Vst Host For Live Performance Mac

Sound as great on stage
as you do in the studio.

Turn your Mac into a live rig. Transform your keyboard, guitar, or vocal performance with an enormous collection of plug-ins and sounds.
And give your audience a show they’ll never forget.

LiveProfessor is a live oriented plugin host for Windows and OSX. LiveProfessor makes it easy to create a powerful, portable and flexible effect rack using VST or AU plugins. The software was developed in close collaboration with experienced audio professionals from live sound, theatre and broadcast, and is now used all over the world. This encapsulates a VST effect, as loaded by the VST host. This class isn't fully complete - since I don't have a Mac, I've only included the Windows code. If a kind MacIntosh programmer could fill out the few Mac-specific sections and send it to me it would be great and, of course, publicized here!

MainStage has something for every kind of performer. You can use all your favorite instrument and effect plug-ins from Logic Pro. Simplify setup and teardown. Sound as big as you want with backing tracks. And use all your favorite hardware controllers.

Keyboardists.
Your dream gig awaits.

Take your performance beyond what you can actually perform. The Arpeggiator features note-based remote controls and flexible latch modes. And Chord Trigger allows you to press a single note and have it trigger an entire complex chord. Use Retro Synth to re-create your favorite electronic sounds from the ’70s and ’80s with an intuitive set of controls. Or bring the authentic sounds of a Hammond B3 organ, Hohner Clavinet D6, or Fender Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric pianos on stage.

MainStage is not only an amazing host for software instruments and effects, it’s also packed with innovations that let you shine on stage. For starters, there’s the Floating Split Point. It intelligently moves the split point on a split keyboard Patch to respond to what you’re playing. Start walking a bass line up the keyboard, and the split point moves up so the bass doesn’t suddenly become some other sound when you get into the higher notes.

With Multimapping, you can map multiple parameters to a single control, so you can smoothly manipulate your sound without trying to turn several knobs at once. And seamless Patch switching lets you hold a chord in one sound while moving to a new Patch.

Alchemy. One monster synth.

Alchemy brings epic sound that rivals the best hardware keyboards to the stage — with a massive collection of presets and real-time morphing controls at your fingertips. Whether you need to play re-creations of vintage analog synths or ultramodern sampled instruments, you’ll find inspiring sounds no matter what kind of music you perform.

Guitarists.
Get virtually any sound, with virtually no gear.

Thanks to MainStage, you can play live with all the great tones from Amp Designer, Bass Amp Designer, and Pedalboard, along with any of your favorite Audio Units guitar effects. You also get a full-screen tuner, foot-controlled tap tempo, and stompbox graphics that change with each Patch to represent the different Pedalboard stompboxes you’re using. Seamless Patch switching lets notes and chords trail off naturally when you switch Patches. And MainStage supports a wide range of popular MIDI foot controllers, which lets you operate the Pedalboard, wah, rotary speaker effects, or any other effect plug-ins — hands-free.

Vocalists.
Do it all — and keep right on singing.

MainStage lets you stay focused on your performance. Keep your hands free by using foot pedals to control the effects you add to your voice. And display large, high-contrast notes such as lyrics and chord changes on your screen. So all you have to think about is singing.

Love the sound you got on your recording? MainStage makes it easy to bring all the same instruments and effects to the stage. Everything from the Sound Library and Smart Controls you’re familiar with from Logic Pro is integrated into MainStage. You can even expand your show with prerecorded backing tracks. You’ll also find setup is easy with a powerful mixer and easy-to-use channel strips. With Mac as the core of your live rig, setup is faster, teardown is faster, and everything in between is more reliable. And you can easily use your favorite hardware to control every nuance of your performance.

Knobs, faders, and
switches you can’t miss.

The MainStage and Smart Controls interface is designed especially for live performance. You get a full-screen, high-contrast, and high-resolution (Retina display–supported) view of your controls, so they stand out from across the stage. And you can set things up so each control is linked to a different parameter in each Patch. With just the controls you need onscreen for your song, you'll never have to hunt for the right knob.

Amazingly simple setup.

With MainStage, setting up your stage rig is faster than ever. Start by choosing from a complete range of performance templates, many of them preloaded with great-sounding Patches. Or look to the Patch Library to find a Patch or sound ready to be tweaked to perfection. The Patch Library also gives you access to all your Patches from Logic Pro. And if you ever need to perform with a different Mac, you don’t have to rebuild everything. Just save your live set as a project and MainStage puts all the necessary files into a single folder you can take with you anywhere.

Use your favorite hardware.

