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Keyboard programming usually consists of hundreds of sequential patches. As you play through the show, you need to continually advance from one patch to the next. Often times, the amount of time in between patch changes is extremely short. Thus, the most efficient way to change patches in MainStage is to use a foot switch (colloquially referred to as a “patch change pedal”).

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Changing patches with a foot switch

All keyboards have an input jack for a sustain pedal, but to use a patch change pedal, it is best to use a keyboard that has a second input jack for a switch pedal.
Switch pedals are used for simple on/off tasks like sustain and patch changes. In contrast, expression pedals are continuous control (CC) because they handle a range of values.
If you’re using a keyboard that does not have enough pedal inputs, you can use a device like Audiofront’s MIDI Expression that provides pedal inputs through USB. Because of its durability and reliability, the silver Boss FS-5U is the industry standard patch change pedal.
The FS-5 is available in two flavors. The black FS-5L will not work for patch changes!
After you plug in the FS-5U pedal to your keyboard, you might need to assign it in MainStage for it to work properly.

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Changing patches by pressing a key

If your keyboard does not have a second switch pedal input, you can still assign a key on your keyboard to advance to the next patch. By default, the lowest key is configured to advance to the next patch in our programming. To change the note, adjust the hardware input settings for the patch advance screen control. The assignment Type will be “Note On/Off”.

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Back and top buttons

By default, the highest B♭ key is configured to move to the previous patch, and the highest B♮ jumps to the first patch of the show. Of course, these screen control buttons can be assigned to physical switch pedals, other keys, or disabled.
You can move through a MainStage concert quickly by using your computer’s left/right arrow keys to change sets (songs) and up/down arrow keys to change patches. This is especially useful during rehearsal!

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