![]() I'm still learning the nuts and bolts of MainStage at this point, so I haven't had a chance to use it yet with my band. I had such a hard time getting to this point, that I figured there are others out there that could benefit from my experience. Like I said, this is still under development, but I wanted to share what I've learned. So it was a gradual escalation in technology as I refined my list of requirements and found out what I felt was the most flexible and economical way to meet them. Plus, the interface has a lot of other fun uses, one of which is MIDI in/out, which allows me to easily add the drum pad to my kit. It was less expensive than the other options, and most DAW software has a limiter effect, even the Ableton Live Lite that came with the interface. This led my to my current setup - I returned the mixer and bought the audio interface. I'd either need an outboard limiter for my mixer, which would cost hundreds and be another piece of gear to lug around, or I'd have to get a body module for my IEM's, which also cost hundreds. I quickly found that there's no easy way to add a limiter to the signal chain I already had set up. I don't want to take any chances with my ears, so I decided I needed a limiter if I was going to do live monitoring with my IEM's. And then I started reading about how it's highly recommended to use a limiter if you are doing that, to avoid blowing your ears out from some sort of unexpected noises from the board. Then I thought, well since I have this mixer, I should be able to bring a monitor feed from FOH into this as well. So I initially bought a small mixer, and with some adapters and splitters, had a reasonable setup. To do that, I also need a small mixer, in order to convert the split channels to mono and run it into my IEM's. I wanted a separate headphone mix with click, so I'd need to have the monitor mix and FOH mix panned left and right in order to split them. I started on the same path as you, planning to use my iPad, but when you need a click track it makes thing get complicated. I'll let you all know how it goes once I get it up and running. You could do something similar using a Windows laptop, using Ableton Live Lite, which is included with the interface. And not including the laptop, which I already owned, I've only spent about $350 for Shure SE215 IEM's, the PercPad, and the interface. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities here. I think I can put a trigger on my kick drum as use that to trigger sounds and adjust playback tempo in MainStage. ![]() Oh, and the PercPad also has a trigger input. Eventually I could use the MIDI out to have MainStage automagically change the presets on my guitarist's effects processor and the keyboardist's keyboards. ![]() So I'll mount that on my rack and use it for cowbells, tambourines, claps, etc. It has 4 pads on it, and I can either use the built-in sounds and run them into one of the inputs on the interface, or I can use MIDI out and use MainStage to generate the sounds. The 2i4 interface also has MIDI in/out, so I picked up an Alesis PercPad as well. MainStage has a limiter effect that I can apply to those channels. The monitor feed from FOH will go into the two inputs on the interface (or just one if it's mono). So I can use MainStage to send my click track, cue tracks, and monitor mix to my headphones, and just the backing tracks to the FOH mixer. The main reason I chose this device is that you can choose which of the two pairs of outputs go to the headphone output. It connects with USB and has two inputs and four outputs (4 mono or 2 stereo pairs). I bought a Scarlett 2i4 audio interface for my Mac. I can record my loops and backing tracks with GarageBand, and for performances, I'll use MainStage 3 to play them back, control my mix, and generate sounds triggered via MIDI. I will be using my Macbook Pro as the heart of the system. I've been doing a lot of research, and I think that now I have come up with the ideal solution that is fairly low-cost and easy to transport and hook up. I'm in a cover band that plays local bars, and we don't have monitor mixers and wireless systems and things that the pros use for this type of thing. It has been difficult finding information on how to do this in a simple and inexpensive way. For the last month or so, I've been trying to find a good way to play backing tracks, percussion loops, and sound effects live, while using in-ear monitors running a click track.
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