Studio One 6

[sergenas]

Screen Shot 2022-10-09 at 14.10.31.png

As a long time user of PT and Cubase/Nuendo, I was really interested in Studio One which seems smarter and faster on a lot of things.

But after every mix, I found that things were off, uptight, sometimes phasey. When I redo the same mixes with the same plugins and settings in PT or Nuendo they are ok.
This happened with V5.5 and now with V6.

I opened several tickets for this issue and others (like memory leak when bouncing a lot of tracks; user data location reset to default, DPC taking into account disabled plugins etc …), which basically sump ups to : the issue is related to the plugins you use ! Ok, but in my last issue it was a Fabfilter Plugin. Which leads to this reply : use Pro-Q3 in zero latency mode !
Seriously, I found some issues with plugins from Fabfilter, Softube, Soothe plugins etc …

Those PDC issues lead to out of sync track and buses, sometimes for a few samples, sometimes for milliseconds, sometimes for a lot more.

A lot of the issues seems to be related to the use of sidechain, especially with buses.

This issue happens with playback, rendered track and stem export. In my experience the DPC issue will vary between this modes, and will get worst with buses.

That is why I decided to do a test mix using the public stems of a well known artist (that were freely downloadable for a remix contest) and create a simple test project with 32 tracks and some buses, using only very very common plugins (FabFilter, UAD, Softube, waves, soothe ….) that have no issues on PT or Cubase/Nuendo.

If you want a quick idea of this issue, look at the attached screenshots : they all show the same transient put on all source tracks at 2.1.1.0, that are exported and reimported. A lot of tracks are off, a few are a lot out of sync.

I don’t trust Studio One any more, despite the fact it is a great Daw, but totally unreliable about PDC, which means the larger/more complex project you mix, the more mess you will get.

I am providing the sources of the mix, and all the files so that Studio One users can check this.

This is a quick example of the issue, and on real and larger mixes it gets far worst !

Hoping this issue will be acknowledged and solved !

Any help and feedback on reproducing this issues will be helpfull, so that it is finally fixed !


I attached an example screenshot and the studio one project (V6). Just fill the audio track with anything.

Here is the link to the Studio One 6 project (1,3MB) : https://drive.google.com/file/d/14q-vAE ... sp=sharing

Or for those who want to download the file with all the audio tracks, rendered file and export (7 GB) here is a google drive link : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PDkVTS ... sp=sharing

The yellow files are the export of all the tracks and buses reimported in the project after export.
The white ones are some duplicates that are rendered.

(By the way, this is not a real mix, just a show of of the issues)

I am on a M1 Max, Apollo X, everything up to date.

[sergenas]

Here is an other (great !) example in a larger project with ALL PLUGINS DISABLED except 1 (stereo delta on track 70) which is enabled and bypass.

Listen to the two audio : one is phasey because some of the vocal FX buses are out of sync despite NO enabled plugin on it, all tracks and buses are 100% dry with no effect enabled.

The second is clean because I disabled the bypassed plugin.

Now the fun begins :

- The issue seems to be on track 70 with only one plugin bypassed (stereo delta)
- BUT this plugin works perfectly and PDC is ok.
- If I remove this plugin, the mess will come from some other buses and plugins …. Why ?

Wait for it more fun is coming :

- I found out that removing all Sends on the track number 70 (REV MED) solves the PDC issue on the project.
It seems that the PDC/out of sync issue happens when one plugin is insert on this track, then the send are out of sync.
I you hard disable STEREO DELTA on this track number 70 then the Sends are in SYNC.

But wait … it happens again on other buses … wait for it !

-  just try to remove Fabfilter Pro-G on the track number 63 GP VP ALL and it solves the send out of sync issue on the bus number 70.

So at the end it seems that the issue is the sidechain on a disabled plugin between track 63 and the KICK track. Remove that side chain and everything works …. Until you add more sends and side chains.


( ok I know using Fabfilter plugin is the issue, I am stupid but only with Studio one

SPOILER : By the way, all that show an other bug : how can a hard DISABLED plugin affect PDC in Studio One ???


So basically if you don’t want your mix to become a mess, with untight drums, messed transient and phasey vocal, don’t use Fabfilter plugins, Softube, Soothe or others … And dont use Sends and Sidechains !