MainStage supports your addiction to knobs, buttons, and faders. It can connect with just about any external MIDI device on the planet. And the interface is simplicity itself. Just assign a physical control to an onscreen control, and it’s connected forever (or until you change your mind). No more assigning knobs over and over for each preset. And down the road, if your hardware fails when you’re about to go on stage, it’s quick and easy to swap it out.

MainStage also features pickup modes that make fixed controller knobs behave more like the endless encoder knobs found on high-end gear. If your control surface can receive status information from software, MainStage will send MIDI messages to keep your control displays in perfect sync.

Capture your performance.

MainStage lets you record any audio signal passing through. Just route all of your audio to a designated stereo output and choose your file format — standard AIFF, WAV, or even Apple CAF for recording performances of almost any length.

Vst Host For Live Performance Macbook Pro

MainStage turns your Mac into a musical instrument, voice processor, or guitar rig, so you can get studio-level sound on stage — without all the extra equipment. MainStage gives you an easy-to-understand view of your sounds with a customizable layout that displays exactly what you need for your live performance, minus the clutter of dozens of plug-ins and small mouse-operated controls. You can use the knobs on your keyboard to remote control the sounds in MainStage — so your performances can be faster, smoother, and easier.

Edit your sounds
quickly and easily.

Creating sounds with your Mac is so much simpler than relying on all kinds of external gear. Instead of squinting at tiny hardware displays, you get a bright, full-screen view that makes everything easy to tweak. You can also combine any sounds you like — even software and hardware sounds — in one Patch.

When it’s time to put those sounds to work, MainStage gives you tons of options. Multimapping allows one knob to control multiple plug-in parameters, so you can dramatically change your sound with the turn of a single knob. And the Patch List editor gives you the flexibility to rearrange or skip Patches as your set list evolves.

The Assignments & Mappings view shows all your hardware and screen control connections at a glance. And features in the Mixer make it easier to open, close, bypass, or reorder plug-ins. No need to reach for a modifier key.

Auto sampling. More
instruments, made simple.

Auto Sampler quickly and easily transforms your hardware synths into sampled instruments that you can play from your Mac. Your keyboard rig just got a whole lot simpler to set up and manage.

Smart, fast, efficient
use of your Mac.

We redesigned and improved our most popular plug-in — the EXS24 Sampler — and renamed it Sampler. The single-window design is backward compatible with all EXS24 files, making it easier than ever to perform with sampler instruments. An expanded synthesis section with sound-shaping controls brings more depth and dynamics to your instruments, while the reimagined mapping editor adds powerful, time-saving features. Use the zone waveform editor for precise editing of sample start/end, loop ranges, and crossfades. And instantly build sophisticated instruments using new drag-and-drop hot zones.

Customize your layout.

Grouped Controls let you drag and drop entire sets of knobs, buttons, faders, meters, and more into your layout. From there, you can easily customize the number, type, size, and color of all your controls. You can even decide what each control does for each Patch. Alignment guides snap everything into place. And Lift and Stamp features let you quickly copy characteristics from one layout and apply them to another. You can save parts of your layouts as Grouped Controls and reuse them in other layouts. And put your Patches in any order and change them on a whim. With support for Smart Controls, your layout will adapt to the Patch that’s loaded. Synths look like synths and Vintage B3 Patches bring up organ drawbars.

Control it all.

MainStage features MIDI-out support. That means everything you need perform is right on your Mac, giving you total control. Each Patch works as a self-contained audio mixer and router, so you can have total control over each sound. One minute you can be playing heavily distorted guitar with a full backing band. And the next you can be creating bass loops with an external synth against an Ultrabeat drum pattern.

macOS 10.15.5 or higher

6GB available storage space for minimum install / 72GB storage space for full Sound Library installation

MainStage

Available from the MacApp Store for $29.99.

Education Bundle

Five amazing apps. One powerful collection.

The 8 Best VST Hosts for Live Performance: via LANDR Blog

VSTs revolutionized mixing music.

Instruments and effects that used to cost thousands became accessible to every musician with a computer.

If you produce music in a DAW, VSTs are probably a key part of your workflow.

But sometimes you want to use your plugins without launching a full fledged DAW. Maybe you just want your jam with your virtual synths, or play live with a VST rig on stage.

Vst Host App

To run VSTs without the extra functionality of a DAW you’ll need a VST host.

In this article I’ll go through the 8 best VST host apps available today.

What is a VST host?

A VST host is a software program that can load VST instruments or effects plugins. A VST host can be a DAW or a dedicated software program just for running VSTs.

