intermittent distortion using MainStage 2 with PreSonus FP10, intermittent distortion using MainStage 2 with two PreSonus FP10's?

Hi there,

I run a similar setup, with an motu ultralite or saffire pro 26 (backup), more than 100 patches, process my vocal, different in-ear monitor mixes, get the aux from the FOH, play some sounds from Mainstage playback and sometimes use ableton live with backing tracks with VST and lyrics for the band 🙂

This was achieve by making the mainstage concerto the most stable possible with extensive tests before the gigs.

My MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011) with 16Gb and SDD is ONLY used for audio nothing else. My lion and mainstage are not update because it runs well and I´m steel afraid to do the update (but you can always do a backup with time machine, update and see).

The first thing you could try is to do a new (or use a copy) concert and start from that. You should only put one patch, with all the vocal and guitar fx, your in-ear and one basic keyboard soud. Build this step by step.

That can eliminate some erros and maybe the cause of the mainstage to close.

Try this and let me know the result.

sorry for my english (i´m portuguese)

Sorry, I didn´t read your question properly.

Digital Distortion.... could it be mainstage be in another sample rate than the Presonus?

Are you only using the analogs in/out or the S/PDIF too?

How many Channel Strips are you using?

How is the CPU Load?

You could try to remove (temporaly) all the wav/tracks you have to see if it is the drive causing the problem. maybe...

I´m using 2 drives. One SSD with the Lion and the concerts and everything related to mainstage, VST, etc, and the other just an image of the first with mainstage (if something goes wrong with the SDD drive I change to the SATA at 5.400 rpm - much slower of course 😟

Try those things and post an image if you can.

I´m very interested in your usb foot switch. what does it do and how do you buid it. PM/email me if you like.

Thanks

I'm not familiar with the Presonus FP10 but a quick Google search indicates that it uses Firewire connectivity. Have you tried switching out the Firewire cable? I know it sounds a bit simplistic but I strongly suggest that you try using a different - and preferably high-quality - cable. I had what sounds to be exactly the same problem with my MainStage/MOTU Ultralite Mk3 rig and someone on this board suggested changing the cable and so I did.....it completely fixed the problem. I couldn't believe it. I ended up paying about $60 for an ultra high-quality Firewire cable but I'd definitely recommend that you go out and buy a brand-new high-quality cable from a store where you can obtain a refund if that doesn't fix the problem.

Lividviking, did you end up trying another FireWire cable? I'm really interested about how you went with this.

I've had a similar problem with a m-audio 410 which is a FireWire interface. The au / midi was fine but the audio on occasion became overwhelming with digital distortion. My solution was a simple one, and that was to upgrade the m-audio drivers. Could this be a simple driver issue for the OP?

I'm glad to know that the setup is already ok.

now comprehensively test to see if an error appears because we live ... errors can not happen!

I´m very interested in your usb foot switch. what does it do and how do you buid it. PM/email me if you like.

Thanks!

lividviking,

Thanks a lot for your reply. That´s a good effort and cost saving. good job you´ve done.

Maybe will try something similar to me (I´ve got FCB1010) but it´s a litle too big to carry.

Once again thanks and good luck for your projects.

I am having a similar issue - I run mainstage through 2 motu 8pre's daisy chained together. The outputs on the 1st 8pre service the foh speakers and the outputs on the second service my monitors. It is only my monitor mix that becomes distorted. Looking at responses here it looks like i am off to buy a new firewire cable to link the two 8pre's