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Using the playback plug-in in performance – Apple MainStage 2 User Manual

Page 139

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3

Play a single note on your instrument, and watch the Tuner display.

As you play, the Tuner shows the note name of the closest note. If the note is not in tune,
red vertical bars appear, showing whether the note is sharp or flat. The bars appear to
the right of the note name if the note is sharp, and to the left if the note is flat.

4

Adjust the tuning peg for the string you are tuning.

When the note is in tune, a blue vertical bar appears in the center, above the note name.

Be sure to play only a single note at a time while tuning. The Tuner can’t tune to a chord
or interval or if you play different notes rapidly.

When using the Tuner with a patch containing multiple channel strips, only audio from
the first audio channel strip is sent to the Tuner, even if other channel strips in the patch
have the same input source. Before using the Tuner, make sure that the first audio channel
strip is active and not muted.

In the Channel Strips area, the channel strip that will send audio to the Tuner is indicated
by a tuning fork icon at the top of the channel strip.

If other channel strips in the patch have the same audio input source as the first channel
strip, the sound from those channel strips is still audible (unlike the output from the
Tuner). For example, if you are using a twin-amp patch from the Rock guitar concert
template, the output for the second amp is audible while you tune the guitar, unless you
mute its output (by setting the Expression pedal screen control to zero).

Using the Playback Plug-in in Performance

You can use the Playback plug-in to play backing tracks or other audio files while you are
performing, and trigger playback either when you select a patch or set, or using a button
or other screen control. You can control other Playback parameters to which you have
mapped screen controls, including fading out the sound and looping playback. For files
containing marker information, you can also use markers to switch playback to different
sections of the audio file. You can start and stop playback of multiple Playback plug-in
instances using the Group menu.

Where you add an instance of the Playback plug-in depends on how you want to use it.
If you want to play back an audio file while you play a single patch, you can add it to the
patch. If you add a Playback plug-in at the set level, you can select different patches in
the set and have the audio file continue playing. This can be useful, for example, if the
set includes all the patches you’ll use in a song, and the Playback plug-in plays an audio
file with a backing track for the song. If you add a Playback plug-in at the concert level,
you can select different patches in the concert and have the audio file continue playing.
The ability to use the plug-in at any level gives you a great deal of creative freedom in
how you use it.

139

Chapter 9

Performing Live with MainStage