While a traditional DAW can be used for live performance, many musicians prefer the stability and ease of use that comes with dedicated VST hosts.

These purpose-built software programs don’t need the extra features and functionality of full recording apps.

That makes them simpler and more efficient for your computer to run.

Even if you’re just playing through a handful of instruments or effects, a VST host can help when a standalone version of the plugin doesn’t exist.

The 10 best VST hosts

With the basics out of the way, here are the 10 best VST hosts available today.

1. Apple Mainstage

Apple’s Mainstage is one of the most well-known VST hosts for live performance.

It includes many of the respected plugins, presets and effects from Apple’s flagship DAW app Logic Pro X.

Built specifically with live shows in mind, Mainstage has many impressive features for performers.

Guitarists will love the virtual pedalboards and amp rigs that come complete with tuner, tap tempo and spillover features.

And keyboardists can take advantage of the excellent built-in emulations of classics the Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes, Hohner Pianet and more.

Unfortunately, like all Apple software, Mainstage is only available on Mac OS X. But if you’re a Mac user looking to play VSTs live, Mainstage is probably your first option to try.

2. Topten Cantabile

Topten Cantabile is a high performance VST host that’s tailor-made for live playing.

With robust MIDI routing and impressive real-time features, Cantabile is an excellent choice for using VSTs on stage.

Cantabile was purpose-built for the stage, so it’s among the most stable and efficient hosts you can find.

If you’re a keyboard player looking to ditch a heavy hardware rig for simple laptop setup, Cantabile could be your best choice.

It comes in three editions, including a free tier with Cantabile Lite.

Unfortunately, Cantabile is Windows-only, so you’ll have to choose another option if you want to turn your MacBook into the ultimate plug-in based synthesizer.

3. Your DAW

Any application that can run VSTs is a VST host.

That means your DAW is a perfectly good option for playing VSTs live.

Any application that can run VSTs is a VST host. That means your DAW is a perfectly good option for playing VSTs live.

DAWs are more complex than basic VST hosts, so your system will naturally have to do a bit more to keep the gig running.

But there are some upsides to using a DAW as a live VST host. You won’t have to learn a new program to be able to build your stage setup.

And you can easily translate your projects from tracking and mixing to live performance.

Some DAWs are lightweight enough that they’re well suited for live performance. For example, Ableton…Live is often used as a performance DAW.

4. Audiostrom LiveProfessor 2

Audiostrom LiveProfessor 2 is another feature-rich option for live VST use.

It features impressive preset capabilities, performance-oriented cue lists, flexible signal chains and impressive hardware control.

LiveProfessor 2 was developed in collaboration with industry professionals to create an app rugged enough for live use.

It’s popular among front-of-house engineers for mixing live sets with VST plugins.

5. Niall Moody Pedalboard 2

Niall Moody Pedalboard 2 is a simple and effective VST host that’s designed to work just like a guitarist’s pedalboard.

Set your I/O, load your VSTs and patch between them to create a pedalboard-style signal flow.

The best part? Pedalboard 2 is free, lightweight and easy to use.

If you’re looking to chain together a few virtual stompboxes and amp simulators in a digital guitar rig, Pedalboard 2 is a great choice.

6. Hermann Seib VSTHost

VSTHost is a simple but effective hosting app created by independent developer Hermann Seib.

The project started as a plugin testing platform but became popular among keyboardists for playing live in the early days of VSTs.

It’s still a great choice for a simple and effective VST host.

VSTHost lets you load plugins, edit them, send MIDI and save your setups to recall later.

7. Kushview Element

Kushview Element is a modular plugin host that can run VST and AU instruments in flexible configuration.

Its unique matrix style patchbay and graphical editor lets you draw in complex effects racks and signal chains with ease.

If you’ve ever tried to use your plugins in a live performance, you’ll know the challenges that can arise.

Element features easy integration with hardware controllers and easy external sync to MIDI clock sources.

It’s also free and open-source for you to experiment with and shape to your needs.

Vst Host For Live Performance Machine Learning

8. Tone2 NanoHost

Tone2 NanoHost is the most lightweight VST host on this list—in fact it’s barely a host at all.

NanoHost acts as a wrapper to turn a VST plugin into a standalone application.

If your favourite VST instrument doesn’t come bundled with a standalone app, NanoHost will do the job—for Windows users only.

It’s perfect for those who just want to boot up a single VST without the hassle of a complicated program.

Play VSTs live

VST hosts may seem like an extremely specific type of software, but they fulfill an important purpose.