Hi everyone

Please excuse my ignorance and please let me know if I should post somewhere else for a better response.

I do a fair bit of work on touring shows playing keys. All of the shows I've done have had the keyboards programmed by a professional. However I've been asked to program everything for a show I'm about to do. There is good news and bad news...

The good news is I can choose whatever I like and the producers will supply it.

The bad news is that I don't have a clue how to program.

The show I'm doing will have lots of rhodes, hammond, piano sounds. I'll also be triggering a few samples and using some string sounds.

I'm thinking of asking for a Nord Stage 88 (excellent piano, rhodes and organs) and asking for a Mac and using Mainstage 2.

Does anyone know if the Nord Stage is a good controller for Mainstage? I understand the basics of Mainstage but the problem I think I'll have is mixing the onboard keyboard sounds with the Mainstage sounds.

How do I play an onboard keyboard sound for one patch and then silence the onboard sounds and play a patch on Mainstage?

I know nothing of the Nord, but in the past I've done the same by creating a 'Silence' patch that has all of it's volumes set to zero. By doing this in all of the synths on the MIDI chain you can choose which synths are sounding and which aren't for any given MIDI progam change from the master keyboard.

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.