GP 4 causing “ring modulation” sounds and is unusable

I installed GP 4 today and loaded a gigfile. Every single sound was heavily distorted with a ring modulated sound. I uninstalled GP 4, and defaulted back to GP3, and every sound was crystal clear with no trace of distortion. I reloaded GP4 and the distortion was back. GP4 is unusable to me at this moment. All settings are the same as with GP3.

What did I do wrong? Should I have uninstalled GP3 first?

Ok, I did some more testing and it seems that the Music Lab Real Guitars are the ones distorting. Anybody else noticed this problem?

Please check your audio settings both in GP3 and GP4 and make them identical to what you have in GP3 as it works there.

Already checked. Identical in both.

Installing/Uninstalling GP3/4 will not change anything.

The only reason anything would be different in this regard is if the settings are different or you’re using more than one audio application with different sample rates.

The only audio application I use is the same one I had with GP3. I changed nothing when I installed GP4. The fact is that it only seems to be Music Labs Real Guitar that is distorting. And Real Guitar has not changed either, as it is still in the same state as when I updated to GP4. So, the clash is between Real Guitar and GP4. What has changed between GP3 and GP4 to cause these problems?

Nothing has changed in that regard and many people use RealStrat for example.

If you create a simple GIG file with GP3 and put one real strat VST in there and play it does it work?
If yes - save that gig file and exit GP3, now open GP4 and open the same GIG file. Does that work?

If not - please post a video and screenshots of your audio settings in GP3 and GP4

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Yes.

No, it distorts badly

I have posted SS and a test gig file. Not sure how to do a video.


GP 3 Test.gig (12.4 KB)

Hummm… strange… could you increase the audio buffer size in the GP4 settings and tell me if you still have distortion ? It is just to see if your issue is related to the audio settings (even if 256 samples is theoretically OK).

I thought it might be a Windows problem, so I installed a backup from December 2020. The problem persists. At the moment, Windows is updating, so I cant do anything until it lets me.
I have done a video on my phone, so how does it get uploaded? It will be quite big, so does GP automatically compress it or something?

Hi Al, i downloaded the test version of the plugin to try your gig file and it works flawlessly (on WIN 10 and GP4).
But i noticed that you seem to use an older version of the plugin… in the guts of your gig file i could read

<PLUGIN name=“RealGuitar” descriptiveName=“RealGuitar Classic” format=“VST”
category=“Synth” manufacturer=“MusicLab” version=“5.1.1.0”

So you are using a VST(2) on version 5.1.1.0
What i actually downloaded was version 5.1.1.7471 and even this might again be updated to V5.1.2.7479
2021-06-02 23_28_31-MusicLab update checker

Also i got no VST2 installed anymore - there is now only a VST3 version available.

So i would propose you should update your software and then see if your problem still persists.

Hi Erik.
Thanks for all your trouble. I’ll have a look at the Real Guitar updates. The problem is Strumminater mode whereby I use a Guitar Hero controller. Music Lab dropped support of this controller, and when I mentioned that to them, they very kindly added in code so that Strumminator worked again. I was very grateful for that. So I’ve been avoiding updating in case I lose that capability. When I get Windows back from updating, I will install the new versions of Real Guitar and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, I have a few choices and decisions which I will consider.
Many thanks once again for your trouble.

Just updated all my Real Guitar plugins and the distortion is still there. I’ve now sent a message to Music Lab, so hopefully they can help.

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Well, I did a radical thing. I saved my Windows set up as a image file using Macrium Reflect. I installed a new copy of Windows downloaded form the web. I installed only Real Guitar, GP 4 and the Babyface Pro software. I bypassed my digital mixer and ran the Baby Face pro output directly into my amp. Same distortion, same bad sounds from GP 4. I then installed GP 3 and tested again. The sound was perfect without distortion. I’m at a loss as to what is happening here. Is it possible that a distortion Vst has some how crept in with GP 4? I’m desperate for an answer here. Any suggestions?

This is VERY weird. At what sample rate are you running?

Also, were you loading your entire gig or did you just create a new gigfile with a single rackspace to try the plugin?

Also, do you have a firewall or AV application running? If so, is it possible that GP4 somehow is being partially inhibited by them?

“The thing is, I did nothing to my existing install. I just loaded GP4 over the top.”

I found the problem. It is the Babyface Pro causing the distortion, but only in GP 4. GP 3 plays fine. I also checked cables and an alternative audio device I have, and it is definitely the Babyface Pro. Because this distortion only happens with Music Labs Real Guitar, is “their” problem or is it a GP 4 problem? Is there such a thing as a reset button on the Babyface Pro? Does the fact that GP 3 plays fine rule out GP 4 as a cause? I would love some advice here as I just don’t know what to do next.

It happens with the Babyface Pro, but it doesn’t mean that IT IS the Babyface Pro. It seem to happen with the combination BF + GP4 + Real Guitar VST. When one of these element is not involved it is correct. So unfortunately you cannot know for the moment…

I remember there being an issue with the combination of Real Guitar and Babyface before (with an older GP) — there was some bizarre interference as if the Real Guitar plugin was somehow screwing up the audio processing. I know you figured it out but I don’t remember what you did.

I assume you’re running the latest drivers for the RME.

Also — I have seen issues where anti-virus programs (including Windows Defender) prevent programs from working properly — even when people think they have been disabled, they still seem to interfere — maybe there’s a permissions issue going on.

I’m really sorry you are struggling with this — I know you have been a great GP supporter over the years and GP4 really should just work out of the box for you ---- we had a huge test cycle over the last year and certainly there are others using Real Guitar with GP4.

Somebody just pointed out something we did explicitly for GP3 to address this exact issue — we’ll take a look to see if somehow that fix got lost.

Appreciate your patience.

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