KVR Audio

Piano-Pete · Post by **Piano-Pete** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:18 am

I wan't to create a full backup system with my Macbook for playing live in case my main hardware keyboard (Kurzweil PC3X) ever goes down. I haven't done much music on my computer and have very little on it (no Daw, hosts etc), so I am starting from scratch.

I have a mid 2012 Macbook Pro, 2.6 I7 processor and 8 gigs ram.

I need high quality sounds. I need all Acoustic/Electric keys (Pianos/Pianets/Clavs/Wurlys/Rhodes/Vox/Farfisa/B3/Melotrons/Moogs etc.), as well as orchestrals like strings, horns etc.

Everything must be tweakable to fit my needs and easy to learn/use isn't bad either. I run many splits/layers (think orchestration) and have very specific controller requirements. For example I program the sustain pedal to only work on certain notes or use pedal 2 as an on/off for a single note.

Can this be done with my Mac? Could I run many sounds at the same time live? Suggestions? Native Instruments Komlpete 10 seems to cover a lot of what I need...

SimonH · Post by **SimonH** » Mon May 25, 2015 6:55 am

Hi, I was playing live with a PC3 as the centre and a similar spec mac until fairly recently. I used Apple Mainstage which works fine and then Magix Independence Pro which is much higher quality. Both can be fully integrated and accept program changes from the PC3. Independence Pro can also host other plug ins which can also be controlled by the pc3. Eventually I stopped using the PC3 as a sound source and it became the backup and just a sophisticated controller. Both packages can set key ranges for splits and multiple sounds can be assigned to be played on different parts of the keyboard. With the PC3 you can control the sounds from the Mac from multiple keyboards, or with from just one with multiple splits. You will need an external soundcard.

Piano-Pete · Post by **Piano-Pete** » Mon May 25, 2015 9:28 pm

Thanks. Why do you say Independence is 'higher quality'?

SimonH · Post by **SimonH** » Wed May 27, 2015 12:09 pm

Hi, the stock instruments in Mainstage are all really useable live, but are much smaller samples than the Independence library which is a high end 70gb library of very good quality sounds and effects. The brass samples in Independence in particular are the best I've heard. It is a bit of a learning curve and not as well supported as Mainstage, but for me, worked well, and the live performance interface is nice to look at and easy to use

Nightpolymath · Post by **Nightpolymath** » Wed May 27, 2015 12:41 pm

Mainstage is the best bargain to be had for less than $30. Highly recommended. Yes, there are slightly better sampled libraries available but for pure "bang for the buck" it is hard to beat Mainstage. Quality is also quite a subjective thing; you may find Mainstage sufficient for your needs.

BDeep · Post by **BDeep** » Wed May 27, 2015 1:12 pm

You could use Mainstage and install 3rd party plugins to expand the sounds to your disposal. Or buy EXS24 (Mainstage's internal sampleplayer) compatible sample sets.

waltercruz · Post by **waltercruz** » Wed May 27, 2015 2:03 pm

Mainstage is the way to go. I play on some bands with ONLY my macbook (a mid 2010 core 2 duo). Between these bands, there's a Pink Floyd band, with a lot of patches.

Mainstage can cover almost all your bases, except, maybe for the Piano sounds, that I don't like that much. I was using the UVI Melltrotron that I received as a gift, but the latest version of Mainstage added a Mellotron.

Mainstage + Komplete can cover all your needs.

Playing live with my Mac