Playing backing tracks.

Question

Playing backing tracks.

Quite a few duo's in ol' Melbourne town, for some reason have pc's in their gig racks just to play mp3 or midi backing tracks. Starting or stopping the tracks is easy- it's either the one who just sings or the guitarist who plays distorted pad chords on everything and mimes the recorded bv's who selects tracks. So for duo read: DJ who owns a guitar + karaoke singer sans karaoke.
I'm a solo guy, so there's no hiding behind the technology.
What I want to know is, will Mainstage have a function where you can press play with a footswitch and the track ends by itself and cues up the next track on the setlist.
I don't think it's possible in iTunes.
I can do this with a Sony MD deck and a Marantz CompactFlash player.
Or is it just intended for single musicians to get the sound they want on stage (amps and effects)
Thanks for reading have a nice day!

Dual 2.5 G5 & Macbook 13", Mac OS X (10.4.10), DP, Logic Pro in that order!

Posted on Sep 12, 2007 3:23 PM

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Answer 1

Bryan Day

Level 3

749 points

Sep 13, 2007 3:11 AM in response to choppychopchop

Hi,

iTunes will probably do what you're after...

1. Create a playlist of your backing tracks.
2. Un-tick all the songs in that playlist.

Now, when you hit play iTunes will stop and the end of each song. I'm not sure if it will cue up the next one, although you could use your Apple remote (if your machine has one).

Cheers,
Bryan.

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Answer 2

BM5.5

Level 1

95 points

Sep 13, 2007 7:37 AM in response to Bryan Day

MainStage supports AppleScript, and comes with some examples, like Play Current Track in iTunes, and Play Next Track, etc. You can assign a control in MainStage to run the Applescript.

So yeah, you can start your backing track from a foot controller, etc.

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Answer 3

m2m2m

Level 1

13 points

Sep 16, 2007 9:51 PM in response to choppychopchop

mixing backing tracks down to a simple audio file to play in ITunes seems like a straightforward way to run this type of setup at a live gig, but if for some reason you wanted to have the main app (Logic) as the player, is this possible?

I was just thinking maybe because at a soundcheck for example, you decide you need to adjust something in your backing tracks, that would be an easy way (verses going back to the original, editing, and saving again to run in ITunes)

Just a thought, I'm gathering that Main Stage was designed not for this exact purpose (playing backing tracks), but rather to enable musicians to get the sounds they need live, considering the potential difficulty in replicating one's recorded sounds using traditional hardware keyboards/effects/amps etc. on stage

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Answer 4

juanit00

Level 1

5 points

Oct 25, 2007 5:09 AM in response to jamesdstark

I totally agree, specially for the midi, I'd like to be able to trigger some midi sequences for visual effects and midi hardware program changes.

But if you really need a sequenced show maybe your better playing with Logic instead. I used to have all my show sequenced in Cubase not so long ago but to me it's a liberation not needing backing tracks anymore, feel so god to be able to really jam your stuff... I use the Itunes script just to get a drum track when the drummer is not present.

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Answer 5

aerol

Level 3

555 points

Oct 25, 2007 11:20 AM in response to choppychopchop

I'm sure Apple is well aware of the fact that single musicians play live using a Mac and that that person will need backing tracks since you can do that in Logic now.

Seems to me that, at least in version 1.0, MainStage was mostly designed to be used by a member of a band. So that a guitarist or keyboard player could use the channel strips they created in the studio using Logic in a live situation. There's still a lot of bands out there that fit that catagory and don't want to use a product like Live... since it doesn't support patch changes in the way that MainStage can and they have to recreate the sounds.

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Answer 6

Nov 4, 2007 2:18 PM in response to aerol

We all have different needs... but I must agree with what many of you are saying. The option to have some kind of time line based arrangements would be great. In that case I would actually consider Mainstage. That's how I'm working with Live. Some basic arrangements and playing software synths on top of that. I really don't need all the advanced stuff of Live for my regular gigs, I just need the ability to play midi and audio tracks on a timeline, while I'm using software and hardware instruments on top of that.. and I don't feel comfortable loading up Logic on stage.. no offense.

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Answer 7

m2m2m

Level 1

13 points

Nov 20, 2007 10:44 AM in response to choppychopchop

This may have been discussed elsewhere, but can I run Logic and Mainstage simultaneously? I'm speculating the possibility of using Logic to play the backing tracks configured to 3 separate discrete outputs on my Firebox (say, keys, percussion & backing vocals) and then on to the PA system, while simultaneously using Mainstage to run my guitar for effects controlled by MIDI, also sent to a 4th discrete output on the Firebox, then to the PA. Is it even possible? or possible but with potential for problems with system resources or other conflicts, etc. Thanks!

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Answer 8

valgreen

Level 1

75 points

Nov 21, 2007 2:52 AM in response to choppychopchop

hehe...a possible workaround would be loading music tracks on EXS24, and assign some Mainstage buttons/pads to trigger them. you can even set tracks (say, piano, drums, bass...) and with the touch of a couple of keys on your keyboard you have the whole backing track.

Since every patch can contain a new EXS24 reference, there you have every song noted with its name on screen.

I know, it's not the way it should be, but it works.

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Answer 9

m2m2m

Level 1

13 points

Nov 21, 2007 11:08 AM in response to choppychopchop

Interesting... thanks. I've just got my new system up and running so I will be experimenting with alot of ideas found in these forums. I will re-post if /when I figure out a dependable way to do this.

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Answer 10

Nov 21, 2007 9:37 PM in response to choppychopchop

Man I've been trying to get an easy solution to this
I'm a drummer myself and I've been trying to incorporate backtracks/loops to church worship services, all I use is iTunes. I have no idea how to get it to work on other apps. besides that, a friend showed me this
http://www.interactiveworshiplive.com/default2.asp

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Answer 11

Nov 27, 2007 6:15 PM in response to Krakan

Krakan-
this should be quite possible - simply have mainstage use a different audio device than system sound.
For instance, you could use two third-party i/o devices, set the system to use one (in system prefences Audio or Audio MIDI Setup app) and in MainStage prefs, use the other.
OR use the built-in audio for one, and a third-party device for the other.

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Answer 12

Sep 13, 2007 4:53 PM in response to BM5.5

Thanks guys, that's very useful! Looks like gigging with a laptop and an 828 is finally an option!

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Answer 13

Krakan

Level 1

65 points

Sep 15, 2007 4:43 AM in response to choppychopchop

But what if I wanna play separate audio tracks and send them out on separate outputs to the mixing console?

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Answer 14

Oct 24, 2007 4:25 AM in response to m2m2m

apple needs to wake up and realize tons of people who use a computer live, need some sort of backing track. Itunes doesn't cut it if you need more than 1 track, or midi.

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