Apple MainStage 3 - Manual (Page 136)

Appendix A The Playback plug-in 136
Use the Playback plug-in in a concert
Add a Playback plug-in
The Playback plug-in is an Instrument plug-in and is available only for software instrument
channel strips. To use the Playback plug-in, you add it to a software instrument channel strip,
then select an audio file to play. You can add a Playback plug-in to a channel strip in a patch or at
the set or concert level.
Where you add an instance of the Playback plug-in depends on how you want to use it. If you
want to play back an audio file while you play a single patch, you can add it to the patch. If you
add a Playback plug-in at the set level, you can select different patches in the set and have the
audio file continue playing. This can be useful, for example, if the set includes all the patches you
will use in a song, and the Playback plug-in plays an audio file with a backing track for the song.
If you add a Playback plug-in at the concert level, you can select different patches in the concert
and have the audio file continue playing. Being able to use the plug-in at any level gives you a
great deal of creative freedom in how you use it.
Each instance of the plug-in can play one audio file. You can use audio files in a variety of file
formats, including AIFF, WAVE, and CAF. You can play audio files containing marker information,
including files exported (bounced) from Logic Pro and Apple Loops, and shift playback to
markers located at different time positions in the audio file.
There are two ways to add a Playback plug-in: by dragging an audio file to the Channel Strips
area or from the Instrument slot on a channel strip. When you add multiple Playback plug-ins by
dragging audio files to the Channel Strips area, the newly added plug-ins are all assigned to the
same group.
Add a Playback plug-in by dragging an audio file
1 In the Patch List, select the patch to which you want to add a Playback plug-in. You can also
select a set or the concert icon.
2 Drag an audio file from the Finder to the space between channel strips in the Channel
Strips area.
A black line appears between the channel strips, and the pointer becomes an Add File pointer as
a new channel strip is created. The new channel strip contains a Playback plug-in with the audio
file you dragged to the Channel Strips area.
Add a Playback plug-in from the Instrument slot
1 Click the Add Channel Strip button to add a new channel strip to the patch, set, or concert.
2 In the Channel Strip dialog for the new channel strip, select Software Instrument as the type.
Leave other settings at their default values, or change them to suit your setup.
A new software instrument channel strip appears in the Channel Strips area.
3 In the I/O section of the channel strip, click the Instrument slot, choose Playback from the menu,
then choose either Mono or Stereo from the submenu.