

Thank you so much for all the feedback guys!

 

Today I bought a MacBook Pro 13" early 2015 with a 2.7 GHz processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD for $ 900.

 

I'm downloading MainStage3 now, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

 

I was going to ask if you are using an external sound card for the MacBook Pro, but I see that many use the internal sound card of the MacBook Pro. I was going to use my Steinberg UR44, but now I see that I don't need it.

 

Thanks so much for many good advices!

 

 

Well here is a contrary view on intefaces. I have used one for 5 years, currently a Focusrite Gen 2. I have always used the native Core Audio driver and have had zero issues.

 

My interface has a large analog volume knob on it which for me is valuable part of gain staging when playing live, particularly when I want to give a particular patch a temporary boost in volume.

 

So if you have an interface I would use it. Plug it in, turn on and OSX should recognise it. Select it as the default output in Audio Preferences and you are good to go.

[Losendoskeys]

Ouch.

I think all the aforementioned reinforces my view that I should stick to hardware.

 

Don't get me wrong because I do not enjoy hauling around three 20Kg keyboards plus a rack, I would love to reduce that to controllers plus a PC/MAC, but my fear of the PC/Mac and it's propensity to either upgrade past your hardware or in a fashion which writes off your favourite sounds or controller is compounded by all the statements above.

 

I am as geeky or geek-capable as the next man, but the idea of spending hundreds of hours to set up the keyboards I need when all I want to do is turn on and play makes me cold.

[Tusker]

Looked at Gig Performer, and it looks a lot more robust, more like MainStage but with a different flavor. I like the signal flow concept, though I'm not sure how useful it is, I'm fine with channel strips (the website says "no more confusing busses and aux sends" but that's what we're all used to), but I'd be totally down with signal flow like Reaktor, Reason, and Max/MSP too. What I'm NOT seeing is a text note-taking space, which is strange and seems like an obvious oversight. though maybe it's there, they're just not advertising it.

 

It seems like Gig Performer is VERY "patch" based, even more so than MainStage (which is also fairly patch based), instead of "song-based", where each item is a self-contained song with it's own patches and text notes, etc. I organize all my MainStage "patches" as songs, in alphabetical order. Each has some notes (usually chord changes). MainStage isn't exactly intended to be used this way, but you have the option. Not sure I could do that in Gig Performer. The old host I used, "Jambalaya" was even more song-based. But it was pretty basic and the guy who made it finally retired and stopped supporting it.

 

So in the end, after cursory looks, I still think MainStage is probably the best option. It may not have VST3 support, or iOS, and it might be a CPU hog, but for running live keyboards on a Mac, I think it provides the most flexibility from what I'm seeing.

 

Then again, Gig-Performer looks very deep, I could probably program it to do anything, but it looks like it would be a lot more work and I would be fighting it's "intended" workflow.

 

Someday I'll commission my own host!

 

Interesting comments about song based versus patch based. I had never thought of it that way.

 

For me, a patch is a song, and I turn sounds (channel strips) on and off as necessary. I realize this could be limiting for those extreme cases where I need the entire rig (zones and all) to be repositioned on each controller for a section of a song, but I haven't run across that need yet.

 

I need to check out gig performer, it sounds really interesting. However, Mainstage already hits the right buttons, and guess I am kinda lazy to rethink what is working. Also there is a huge community of professional theater musicians already relying on Mainstage, which means that any problem I may encounter has already had a community take a look at it.

[AnotherScott]

Keystage with AUM it's a killer combination, it allows you do all sorts of setups with ios apps and external devices.

What does AUM bring to the table that you can't do within Keystage alone?