State 1 should be piano, but I get 2 which is Bass Strings. State 2 should be Bass strings, it works, but in fact every state i select gives me Bass Strings. State 3, the unbound state, also switches to Bass Strings, even though I didn’t bind it. Yet, if I change the PC # on the 2nd binding to another PC, i.e. PC 3, that does work and I get a different patch.
So it’s sort of working, but I’m not properly binding to the right rack state…?
I must be missing something in how to bind each individual state. I’ve been just clicking on a state and then entering the binding. Then I click on the next state and bind that. But somehow only the last binding I entered seems to be active. So I think I’m not properly assigning each binding to the proper rack state.
I’ve read through the bindings section 3 times but I don’t see anything that solves it.
I think this is the hold up … go to the state behaviors for the binding ( you only need one) and check the target box. Then when you change rack states just change the PG number in the target field to the PG value you want for that state. Each state will remember your selection.
Here’s what worked for me. I just wanted the rack state to trigger the Midi Guitar program, so I just edited the state for the PC number and this binding.
Yep, works great, glad you got it going. BTW I’ve been trying to get decent tracking on piano chords, which as you probably know is one of the hardest instruments on MG2. After trying internal MG sounds and Gate/Curve/Gain controls, I got ok results but for gigs the possibility of false notes was still pretty high. I’m now getting improved tracking by setting MG Gate to 0 (all the way CCW), Gain and Curve at 12 oclock and Tone at about 2. Then routing signal to GGate (free) in front of MG, then MG to a synth/sampler rack. GGate seems to allow more precise control. I haven’t tried compression yet, but I think for piano, where my main issue is a false note when you lift your finger off a fret, I may try an expander to see if that helps, or try with MG’s expander.
Another thing I found is a big difference between Synth 1 and SF2 players. I like S1 for it’s low load and pretty great sound, but I get more false notes with that than I do with SFZ player and a good piano sample. Anyway, right now I think it’s gig-able, but for limited use.
Wow. Did some testing using the GGate config and I’m really impressed for keyboards. I need to try it on my flute and strings now. I still have to keep the noise gate on at 9 o’clock for triggering false notes.
Any particular setting on GGate you can suggest, or just the Default?
I was trying my new MIDI Guitar rack out, and still have an issue. The rack states I am using which trigger the PC for MG2 don’t seem to work unless the MG2 plugin is actually open.
Have you overcome this with directly sending PC to the plugin? I was hoping my method had the same effect, but something is still off.
I’m not in front of it right now, but I do know that the threshold has been running around - 35 or so but that really depends on your gain from your guitar of course. I’ve also been adjusting the rack in put volume, I have it down to about minus 13. and that saves with the song stay if I remember correctly, so you can actually adjust it for different instruments. Attack & release I have set to zero, I want the gate to open quickly. I have played around a little bit with the release but I didn’t notice much change.
Hope that helps!
Tom
Hmmm… I think I’ve been keeping it open just to ensure that it’s still working as it should. I’ll have to test it with it closed. I think that yesterday after I programmed a song I had everything closed and ran through and it all seemed to work fine. the only other thing I can think of offhand is to double-check your rack State behaviors so that Target is checked, as Dave pointed out to me the other day! Although I did get it to work by using one binding and changing the program number and saving a different number on each state, another thing you could try is to have two bindings, the first with program number one, the second for program number 2. Then just disable/X the one you want muted. And reverse it for the next state.
I’ll try to take a look tomorrow and see how it’s working for me when closed.
Now that I’m using GGate all I really need is for one patch to load on MG… my new “default” patch is PC 3, which has all the settings I described earlier. So it’s triggered only on Song load.
But if I eventually do need another patch I already have a binding ready, for PC 2. In this example it’s disabled, and it’s a Song State. But when I select the next Song State it’s enabled, and the first binding, Song On Load, is disabled.
So I use Song States to choose which binding I need. I did try simply changing the PC # for each State but I got inconsistent results. It SHOULD work, but it wasn’t so I tried this workaround. And now that I’ve decided I really only need the one patch on MG and will do all my MG processing outboard, it became a moot point for me. We’ll see how that goes, but I won’t be surprised if I need to use some other MG patches down the road.
BTW here’s how I use the input rack volume in conjunction with MG. I guess my guitar’s output was too strong for MG, so I ended up at -13 as a good all around level for me. If you still need to use MG’s gate at 9 oclock, reducing this may help. Or not! It’s certainly a finicky beast.
Interesting. I will build on that and see what I get. I basically just want Rack states which will trigger the MG patches. Should be straightforward enough.
I am revisiting this problem hoping someone has some new ideas. I can use the method outlined above to trigger as PC change to Midi Guitar 2. This works perfectly if the GUI for MG2 is open, but the change doesn’t take place then the GUI is closed. Not the behavior I was looking for.
I was hoping a new MG version would be out by now. Maybe by the end of 2022 ??
Anyone have some success with triggering a PC change to MG2 with the GUI closed.
Hey Lorne, I’m still sending all MG2 midi out to sample players’ so I don’t have any ideas. I can’t recall, is there a reason you can’t put your patches outside MG2? MG3 is supposed to come out this year sometime.
FWIW, since this original post I’m using maybe 20 rack states, at various gate/gain/compression settings… different instruments seem to need different settings for decent tracking. I also discovered that the tuning won’t save at all, which sucks cuz I wanted to use it on a drop D song, but have to manually change, so that’s a no go at gigs.
I’m using it a lot more but the tracking is still tricky. Synths seem to track pretty good, samples or SFZ not so much. Doesn’t make sense to me but that’s what I’ve found. Good luck!
I don’t use the MG2 internal sounds much because of my limitation. I do send the midi out to other instruments linked in the Cantabile setup. Your rack setup must be working better than mine other than the tuning. I will look at that again in the post.
Thx
Edit: I am using your config, but something must still be missing. I wonder what.
I am only using the one Binding. Are you still using the second disabled Binding for each state? I am not sure why that could have any effect.
Actually I’ve abandoned the bindings, I’m using rack states, which saves gain, gate and compression/expansion. Everything else doesn’t save but that’s all I need.
