Download MainStage from the Mac App Store for 39.99 The right rig for every kind of performer. And give your audience a show they’ll never forget. Transform your keyboard, guitar or vocal performance with an enormous collection of plug-ins and sounds. So I guess for live Mac performers, MainStage 3 and those VIs are a no-brainer regardless of what DAW you prefer. MainStage Sound as great on stage as you do in the studio. Saw the same thing a Foster the People concert (hey the HOB tixx were free - lol). He was right in front of me and I could see his Macbook Pro running MainStage 2 patches for each song on the SetList. LPX is a loss-leader for Apple, and not a core cash cow like PT is for Avid - but such small moves like input monitoring wouldn't devalue HD, imho.īut back on MainStage - I remember going to a Moody Blues show a couple years back and having sucky seats off at the side near their hired touring keyboard guy.
I love mixing in PT Native, but for $599 I do wish they would unchain a few tiny things like per track input monitoring control (since CPTK is gone, this is an HD-only feature again, among other things).
Most PT VI users have likely long-ago branched out to 3rd party VI favorites anyway. Just extra brushes for the pallette - toss Soundflower at it and make some fun VI noises in PT11 until AIR releases IEP.Īvid's emphasis for out-of-box stand-alone composition is minimal nowadays, since mixing/tracking workflow is PT's real bread and butter.
So that makes snagging Mainstage 3 for all those VIs $30 attractive for Mac DAW users. You're spending an additional $199 for upcoming AIR IEP AAX64 (or $99 for upgrade), or buying NI Komplete (not even AAX64 yet) for more $$, only to get some parity w/ LPX stock content.
It's amazing how much updated content Apple throws at LPX/Mainstage when you look at what you get w/ Creative Collection in PT Native for $599. +1 Yep, AIR being untethered from PT-only (w/ the exception of contractual obligs for Creative Collection) allows them to support other host plug formats including AU 64bit.