Physical modeling synthesis and MIDI Guitar in 2023

For anyone vaguely interested in physical modeling synthesis, and MIDI Guitar.

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What a great video! Thanks!

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Thank a billion, Chris. :pray: :pray: :pray:

I really liked that video. It gave me a lot of inspiration. Keep them coming. :slightly_smiling_face: BTW. I finally got a couple of hours to test out MG2, and I tried to run it in Ableton Live 11.

MG2 ran just fine after following the instructions in the videos for using it in Live. So far so good. It’s just awesome.

What I couldn’t figure out was how to use it with the BBC2, like you do. If I set midi in for the MIDI device track to the MG2 track then I obviously can’t get it to take MIDI input from the BBC2. If I set it to take input from any it doesn’t seem to get the MIDI from the MG2 audio track. Do you somehow route the BBC2 through MG2? I am obviously missing something here. I tried to rummage through some of your other videos, but I so far haven’t find any where you explained your Ableton Live setup. I’ll keep looking, but it would be great if you could give me a hint.

Sure. Abelton is a nuisance to work with when you easily want to group specific MIDI controllers to input on a certain track. Luckily that will be a breeze with MIDI Guitar 3. You can use this workaround (if you are not happy with the “All Ins” alternative for MIDI in for some reason; Open a new MIDI track in Ableton just for the BBC2, In the MIDI from slot, choose Breath Controller, and in the MIDI to slot , you can actually choose either to send it directly to the instrument you are interested in (here:SWAM Alto), or you can sen it to the MG2 AUDIO channel to have it passed forward to all instrument receiving MIDI from MG2. I just tested it, and both ways work fine. Don’t forget to also ARM to Record every track.Hope that works for you. :+1:

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You are just awesome. In so many ways. Just what I needed. I tried the “All ins” alterative for MIDI in on the MIDI instrument track yesterday, but then the MIDI instrument didn’t seem to get any midi signal from MG2. Only from the BBC2. I thought it was a technical restraint in Live, saying that “All Ins” only works with physical controllers, and not virtual, but if I read you right it is supposed to work with virtual controller plugins like MG2 too?

BTW. One of the instruments I tried it with yesterday was the SWAM Saxophones. Yes, I bought it now, after all. I dropped other stuff on my shopping list, and got them instead. I don’t regret it for a second. When I got it a few days ago I didn’t have MG2 up and running, so I used the BBC2 with the keyboard instead.

I played what I could remember if Keith Jarret’s My song, on the saxophone. Obviously I’m no Jan Garbarek, but I still had a blast. A true dream come through. Now that you have shown me how to use the BBC2 with MG2 it should be even more fun.

We’ve briefly talked about relearning the guitar to make the most out of MG2. For me personally it also comes down to physical limitations as well. I fully realize that with steadily progressing arthrosis in both hands I will probably never be able to do really fast runs on the guitar, but I am determined to enjoy what little I can do while I still can do it. I will also have to work on techniques that are efficient and less hurting. Playing guitar and keyboard is supposed to be good exercise for hands with arthritis and arthrosis anyway.

I am currently investigating to find the techniques for bend and vibrato that puts the least amount of strain on my left thumb joint. I might also have to switch to the lightest gauge strings I can use, while still getting a good, strong, signal to MG2. Do you have any recommendations on string gauges?

Again, thank you for always being so nice, helpful and willing to share your knowledge. I really appreciate it.

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Thank you, and sorry to hear about the arthrosis. I really don’t have any experience experimenting with different gauge strings so any advice would just be guesstimations, I am afraid. But I am sure there are a lot of users here who have first-hand knowledge to share with us. Perhaps you need to post it as a separate question?
I think there might be a difference in how MIDI Guitar works in Abelton in Windows and in Mac. Perhaps that might be it? I almost always use the AudioUnit version (Mac) if I use MG2 inside a DAW. I can also open my MG2 without hiccups as standalone outside of any DAW and also use the all-ins option. But again, in those cases, I am making use of the MG2 “Virtual Midi” option in the MIDI Fx, and I am not sure it is the same for PC. I am assuming you are using a PC here, am I wrong?

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Yes, I’m on Windows 10, and as such I only have access to VSTs, not AUs. Without knowing too much about the differencees in the ways the AUs and VSTs interact with Ableton’s APIs, and vice versa, I think you might have found a likely explanation. Looking forward to getting the time to try out your workarounds.

Yes. Getting old is a bitch, but the alternative isn’t very attractive either. :wink: You just have to roll with the punches and make the most out of what you’ve got. So what I lack in speed and dexterity I will have to try to make up for in musicality and expressiveness. If I get there I’ll be very happy.

I’m mostly playing for my own joy of music. It’s my happy place. Plain and simple. The advantage is that the only ones I need to think about when I’m playing is my wife, our dogs, and our cat. As long as she doesn’t complain and our dogs don’t start howling, I’m OK.

Our cat sometimes jumps up on the MIDI keyboard to “correct” me, but she seems mostly into extremely avantgarde, atonal music. So I rarely listen to her advice. I just give her cuddles instead. Thank you for your help and kind words. I’ll try to air the question of string gauges in a new, separate thread.

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