2

Stage 1: Creating a Concert from a Template
You begin working in MainStage by creating a new concert from a template. MainStage
includes concert templates for keyboard, guitar, and other instruments, making it easy
to choose a template suited to your needs. MainStage recognizes many popular MIDI
controllers and automatically assigns hardware controls on the controller to corresponding
screen controls in the workspace, simplifying hardware setup.
For information about choosing a template to create a concert, see Choosing a Concert
Template.
Stage 2: Adding and Editing Patches to Customize Your Sounds
After you create a concert, you add patches for the sounds you want to play, and edit
the patches by adding channel strips, instruments, and effects, and adjusting their
parameters to “dial in” your custom sounds. You edit and organize patches in Edit mode.
In Edit mode, your patches are “live” so you can hear the results of your edits instantly.
You can select and play patches, choose channel strip settings, and edit channel strip
and plug-in parameters. You can quickly define key ranges for channel strips to create
keyboard layers and splits, scale expression and other parameters using transforms, and
filter incoming MIDI messages.
For information about editing patches, see Working with Patches in Edit Mode.
Stage 3: Organizing Your Patches for Easy Access
When you open a concert in Edit mode, the patches in the concert appear in the Patch List,
where you can select them and start playing. You can edit patch parameters, add channel
strips to existing patches or create new ones, and reorder patches to build your custom
collection of sounds to use when you perform.
You can also organize patches in sets for added flexibility. Sets are like folders that can
store groups of patches you want to keep together, which can be useful in several ways.
For example, you can store all your favorite lead synth patches in a set or store multiple
patches you intend to use in a single song, and quickly select the patches you want while
performing. You can also add channel strips at the set level, and have them available
with every patch in the set.
For information about organizing patches, see Working with Patches in Edit Mode. For
information about creating and editing sets, see Working with Sets in Edit Mode.
14 Chapter 1 Introducing MainStage