Want to run Mainstage as ear monitors for my band,..HAVE NO IDEA HOW!!!!!

Question

Hey,
how are you guys? ive been tryin to research all this stuff and its left me braindead....
ok heres the band set up
2 guitar rigs
1 bass
drums mics and triggers
3 vocals
backing tracks that goes to crowd
click track for drummer
piano notes in singers ears
i want to set it up live so we can use Mainstage as our in ear monitor system..
I have no idea how to even begin...
1.what do i need?interface etc?
2.do i need 2 computers? ive read people use 2 w/ midi controller send sound card to sound card?
3.best way to run it so it wont crash? whats best options to have in computer processor etc...
4. best way to start and stop tracks between songs with out using computer?
any and all help is very very very very appreciated!
thank you guys!

Answer 1

"..backing tracks that goes to crowd
click track for drummer
piano notes in singers ears"
Ok, here goes - if I understand you correctly, you want to use Mainstage for these three functions, yes?
If so, here's one way of doing it:
First, yes, you need an interface, with quite a few inputs/outputs by the sound of it.
Within your concert template, create a new 'set' for each song. In each of these sets, create software instrument channels for the backing track (if you want to break you backings down into individual instruments and treat these separeately, you can - just create a separate channel for each). Load up the playback plug-in in each channel. These will be routed, by default, to the main outputs of your interface, which you route into your pa to send front-of-house.
Now the click track. The most reliable way to do this that I have found is to create an audio file of the click, and simply load it up on another playback channel. However, you now need to send this to a different output. Make sure the interface is connected, now click on the output button (the bottom one in the I/O section) and select a different output. Route a cable from that (on your interface) to your drummer's monitor. There are ways of creating click tracks within MS, but reading the discussions, it seems to me this is easier.
You need to make sure all the playback channels are synced and playing in the same group. Have a look at this thread, where I describe how:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2546658&tstart=0
Now the piano. Will you be using piano sounds from within MS, or external audio? Whatever the answer, the key is in the routing. Basically, you would have your output of the piano channel routed to the main outs (ie the same used for the playback tracks as described above) so the audience can hear. Now click on one of the 'send' slots, and select a spare bus. This will create a new aux channel over on the right of the mixer section of the MS edit window. In the output slot of this aux channel, select another, different output on you interface, and route this to your singer's monitor.
Now, go back to the original piano channel. Click on the send slot you've just created and select 'pre'. This means that the amount of the piano signal you send to the monitor will be unaffected by any changes you make to the main output level. You will notice a small rotary control next to the send slot. Probably best to turn this all the way up and then control the volume you send to the monitor using the fader on the new aux channel or the fader on the new output channel.
Wow, that's all done from memory, so apologies if it's not totally clear - come back to me if you're having probs.
To start and stop tracks, you can use a midi footpedal or send midi change messages from a keyboard. Personally, I use a GIO, which is set up to do that without too much input required.
The best way to make it a stable as poss is to minimise CPU load - do this by using as few plug-ins as possible, and by using aux channels for those that you do use, so that you only have to have one instance of each plug-in running, but you can route multiple channels to it (using the send buttons as described above - probably best to have a quick look in the manual for this).
Computer spec: - go for the best you can afford, but as you can see, I run a very basic macbook, and I get by ok (granted that I don't use any keyboard sounds).
No, you shouldn't need 2 computers.
There's a lot there, and I've only really skimmed it, but with a bit of experimenting you shouldn't have too much trouble. Best of luck.