# Dorico 4, Apple Mainstage and Logic Pro X



## ssnowe (Jan 25, 2022)

Been using Apple MainStage 3 with Dorico 4, sort of like an inexpensive VEPro.

For $29.99 you get the complete Logic sound set (some nice stuff in there) as well as Logics ability to run Rosetta and non Rosetta plug-ins at the same time.

Using Apple Midi IAC you can create multiple IAC ports and then define multiple keyboards in MainStage each talking to a different port. Each MainStage keyboard provides up to 16 midi channels. You can also layer multiple sounds with a specific keyboard. In Dorico you assign your instrument to one of the IAC ports and you are good to go.

Nice thing about this is that you avoid the extended start-up time that Dorico has when loading large sound sets. Simply set up your instruments in MainStage, leave MainStage running, link to the MainStage IAC's via the Midi Instrument connector in the Dorico VST Rack, then assign your instrument(s) to MainStage.

The other nice thing is that you are essentially duplicating how Logic works with its sound and plug-ins so you get a lot of synergy if you use Logic and Dorico.

You also get full use of the MainStage mixer and effects plug-in (provides a lot of choice in terms of mixing). Personally enjoying this, have it all running on an M1 Macbook Pro and it works well.


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## Saxer (Jan 25, 2022)

Cool idea!


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## richhickey (Jan 26, 2022)

ssnowe said:


> Been using Apple MainStage 3 with Dorico 4, sort of like an inexpensive VEPro.
> 
> The other nice thing is that you are essentially duplicating how Logic works with its sound and plug-ins so you get a lot of synergy if you use Logic and Dorico.
> 
> You also get full use of the MainStage mixer and effects plug-in (provides a lot of choice in terms of mixing). Personally enjoying this, have it all running on an M1 Macbook Pro and it works well.


A key advantage of this _over_ VEP is that MainStage hosts MidiFX (like BlueCat's Plug'n Script) and includes Apple's Scripter plugin that lets you write Midi transformation scripts in JavaScript.

Midi FX scripts are a powerful way to augment or simplify expression maps. It's often way easier to accomplish something in a script vs an expression map.

Every VI host should include Midi FX inserts, but VSL hasn't added them to VEP (even though VSL's own instruments often need the most script support given their complex control scheme, in my experience)


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## ssnowe (Jan 26, 2022)

Need to try the midiFx plugins, sounds interesting.

One thing that got me with Dorico right away is I had to turn off IAC port midi input in the Dorico midi preference settings or I got a nasty feedback loop where I was outputting midi to IAC and then getting it fed right back into Dorico. Not a mistake you make twice.


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## benwiggy (Jan 27, 2022)

I bought MainStage years ago, but I've never really understood it. If I already have Logic, is there any reason why I couldn't do the same with that?


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## ssnowe (Jan 27, 2022)

benwiggy said:


> I bought MainStage years ago, but I've never really understood it. If I already have Logic, is there any reason why I couldn't do the same with that?


Maybe logic could do it but it would probably be an exercise in frustration. Mainstage was built as a midi based instrument rack, and I really hate this old Apple saying but "it just works".


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## Antkn33 (Jan 27, 2022)

benwiggy said:


> I bought MainStage years ago, but I've never really understood it. If I already have Logic, is there any reason why I couldn't do the same with that?


Yes you can. There was a post on the Dorico forum about doing that. Essentially the same way.


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## benwiggy (Jan 28, 2022)

It seems to suggest that there's a bug in Logic, so that it "compresses all the input MIDI to one channel". Is this still the case?

I'd be very interested in seeing some walk-throughs or descriptions of the process.


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## Antkn33 (Jan 28, 2022)

HowTo: Use Logic playback engine with BBCSO


Hello, Unfortunately the BBCSO at least is too buggy right now in Dorico, I’ve been getting lots of crashes, hangs and other oddities. Fortunately, while we wait for Live Link Integration with Cubase, you can set up Logic as a playback engine without too much trouble. Even better I believe we...




forums.steinberg.net


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## Kalli (Jan 29, 2022)

benwiggy said:


> It seems to suggest that there's a bug in Logic, so that it "compresses all the input MIDI to one channel". Is this still the case?


