Using MG2 I can select patches via Program Change messages but I don’t think this is possible in MG3 - have I got this right? If this is the case, does anyone have a workaround to select a specific patch without having to step up/down or scroll through a list of patches? I need to be able to hit a footswitch and load the correct patch in one go. All advice very welcome, thanks.
Are you on macOS or Windows? MG3 standalone or plugin?
Any request for help should include this info by default…It really matters.
In MG3 on macOS, MIDI PCs work in standalone/all plugin types (though the configuration is different for each).
In MG3 on Windows, MIDI PCs work in standalone/VST2. VST3 does not respond to MIDI PCs.
*Tested on 3.0.62 (macOS) / 3.0.61 (Windows)
So far in my testing of MG3 I have found it better to have fewer full patches than select one patch which has all the necessary instruments and effects for a complete musical piece. I’m on windows 10 with FCB 1010 foot and Akai LPD8 controllers, and like more guitar effects rather than synths. I grew up in the 60’s so I try to emulate the great sounds of that era. For a live type performance I could have chain A loaded with say an overdrive VST, chorus, Flanger and wah pedal VSTs. Chain B with the Surge XT synth which could give me either Bass or Rock organ and Chain C would house a Drum machine synth. Add a looper (mine is a JamMan SoloXT) and whala… instant 60’s rock or blues band.
All changes to effects or turning Bass and Organ off and on can be done using theFCB1010 like a stompbox chain. The LPD8 pads are great for laying down a drum track or just use a canned one if available.
I have had switch from patch to patch on MG2 to accomplish something like this before on MG2 using up about 20 of the of the available spots in 2 full banks of the FCB1010. Now I have used up about 5 spots in one bank of 10 to accomplish much more than MG2 could do.
I hope this helps, Regards,
Max
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This is exactly how I use MG3 and switch “pre-sets” within one patch. If now MG3 would allow to bypass single slots in a chain (as I suggested earlier) and pass the audio signals to the next active slot in a chain, the amount of VSTs to be selected in one preset would increase significant.
A “solo” function, selectable via CCs in a slot would also work whereas the selected solo slot would automatically mute all the others. MIDI machines to be excluded from muting.
Good point - 3.0.61 standalone on Windows 10. In my hands MG3 is certainly responding to PC messages but not in the way that MG2 does. To confirm, on MG3 you’re able to select patches (named using the 000, 001, 002 convention) via PC messages?
Thanks for your advice, I have tried this approach but I’m kind of in the reverse situation to you - although I’m using it for live performance I don’t use much in the way of guitar FX but have a lot of vst synths, samplers etc. Loading them into different chains can work but tends to put a lot of strain on the CPU (I guess they’re all loaded into RAM when the patch loads). Stacking them within a chain doesn’t really work as it’s hard to select the required instrument and often they’re associated with their own MIDI machines, FX etc. So effectively I’m limited to 3 non-CPU-hungry instruments per song which is too much of a limitation.
Absolutely. This would go a long way to resolving my problem. Although TBH I’d still prefer to be able to select individual patches via PC messages. Then I could also take advantage of MG3’s many other advantages over MG2 like being able to layer instruments from different chains etc.
No, not exactly. This was the case in MG2 but things have changed.
PCs follow the order of presets within the folder hierarchy. i.e. if you change your folder order, the PC allocations change too.
If you have no user presets yet, the factory patches are the first and only (by default) and will follow the folder hierarchy as you execute PC 000, 001, 002, 003, etc. But you may have created user presets also, so their PC allocations will be dependent on their position in the folder hierarchy.
For this reason I custom arrange my folder as follows, thus placing my user folder above the factory folder:
So this makes ~MIDI Guitar/[A] User/01 [A] HEX BASICS/01 MINI… respond to PC000 (if we’re thinking PC000-127) and the next preset will be PC001.
It’s a minor nuisance to set it all up, but once it’s done you have total control over your PC numbers. This applies to both macOS and Windows.
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Ah OK, many thanks for the detailed explanation. I think I get it now. My crude analogy would be that MG2 uses absolute addressing whereas MG3 uses relative addressing. So in MG2 I could skip preset numbers, eg my file list could contain 014 Preset Name followed by 018 Preset Name, and PC 014 would happily load preset 014 and PC 018 would load preset 018. But in MG3 PC 018 would load whatever preset is 4 files after 014 Preset Name. So to maintain a workable structure I should really set up 128 basic presets prefixed with 000 to 127 and then modify each of them as required while keeping the prefix unchanged. Hopefully this will maintain a constant relationship between the PC value and the selected preset. Fingers crossed!
Just confirming that this approach works, thanks for your help Luke. I set up 128 empty template patches numbered 000 to 127 and split them into different category folders using your folder naming convention. I replaced some of them with the equivalent MG2 patches, keeping the MG2 patch numbers unchanged. I was then able to recall the correct patches using the appropriate PC message. So all good, thanks again!
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