Studio One 4.5 More Updates than EVER!? New Functions

Mix Console

Many of the new functions in this recent update are found in the mix console.
Many useful improvements have been made to improve on your workflow.

Input Control

Click the “Customize” button and check the “input control.”

Above each track, there is now a “gain” and “phase switch” displayed.

• “Gain”
  Controls the track volume.
  Unlike the fader, if allows you to control the input volume pre-effects.
  For example, by controlling the input signal using the gain, you can adjust the amount of compression applied to a sound.
• “Phase switch”
  Inverts the phase of a track.
  Use this on multi-mic recordings such as drum tracks, or use it to check the phase between different tracks to design sound.

Inverting Video Access

Customizing meter displays

By right clicking on the meter, you can display the “peak + RMS” meters.

In addition, by checking the “prefader metering,” the pre-fader volume will be displayed.
By doing so, you can monitor the fader amounts without worrying about the volume adjustments made.

Group setting upgrades

By grouping multiple tracks together, you can make various edits and functions at once.
The group settings have been made easier, and allow for more detailed edits.

Select multiple tracks that you want to group
Right click on the empty part of a track and select “group selected tracks.”

Enter in a group name and select “OK.”

Click the “customize” button and check “group assign” to to display the group name under each track.

Click the group button on the button left of the console to display the group list.
By turning off the points on the left of the group name, the groups can be temporarily removed.

Right click a group name to make detailed edits to the group functions.

Easy side chain comp

The common technique of side chain compression can be applied even easier than before.
For this tutorial we will use the kick to trigger the compression on the bass track.

We will turn on the “side chain” button on the compressor on the bass track.
By clicking the icon on the right, you can select the trigger (kick for this tutorial) track.

You may want to apply the same side chain settings to other tracks.
By dragging the side chained compressor to another track, the trigger settings will directly carry over to the new track.

Side Chain Video Access

Groove Techniques Using Side Chain Video Access

Plugin functions

A useful function that allows you to manage plugins in Studio One has been added.

Plugin Manager

From the top menu, “display” → select “plugin manager”.

All of the plugins read by Studio One will be displayed.
By turning off the points on the left of the plugin names, the plugin will be hidden from the list.

For example, since AU and VST plugins might overlap, you may want to only display AU plugins, or avoid overlapping VST2 and VST3 plugins.

Use the left area of the window to quickly search for plugins.
From name/plugin type/vendor (company) you can narrow down the results.

Optimized CPU usage

Studio One 4.5 has succeeded in optimizing the overall CPU usage.

A unique function of Studio One is the ability of using multi-instruments.
You can layer multiple instruments and play them together using 1 track.

The CPU usage has been lowered by a maximum of 70% for native plugins, and approx. 50% for third party plugins like Kontakt.

In addition, the CPU usage for “Mai Tai” and “Presence XT” has been improved.

Editing functions

There are a variety of new improvements and additions that make audio/MIDI editing easier than before.

Sound previewing chord selector

Chord selector introduced in Studio One 4 can now be previewed.
Simply turn on the preview button on the selector.

Select a chord track and turn on “preview chord” from the inspector, and when you click a chord name above a chord track, the sound can be previewed.

In addition, you can customize sounds to preview chords with.
Prepare an instrument, and select the instrument from the inspector.

Individual quantization

The arrange/MIDI/audio editor’s quantization grid can now be edited separately.
The snap can be turned on/off as well, allowing for detailed edits without the confines of the grid.

MIDI Music Edit menu

A “Music Edit menu” that allows you to edit MIDI events has been added.

Right click on a MIDI event, to access the music edit menu.
A variety of new functions such as “quantize notes” “mirror notes” and more have been added.

In addition, you can access these edits from action in the MIDI editor.

Lock functions

A “lock” has been introduced that allows you to avoid making unwanted edits on polished tracks.

Select an event you want to lock, and from the top menu, select “time lock / edit lock.”

• Time Lock: Prevents movement of the event on the time line.
• Edit Lock: Prevents or limits edits on/in the event.

By right clicking a track and select “lock 1 track” to lock the entire track.
In this case, all editing/movement in the event will be locked.

Export

The file exporting function in Studio One has been upgraded as well.

From the top menu “song” → “video export”, videos imported into Studio One can be exported as a video file with edited audio.

A new “export mix down” function allows you to export normal audio files.

From the “option” section, check “mono” to export the track as a mono mix.

When exporting in MP3 file formats, you can select “variable bit rate.”

You can export audio in M4A file formats as well as “AAC” and “ALAC.”