Best Mac for Mainstage

Question

Best Mac for Mainstage

I am running Mainstage 2.2.2 on 10.7.5 MacBook Pro 2.2 G with a 500G Fusion drive but only 4MB or RAM.

Things are reasonably stable - but I do still get some crashes and some CPU spikes mostly when trying to start up or setup once I am up and running it seems OK, but I don't really feel safe and some plugins are not really stable - eg. the EVB3 just stopped outputting sound once.

Have read all the forum entries I know there were a lot of people really ****** with Mainstage because of CPU spikes and issues after 2.2.2 was released or when they upgraded past 10.5.5.

But what is the latest experience? Are people now happy - what is the most stable configuration?

Also I can't get reasonable performance from TruePiano - so I am thinking should I increase RAM or upgrade for a fasteer CPU. And should it be a Mac Mini or a Macbook Pro. (Yeah I know that Macbook is more portable etc...

I don't want to spend 3000 on a Macbook just to get the fastest machine if Mainstage is still inherently dodgy.

Thanks for your inputs

MainStage, Mac OS X (10.7.5), Mainstage 2.2.2

Posted on Jan 20, 2013 10:03 AM

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Answer 1

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David M. Taylor Author

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Jan 25, 2013 1:51 AM in response to David M. Taylor

Adding more RAM than approved. Not recommended.

Some guys say it is no problem - Apple is sneaky and doesn't tell you that you can easily add more: But I got loads of Kernel Panics.

Following some internet threads I added 16GB Corsair 1600 MHz RAM to my late 2011 Macbook.

It worked like lightning and seemed fine at first but I got loads of Kernel Panics.

So I replaced it with 8GB 1333 Mhz Kensington - and am back to a stable system.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2013 1:52 AM in response to David M. Taylor

Now I will pursue the issue of whether I should run Mainstage in 32 bit or 64 bit mode and see which is more stable - also - I will try a lower resolution for the COre audio settings.

Any one got had any experience with these settings?

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