You can add instruments to software instrument channel strips and add effects to any channel strip in the Channel Strips area. You edit channel strip parameters in the Channel Strip Inspector, which appears below the workspace when the channel strip is selected in the Channel Strips area. You can set the key range and velocity offset, create a controller transform, and filter MIDI control messages to the channel strip. You can also rename the channel strip and change the channel strip color and icon. The four tabs of the Channel Strip Inspector provide the following functions:
Channel Strip Library and Plug-In Library: With a channel strip selected, you can select channel strip settings from the Channel Strip Library. With an Insert slot selected, you can select settings for the plug-in from the Plug-in Library.
Attributes: You can rename the channel strip and select a different channel strip color and icon.
MIDI Input: You can create controller transforms in the MIDI Input tab. For software instrument and external instrument channel strips, you can also choose the MIDI input device, filter MIDI input, transpose the instrument, and create velocity scaling graphs.
Layer Editor: For software instrument and external instrument channel strips, you can define the key range, set floating split points, and set the minimum and maximum velocity for the channel strip.
Using the Channel Strip Library you can access any available channel strip. Some channel strips, however, include plug-ins (particularly Space Designer) not suited for live performance because of their intensive CPU usage. Using these channel strips can affect the performance of your concert, resulting in audio dropouts and other issues.
Surround effect plug-ins cannot be used with MainStage. If you choose a channel strip setting containing a surround effect, the unused effects are shown disabled (gray, with a diagonal line running through the effect name).