Hi everyone! I’m currently evaluating the plugin during its trial period. My intention is definitely to buy it, but with these ongoing difficulties trying to get it dialed in for live use, I’m hesitant to pull the trigger.
I’m struggling with tracking stability (especially on legatos and hammer-ons) compared to my hardware synth, a Boss SY-200, which tracks everything perfectly.
My exact signal chain is: Parker P-38 (loaded with Lace Sensor Testarossa pickups and Graph Tech Ghost system with Acousti-Phonic preamp) → Fractal FM3 (with the INPUT block noise gate set to a reasonable, well-tuned threshold so the core analog signal never cuts off and remains pristine) → FX Loop Out (clean line-level signal) → Behringer XR18 (input gain set at 0 dB, with no active noise gate, no compressor, absolutely nothing altering the raw signal) → via USB into a Mac Mini M2.
Despite having a completely pristine, uncompressed signal, MG2 misses fast legatos. Since I’ve seen other pros successfully running this live with similar rigs (like Paul Bielatowicz with ELP Legacy), could you share what specific input gain, buffer sizes, or sensitivity thresholds you recommend to keep the tracking rock-solid in live conditions so I can make up my mind and purchase it?
Any advice would be incredibly appreciated! Cheers!
i would try two things, neither as a fix, but instead to gather more info:
plug the guitar directly into the behringer (no fm3)
use the bridge pickup only
then select the setup which seems to work best and post an audio file of the results.
please provide more details re: the graphtech acoustic phonic - especially if it is active on all outputs.
settings like input gain and gate are specific to your configuration (but should be on the low side). buffer sizes will affect latency but will not result in tracking instability.
Hi @kimyo! Thanks for the troubleshooting tips. I’ll definitely run that quick test (direct into the XR18 using just the bridge pickup) just to see how the raw tracking behaves under those conditions.
However, as a heads-up, bypassing the Fractal FM3 is unfortunately not an option for my live rig. My entire live performance setup relies on the FM3 processing my patches, scene changes, and routing. If MG2 only tracks well by completely stripping my hardware chain away, it defeats the whole purpose of using it live alongside my backing tracks and automated setup in Logic.
Regarding the Graph Tech Ghost system (Acousti-Phonic preamp): it’s wired to its own designated outputs, but for these tests and my main guitar sound, I am strictly using the magnetic pickups (Lace Sensor Testarossa) going into the FM3. The acoustic piezo side isn’t mixed into this signal path.
So while testing direct might help us gather diagnostic info on the raw algorithm performance, my main goal is to find out if there’s a way to achieve this stability with my actual live signal chain intact (just like I’ve seen other artists do). Otherwise, its live use won’t be viable for me, though it would still be a great offline tool for MIDI transcription into Guitar Pro 8.
I’ll run your suggested test soon and report back with the audio file. Thanks again for your time and help!
