Studio Strings overview in MainStage

Studio Strings provides a collection of highly expressive single and section stringed instruments. It has a simple, clean interface, with all main controls at hand. Additional controls enable you to customize Studio Strings to match your preferences and to work best with your controllers. See Studio Strings extended parameters.

Studio Strings instruments feature a large collection of samples that cover different playing styles, such as sustain, staccato, or falls. These playing styles, called articulations, are chosen in the plug-in header. You can also switch articulations remotely with keyswitches.

Default section and single instrument keyswitches are covered in Studio Strings keyswitch mapping.

If you're new to using plug-ins in MainStage, see Add and remove plug-ins in MainStage.

Figure. Studio Strings window, showing the String Ensemble section.

Studio Strings parameters

Preset pop-up menu: Choose a solo or section instrument.
You can use MIDI channel events to control section instruments. If you want to play specific instruments in a section, you can send MIDI messages on their respective channels, then add a list of channel assignments. See Studio instruments section MIDI channels.
Monophonic button: Turn on monophonic mode for solo instruments.
Auto Voice Split button: When on, chords played on the keyboard are automatically assigned to different instruments or instrument groups, or “voices” in the section.
Depending on the size and type of section, a voice can consist of one or multiple instruments. This mimics the distribution of notes (voicings) among players, based on what instrument group is best suited to a particular note range, for example. See Studio Strings extended parameters for details about additional Auto Voice Split functions.
Note: When Auto Voice Split is off, String sections are split by key ranges, with each string instrument within the section spanning a specific key range, and no layered instruments.
Dynamics via CC button: Turn on to enable control of an instrument’s dynamics (soft-loud) and timbre in real time. Additional dynamic control and mapping functions are available in the extended parameters.
Last Played Articulation field: Displays the most recently used articulation. This may be different to the articulation shown in the plug-in header.
Cutoff knob: Set the cutoff frequency of the sound.
Resonance knob: Set the amount of cut or boost of the frequency range surrounding the defined cutoff frequency.
Volume knob: Set the output level of the instrument.
Attack knob: Set the amount of time it takes for the instrument to fade in, following a MIDI note on message.
Release knob: Set the amount of time it takes for the instrument to fade out, following a MIDI note off message.

Choose a section or single instrument

In MainStage, click the Preset pop-up menu to open a window that shows available presets, then click or double-click a section or a single instrument icon to load the sound.
Click outside the window to close it.

Use advanced articulation features

Studio Strings provides several articulations for falls. These can be played on your keyboard like any other articulation. String players often attach a fall directly to a note end, so the fall happens with no gap after the previous note. Studio Strings features a special mode which allows you to smoothly connect a fall articulation to the previous note at any position “on-the-fly”, as a real musician would play it.

In MainStage, to create a smooth fall, add a second (Fall articulation) note of the same pitch directly following any note. There should be no, or a minimal, gap from the previous note.
Note: Velocity of the Fall note can be different to the previous note. You can also vary the length of the Fall note. This allows you to create very subtle falls at the end of any note.
To perform falls live on a keyboard, you can use the predefined keyswitches for Falls. These operate in Trigger mode, which automatically creates the Fall event and places it immediately after the previous note. Try this by holding a note with a Sustain articulation. While the note is playing, press the keyswitch for the Fall Long articulation. The sustained note is then stopped with a long fall.

Download the guides:

MainStage User Guide: Apple Books | PDF

MainStage Instruments: Apple Books | PDF

MainStage Effects: Apple Books | PDF

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