Hi there, I’m a relatively new Ableset user and love it. I used Digital Performer for years as my live rig (Chunks are great for this) but moving it all over.
I rely heavily on virtual instruments such as Kontakt, Opus. and Omnisphere. All runs well on a single Mac (would be a duplicate machine when I go redundant).
CPU wise the M series macs barely notice the processing. What seems to bug me the most is an all notes off message that gets sent when the STOP or SONG END commands are reached and you are trying to hold some notes from a patch in Mainstage.
Here’s my solution for anyone that runs a similar setup:
Use midi yoke and send the patch changes from Live to the Yoke virtual port. In MidiYoke, create a filter for only program changes, then send that output to an IAC port. This fixes the issue but you just need to remember to have the Yoke patch open and running before anything else.
Side note: disable voice stealing in Mainstage to avoid additional sound dropouts.
Another tip is if you like to use the Multi-file project version you could get one of the symbolic link apps to create symbolic links in a “setlist” folder so any saves or changes you make always save to the original.