Mainstage 2 for Live Gigs ---- HELP!! ---

[prejon19]

I'm a pianist who has stumbled across the world of VST's.

 

I want to use Mainstage 2 with my studiologic vkm 161, I'll only be using logic's plugins (namely EVB3 and EVD6).

 

I am running:

 

Macbook unibody 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 RAM, nVidia 9400M

 

From what I gather, I don't want to run directly out from my headphone jack to a DI box, but rather I should get an audio interface.

 

I guess my question is why? Whats my solution for best sound quality, I don't need 12 inputs or anything..

 

Also does an interface reduce latency?

 

Is the chain controller - interface - computer/softsynth - interface - mixer/DI?

 

Or controller - computer - interface - mixer/DI?

 

I've been trying to find these answers online but obviously I'm not looking in the right places because somebody must have this answer up somewhere.

 

Anyway thanks for any time you can spare to help me out,

 

any words of wisdom would be most appreciated.

[Craig Vecchione]

If you intend to be in stereo (which seems best for keys rigs) you'd need two DI's, so it's probably easier to use an interface like M-Audio's Fast Track Pro, which already has balanced as well as unbalanced outputs. This makes it easy to hook into the stage box balanced, and to your personal stage monitor unbalanced.

 

 

With an I/O box like this, your former signal chain is correct.

 

Latency is always going to be an issue to some extent. I don't think this unit would add appreciably to it. It does advertise zero-latency monitoring capability when used to monitor for recording, but that's separate from the total signal chain you'd be using.

[RoadRanger]

From what I gather, I don't want to run directly out from my headphone jack to a DI box, but rather I should get an audio interface.

There's no problem with that - in fact you don't even need the the DI's if you are mixing from the stage. I have used a laptop for background music running directly from the headphone jack to the mixer.