The Ultimate Trick for Saving RAM in MainStage: Use Aliases

Imagine this scenario: You have a concert in MainStage with 10 songs (10 patches). In all of those songs, you use the same "Yamaha Motif" sound through Kontakt, which takes up 1 GB of RAM.

If you simply create a new Kontakt channel in each of the 10 patches, MainStage will try to load the same piano 10 times! Your Mac will end up using 10 GB of RAM unnecessarily, it will slow down, the fans will sound like a turbine, and the audio will cut out.

The professionals' solution? The Aliases.

What is an alias?

An Alias is a "spiritual clone" of a channel. It tells MainStage: "Hey, don't load this heavy Kontakt plugin again. Just borrow the Kontakt sound I already loaded in Patch #1.". The result: you can use the piano on 10 songs, but It uses only 1 GB of RAM in total.

How to Create an Alias Step by Step:

1. Create the original sound (The Father): Go to your first patch (e.g., Song 1) and create your channel using Kontakt or whichever heavy-duty plugin you prefer. Set it up however you like.
2. Copy this: Right-click on the channel strip (the fader) for that piano and select Copy (or Cmd+C)
3. Paste it as an alias (The Son): Go to the Patch for your Song 2. Right-click on an empty area of the mixer, and instead of choosing Paste, select Set as an alias (Paste as Alias).
4. You'll see that the same channel appears, but its icon or name will have a small green curved arrow. That arrow means it's an alias that isn't using any extra RAM.

Important things you should know:

• If you change the volume, effects, or plugins on the original channel, All aliases will also change. They are linked.
• However, you can adjust the "Patch Volume" separately or add an equalizer at the patch level if you need a song to sound higher-pitched than another.
• Get into the habit of creating a folder called "Main Pianos" when you launch your MainStage concert, and load your heavy original sounds into it. Then, use only Alias sounds for the songs you play during Sunday service.

Try this trick and you'll see how your Mac's CPU and RAM usage drops dramatically, giving you peace of mind when playing live!