Click Left, Stage Traxx or MainStage?

A plain comparison for drummers with pre-split backing tracks: what each one does, what it costs you in complexity, and which to pick.

Published 3 September 2026

Three ways to run backing tracks from the drum stool, and they are for different people. This is the plain version, written by the people who make one of them, with the other two described from their own websites.

MainStage

Apple's live performance app for the Mac. It turns a laptop into an instrument and effects rig with Logic's instruments and third-party plug-ins, MIDI foot controllers, a tuner, tap tempo, lyrics and PDF display, and Ableton Link. Plenty of drummers run backing tracks from it, and it is very good at that if you already have a Mac on stage for other reasons. The cost is the Mac: a laptop at the kit, its power supply, an interface, a concert file to maintain, and the operating system update that arrives the night before a gig. It is sold as a one-off purchase or as part of Apple's Creator Studio subscription.

Stage Traxx

An app for iPad, iPhone and Mac aimed at whole bands. Its own site lists a 32-track mixer with 16 output buses and a 4-band EQ per track, lyrics and chords with auto-scroll and transposition, audio regions you can rearrange live, MIDI automation of the rest of your rig including program changes and MIDI clock, AUv3 plug-ins on each output bus, PDF sheet music, network sessions that keep the band in sync over Wi-Fi, and a dedicated click track. It is a one-off purchase with a free version limited to six songs. If your band runs stems, the singer needs lyrics, the keyboard player needs patch changes and you need a click, all from one device, this is the one to look at.

Click Left

Made for one job: a drummer with a folder of stereo files, the click on one side and the mix on the other, who wants a pad grid that reads in the dark and never stops. There is no mixer, no lyrics, no MIDI, no plug-ins and no network. Routing is one setting, a folder becomes a setlist, levels are matched on the way in, and the stage screen never touches the disk or the network. The free version holds six songs and one setlist; one purchase, with no subscription, unlocks the rest.

Side by side

	MainStage	Stage Traxx	Click Left
Runs on	Mac	iPad, iPhone, Mac	iPad
Mixer	Full, with plug-ins	32 tracks, 16 output buses	None: a click level and a track level per song, matched automatically
Lyrics	Yes, with PDF	Yes, with chords and PDF	No
MIDI	Yes	Yes, including MIDI clock	No
Plug-ins	Logic's and third-party	AUv3, four per output bus	No
Network	Ableton Link	Band sync over Wi-Fi	None, and none on the stage screen
Free version	No	Six songs	Six songs and one setlist
Pricing	One-off, or with a Creator Studio subscription	One-off	One-off, no subscription

Which one

You already carry a Mac and use plug-ins live: MainStage.
Your band runs stems, lyrics and MIDI from one device: Stage Traxx.
You have pre-split tracks and want the simplest thing that will not let you down: Click Left.

The MainStage and Stage Traxx descriptions come from their own websites on 3 September 2026. Features and prices change, so check theirs before you buy. Stage Traxx and MainStage belong to their owners and are named here only to describe the alternatives.

More guides

How to make a backing track with the click on the left
Export a stereo file from your DAW with the click on one side and the mix on the other, name it so the app reads it, and check it before the gig.
Running backing tracks from an iPad with a Y-cable
What plugs into what: the cable, the adapter for iPads without a headphone socket, a DI box for the desk and a headphone amp for your ears.
Playing to a click on stage
The habits that make a set with backing tracks feel safe from the drum stool: count-ins, click level, songs without tracks, notes on the pad, and what to do when one fails.