Logic Studio apps New Mainstage user question about instrument patch changes

[Beethree]

I'm diving in for the first time.
The first thing I'm doing is to duplicate my main Receptor set up.
In that, I have Ivory, VB3, Scarbee Wurly, Omnisphere, M-Tron, and Pianoteq all loaded up, and I am able to select any of them with a button push on my controller. I have gotten far enough to be able to do this in Mainstage.
On the Receptor I am also able to send patch changes to the individual instruments WITHOUT reloading the plugin. So I can change Ivory piano sounds without reloading Ivory, but without having both sets of samples loaded at once eating RAM.

Is this 2nd part doable, and if so, how?

 

[Atlas]

Not sure to understand your question clearly...
Normally, with MainStage you could control your connected devices the same way that you could with an hardware controller, no more no less...
So, if you can change patches on your Receptor from an hardware controller without having to reload samples, your could do the same with MainStage. You would control Receptor from MainStage.
MainStage is a program that conveniently organize in a visual interface the MIDI and Audio controls for a gig such as a concert, jam or rehearsal session, etc...
I am not familiar with Receptor's features, but if it can respond to Program change MIDI command, then I would recommend the reading of "Setting Up Your System - Using MIDI Devices with MainStage" and the "Using External MIDI Instrument in MainStage" sections in the provided documentation...

 

[Beethree]

Thanks for the response.
I will try to clarify. I am not looking to use my Receptor with Mainstage, but rather replace it with Mainstage. There is one thing I am able to do on Receptor that I have not been able to achieve on Mainstage. Very specifically - to change Ivory patches from my keyboard without reloading all of my other plugins. So I can be playing organ, for example, while the piano sound is changing from say a grand to an upright. I DO wish to reload samples, but only those samples, and not the plugin itself.
Here is how Receptor handles that. In addition to whatever proprietary preset scheme an individual plugin uses, you can save presets as Receptor patches specific to that plugin, and these respond to bank/program change commands.
So I can push a button on my controller that tells Ivory on channel one to swap out a grand piano patch for an upright patch. Now only the upright samples are using memory, until such time as I switch back.
The best way I have been able to do this in Mainstage is to have 2 separate instances of Ivory loaded in a set, one with each sample set. This is doable on this scale, but now say I want to be able to choose between 6 or 7 sample sets...now it starts to get problematic.
Mainstage seems to be able to save patches in its own format, but doesn't seem to allow you to call them up via program change for third party plugins.
Best,
Phil

 

[Atlas]

There is one thing I am able to do on Receptor that I have not been able to achieve on Mainstage. Very specifically - to change Ivory patches from my keyboard without reloading all of my other plugins. So I can be playing organ, for example, while the piano sound is changing from say a grand to an upright. I DO wish to reload samples, but only those samples, and not the plugin itself.

I guess that my misunderstanding comes from the fact that I don't know neither Receptor or Ivory. But I also know that changing from systems sometimes require to think and work differently...
(I take for granted that you understand the MainStage's Concert-Set-Patch levels concept and implication.)

The best way I have been able to do this in Mainstage is to have 2 separate instances of Ivory loaded in a set, one with each sample set. This is doable on this scale, but now say I want to be able to choose between 6 or 7 sample sets...now it starts to get problematic.

When you load a Concert file, MainStage load in RAM memory all the plugins and affiliated samples and their settings you have programed it to. Some 3rd party sample players such as Kontakt4 offer the option to play direct from hard disk the samples, so it is less hungry RAM-wise. One of the main benefits to hold in memory all the settings, plugins and samples is the instantaneous handling of the various sounds in your concert (no need to wait for the samples to load in RAM) and the ability to let the previous sounds still ring while you start playing another one in a next MainStage patch.

Mainstage seems to be able to save patches in its own format, but doesn't seem to allow you to call them up via program change for third party plugins.

MainStage has its own patches system, which are remotely MIDI controllable; but these are totally independent (and different from the patches belonging to the instantiated plugins -namely Ivory for instance- into the MainStage's either at Concert, Set or Patch level).

It is also possible to issue MIDI Program Changes of (or to) an instantiated plugin (like Ivory/Synthogy, without resorting to the method you describe which is indeed quite RAM costly).

For this, I suggest you create a knob or slider on the Layout page (in MainStage) that will respond (via the Learn) to the hardware knob or slider of your hardware MIDI controller (keyboard), which you will map (on the Edit page of MainStage) to the "Program Change" function of your Ivory plugin. You could also (if you wish) assign either a different hardware MIDI controller (or the same one, to more than one function, either other plugins Program Changes or what ever your plugin can respond MIDI-wise to, or even MainStage functions itself).