Studio Strings in MainStage
The studio instruments are high-quality multisampled players that offer a collection of solo and grouped instrument presets. See Studio Bass, Studio Horns, and Studio Piano.
Studio Strings provides a collection of highly expressive single and section stringed instruments. It has a simple, clean interface, with all main controls at hand. Additional controls enable you to customize Studio Strings to match your preferences and to work best with your controllers. See Studio Strings extended parameters.
Studio Strings instruments feature a large collection of samples that cover different playing styles, such as sustain, staccato, or falls. These playing styles, called articulations, are chosen in the plug-in header. You can also switch articulations remotely with keyswitches.
Default section and single instrument keyswitches are covered in Studio Strings keyswitch mapping.
If you’re new to using plug-ins in MainStage, see Add and remove plug-ins in MainStage.
Studio Strings parameters
Preset pop-up menu: Choose a solo or section instrument.
You can use MIDI channel events to control section instruments. If you want to play specific instruments in a section, you can send MIDI messages on their respective channels, then add a list of channel assignments. See Studio strings section MIDI channels.
Monophonic button: Turn on monophonic mode for solo instruments.
Auto Voice Split button: When on, chords played on the keyboard are automatically assigned to different instruments or instrument groups, or “voices” in the section.
Depending on the size and type of section, a voice can consist of one or multiple instruments. This mimics the distribution of notes (voicings) among players, based on what instrument group is best suited to a particular note range, for example. See Studio Strings extended parameters for details about additional Auto Voice Split functions.
Note: When Auto Voice Split is off, String sections are split by key ranges, with each string instrument within the section spanning a specific key range, and no layered instruments.
Dynamics via CC button: Turn on to enable control of an instrument’s dynamics (soft-loud) and timbre in real time. Additional dynamic control and mapping functions are available in the extended parameters.
Last Played Articulation field: Displays the most recently used articulation. This may be different to the articulation shown in the plug-in header.
Cutoff knob: Set the cutoff frequency of the sound.
Resonance knob: Set the amount of cut or boost of the frequency range surrounding the defined cutoff frequency.
Volume knob: Set the output level of the instrument.
Attack knob: Set the amount of time it takes for the instrument to fade in, following a MIDI note on message.
Release knob: Set the amount of time it takes for the instrument to fade out, following a MIDI note off message.
