Flying solo in Mainstage

[BlueViolince]

I just built the patches in Mainstage that effectively replace my most used tones in my HD500. The only downside is the lack of hardware.  Gonna get an expression pedal dongle(audiofront.net), and use my Nanopad for selecting patches and tempo.  Everything will fit in my briefcase, which I'm very happy about.

[joel_brown]

I thought Mainstage was for keyboards. 

[BlueViolince]

It was originally a plugin for Logic.  It has amp modelling, effects, and access to whatever AU plugins you already own, in addition to Mainstage's full set of mixing plugs.  All you need is a recording interface with low latency, and you can add whatever USB MIDI controllers you want to use.  I experience no noticeable latency with my setup.  This all fits into my briefcase with headphones when I'm traveling, and it takes up much less floor space for smaller venues.  Think of it as similar to running Amplitube on a Mac instead of an iPhone, with higher bit depth (24 bit vs 16 bit for amplitube), better processors and effects, and choice of better convertors than the iPhone's headset jack.  So something I would actually consider using live.  It sounds just as good as my Pod, and I was already using my laptop for post compression/EQ.

[Brilliant_Harry]

I recently gave up on a MainStage-oriented setup (with the Softstep by Keith McMillen) and moved to the HD 500x. Guess you and me switchin' keeps balance in the Force, eh? Best of luck.

[BlueViolince]

Ha, I also quit MS for now.  The stupid Tonedirect means that I'm not really getting any benefit out of running it through my Pod.  At least, that's what I have surmised based on my experience.  

[BucF16]

I use MS for my keys.  I've toyed with it's guitar tones and been very impressed.

 

HOWEVER it would be a ton of work to map out the controls for a footboard.  It's a constant headache to keep my keyboard controls matched up correctly.  Extremely powerful but not exactly low maintenance.