Mainstage 3.1 First Look

The big news this week was the Logic Pro 10.1 update that included a ton of cool stuff, but Mainstage users weren’t neglected by any means. Here’s the 5 big new features Apple gave us: 

1. New Compressor. With the ability to emulate 7 vintage and modern compressors, this thing can cover almost any compression sound you need, from aggressive pumping to subtle volume tweaks. Not only does it sound great, it looks great, too. I can almost feel the brushed metal knobs when I’m tweaking this thing. 

2. New synthesis options with Retro Synth. You can now import your own audio into Retro Synth’s new wavetable emulator, which can significantly change the sound of your oscillators. 

3. Tons of new synth sounds. There are over 200 new synth sounds to browse, including quite a few that are targeted toward the EDM musician. I’ll be exploring these over the next few weeks, and I’ll let you know what I find. 

4. Mellotron sounds. Apple did a great job of recording 10 classic tape-based mellotron samples, including strings, flutes, and brass.

5. Auto sampler. This is the killer unsung feature that nobody is talking about- the ability to hook up any midi-capable keyboard or outboard gear, and sample it into Mainstage’s EXS24 sampler. No need to bring along hardware synths to gigs any more. I’ll be posting a video about how to use this soon! 

As a bonus,they threw in a ton of great little extras like customizable key commands, a new and improved plugin manager, and a few design tweaks. I’ll be posting more info about these features over the next few weeks, so be sure to stop by. Thanks! 

Here's a quick video I made of the new features: