# Presonus Studio One 3.2



## pdub (Feb 25, 2016)

Wow! Some amazing new features in this free update!

http://www.presonus.com/videos/presonuslive


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## apessino (Feb 26, 2016)

I thought it was already the best before, but with 3.2 SO is in a class of one - amazing stuff, and still such a fantastic workflow. The video goes into details:



There is also a new detailed course on Groove3 describing the new version. Also awesome update to the Remote app (now works on Microsoft Surface and Book!) and the CS18 control surface.

PreSonus is kicking major butt...


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## pdub (Feb 26, 2016)

Yeah it's amazing! Love the console effect and the new smarter tool kills.


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## apessino (Feb 26, 2016)

Yeah, and VCAs! Also, I have not had time to test it yet, but if the automatic tempo map from track works as expected it will be fantastic for me. Also love how now you can render instruments by dragging a part to an audio track.

Hard to believe this is a free upgrade - with other companies this would have been AT LEAST a .5 release and cost $100.


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## emid (Feb 26, 2016)

This is really an impressive update introducing many new futures mainly to compete with Pro Tools. But still S1 is a CPU hog with no improvement in the midi area. I hope they will look into these as well.


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## pdub (Feb 26, 2016)

I agree they did target the PT crowd on some of it. They nabbed and improved some of my fave features. I always loved how you could trim automation in PT.

MIDI could use additional features to compete with cubase and logic but it's still totally usable for my needs.

I don't get the CPU hog though. I have pretty well spec'd systems but I feel it's more efficient with less hiccups than logic and the code is the lightest around. I feel like I'm flying in S1.

And it just sounds great!!!


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## Jacob Cadmus (Feb 26, 2016)

No CPU problems here either, considering that I'm still running a 3rd gen i7 with no overclocking.


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## apessino (Feb 26, 2016)

Yeah, it there is one thing that stands out about SO is how quick and responsive it is - I can literally start a session, do some editing, export audio and quit in the time it takes Cubase to fire up. :D (Not dissing Cubase, I love that one too... but it feels positively sluggish compared to SO). I am on Windows - no idea if things are different on MacOS.

As for the MIDI, yes it does not have as many features as some of the competition (well, just Cubase really, but then again nobody compares there) but the workflow is so streamlined that I find myself working faster and better with what it has. 

Anyhow, the only thing that I have really missed so far has been the kind of advanced Tempo Track and tempo manipulation features Cubase has - for everything else, I find SO to be the must efficient and elegant DAW I have ever used - and that was BEFORE the 3.2 update. :D


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## Vin (Feb 26, 2016)

Looks great. When they up the MIDI features, I'm switching without a doubt.


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## Jacob Cadmus (Feb 26, 2016)

Might I mention that I tested out the Scratch Pads on the most recent short film I scored. I was expecting bugs galore, but was surprised at how stable it is. The only bug I noticed was that whatever sequence I was on was mirrored in the main arranger for some reason. Not a dealbreaker though since I never used the main arranger.


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## samphony (Feb 26, 2016)

The instrument editor (midi is a word they constantly try to avoid ) wasn't in focus for that update. Since 2011 they (developers) get teased with feature requests to improve the editor and music to picture facility. 

As it seems V3 cycle is/was mainly focusing on recording and production I'm shure that this small niche called music to picture/scoring etc will be in focus somewhere in the future. 

Anyone interested to give feedback regarding improvements should post or vote over at answers.presonus.com

I mean scratch pads could be used with different start times SMPTE-wise to turn it into cue pads so to speak. 

S1 also doesn't support surround yet and MTC doesn't really work (to sync to a video computer) 

As a Logic Pro user S1 feels the closest to me and I successfully realized film and game projects with it in the past. I think it does a lot right and might become a good choice for people creating music and sound for picture in the future.


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## emid (Feb 27, 2016)

High CPU performance has been a known issue in S1 and Presonus has even promised to improve it. CPU spikes and leaks in mixer can be seen even S1 is not playing anything. I am a S1 user since it came out and have no plan to change it for another daw but the issues I stated ARE there, have been addressed and even noted by Presonus.


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## PeterKorcek (Feb 27, 2016)

emid said:


> High CPU performance has been a known issue in S1 and Presonus has even promised to improve it. CPU spikes and leaks in mixer can be seen even S1 is not playing anything. I am a S1 user since it came out and have no plan to change it for another daw but the issues I stated ARE there, have been addressed and even noted by Presonus.



Hi emid, which computer and OS are you using? I am using both Cubase 8 and S1 v3.1 and I must say S1 really has faster workflow in terms of just laying down the tracks and doing basic edits, MIDI could be better and hopefully they will address it in the future, but it's still absolutely fine.

CPU usage on my custom PC i7 was fine and everything was stable - the booting time and all around working is super fast


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## jonathanwright (Feb 27, 2016)

I've found S1 to be somewhere in between Logic X and Cubase 8 performance-wise (Mac OS 10.11.3). I certainly haven't had any noticeable issues and it's been very stable on my system.


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## emid (Feb 27, 2016)

Yes Peter agree word to word regarding fast workflow, in fact I very much advocate it vocally. I am only saying about high CPU performance which is even recognised by Presonus themselves. Load some plugins on an empty track and without playing check the performance meter.

It's when S1 is idle no matter what plugins and what not. CPU performance is always high. As far as I know all daws has this 'leakage' but S1 has highest, correct me please.

Here is an example of two daws, S1 and Reaper (demo).
I loaded an instance of Arturia Analog Lab with same sample rates on both.












I have an i5, 8gb, Win10 laptop and soon replacing it with a better desktop. But it's just one instance of a plugin which is shown here in S1 and Reaper for comparison, however if you google you can find lot of people with similar issue on a well built machine as well. Anyway, hope Presonus sort it out on priority basis. Regarding midi, I was talking about advance midi features not copying from other daws but like better articulation handling, track templates etc. I have no other complains but very much satisfied with S1.


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## samphony (Feb 27, 2016)

emid said:


> Yes Peter agree word to word regarding fast workflow, in fact I very much advocate it vocally. I am only saying about high CPU performance which is even recognised by Presonus themselves. Load some plugins on an empty track and without playing check the performance meter.
> 
> It's when S1 is idle no matter what plugins and what not. CPU performance is always high. As far as I know all daws has this 'leakage' but S1 has highest, correct me please.
> 
> ...



The difference between reaper/cubase/logic and S1 is that all of the former have a hybrid engine. They in some ways support to lower CPU use of plugins if no audio is passing through. Presonus hasn't adopted these features neither for AU nor VST3.


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## pdub (Feb 27, 2016)

samphony said:


> The difference between reaper/cubase/logic and S1 is that all of the former have a hybrid engine. They in some ways support to lower CPU use of plugins if no audio is passing through. Presonus hasn't adopted these features neither for AU nor VST3.


 
Interesting!

Is this a conscious choice for Presonus or just something they haven't gotten around to yet? 

Thanks.


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## MarcelM (Feb 27, 2016)

if you want to compare daw in cpu usage, you shouldnt use the build in cpu meter. daws measure different, so if you want to know have a look at your task manager.


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## emid (Feb 27, 2016)

This is what I was talking about. Thanks Samphony for your input.


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## PeterKorcek (Feb 27, 2016)

Very interesting guys, emid, if you use Task manager for the same test, will you get the same results? just wondering


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## emid (Feb 27, 2016)

Hi Peter. I will not exaggerate, just checked on task manager and there is an improvement where S1 consumes 5-6% of CPU power and Reaper takes 1.6-2% instead of what was shown by the daws performance meters with the same plugin being loaded and both daws remain idle. But pay attention to when there is a spike in Performance meter of S1, there is a glitch as well.

As I said, it's not that I am making it up but imagine on a machine like mine after stacking up few more plugins I have to become more economic in using more plugins otherwise I run out of cpu performance. For this reason I downloaded Reaper few days ago to see why people rave about it and found that it is coded well to handle these issues. Yet, I am not switching over to Reaper in any way but changing my computer with better power.


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## MarcelM (Feb 27, 2016)

i tried the 3.2 demo and didnt have any cpu spikes yet. the workflow in studio one really is impressive , but it also crashed for me once and i dont know why.

ive checked the presonus forums and it also has some issues with a few plugins.

i like it alot and iam thinking of purchasing it instead of upgrading cubase, but iam really not sure.

i also read it has some problems with omnisphere (wanted to buy it soon)... so tough decision.

cpu usage is a bit higher compared to cubase, but that doesnt matter much to me. most important is the workflow for me.


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## kitekrazy (Feb 27, 2016)

I think some were hoping Notion would be incorporated in S1. I think what stand out about v3 over previous versions is if it was your first DAW you really don't need to venture out for a lot of 3rd party items. I thought the included VIs were a joke before but these are much better.


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## emid (Feb 27, 2016)

Heroix, at least about ominsphere I can tell you I never had any issue nor had any technical issues with plugins (apart from what I said earlier). You will love the workflow of S1 because it is very logical, robust like a breeze and no 'long cuts'. Your investment will not be a disappointment for you.


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## Jacob Cadmus (Feb 27, 2016)

It seems there's a long standing difference in results between users. It's no secret that S1 uses more CPU in general than Reaper, but just how much more is the question. I can get away with a pretty decent amount of VIs in S1 before I see any CPU spikes, but for some folks they'll get some spikes pretty easily. Also take into account other variables, like hardware, audio drivers and buffer sizes.


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## MarcelM (Feb 27, 2016)

https://shop.presonus.com/products/studio-one-prods/Studio-One-3-Prime

ive just checked the presonus shop and did not know they even offer a free version.

it seems it doesnt even have a track limit like my cubase elements has.

iam not sure, but it seems quite good if you dont need all those internal studio one plugins. not sure what really important stuff is missing.

edit:

ok 99,- bucks for the artist version is cheap aswell.

and the prime version doesnt seems to have vst support hehe.

well artist version looks very good. i guess iam gonna buy it.
needs addon though to use vsts. well...

what version are you guys using? is the pro version a must have or what?


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## germancomponist (Feb 27, 2016)

I am beginning to get interested in this program. Maybe I should install the trial.


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## samphony (Feb 27, 2016)

germancomponist said:


> I am beginning to get interested in this program. Maybe I should install the trial.


Yes you should. What the guys did right from the beginning was combining user experience designs from cubase, logic and other daws. That's why a user of these daws can get up to speed very fast.

my key commands of logic and S1 are in nearly all areas identical. One of my favorite key commands is "Locate Mouse Cursor" I've bound it to the S key.
If you hold down the key command and move your mouse/trackball the playmarker will follow your mouse cursor. This is by far the fastest way to move the playmarker. Also if you hit play and then use the Locate Mouse Cursor key command you can scrub your session. Just a little hint 

You will also like the scratch pad. Which lets you sketch out ideas or do alternatives of arrangements right in the same song/project.

Also if you want to have a one to one relationship between mixer and arrangement make sure to enable the new feature under Prefernces > Advanced > Automation > Automatically create automation tracks for channels.


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## samphony (Feb 27, 2016)

Heroix said:


> https://shop.presonus.com/products/studio-one-prods/Studio-One-3-Prime
> 
> ive just checked the presonus shop and did not know they even offer a free version.
> 
> ...



Trial the pro version and see how you like it. I always used the pro version so I can't tell what the others are missing.


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## samphony (Feb 27, 2016)

pdub said:


> Interesting!
> 
> Is this a conscious choice for Presonus or just something they haven't gotten around to yet?
> 
> Thanks.



I dunno they just told me that it's not implemented. Also keep in mind that this daw has one of the best Transform to Audio features implemented in my opinion. If you have a plugin that needs a lot of CPU just transform the track to audio and edit away if you later decide to go back to where all plugins where still available you can transform back but all edits stay in place. This is brilliant especially for instrument tracks. So no excuses to commit to audio anymore


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## pdub (Feb 27, 2016)

Yes the transform feature is awesome! The best implementation of the freeze concept for sure.


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## R. Soul (Feb 28, 2016)

I got the artist version for a no brainer price like $5 and later an update to 2.6 for similar price. But you really need the professional version just to use vsti's which is a bit ridiculous, so I only tried it briefly.

I thought it lacked a few midi features and I'm not sure if I can't do the things I do in Cubase using short cut keys at almost same speed.

