Mainstage 3 CPU overload

Question

Level 1

9 points

Mainstage 3 CPU overload

So I was just wondering, I recently bought a 13" macbook pro to use MainStage 3. I made sure that all the specs of the macbook I would buy were good so I wouldn't have problems when using the app. But from the start when I played any plugin in MainStage 3, the cpu overloaded and the sound got really distorted.
So I started to do some research and found that all 13 inch MacBooks had this problem. Now I'm wondering if there is any way to fix this problem?

I already changed the app to low resolution, this helped a tiny bit. And with scaling the resolution of the monitor down and some changes in MainStage self I was able to get the CPU load to around 50%, but I don't think that suppose to happen to get the load so low. The app looks terrible with all these changes, like it doesn't fit in the screen.

I'm kind of annoyed by all of this, specially because I bought my macbook for the use of MainStage. So I hope somebody can help me to fix this problem.

Thanks,

Shaffy

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12.1), 16G RAM

Posted on Dec 4, 2016 8:42 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Madddcow

Level 2

463 points

Dec 4, 2016 1:57 PM in response to Shaffy_M

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but there's nothing you can do to improve your situation beyond what you've already done. The 13" MacBook Pro hardware is the problem and unless you can upgrade to a 15" model, you're always going to have the same issues. It's really unfortunate that you weren't able to find this out until AFTER you'd bought the machine but that's the way it is. I've seen this problem so many times now; I even did a gig with someone else 2 weeks ago and they were experiencing exactly the same thing. One of my best friends is in the same situation. I've been warning MainStage users about this for several years now. I wish I could post a huge banner on this forum saying: "Do NOT buy a 13" MacBook Pro if you intend to use MainStage."

You'd be best to try and sell the 13" and get a 15" model if you want to use MainStage.

Reply

Answer 2

Shaffy_M Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 4, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Madddcow

I was afraid I would get this answer, but so be it... It's just to bad I couldn't find anything about this problem until I specifically searched for it. Some kind of warning would be nice yeah, because I did do some research before I bought a macbook, but probably not thoroughly enough. Wel, the only thing I can do now is to search for an alternative.
Thanks for your respond.

Reply

Answer 3

Dec 5, 2016 3:44 AM in response to Shaffy_M

For what it's worth, I'm running mainstage on a late 2012 13" retina macbook pro without any issues. I don't believe this is a general problem. What other applications are you running? Do you have any background tasks from applications that you have installed? What audio interface are you using? Do you run on battery or do you use the AC adapter? What plugins are you using specifically? What is your exact system configuration?

Cheers,

Jazz

Reply

Answer 4

Shaffy_M Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 6, 2016 10:48 AM in response to Jazzmaniac

mmh... I must be doing something wrong then. I'm not running any other application at the same time and there aren't any background tasks running from other installed apps. MainStage is the only app I installed.
Plugins I'm running are mainly waves electric 88 and acoustic samples B5, ClaviD9 or Wurlie. Not all at the same time of course, max 3 divided over 2 keyboards. But I don't think these are the problem, because when I use them in Ableton live (im currently using a trial in search for an alternative for MainStage), my cpu load is max around 12%.
It could be my interface, because it's a fairly old one, a tascam US-122MKII

My exact system configuration:

model: retina, early 2015

processor: 2,7GHz intel core I5
Number of cores: 2
memory: 16Gb
Graphics: intel iris graphic 6100

I don't know if you need more info

Cheerz!
Shaffy

Reply