3.5

53MainStage User Guide
• Parent of Alias: Indicates that the channel strip is the parent channel strip of one
or more alias channel strips.
• Concert: Indicates that this channel strip is a concert-level signal flow channel
strip available to multiple patches.
• MIDI Output menus: These pop-up menus let you choose the MIDI output port and
channel on which to send MIDI data to your external instrument.
• Expression control: Lets you quickly adjust the expression value of the channel strip.
• Setting menu: Lets you load and save the entire routing configuration of a single
channel strip, including all loaded plug-ins and settings.
• EQ Thumbnail: Lets you add an EQ effect to sculpt the sound of the channel strip signal
before applying other effects.
• MIDI plug-in slots: Lets you insert MIDI plug-ins into instrument channel strips.
• Effect slots: Lets you insert plug-ins into audio, instrument, aux, and output
channel strips.
• Sends slots: Lets you route a channel strip’s signal to an aux channel strip. Sends are
commonly used to apply the same effect or effects to several signals.
• Send level knob: Controls the amount of signal sent to an aux channel strip. This knob
appears when a Send slot is activated.
• Effect slot: Sets the channel strip’s input source. Depending on the channel strip type, it
can be a physical input, a bus, or a software instrument plug-in—in this case it is known
as an Instrument slot.
• Output slot: Sets the channel strip’s output path. It can be a physical output or a bus.
• Icon: Every channel strip comes with a default icon, but you can choose a unique icon
to distinguish each channel strip. See Change channel strip icons in MainStage for
more information.
• Pan/Balance knob: On a mono channel strip, the Pan/Balance knob controls the position
of the signal in the stereo image. On a stereo channel strip, it controls the relative level
of the left and right signals at their outputs.
• Volume fader: Sets a channel strip’s playback volume.
• Peak level display: Updates during playback to show the highest peak level reached.
• Level meter: Shows a channel strip’s playback level.
• Mute button: Mutes and unmutes the channel strip.
• Solo button: Solos and unsolos the channel strip.
• Latency display: Shows how much time it takes to process the channel strip.
• Memory Usage display: Shows how much RAM is used by each channel strip.
• Channel Name: Displays the name that you assign the channel strip.
• Channel Notes: If selected, a blank text field appears at the bottom of each channel
strip. Double-click in this text field to write notes. Space is limited, so keep your
notes short. If you need more room for notes, use the Notes tab in the Channel Strip
Inspector. See notes.