Could you converts explain if 3.2 would improve my workflow?
All I do is pretty much:
- Load a couple of instances of Omnisphere, Kontakt, Stylus
- Set some markers, record a few bars and then edit the midi - rinse and repeat
- Add eq, compression, limiting to taste
- Export mixdown to mp3

I also found that I couldn't set up Studio one on two monitors with the same layout that I had in cubase, with arrange page on one monitor, and mixer, instruments and various metering on the other. Has that been improved, or is it still meant for one monitor?


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## jonathanwright (Feb 28, 2016)

R. Soul said:


> I got the artist version for a no brainer price like $5 and later an update to 2.6 for similar price. But you really need the professional version just to use vsti's which is a bit ridiculous, so I only tried it briefly.
> 
> I thought it lacked a few midi features and I'm not sure if I can't do the things I do in Cubase using short cut keys at almost same speed.
> 
> ...



All that is very easy.

Personally I love the macro toolbar in S1 for the tasks I repeat a lot.

I use S1 with the mixer on a separate monitor, as I do with Cubase (both on a Mac).


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## stigc56 (Mar 4, 2016)

Hi Jonathanwright.
Can you tell me why you use both S1 and Cubase?


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## jonathanwright (Mar 4, 2016)

stigc56 said:


> Hi Jonathanwright.
> Can you tell me why you use both S1 and Cubase?



It depends on the project really. If I need to use a complex orchestral template I'll usually stick with Cubase. If I'm composing library music I'll reach for Studio One as the workflow is so quick and the 'scratchpad' feature is great for creating the required edits in one project.


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## stigc56 (Mar 4, 2016)

I have tried S1 version 2.5, and I think it's a very good DAW. I had doubts regarding the tempo editor, and the more sophisticated features that Cubase and Logic offers, but today I have spend 5 hours trying to figure out the best work flow in Cubase using Render in Place with a lot of tracks using VSL dim strings. I takes forever to render those tracks and pursuing that way will prolong my project so much.
At some point I'll have to consider how much time I gain by VST expressions, compared to how much time I use trying to find out why things go so slow or Cubase crashes.
I mean editing the midi is only a part of a work flow right?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 4, 2016)

samphony said:


> They in some ways support to lower CPU use of plugins if no audio is passing through.



This is not the only reason Reaper and others have (much) lower CPU usage than S1.


I'm not considering S1 a viable replacement for MIDI sequencing until they add 14-bit CC, SysEx and NRPN support. Also MIDI editing is quite slow, I must say even Reaper is much faster after you adjust its mouse modifiers a bit.


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## jonathanwright (Mar 4, 2016)

stigc56 said:


> I have tried S1 version 2.5, and I think it's a very good DAW. I had doubts regarding the tempo editor, and the more sophisticated features that Cubase and Logic offers, but today I have spend 5 hours trying to figure out the best work flow in Cubase using Render in Place with a lot of tracks using VSL dim strings. I takes forever to render those tracks and pursuing that way will prolong my project so much.
> At some point I'll have to consider how much time I gain by VST expressions, compared to how much time I use trying to find out why things go so slow or Cubase crashes.
> I mean editing the midi is only a part of a work flow right?



Exactly. I agree that S1 definitely has some MIDI shortcomings right now (a few of which I've been able to overcome with Macros) but I'd say for 80% of what I do, it's an extremely fast environment to work in.

One thing I haven't attempted is working to picture in it yet though. I still go to Cubase where that's concerned.


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## samphony (Mar 4, 2016)

jonathanwright said:


> It depends on the project really. If I need to use a complex orchestral template I'll usually stick with Cubase. If I'm composing library music I'll reach for Studio One as the workflow is so quick and the 'scratchpad' feature is great for creating the required edits in one project.



Not to mention the arranger track.


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## samphony (Mar 4, 2016)

I personally find shortcomings more related to film and syncing. Also exporting stems can become a click and scroll fest if you deep fold tracks.


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## Lannister (Mar 4, 2016)

Maybe it's just me, but the whole track visibility options just seem a mess, especially compared to REAPER and its Track Manager.


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## luigi.di.guida (Mar 14, 2016)

I'm trying to working for movie using XJadeo as external video player, synced via MTC...
At this moment, it seems I work faster then Logic Pro X....


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