Just a non-DAW guitar player here trying to set up MG3 through a DAW like Audacity, but having trouble

Windows/Mac
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Hey there! I managed to set up MG2 before, I forgot what DAW.

So I have a scarlett2i2 that seems to be perfectly picking up my guitar on audacity (as in, showing levels, i press record, play it back and it sounds just like guitar strings. When I open up MG3, I am met with ‘Not receiving any audio from the audio interface…’. Is there something I need to do through audacity to make it link up with MG3? Thanks for any information, sorry, I’m a newb when it comes to daws. I’m basically just looking to set up something light-weight so I can play swelling Allan Holdsworth sounding things through my laptop. I’m a simple man.

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a simple man yes, but with highly refined tastes.

strictly speaking audacity is not really a daw.

try mg3 standalone, and verify that it is set to use the asio scarlett driver.

once that is working, and assuming that your goal is to record the audio mg3 produces, an easier option is to run a vst designed to do so.

later on you can combine and layer the audio tracks in audacity.

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I can certainly echo the elegance of running MG3 standalone. Really its only significant limitations are of scale*; I find the setup to be much faster than the DAW I use (Waveform) which is one reason why I use the DAW only occasionally. (I don’t record much; usually I’m looking for a live-performance setup instead.)

If I’m understanding you correctly, I’d set up an MG3 chain to use one instance of the MUtility plugin (from the Melda free pack) to do a true volume pedal swell–it works great for that–and then an instance of the TONEX plugin for my amp sim. The four cable passthru points would allow you to hook up floor switches to turn on and off TONEX’s modulation, delay, and reverb at your option. Simple enough and it’s been working great for me!

*I have tried setting up a few patches/scenarios in which I have simply run out of plugin slots to use (the six in each Chain plus four in Master), with most of the available slots being occupied by instances of the MIDI Device module for additional patch plugs over the nine in the Patchbay. Now I’ll admit that this is mostly just me being a nerd, wanting to wire up tabletop control to my Korg nanoKONTROL surface–to see if I can do it, rather than every control being critical for live control.

The one I actually really hope to see improved first, is the number of cable pass-in points on Instrument and Effect plugins. Currently there are only four, and I quite frequently really want more than that. Even another two would cover most of the true criticals for my most common scenarios. (Think of it this way: if you are using a plugin like IK’s MixBox, and have a rack that includes a wah pedal effect, you need two cable connections right off the bat–one to turn the wah on and off, and another to control the pedal position. That’s half of the four plugs available for the entire plugin, right there. So, to have real-time control over MixBox racks, I need to use multiple instances of the plugin, with each instance only having one or two effects. This can certainly be done, but it starts to look a bit cluttered, and isn’t using MixBox as it was intended.)

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@craftygrass I don’t know whether your comment belongs to that post, but for the scenario you are describing in last paragraph regarding the MixBox, the usage of a DAW and a proper MIDI controller would eliminate all your restrictions.

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Oh, you’re absolutely right, no question there. And I have set up Waveform to accept fully programmed scenes from the nanoKONTROL, in the case where my purpose is something like “preset development”, where that surface really is the main thing that I’m doing.

But I much prefer the way MG3 is organized as a host (I find it creatively inspiring) and I’d love it if I could use it for some of these scenarios where I now find myself really wanting just one or two more inputs on certain effect and instrument plugins. I’ll fully admit the “program the whole control surface’s worth of inputs” exercise represents more of a “because I can” and “learning the toolkit” thing, than a burning need for live tabletop control. (I’m kinda wired that way, if you’ll forgive the pun.)

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hah thank you, those swells are certainly a great flavor

I guess my question is… I was able to get it to the UI, after setting the Focusrite USB ASIO iso in the left and right first row boxes (I’m assuming left box is input right is output?)

However I can’t hear anything, even though it seems to be registering my guitar (I’m seeing lasers point everywhere from the icon image, when i change notes, so it appears to track it).

So anyway my question is, do i need to plug the 2i2 into a speaker? It wasn’t letting me do WASAPI when I was doing it on a DAW, and when I tried ASIO I didn’t hear anything from the daw, but it seemed to record the guitar perfectly. I’m assuming that’s because I don’t have the 2i2 plugged into anything and the laptops internal speakers won’t act as ‘speakers’ in ASIO.

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you will need speakers or headphones. the 2i2 has balanced outputs, so studio monitors with balanced or xlr inputs would be preferred.

an alternate workaround would be to connect the 2i2 headphone out to the laptop line in.

in terms of the setup, left box etc, you’ve got it correct.

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thanks for all the responses, I have it up and running! The only thing I have to figure out is I get a message saying my CPU can’t handle it, even though it seems fine =P that and grabbing some patches that I can use.