Audio settings in MainStage
These settings let you set the audio output and input devices, set the size of the I/O buffer, and set the audio sample rate.
Devices
Output Device pop-up menu: Choose the device you want to use to hear the audio output from MainStage.
Input Device pop-up menu: Choose the device you want to use as the source for audio input. Choose Automatic to use the system setting for audio input (except when the only available input device is the built-in microphone, in which case no input device is selected).
Setup buttons: Click one of the Setup buttons to open the Audio/MIDI Setup window and configure audio output or input.
Sample Rate pop-up menu: Choose the sample rate for audio input. If you’re using an audio interface or other audio device with MainStage, the Sample Rate value should be set to the sample rate of your audio device.
I/O Buffer Size pop-up menu: Choose the buffer size (in samples) for audio input and output. Smaller buffer sizes reduce the amount of latency but also require more work from the CPU and may result in playback artifacts. You may want to try different settings to find the lowest setting that doesn’t produce any artifacts.
I/O Safety Buffer checkbox: If selected, MainStage uses an additional buffer to process audio output streams, providing a safeguard against crackling noises that may occur when you use very low I/O Buffer Size settings. If turning on this preference doesn’t improve the sound quality on your system, deselect the checkbox and choose a larger I/O buffer size setting.
Note: Use of the I/O Safety Buffer preference increases the output latency and therefore the round trip (input plus output) latency.
Processing Threads slider: Drag the slider to set the amount of processor power devoted to audio processing. For multicore processors, this controls the number of cores devoted to audio processing.
Display audio engine overload message checkbox: If selected, an alert appears when the audio engine overloads.
Hot-Plug Behavior pop-up menu: Choose what action MainStage takes when you hot-plug an audio device while MainStage is open. The choices are:
Alert Me: Displays an alert when a device is hot-plugged. The alert includes buttons that let you use or ignore the device.
Automatically Use Device: Switches the audio drivers to allow immediate use of the hot-plugged device for audio input and output.
Do Nothing: Does not switch the audio drivers.
Channel Strips
Silence Previous Patch pop-up menu: Choose the amount of time sustaining notes and effects tails continue to sound before falling silent when you select a new patch.
The Silence Previous Patch preference applies only to audio and external instrument channel strips, not software instrument channel strips.
Globally Disable Feedback Protection checkbox: When selected, feedback protection is disabled for all audio and external instrument channel strips in all concerts. The Feedback Protection checkbox is also removed from the Attributes tab in the Channel Strip Inspector.
Voice Limiter Active checkbox: When selected, the voice limiter is enabled. The voice limiter avoids audio dropouts at high CPU loads by stopping voices from MainStage software instruments based on the order in which those voices were played. When the CPU load increases to the point that audio dropouts may occur, the voice limiter activates and stops a few of the oldest voices still sounding; if that doesn’t lower the CPU load enough to avoid dropouts, the voice limiter stops all older voices still sounding. In general, the voice limiter should remain enabled.