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Touch Bar shortcuts in MainStage

If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can use gestures to select and play patches, turn on and off the Tuner or the metronome, switch between modes, activate key commands, and quickly perform other tasks. The controls in the main area of the Touch Bar (to the left of the Control Strip) change depending on what mode you are using and what is selected in the app. In addition, most of the Touch Bar controls can be customized using the Customize Touch Bar window.

For more information about the Control Strip, see MacBook Pro Essentials. To learn more about the Touch Bar, see the macOS User Guide Use the Touch Bar on Mac.

Primary Touch Bar shortcuts

These shortcuts appear in the Touch Bar when you open MainStage.

Icon	Name	Description
	Toolbar	Switches to the Toolbar screen.
	Layout	Switches MainStage to Layout mode.
	Edit	Switches MainStage to Edit mode.
	Perform	Switches MainStage to Perform in Window.
	Tuner	Turns the Tuner on or off, if there is an audio channel strip with an assigned input in the current patch.
	Panic	Immediately silences any hanging MIDI notes.
	Play/Stop	Starts or stops playback at the current transport position.
	Metronome	Starts or stops the metronome.
	Master Mute	Mutes or unmutes all sound.

Toolbar shortcuts

When you tap the Toolbar button , the following controls appear in the Touch Bar:

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Returns you to the Primary screen.
	Toolbar	Returns you to the Primary screen.
	Select Screen	Shows additional Touch Bar commands for the selected MainStage mode.
	Key Commands	Switches to the Key Commands screen.
	Keyboard	Switches to the Keyboard screen.

Layout mode shortcuts

When MainStage is in Layout mode, if you tap the Select Screen button , the following dynamic controls appear in the Touch Bar.

Note: To switch between buttons in the same position of the Touch Bar, press Control.

Icon	Name	Description
	Select Screen	Returns you to the Toolbar screen.
	Group/Ungroup	Groups and ungroups selected screen controls.
	Lift/Stamp	Lifts or stamps parameters from the selected screen controls.
	Align Left	Aligns the left edges of selected screen controls.
	Align Horizontal Center/Distribute Centers Horizontally	Aligns the horizontal centers or distributes the centers horizontally of selected screen controls.
	Align Right/Distribute Spacing Horizontally	Aligns the right edges or distributes the spacing horizontally of selected screen controls.
	Align Top/Distribute Centers Vertically	Aligns the top edges or distributes the centers vertically of selected screen controls.
	Align Vertical Centers/Distribute Spacing Vertically	Aligns the vertical centers or distributes the spacing vertically of selected screen controls.
	Align Bottom	Aligns the bottom edges of selected screen controls.

For information on how to customize the buttons on this bar, see Customize the Touch Bar in MainStage.

Edit mode shortcuts

When MainStage is in Edit mode, if you tap the Select Screen button , the following controls appear in the Touch Bar:

Icon	Name	Description
	Select Screen	Returns you to the Toolbar screen.
	Show/Hide Workspace	Shows or hides the Workspace area.
	Show/Hide Plug-ins	Shows or hides any open or previously opened plug-in windows.
	Workspace/Assignments & Mappings	Toggles the Workspace between the Workspace and Assignments & Mappings tabs.
	Tap Tempo	Tap this button rhythmically to set MainStage’s clock.
	Panic	Immediately silences any hanging MIDI notes.
	Master Mute	Mutes or unmutes all sound.

For information on how to customize the buttons on this bar, see Customize the Touch Bar in MainStage.

Perform mode shortcuts

When MainStage is in Perform mode, if you tap the Select Screen button , the following controls appear in the Touch Bar:

Icon	Name	Description
	Select Screen	Returns you to the Toolbar screen.
	Previous Set	Selects the previous set.
	Next Set	Selects the next set.
	Previous Patch	Selects the previous patch.
	Next Patch	Selects the next patch.
	Tuner	Turns the Tuner on or off, if there is an audio channel strip with an assigned input in the current patch.
	Metronome	Starts or stops the metronome.
	Panic	Immediately silences any hanging MIDI notes.
	Master Mute	Mutes or unmutes all sound.

For information on how to customize the buttons on this bar, see Customize the Touch Bar in MainStage.

Key Commands shortcuts

When you tap the Key Commands button , the following controls appear in the Touch Bar:

Icon	Name	Description
	Key Commands	Returns you to the Primary screen.
	Save	Saves current concert.
	Previous Patch	Selects the previous patch.
	Next Patch	Selects the next patch.
	Previous Set	Selects the previous set.
	Next Set	Selects the next set.
	Play/Stop	Starts or stops playback at the current transport position.
	Panic	Immediately silences any hanging MIDI notes.
	Master Mute	Mutes or unmutes all sound.

For information on how to customize the buttons on this bar, see Customize the Touch Bar in MainStage.

Keyboard controls

When you tap the Keyboard button , you can use the Touch Bar to play a software instrument on the selected software instrument track.

Tap the keys on the Touch Bar keyboard to play notes.
To adjust the octave range of the Touch Bar keyboard, tap one of the Keyboard Octave buttons to the left of the Touch Bar keyboard.
To limit notes to a musical scale: Tap the Scale button, then tap to select the root note and the mode.
Tap the Close button to return to the previous Touch Bar screen.

Download the guides:

MainStage User Guide: PDF

MainStage Instruments: PDF

MainStage Effects: PDF

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