Using Logic for gigs...

Basically I want to play guitar with various automated effects added (as I can't be arsed using midi footpedals etc) over a backing track, but can't do it in Mainstage as it can't handle automation. I could theoretically do it Logic though.

Has anyone used Logic 9 for gigs or live situations? Conventional wisdom is to use Mainstage in these scenarios as it's more stable and less likely to crash - but the chances of Logic crashing on my MacBook Pro seem pretty slim if I'm only using it to playback one track and another with about 3 effects on the armed channel.

The only issue I can foresee is opening the next track being a bit of a time-consuming ballache, causing some tumbleweed moments between songs. Any tips or experiences you'd care to share?

What are the specs for your MacBook Pro?

2.4GHz, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb HD running Snow Leopard. It has stuttered in the past with 10+ midi tracks with loads of effects added, never really crashed though. I've sort of answered my own question really haven't I?

Yup :)

Yeah, I wouldn't rely on Logic at a live performance. I did it once and it was nervewrecking because I thought it was gonna stutter and freak out any minute. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but... you COULD use Ableton Live.

Lots of people saying Ableton but it looks like a whole new DAW to learn, and I'm guessing it hasn't got all the sweet guitar fx logic has? I'll take a look though, cheers Squee.

  On 2/18/2013 at 9:34 PM, westhead said:

Lots of people saying Ableton but it looks like a whole new DAW to learn, and I'm guessing it hasn't got all the sweet guitar fx logic has? I'll take a look though, cheers Squee.

Yeah, and Ableton's interface sucks shit. I'm a Logic guy and Ableton can blow me.

Yeah for guitar processing, Logic would be a far better bet. However for what you want, Ableton shouldn't be that difficult to 'learn'. Even though the session view would probably be much better for actually playing tracks out 'live' so to speak, you can switch to the arrangement view which shouldn't be too different from Logic. If you want some good audio effects you can also build your own effect chains, using individual effects and assigning adjustable parameters to only certain parts of the effects you wish to adjust. There is also from what I know similar guitar effects available in Ableton Suite, but I have no clue what the quality of those effects are, sorry about that.

The positive thing about Live though (for someone who uses Logic I mean, I mainly work with Live so I irrationally sing its praises), were it to come in handy is the Looper effect. Can be very useful if you want to do guitar layering or multiple guitar parts live!

I love Logic, and use it all the time to record tracks at home, but I'd never use it live.

You can send MIDI from Live to Mainstage via the IAC bus.

You can do that with Logic too to add automation, but sort of beats the point of running a lightweight stable app for live performances I reckon - I'd rather just use Logic than Logic + Mainstage.

But logic isn't meant for live performance with the ability to launch stuff on the fly. Ableton is. I'd def choose live and mainstage over logic for this. And logic and mainstage makes no sense.

I'm going to take a look at Ableton, wish I hadn't spent £20 on Mainstage now it's horrible and really counter intuitive.

http://www.audiomulch.com/

audiomulch is really great and pretty flexible for live fx processing, it has serviceable automation but none of its own midi sequencers, it can pass midi from plugin to plugin though

it might not be what you're looking for but if you haven't tried it you should check it out just for fun

Yeah Audiomulch is what I used to use for live stuff. Looks like a mutated bastard child of MAX/MSP but is much simpler to use and is solid as a rock

  On 2/19/2013 at 4:21 PM, RadarJammer said:

http://www.audiomulch.com/

audiomulch is really great and pretty flexible for live fx processing, it has serviceable automation but none of its own midi sequencers, it can pass midi from plugin to plugin though

 

it might not be what you're looking for but if you haven't tried it you should check it out just for fun

That does look a lot of fun actually, I'll check it out. Ta.

I would highly disagree that mainstage is stable. Every time I've used it it's crashed before I could even build a midi controller. :p Kind of a typical dumb apple program.

Actually, you're right - apparently Mainstage's visuals canes the CPU, making it less stable than Logic some people are saying. Snow Patrol, Muse, The Verve and Depeche Mode have been using Logic and OnStage to switch tracks, with a backup Mac in case Logic crashes, which is extremely rare apparently. I'm going to try gigging with Logic anyway, I just need to do basic stuff like switching off Time Machine backups, powersave functions etc.

You could always disable Apple's dashboard to free up some memory, because from what I've read it eats your memory for breakfast.

Go to the console and type in:
"defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES"

Hit enter and then type in:
"killall Dock"

Sweet tip, thanks.

woah! That's a great one. I fucking hate the dashboard. I think it only starts when you open it, but I'll do this anyways. Does this stay in effect after a restart too?

Logic crashes on me all the time. I've never found it particularly stable. I've always had a crack though so maybe a real version would be better. No idea.

  On 2/25/2013 at 10:15 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

woah! That's a great one. I fucking hate the dashboard. I think it only starts when you open it, but I'll do this anyways. Does this stay in effect after a restart too?

It gets disabled until you decide to enable it again :)

  On 2/18/2013 at 9:40 PM, Squee said:

 

  On 2/18/2013 at 9:34 PM, westhead said:

Lots of people saying Ableton but it looks like a whole new DAW to learn, and I'm guessing it hasn't got all the sweet guitar fx logic has? I'll take a look though, cheers Squee.

Yeah, and Ableton's interface sucks shit. I'm a Logic guy and Ableton can blow me.

Yeah, set up a live stems set in ableton and it really wasn't much fun. The beat sync stuff is great for transitions though.

It's been a couple years now, so is anyone using Mainstage for live stuff? Went to see my buddy play last night and to my surprise he was using it. It was seriously impressive and he reckoned at least 30-40% of his set was off the cuff. Kinda curious to learn more about it, if anyone has any feedback on it.

  On 8/24/2015 at 6:25 PM, b born droid said:

It's been a couple years now, so is anyone using Mainstage for live stuff? Went to see my buddy play last night and to my surprise he was using it. It was seriously impressive and he reckoned at least 30-40% of his set was off the cuff. Kinda curious to learn more about it, if anyone has any feedback on it.

I'm still using Logic 9. In addition I'm using midi notes on the timeline, routed out of Logic and into Resolume now to trigger visuals. I still don't think I could do any of what I need in Mainstage. I am considering moving over to Reaper though - as it can do the same as Logic with a smaller memory footprint, plus you can open and navigate easier between multiple projects. It's what Tycho swears by anyway. Depends what you need to do I guess...