I’m having a lot of tracking and Artifacts issues in Logic x. I have the buffer set to 128, software monitoring is on, Low Latency is on. I have an audio track with Jam Origin activated and a MIDI instrument track with the B3 plugin.
Even with the guitar on its stand out of my hands random notes are being played. The tracking is really almost too sensitive? I looked through the help files but couldn’t find anything helpful. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Hi Dino!
Welcome to the forum to begin with.
What do your MIDI Guitar2 setting look like? And have you tried pulling back on the incoming signal (on the audio interface - not the guitar)? These are the settings that work for me:
Hi, thanks LoFiLeiF. I did try all the usual input suspects especially the gate which helped somewhat. Unfortunately now the plugin thinks I’m set to a different buffer size and I can no longer get it to work. The DAW is set to 128 but the plugin says I’m set to 1024 see attached.
If you arm the track for recording, does is still remain an issue? I got the same initial result you did just now when just opening Logic with one audio track and a software track. I loaded MG2 and got that 1024 samples too. Once I press arm rec (R button on the audio track) it went to 128 samples, as it should. Try that!
I had to rebuild the tracks to get them functional. Things like multiple soft buttons being depressed with no automation were occurring like a memory leak was happening or something of that nature etc.
I’m still having tracking and artifact issues. I think before I try anything else I need to test for line noise. Is there a preferred signal chain? I could not find one.
Yes! Guitar directly to audio interface. No nothing in between!
After messing with the plugin for a few days I’m still having the artifact issues. Notes are droning when nothing is being plucked on a guitar string.
What do mean exactly? If you just leave the guitar connected but not touching it, you get droning? Or is it oscillations between notes as you play? What is your audio interface channel volume like? On the high or low side?
I have some tips in this video description if you care to read. There are also examples of stuff that goes wrong that is practically unavoidable, even to the most seasoned MIDI Guitar user. And as you see in most clips, I use a fret wrap to get rid of those unwanted loose string noises that might otherwise occur.
Try to skip to run it from within Logic as plugin, instead use it as “standalone” (open the app outside logic) and make a midi channel in Logic to trig it that way. Here that method seems to work better, not wonderful/perfect but better than as plugin…
What I also discovered is that MIDI Guitar 2 is more or less unusable (here) in Catalina (because of latency) while it works pretty well as standalone in Mojave. I have no idea how it works in even newer versions of OSX (Big Sur or Monterey) as I never so far tested them… Update: After testing a different install of Catalina it works as well as in Mojave.
LoFiLeIF, if I was tracking notes anything even remotely close to this video I would be so very happy. My user experience is very different, many many notes that should not be present. I’m going to take some time this weekend and look at trying some different hardware in the signal chain. Different line inputs, different A2D conversion, different guitars and even a different computer if necessary. I’ve now seen 3 videos including yours that track what I would judge as properly. It has to be something in my signal chain. Of course this will mean hardware changes in racks so this will take some time.
Thank you for trying to assist me, I appreciate it very much. Also, thank you Guldgunde. I will try your recommendations as well.
But you really shouldn’t have to be checking that much. It is really straightforward. Any reasonably good guitar straight into an audio interface, with the settings I outlined above should really do it. Sure, you are going to trigger a lot of bum notes in the beginning, and you have the usual suspects in the minor second interval and big chords, neither of which are compatible with MG2 playing. See to that your guitar is in tune, and that should be it. It will be interesting to hear what you come up with, and I would very much like to hear what it sounds like now.
Well I think that hits it right there, “big chords, neither of which are compatible with MG2 playing.” I’m using the software to play B3 parts. They are all chords, a few with minor 3rds most with 4 notes. I don’t think the software can track authentic playing of another. instrument in a way that I am using it. Tracking Hammond B3 parts with a fat Leslie emulator is a tall order I guess. It seems like it excels at single note lines which is far from what I am trying to do with it.
Even with those limitations I like the fact that it can track legato lines which Guitar Synths with pickups don’t do very well. I’m sure I can find plenty of things to use the software for.
Cheers to all of you that helped!
Well, played clean enough, three note chords without any minor second intervals in it is not a problem. four note chords are manageable, but perhaps not 100 percent reliable. But Playing a B3 part should be optimal given the relative lack of care you need to show to the dynamics. Anything bigger than four note chords I wouldn’t recommend for live purposes. If it is for studio recordings, go ahead and try, you can alway edit it out later!
