MacBook Air for MainStage - POWERFUL KEYS RIG! M1 Review

When I unpacked my new MacBook Air M1 I was REALLY hoping to be blown away - what's better than a crazy fast new Mac at the lowest price we've seen, well... ever?!

I was so excited to find out that this thing is a BEAST!

MainStage is definitely faster and the MacBook Air feels more powerful than my 2019 Intel i9 w/32 GB of RAM at less than 1/3 the cost which is really sayin' something.

In this new video I discuss:

- How to decide if an M1 MacBook Air is a good buying decision for your context

- Getting things setup for MainStage for the first time

- Stress-testing the MacBook Air to see just how much it can take (try 16 channel strips at 180 notes per minute for over 45 minutes!!!)

Watch the video to learn just what the M1 MacBook Air can do. 😀

Gear We Use:

Video Gear:

Affiliate Links Disclosure:
Some links used here are affiliate links, if you click them and make a qualifying purchase we make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

#sundaysounds #sundaykeys #worshipkeys

[AleksandreMarkeviciaus]

Simple and direct to the point Air + M1 + Mainstage works good! Thanks for that!

[lordbachus]

May 16 GB air with M1 is the perfect mainstage tool, it runs mainstage in huge patches with lots of AU’s and dsp effects... still have to see it sweat, even when using an 8 part omnisphere patch in one channel

[michaelhunt]

Is there another video with the complete MacBook Air M1 keyboard rig setup? What hub/“dongle” are you using since there are only 2 USB-C ports? Need to plug in external SSD Drive, nanoKontrol 2, keyboard controller and audio interface, all of which have the old USB plugs. Then I will be ready to download Mainstage and Sunday Keys. Thank you 🙏🏾

[travistharp]

have been using the m1 air for about 4 months now with 16gb RAM, and I have been blown away at how this thing just cuts through anything I throw at it while maintaining great thermals!

[marcreus]

I'm so gld I stopped to watch this video before purchasing my next mac. Great great review David. God bless you for the huge work you and your team do for us keyboard players and worship leaders!

[VAVILN_Live]

Hi, David. Please answer, Do you need an expensive electric guitar to connect to the mainstage in order to extract high-quality sound through plug-ins and inserts? Thanks a lot!

[OJHernandez]

Thank you David! I was about to spend $1, 500+ for my 13” Mac Pro but this helped. I’ll get the Mac Air with the external hard drive! God bless you dude and keep the videos up!

[adriangill]

Really am thinking of getting the M1 macbook air for my rig... .this really helped me solidify my decision SO THANK YOU!!!!

[leonderprofi]

Thank you for all the good Mainstage Videos, man! Greatings from Germany.

[Churchfront]

EXCUSE ME SIR. HOW DO I RUN MAINSTAGE ON MY PC FOR WORSHIP?

[joesalyers]

I use mainstage as a live mixer with a Antelope audio Orion Studio synergy core and 2 ADAT expansions for 28 inputs and 16 outputs. I forgot my 16 inch Macbook Pro with an M1 Max that I normally use for mainstage but I had the M1 Macbook Air that I use as a keys rig for on stage it ran everything flawlessly.

[andrewnewton]

I’ll back this review up! Except I’ll say this,

I have the 8gb model, and mainstage runs flawlessly and have tried and used many sundaykeys patches and always use the template! Works great! I have even done a couple patches with omnisphere and analog lab as well and have not had any issues!

The only issue I have run into is that Sunday keys for ableton runs at 200% cpu the entire time no matter what. I was happy switching back to mainstage though as it streamlines the worship prep each week. Over all super happy and the 8gb is still plenty for running this!

[juanmalc]

Hi! Do you think a Macbook air m1 with 512gb is enough to play with Keyscape alive in stage?

[nanastory]

Thanks for the information! I will gonna buy m2 air soon for using mainstage.

[vysochinr]

Has any used it outside in a heat playing some big patches like Omnisphere, Kontakt stuff or Arturia?

[markelkesofficial]

i'm wondering about the two ports, one for charging, can the other handle an external ssd(or two) with an audio interface?
thanks for the video, answered my question!

[accentontheoff]

In your opinion what’s the best audio interface for using MainStage live. And how do you connect it to the sound at the venue. Thanks.

[amaansovannayak]

Do you think this stands out today after a couple of years of thdi coming out ?

[djwalkerfemaledj]

I’m gonna get the MacBook Air 256 GB for my up and coming DJing live-streaming

[MaxBergmanis]

Awesome video! Had a question, does Mainstage 3 work for Monterey?

I’m thinking of buying a new laptop and want to transfer my Mainstage concerts (on Catalina) over.