I Don’t Hear Sound in MainStage

If your keyboard appears to be working but you do not hear sound, the issue may be related to MainStage’s audio output, your audio interface, your physical audio connections, or the selected patch.

Use this article to check the most common causes.

Table of Contents

First: Make Sure You Are in Edit or Perform Mode

Select the Correct Audio Output

Check Your Audio Interface

Check Your Physical Audio Connections

Check the Selected Patch

Check MainStage Volume and Channel Strips

If You Are Using Internal Keyboard Sounds

First: Make Sure You Are in Edit or Perform Mode

You may not hear sound while assigning controls in Layout mode.

Layout mode is used to assign your keyboard, pedals, and controls. It confirms that MainStage is receiving MIDI, but it is not the best place to test sound.

To test sound:

  1. Go to Edit mode or Perform mode.
  2. Select a patch from the Patch List.
  3. Play your keyboard.

Select the Correct Audio Output

MainStage must be set to the correct audio output device.

  1. Go to MainStage > Settings.
  2. Open the Audio settings.
  3. Under Audio Output, choose your audio interface.

If your interface is connected and the correct driver is installed, it should appear in the list.

If you do not have an audio interface connected, MainStage may use Built-In Output, the computer speakers, or the headphone output. We do not recommend relying on the built-in computer output for performance.

Check Your Audio Interface

Confirm that your audio interface is:

  • Connected to the computer
  • Powered on, if it requires external power
  • Selected as the MainStage audio output
  • Using the correct macOS driver, if required
  • Not muted or turned down

If the interface does not appear in MainStage, install or update the manufacturer driver, then restart MainStage.

Refer to: Do I Really Need an Audio Interface?

Check Your Physical Audio Connections

Make sure audio is connected from your interface to your amp, monitor, DI box, mixer, or sound system.

For a typical setup:

Audio Interface Main Out > Amp / Monitor / DI / Sound System

If you are using stereo outputs, make sure both left and right outputs are connected correctly.

If you are working with a sound designer or audio engineer, confirm how they want the keyboard system connected to front-of-house and monitoring.

Whenever possible, connect the audio interface directly to the Mac rather than through a USB hub or daisy chain. Hubs and adapters can introduce latency or connection problems, especially with older or slower devices.

Check the Selected Patch

Some patches may be silent until you play in a specific range, use a pedal, or trigger the correct cue.

Try selecting a patch that clearly uses a piano, synth, organ, or other obvious sound.

If one patch is silent but other patches work, the issue may be patch-specific rather than a system-wide audio problem.

Check MainStage Volume and Channel Strips

In MainStage, check that:

  • The master output is not muted.
  • The selected patch channel strips are not muted.
  • The volume fader is not all the way down.
  • Any expression or volume pedal is assigned and not sending a value of zero.
  • Your audio interface output level is turned up.

If your expression pedal is assigned incorrectly, it may be turning the sound all the way down.

If You Are Using Internal Keyboard Sounds

If you are trying to use sounds from inside your keyboard, the setup is different from using MainStage sounds only.

You must send MIDI from MainStage to the keyboard and send audio from the keyboard back into your audio interface.

Check that:

  • MIDI is connected from the interface back to the keyboard.
  • The External MIDI Piano or External Instrument channel strip is configured correctly.
  • The keyboard audio output is connected to an input on your audio interface.
  • The MainStage channel strip input matches the audio interface input.
  • The keyboard volume is turned up.

If you are not using internal keyboard sounds, you do not need this additional audio return from the keyboard.


Apple MainStage Help

For general MainStage questions not specific to KeyboardTEK programming, you can also use Apple’s built-in MainStage Help. In MainStage, choose Help > Quick Help or Help > MainStage Help.

Still Having Trouble?

Contact KeyboardTEK Support if your keyboard is assigned and MainStage is receiving MIDI, but you still cannot hear sound.

When contacting support, please include:

  • The name of the show
  • Your Mac model
  • Your macOS version
  • Your MainStage version
  • Your keyboard model
  • Your audio interface model
  • Whether the on-screen keyboard moves in Layout mode
  • Which audio output is selected in MainStage settings
  • Whether you hear sound from any patch
  • A photo of your audio connections, if possible

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