With the latest version of MG3HEX for Mac OS I am experiencing something that I’d like to share.
I am not sure if it’s my playing technique or the software itself but lately I am using GP10 more than in past and hence MG3HEX.
When Playing a chord sequence when I move the left hand from one chord to another I am hearing a pitch down direction - like a pitch bender - between one chord and the next. The behavior goes away if I map my expression pedal (CC 11) on the GP10 to Sustainer and use it as a Piano Sustain Pedal. I had to take a long time off mid year due to my hands so I could have lost some of my adjusted dexterity to using MIDI Guitar and it’s only a temporary issue. It happens also without MG3HEX. Just for info the input is at 0 position the gate is where it usually was and glide is at 50 and the pitch bender range is equal to +2 / -2 as it is in the synth (Zebra2 or Repro-5 or XTSurge). I am using MPE mode and normal legacy MIDI mode.What do you think? I do not think this is a bug, more likely is me but I just wanted to share and have your precious feedback. When using MG3HEX or MG3 for solos I do not experience any ‘pitch down syndrome’. Thanks in advance,
If we are talking about the same thing (there’s always the odd chance we are not), I call this “the whale song effect” and I talk about this, how I handle it, and give a few suggestions at 23:20 in this video.
Please note that when I am talking about applying pressure to the string. and that the MG3 software recognizes a decrease in pressure (it is an indirect or transferred reference - MG3 detects a change in pitch (which is caused by the the release of the pressure on that string).
I think the video explains the problem very well. It’s not just MG3 that reacts this way to the Note Off message. The Boss GM-800, for example, which mainly offers synthesizer sounds, behaves exactly the same way with the “Note Off” message.
The string gauge influences the effect slightly (the lighter the string the more obvious).
Yes, when you think about it, lets say the frets on the fretboard are sitting at “half steps” intervals. Typically you have your fingers roughly halfway in-between two frets, so your fingers are actually placed roughly at a “quarter steps” below the fret. As long as the fret is active you get the half-step, but when you release the string, its the finger position, not the fret position, that determine pitch which is roughly a quarter step below.
If you position fingers closer to the frets you get less of this. Muting also reduce it, as noted.
I would argue that the same whale song is in a way on a dry guitar as well… but it’s much quicker so we don’t hear it.
There are various ways we can remove this… but the best way would be to make tracking even faster
i remember addressing this issue on hex by using a chromatic filter, with re-trigger off and bends set to 1 or 2 steps.
i just loaded hex to test this and found that i cannot replicate the pitch dip in order to test the filter.
i think this must be because my guitar is strung with all ‘b’ strings, and thinner/higher strings are much less susceptible to the pitch dip issue.
i string the guitar this way to reduce latency as much as possible (mg3 reports 4ms). but eliminating the dip is an additional benefit. also it’s much easier on my fingertips.
tuning is weird though. otherwise this approach is worth a try, it’s super cheap and might be a bit easier on your hands.
Thanks everybody. I like the Whale Song concept, we should ask whales if they agree . I also liked the explanation of the quarter note step. Now I will have to sit in front of a cup of tea and enjoy the video by @LoFiLeiF . … possibly I’ll have to retrain my self a little. I’ll let you know and THANKS for help, you guys are incredible!
So I had that cup of tea… well.. it looks like it’s part of this technology (guitar) and the solutions offered are interesting and I am going to test them soon. I will have to find where I put that (enter any sort of additional words at this point) dumper of mine which I removed when re-stringing. I think the dumper might help as well as reducing release or killing note off if your synth allows it. The CC64 keeps you from having a note-off so that’s why it works when you sync hands and feet. Things to try. Playing keyboards which I can with triads on white keys (and some E major, A major, D Major here and there) gets better results but only because as said in the video, MIDI was made for keyboards. We have a super MIDI/MPE controller in our hands and MG3 makes it shine. However we need to perfect techniques to play it. Thanks a lot!!!
PS : Many high gain guitarists use dumpers for a reason…
