I’ve been trying out MIDI BASS and MIDI GUITAR with my bass in Ableton Live, and I’ve been really impressed with the responsiveness—it’s amazing! I have a question, though.
I’m enjoying using MIDI BASS for the lower strings, but I also want to play polyphonic lines (up to two strings at a time) for synth or guitar chords on the higher strings. I’ve managed to do this by using both MIDI GUITAR and MIDI BASS on separate tracks. However, is there a way to achieve this directly within MIDI BASS? Ideally, I’d like to have polyphony on the upper register while maintaining monophony on the lower register.
This feature would be perfect for my setup and would mean I wouldn’t need to buy both MIDI BASS and MIDI GUITAR. Any tips or suggestions on how to set this up would be greatly appreciated!
that will give you much more control. ex: instance1 of mb runs using existing pickup, notes above a certain range are blocked. instance2 (mg3) runs on the new pickups (upper strings only), giving you polyphony and the ability to add midi effects to one string only.
individual pickups will also allow you to set gate/tone/polyphony on off so that one string is optimized for playing instruments such as drums/percussion, which can require different settings.
if you don’t need the audio signal, yet another option is to swap your strings out for a set tuned an octave higher (search piccolo bass on the forum). benefits: decreased latency, decreased wear and tear on your fingers and full mg3 polyphony on all four strings.
on the last, i’ve been waiting for mb3, there’s something about mg3 with my bass which isn’t totally happy. i’m continuing to use mb2 for the low e and low a (both tuned +12).
Awesome, thanks so much for the reply! The pickups sound cool, but for now, I’d like to keep things simple until I get a better handle on incorporating MIDI tech into my music. My bass tracks pretty well overall, so I don’t feel the need to change the strings since I’m also using it as a bass simultaneously. I’m using flatwounds on a fretless, and it tracks surprisingly well as long as the intonation is good. Do you have any idea when the MB3 is coming out? Duophony is really all I need. Alternatively, it would be great if bass tracking could be integrated directly within MG3 instead of requiring a separate app—then I could easily use the app on my baritone. Also, I saw that the MG3 beta is out. Is that available as a VST? Is there a planned release date for MG3? And for those of us who have already purchased MG2, will it be a free upgrade? Sorry for all the questions!
You can also consider playing polyphonic bass via your guitar using a bass VST.
If you own a MG2 license you can download the MG3 beta test version here: https://www.jamorigin.com/beta/
The upgrade will be free.
MG3 beta comes as standalone application and VST plugin.
