Once & For All: Will MG2 Work Fully in Studio One 6 or Not?

Sorry for multiple posts, but I’m trying to get to the root of a very frustrating problem.

I can get MG2 working as a standalone app on my Intel-based MacBook. I can get it to load AU units into my Studio One 6 DAW, and get it to record audio tracks. I cannot at all get it to record to midi tracks. I thought it was a midi routing issue. But I noticed belatedly that Studio One simply will not scan and recognize MG2’s VST plugins.

After a lot of research, I discovered that the MG2 plugins are 32-bit, and Studio One 6 will only work with 64-bit plugins. Which appears to mean that MG2 is not fully functional in Studio One 6.

True or not? Is anyone using S16 and successfully using the MG2 plugin to record midi tracks? If so, what’s your secret?!

Hopefully this will be of some help to you, I’m not familiar with studio one 6 nor do I use a mac these days but something like this might do the trick for you: 4 Free & Paid J-Bridge Alternatives For Windows & Mac

Thanks! I just read up on it, and it looks more spotty and kludgy than it’s worth. I think either Jam Origins oughtta create 64-bit VSTs, or Presonus ought to figure out how to let the AU plugins write to midi tracks.

I would note, when I’m using REAPER as my DAW in windows MG2 writes to an audio track (rather than midi), its a bit of strange animal but you might check to see if the same thing is happening in studio one 6 which I’d imagine it is. So, I can toggle the MG2 on and off (and the other vsts in the audio track) to hear the original guitar or bass audio etc rather than the effected result. edited for clarity

Yes, i can record MG2 to audio tracks, and it’s wonderful. But of course, I don’t have the editing flexibility I have with Midi tracks. Ah, well…

Hi, I am also a Sphere member running S1 professional 64 bit on a Mac M1 and an old i5 Toshiba W10 laptop for gigs.

A few months back I gave a very detailed description on how to get MG2 up and running that you may find helpful.

It is late and I am a bit confused as to how you said that MG2 is not showing up in the plugin manager, have you directed it to VST3 as opposed to just plain VST, you can see this on your hard drive if you check - Library/AudioPlug-ins/VST.

You already have the audio track that you dropped MG2 into, this will not record midi, you then need to create a separate instrument track with let’s say Presence on and this records the midi data, set your input to MG2.

If you are still struggling I can go a bit deeper later after I have had a good nights sleep, been playing for about six hours today and shattered.

Best of luck.

Hi, Catwizud, thank you and yes, I followed your earlier posts and also Logo’s and I still can’t get it to work.

To your specific recommendations, I simply don’t see any Midi Guitar 2 VST3s anywhere. They are not in the VST3 folder. I’ve only got MG2 plug-ins showing up as Audio Units and as VSTs. And as I’ve discovered, Studio One Six won’t load 32-but VSTs.

Are there, in fact, MG2 plug-ins in VST3 format? Maybe I ought to redownload / reinstall?

As far as my recording protocol, I followed your & others’ instructions: Set up a stereo audio track for my guitar, dropped the MG2 plugin from the browser (the AU plugin is the only one showing). Added an instrument track, dragged Mai Tai onto it as a test, set MIDI Guitar 2 as the input. The audio track records perfectly, and if I go into the mixer and open MG2, I can load all sorts of virtual instruments. But the instrument track gets no input signal from that track, no matter how I set it up.

I tried some of the workarounds suggested for getting the instrument track to accept a signal from the AU plugin, such as setting up MG2 as a midi keyboard in preferences, but it doesn’t “take” - the audio device preference won’t accept it as a keyboard.

Wait a minute, wait a minute - it looks like there IS a 64-bit version of MG2, but it’s only available to paying customers. I’m using the free trial version, which is only 32-bit. Is this the solution?

Or is the 64-bit beta only the standalone app, not the plug-in?

I’ll gladly pay - but can someone confirm that if I pay $150, I’ll get a 64-but plug-in?

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Looks like your question has been answered. I didn’t know that: a) you were using the free demo and b) that the free demo is 32-bit only (seems like a stupid limitation to me).

I bought a license to MG2/MB years ago, and it was 64-bit back then, including the standalone.

What OS are you on? I am on Ventura 13.3.1 and am assuming that your file structure is the same as mine.

MG2 lives in Macintosh HD/Library/AudioPlug-ins/VST, it is not in Macintosh/Library/AudioPlug-ins/VST3, you need to make sure that this folder is being scanned by the S1 Plug-in Manager.

In S1 open your Preferences, use the Locations tab and VST Plug-ins, you will see that by default (for me) the first location is /Users/catwizud/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST. Add /Library/AudioPlug-ins/VST. As stated above this will now be read by the Plug-in Manager.

Purely as it is Intel I have just fired up the Windows 10 laptop as it is an i5 processor and MG2 sits in the VstPlugins, the file name is MIDIGuitar2-64bit.dll. It shows up in the Plug-in Manager as VST2 v2.2.1.0 - Last modified 6 years ago.

Why are you so certain that your version is 32bit, from memory I used the standard download to test before I purchased MG2 and then paid the license, no second download for a ‘special’ paid version. Someone correct me if I am wrong as it is all a bit fuzzy now!

Back to the Mac, the file info just says MIDI Guitar 2.vst for the file in the /VST folder, Created: Thursday 14 November 2019 at 09:57, Version: 2.2.1, no bits given!

Screenshot of S1:

If you are stuck you could always put your file in collaborations and give me access on Sphere to see how you have set it up, if necessary I could drop my test file into another folder to keep them seperate.

Let me know how you get on.

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Thanks, John, I’ll try tomorrow. One of the confusions on the Jam Origin web site is, for the paid version, it says: “Both products [bass and guitar] includes VST and AudioUnit plugins as well as standalone application for both 32 and 64 bit Windows and Mac systems. It is compatible with most digital audio workstations .” Which leaves it ambiguous whether the 64-bit is for the VST and the standalone, or only the standalone. I’m hoping this is the issue.

John, this is terrifically generous of you. I DO have the VST in the correct folder. But I’ve got my fingers crossed that my issue may be the limitation of the freeware version. So I’m going to try his and your suggestions, go out on the purchase limb, and hope for the best.

Your new life in Brittany sounds glorious. If your music is posted on SoundCloud, I’d love to give a listen. Thanks again to you both.

SOLVED! AND I CONFESS THAT I’M AN IDIOT!! I’m thrilled to report I got it working flawlessly. The problems were all mine - the stupidest simplest error - and the fix was aided by this group.

Stupidly and mistakenly, I’d downloaded the Mac version for the older OS’s. When I downloaded the newest OS version, the VST showed up in the browser, loaded, and wrote to midi. SOLVED! THANK YOU ALL!!

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