If you are lucky, the mess will be small (but there, I made the comparison with PT and Nuendo). If you are working on large projects (200-300 tracks) it will be a huge mess


You can check all that with the attached project (this one is small 45mb) available here too : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lP-qwD ... sp=sharing


Please Presonus, Studio One is one of the best DAW currently, but unusable for serious productions. Please Fix it !

[gentleclockdivider]

Have they fixed the faulty filter frequency cutoff in sample one xt and impact ONe a ?
When the filter is set to -hp 12 state mode , a cutoff of 2 KHZ sounds more like 200-400 hz, a lot of low end is still present .
Just load clean saw and hear for yourself , def.not correct.

[gentleclockdivider]

Anyone use the vocoder yet?
Does it allow a midi part on track 2 to pitch a vocal track on track 1, using another synth plug as the carrier?

If you look at the gui it clearly shows carrier source 'internal ' or 'Sidechain ' , so the answer is yes

[Bartone]

Have they fixed the faulty filter frequency cutoff in sample one xt and impact ONe a ?
When the filter is set to -hp 12 state mode , a cutoff of 2 KHZ sounds more like 200-400 hz, a lot of low end is still present .
Just load clean saw and hear for yourself , def.not correct.

I think there is still no S1 6 change log (detailed information) to be found?

[SantaClaus]

Speaking of change logs, does anyone know where I can find the ones for Studio One 5 and 5.5?

[kevvvvv]

Been with Studio One since v1.

Always bought Pro version, and always updated.

But this time I'll pass.

It's too much money for what you get.

I was hoping for more, or at least different.

[SLiC]

It was pricey (I paid $120) but you do get all the update for the next few years and there are some really useful things in there, once you have them it's hard to imagen not having them...that usually sign of a good QOL update...nothing sexy, but some really useful stuff.

[chk071]

Speaking of change logs, does anyone know where I can find the ones for Studio One 5 and 5.5?

You can read about the most significant changes here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_On ... se_History

[SantaClaus]

Speaking of change logs, does anyone know where I can find the ones for Studio One 5 and 5.5?

You can read about the most significant changes here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_On ... se_History

I would never have thought of wikipedia, thanks.

[kevvvvv]

@SLiC Appreciate your comment.

What three things, large or small, float your boat in S6?

Genuine question

[nusound mind]

Here is an other (great !) example in a larger project with ALL PLUGINS DISABLED except 1 (stereo delta on track 70) which is enabled and bypass.

Listen to the two audio : one is phasey because some of the vocal FX buses are out of sync despite NO enabled plugin on it, all tracks and buses are 100% dry with no effect enabled...

I've never noticed any of these issues (by ear, at least) when printing. Do you see phase issues and so forth in the Project page in the mastering ... phase? If you use the Project page, that is. Maybe it's a Mac thing, I use S1 on a PC. Mac's seem to have the lion's share of troubles when it comes to Studio One.

[Aliens]

Anyone use the vocoder yet?
Does it allow a midi part on track 2 to pitch a vocal track on track 1, using another synth plug as the carrier?

If you look at the gui it clearly shows carrier source 'internal ' or 'Sidechain ' , so the answer is yes

I'll look for the manual on line or wait for a half decent video before trying the demo.

[syntonica]

Anyone use the vocoder yet?
Does it allow a midi part on track 2 to pitch a vocal track on track 1, using another synth plug as the carrier?

If you look at the gui it clearly shows carrier source 'internal ' or 'Sidechain ' , so the answer is yes

I'll look for the manual on line or wait for a half decent video before trying the demo.

The manual is online.

[SLiC]

@SLiC Appreciate your comment.

What three things, large or small, float your boat in S6?

Genuine question

OK cheated a bit by combining

Panning options & sends on FX channel
Mixer Channel Overview (inc mini view for third party vst etc)
Track Presets

Virtual Instrument Sidechain Support & Fader Flip Mode in Mixer (including showing sidechain) also pretty cool as is dynamic EQ (I use built in EQ in S1 as I like the way it integrates in mixer)

The lyrics addition is more useful that I first thought, particular in combination with video as it could be voice over, description of sounds that need to go in or whatever. Obviously, this and the new Video track are a big deal if you work to video (I don't much, hence not on 'my' list!)

On the downside, ' Sample One XT and Presence XT have all been significantly enhanced and improved.' not working for me now (high CPU) but I suspect that a glitch with my processor (i9 12 gen) no one else seem to be having that issue.