Initially I thought this was going to be a tutorial on the "Playback" software instrument. It turned out to be so much more! I would of never even thought of using EXS24 to trigger songs! Good idea!

I have only looked at this tutorial briefly but it looks great. I wish I had more time to spend with these tutorials as they are very valuable. That's why I purchased them. For me it was a better deal, being able to work with them at my own pace and available time rather and the stress of a monthly subscription. Keep up the good work.

If you are just getting into the program Mainstage you must purchase the tutorial MAINSTAGE 101: Core Mainstage by Bill Burgess. I was in crunch time preparing for a live gig (my first in years after being a studio mole). I was faced with having to perform multiple patch changes for a set of over 20 songs (many requiring multiple patch changes) and having very little time left to set this up before the live show. This tutorial saved my gig! Literally overnight I had a strong hold on Mainstage. I had been hesitant about performing live with softsynths until I learned how to use Mainstage. This video taught me to use two controller keyboards and a Macbook to run my whole show. After a successful gig I'm now planning to purchase Logic 9 which includes Mainstage 2 with many new great features. Never fear because Bill Burgess has tackled the tutorial for this as well... Thanks Bill, you are a lifesaver! - Bill Rebsamen

I'm seven lessons into Mainstage Core and feel it's really helping me understand a complex and wonderful piece of software. I was first introduced to it while playing live keyboards for a touring musical. At the time I was very impressed with Mainstage. Though I had nothing to do with programming the setup, as a first time user Mainstage was extremely user friendly. Beginning the lessons yesterday, I was able to follow Bill Burgess every step of the way. He's not only very informative, but also quite funny. With his help I've learned some basics that would have been very difficult without his visual and audio tutorial. My goal is to learn as much as I can about Mainstage so that I can program keyboard patch changes for live performances of musical theater. With his help I'm confident I'll be able to achieve that goal. Thanks Bill!

Bill Burgess is not only extremely knowledgeable, but he's hilarious! Our band now uses MainStage at every gig.

Bill does an amazing job of keeping this tutorial informative and fun. Worth every penny. Videos #13 through #15 crack me up everytime! I now feel like I'll be able to use mainstage for my sets instead of Ableton Live. Thanks guys, keep it up! Now if I can just get my MicroKontrol to not play notes when I hit the drum pads, I'll be in heaven!

Bill did a fantastic job explaining the ins and outs of this app. Part of using mainstage _is_ unfortunately troubleshooting it as you go, and this video gives great insight into troubleshooting 'on the fly'. I found the authors wit/sense of humor particularly entertaining especially while learning this sometimes frustrating app. those of us who use mainstage live and spend time loving it and 'suffering'(you know) with it will benefit from many of the details bill offers while teaching this course. as with many complex apps(like logic, live, et al), much of the important-detail/tip/trick/key command learning happens while learning a completely unrelated topic, so watch the entire series! highly recommend even to experienced users.

These tutorials were outstanding! Bill took mainstage apart and explained it piece by piece. Plus he had me laughing my arse off on several occasions. Certainly keeps the education process entertaining. My hat goes off to MPV and Mr. Burgess. Keep this stuff coming!

great tutorial. hope to see a part two in the near future!

Excellent Tutorial. Mr. Burgess really did his homework on this one and puts out an outstanding fully in-depth tutorial that really opens up this brand new mysterious program. I highly recommend this to every performer who has to plug in an instrument or use a mic. The tutorial goes way beyond what is in the manual. In a way I think the manual was thrown together without much thought which is why I never bothered to really mess around with MainStage. This answers many questions I had, and even gave solutions I never though possible (using Soundflower to route Logic into MS). To top it all off Mr. Burgess is a fantastic teacher with a dry sense of humor and a rough edge to his method who was as entertaining as he was informative.