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Re: [zonemobius] Mainstage + Mobius + External mixer latency/monitoring issues?



Hi,

The sound of MainStage is pretty much what you hear on many modern
records or soundtracks. Some sounds are displayed in these videos:
http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/action/. Sorry, I don't know about
the Roland fantom XR, but you can always sample it. I would be
surprised though if equivalent sound patches isn't available withing
the Logic/MainStage sound library.

If I understand your post correctly you are planning to play two
keyboards at the same time while also treating two audio/mic input
channels with plug-ins. I can not say if this is within the safe CPU
limit, since I never do many patches at the same time - I swap between
patches by foot pedals and play the patches one after the other (only
open, sounding, patches tax the CPU, not the muted ones in your patch
library). I too play four instruments and use three physical inputs on
the audio interface (one mic, one instrument level, one line level),
but not simultaneously. If I want to use the same effect patch
(reberb, delay, compressor, phaser etc) on two different instruments
that need to be patched into two different physical audio interface
inputs, then I set up two sound patches with the same sound but
fetching the signal from two different physical inputs. Then I swap
patch by a pedal as I pick up the other instrument. That's my way of
minimizing CPU usage. But as said, I can not guarantee that a laptop
can safely handle four simultaneuous channels plus a looper. CPU usage
also depends on how many notes you play on the keyboard. Best would be
for you to find some user that does exactly what you intend to and
interview him/her.

As for "latency", see my previous post for more information. I run
MainStage here with a 128 sample buffer and I guess that means some
ten or twelve seconds latency when playing a software/virtual
instrument. I play a lot of software instruments by an EWI and do not
think that latency is a problem. They all feel more snappy than for
example playing a guitar through a POD Classic (the POD pre amp is
about as much latency I can handle without feeling bad).

You can not load MainStage into Bidule, like you do with Mobius VST,
because MainStage is a host application, just as Bidule also is. But
you can load Mobius into MainStage (like you can also load Mobius into
Bidule). Then Bidule can also be used as an AU plug-in that can be
loaded into MainStage, but that's another story.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6550



On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 7:26 PM, J Johans <parispro00@hotmail.com> wrote:
> thanks for the response per, ill try to get more detailed-
>
> i have recently abandoned my hardware loopers and picked up mobius-
> now im wondering if i can ditch my sound processors and pick up 
>mainstage /
> bidule  =oD
>
> first of all, how are the sounds inside mainstage?? i cant find any 
>samples
> of what you get with logic - would be sweet if you could actually hear 
>some
> of the tones before you buy- do most of you use the presets/plugins that
> come with logic or do you get your own 3rd party plug-ins/instruments?
>
> i currently use 1 roland fantom XR  sound module for my keyboard tones-
> i use another roland fantom XR sound module for my drum tones-
> and i use a POD x3 for my guitar/vocal sounds-
> is mainstage powerful enough to replace all of this??
>
> i think this would be two software instruments and two plugins all
> processing at once? the keyboard would be the only one with lots and 
>lots of
> patch changes, the others stay fairly placid-
> im worried about latency / stability in mainstage...anyone have any
> opinions?
>
> can you load mainstage into bidule like i can load mobius into bidule? 
>this
> is what i meant by "internal patching" between mainstage and mobius -  if
> not, is the routing in mainstage smart enough to handle multiple
> input/outputs from my audio interface? mic inoput, guitar input, midi 
>input
> CH5, midi in CH 6 and then 8 outputs to mixer
>
> i want this to work, but cant afford to spend $2000 on a mac and $400 on
> logic studio to find out the tones suck and latency / stability is
> unacceptable =)
> so i rely on you guys and cannot thankyou enought for any info you have 
>to
> offer
>
> thanks
> fro
>
>
> ________________________________
> To: zonemobius@yahoogroups.com
> From: perboysen@gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:50:50 +0100
> Subject: Re: [zonemobius] Mainstage + Mobius + External mixer
> latency/monitoring issues?
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 5:19 AM, J Johans <parispro00@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> srry if this is a double post for anyone
>> I dunno if anyone is using a similar setup- but theoretically, can 
>anyone
>> forsee any blatent latency / monitoring issues with the following..?
>> External keyboard -----> in mainstage (for sounds) --------> mainstage 
>out
>> to CH 1 & 2 external mixer -------> Mixer Aux out into Mobious -------->
>> mobius out into CH 3 & 4 external mixer
>> Mobius would be set to mute input signal.
>> I would use CH 1 & 2 of the mixer to hear what im playing, and CH 3 & 4 
>to
>> hear what is looped
>> since the signal is traveling through my audio interface 4 different
>> times...and being processed by the CPU 4 times....should i expect to 
>have
>> an
>> unacceptable latency?
>
> Not sure what you mean by "latency". If you mean your direct input
> signal being delayed I'm afraid there is no way of minimizing it by
> different routing, except for routing the direct signal directly to
> the PA. Effects do delay a signal.
>
> If you mean the audio that are being looped it should be easy to fix
> that "latency" by tweaking Mobius settings for latency compensation.
> This comensation meanst that you tell Mobius how much an audio signal
> is being delayed by the AD conversion and effect processing so Mobius
> can move each new overdubbed layer a bit earlier in the loop - in
> order to make it musically line up with earlier audio layers so it
> will play back as you did play it live.
>
> (BTW, I use the same routing as you, but with two mono cables instead
> of the mixer)
>
>> i would think there is a way to route mainstage to mobius internally to
>> reduce latency, but im not sure if this will work in my setup..
>
> Hmm.... "Internally"...? I guess you mean using the Mobius VST plug-in
> then on a Bus in Mobius? If this assumption is correct you have only
> one way to route audio to the plug-in, by the bus send knob on the
> channel script. There is another way though; you can open Moibus VST
> on the main output of Mobius and enable "Input Monitoring" in Mobius.
>
> Greetings from Sweden
>
> Per Boysen
> www.boysen.se (Swedish)
> www.looproom.com (international)
> www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6550
>
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