PodHD into Mainstage

[BlueViolince]

Is anyone doing this? The plusses are:no need for a separate interface, more processing headroom (dual tones plus pitch and reverb comes to mind), cheaper than Ableton. Any minuses? There doesn't seem to be a demo version, so I've never tried it.

[juicyjones]

I own Mainstage and it is a freaking fantastic product. You don't even need the POD -- you can just buy a bunch of MIDI controllers of any type you like and control it.

 

The reason why everyone doesn't use Mainstage is that it requires a really fast Mac and either firewire or thunderbolt to work best and for $500, my HD 500X is pretty great. It's so easy to make the sound on your mac totally take a dump and fail unless you have a ton of CPU headroom. I'm certain that USB would be fine with something like the POD HD500X, which has a lot of juice of it's own and doesn't need the computer to pick up the slack.

 

Trent Reznor uses TWO rack mounted Mac XServes, one's a backup. Those are servers, not desktop macs haha. And his guitarist, I forgot his name, has one like Trent's as a backup, and some other insane piece of hardware to run it on the actual stage. To control it he has a MIDI hand switch on his Mic stands.

 

Big bucks. But this is where I'm going with my Rig, it's my long-term plan. My Line 6 Dream Rig plan is about half of that future too. I wish us both luck!

[BlueViolince]

Hmmm. I get close to zero noticeable latency with Ableton(free version) through the Pod, but there is a plugin and sends cap. I may just upgrade to Live Intro next time it goes on sale. I only need it for multi comp and reverb, for now.

[daFrimpster]

Mainstage runs great on my Macbook pro.core i5, 8gb memory and an SSD. I am also running Presonus mixing software connected via Firewire to my mixer simultaneously.

[scott93105]

Is anyone doing this? The plusses are:no need for a separate interface, more processing headroom (dual tones plus pitch and reverb comes to mind), cheaper than Ableton. Any minuses? There doesn't seem to be a demo version, so I've never tried it.

I use the pod as a MIDI controller into mainstage, using the Apple amps and efffects.  It works great to control the effects and wah, but you can also use it to control amp parameters and more; basically to control anything MIDI within Mainstage.  Midi foot controllers cost like $200 bucks - so this is a real nice extra use for your HD500x. 

 

HD500 tones works great right into Mainstage too... this requires less PC processing power too as the HD500x is doing all the modeling work.  You can mix and match apple effects and HD effects in the signal chain too, use your favorite IR's with HD amp models, etc.  If your computer is fast enough, it's easier to use the apple amps and effects - they are quite nice... the fact that these are the EXACT amp models and effects as in the $200 Logic Pro makes Mainstage a must have for even the cheapest digital music buff.  You can run through 3 amps or more in Mainstage if you have the processing power... and then route all those signals through plugins of your choice.  It's really quite fun and there's no limit to what you can do if you have the processing power.  The notion of having unlimited sends and returns allows for some crazy routing options.

[BlueViolince]

I don't remember if this was posted elsewhere, but I had to scrap the whole "no external interface" bit, and Mainstage as well, as a result.  The Tone Direct structure of the interface in the Pod means that while you can hear everything from the Pod itself, you will not hear DAW-based effects unless you use a standalone interface from the Pod's audio output.  This adds latency, more stuff to carry around, which was what I wanted to avoid.  I still have Mainstage when I want to travel light, but I won't be using it live.