StageBox

The cool, clear environment of StageBox in its Edit mode. Songs are ordered in a Setlist at far left, and individual plug‑in‑based sounds and processing configured in the main part of the window.

Want to use your macOS or Windows computer as a plug‑in host for live performance? StageBox aims to let you do just that, with minimal fuss.

StageBox is a cross‑platform macOS and Windows plug‑in host application, a collaboration between the Grammy‑nominated composer and musical director Matt Robertson and music software developer extraordinaire Julian Storer. It’s available from tracktion.com but actually is a completely separate, independently developed product.

StageBox’s raison d’être is to support the use of software instruments and effects in live performance. In that, it also stands as a purposely simpler, leaner alternative to the likes of Gig Performer and the macOS‑only MainStage: its feature set is unquestionably smaller, but it’s also potentially quicker and easier to use.

Principles

The window you’re presented with, on starting StageBox, is the heart of the user interface. There are very few additional elements to discover: there’s no mixer, for example, and just a single file menu with a handful of familiar open and save options, and undo/redo. Elsewhere there are just a few additional drop‑down menus and overlays for general settings and MIDI mappings.

StageBox’s essential internal structures, then, are these: single instrument plug‑ins, with potentially many effects, are instantiated to form what is called a ‘sound’ (that’s done in the central, slightly lighter grey section of the user interface, in plug‑in slots), and if you’ve used any DAW it’ll feel like second nature. You can have as many of these sound layers running concurrently as you wish (supporting keyboard splits or textural stacks, for example), and to view and edit one you click on its tab to the left. The tabs are provided with mute and solo buttons for the audio output, a level meter, and also a MIDI input mute.

One or more sound layers are what constitute a Song, and multiple Songs can be assembled into a Setlist. A single StageBox window can thus take care of the sound hosting and running order for an entire musical set or show, with the whole shebang saved as a Project.

As you might expect, there’s considerably more nuance along the way. For one thing, it’s possible to break a single Song down into multiple sections, to support differing sound requirements for verse and chorus, say. Audio...