Sets are like folders that let you organize patches you want to keep together. Using sets, you can organize patches in any manner. For example, you can put all the patches you want to use in the first part of a performance together or keep all your lead synth patches together. Sets are flexible, so you can use them in whatever way suits your method of working.
Here are some different ways you can use sets:
To group similar or related sounds into “banks”
To keep multiple patches you’ll use in a single song together
To share a set-level instrument or channel strip between a group of songs
You can create a new, empty set or create a set from a group of selected patches.
Choose New Set from the Action menu in the upper-right corner of the Patch List.
A new set appears in the Patch List.
In the Patch List, select the patches you want to include in the new set.
Choose New Set From Selection from the Action menu at the upper-right corner of the Patch List.
The new set appears in the Patch List containing the selected patches. You can add new patches to the set or drag existing patches into the set.
When you create a set, it is given a default name. You can rename a set in the same way you rename a patch in the Patch List.
Double-click the set in the Patch List.
A text field appears around the set name, which is selected.
Type a new name in the set name field.
You can set the time signature for a set. Time signatures can be used with the Playback plug-in and also affect the beats of the metronome. When you set the time signature for a set, it overrides the concert-level time signature (if one is set).
In the Set Inspector, select the Has Time Signature checkbox.
Double-click the number in the field to the right, and enter the number of beats for one measure of the time signature.
Choose the beat value from the pop-up menu to the right.
You can give a set its own tempo setting so that when you select the set, the tempo changes to the set tempo setting. MainStage uses the new tempo until you select another patch or set with its own tempo setting, tap a new tempo, or until MainStage receives tempo information from incoming MIDI messages. For more information about using and changing tempo in MainStage, see Using Tempo in a MainStage Concert.
In the Patch List, select the set.
In the Set Inspector, set the set tempo using the “Change Tempo to” value slider.
Select the “Change Tempo to” checkbox to activate the set tempo when the set is selected.
By default, new sets (and most existing ones) use the same tuning method as the concert. You can change the tuning for a set so that it uses a different tuning. When you change the tuning method for a set, the patches in the set use the set-level tuning unless you change the tuning at the patch level.
In the Set Inspector, select the Tuning tab.
Choose the tuning you want the set to use from the Method pop-up menu.
If a software instrument channel strip exists at the concert level, the concert-level channel strip takes precedence over any set-level software instrument channel strips within its key range. This means that when you play any notes in the key range of the concert-level channel strip on a keyboard controller, you hear only the concert-level channel strip, even when a patch is selected in a set with a set-level channel strip.
You can override the concert-level channel strip for a channel strip at the set level so that the set-level channel strip takes precedence over the concert-level one.
In the Patch List, select the set with the channel strip that you want to override the concert-level channel strip.
In the Channel Strips area, select the channel strip with the key range that you want to override the concert-level key range.
Select the “Override parent ranges” checkbox.
You can delete a set if you decide you no longer want it in the concert.
Select the set in the Patch List.
Choose Edit > Delete (or press the Delete key).
When you delete a set, the patches in the set are also deleted. To delete the set without deleting the patches, move the patches outside the set before you delete it.