I tried it the other day in Logic Pro 10.7.2 and, unfortunately, this is still the case. It _should_ be possible to easily assign ports/channels to instruments in the track inspector, but instead you have to go through a convoluted setup process using channel splitters in the MIDI environment. I guess this is fine if you have a static template and always use the same library for each instrument. But if you want some flexibility and try different libraries it's too cumbersome in my opinion.


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## ssnowe (Feb 27, 2022)

Kalli said:


> I tried it the other day in Logic Pro 10.7.2 and, unfortunately, this is still the case. It _should_ be possible to easily assign ports/channels to instruments in the track inspector, but instead you have to go through a convoluted setup process using channel splitters in the MIDI environment. I guess this is fine if you have a static template and always use the same library for each instrument. But if you want some flexibility and try different libraries it's too cumbersome in my opinion.


Using Logic Pro 10.7.2, it is a relatively quick process to assign multiple ports and channels from Dorico to each Logic Pro X instrument track.

In Logic, select a track, go to TRACK INSPECTOR and then go down to the TRACK dropdown. In the TRACK dropdown you can specify MIDI In Port (i.e. IAC1, IAC2, IAC3, etc.) and MIDI In Channel on the specified MIDI In port.

Each MIDI In Port has 16 MIDI In channels and can be set to listen to a given channel (i.e.1) or listen to ALL channels on the port.

If you require more than 16 channels you will need more than one port. MIDI Ports can be added in the Apple AUDIO MIDI SETUP tool by double clicking on IAC Driver and then add one or more new named Ports.

In Dorico Play mode add the appropriate IAC MIDI ports in the VST Rack. Then go to each Dorico instrument and assign the instrument to the appropriate IAC MIDI port/midi channel in the Play mode Inspector Routing tab.

Following this technique you can assign any number of Dorico instruments to any number of Logic Pro X instruments and you will also have the full capability of Logic Pro available to you.


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## Kalli (Feb 28, 2022)

ssnowe said:


> Using Logic Pro 10.7.2, it is a relatively quick process to assign multiple ports and channels from Dorico to each Logic Pro X instrument track.
> 
> In Logic, select a track, go to TRACK INSPECTOR and then go down to the TRACK dropdown. In the TRACK dropdown you can specify MIDI In Port (i.e. IAC1, IAC2, IAC3, etc.) and MIDI In Channel on the specified MIDI In port.
> 
> ...


Yeah, this is how it is _supposed_ to work, but unfortunately it doesn’t on my setup. Have you been able to get this to actually work with the latest Logic version? There seems to be a bug where multiple MIDI channels don’t split up properly.


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## ssnowe (Feb 28, 2022)

Kalli said:


> Yeah, this is how it is _supposed_ to work, but unfortunately it doesn’t on my setup. Have you been able to get this to actually work with the latest Logic version? There seems to be a bug where multiple MIDI channels don’t split up properly.


I’m using it on a m1 Macbook Pro, latest version of Logic and Dorico 4 and everything appears to work properly. I’ve not seen any issues with multiple midi channels or multiple ports. I will test it further to see if anything doesn’t work but it looks like it performs just as it should.


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## Kalli (Mar 1, 2022)

ssnowe said:


> I’m using it on a m1 Macbook Pro, latest version of Logic and Dorico 4 and everything appears to work properly. I’ve not seen any issues with multiple midi channels or multiple ports. I will test it further to see if anything doesn’t work but it looks like it performs just as it should.


That’s good news. Do let us know if your tests show any issues. Which OS are you on? I’m on Big Sur.


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## ssnowe (Mar 1, 2022)

I'm on Big Sur, no real plans to move to Monterey at the moment


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