Fender Studio Pro 8 Released

[BONES]

No, you can't load songs into it. It seems to be purely for keyboard players in a band kind of situation, it doesn't integrate with the sequencer as far as I can see. Mind you, I haven't looked at it in years, maybe they've improved it?

[jamcat]

I guess MIDI is only for external synths in the Show page. But of course you can just export your VST MIDI tracks as audio for the show page. There’s no advantage to keeping it MIDI, but there are risks to live VST MIDI, like drop outs, latency, and CPU spikes.

With the Show page, you can sequence your songs with audio, live effects, preset switching and program changes, and even your light show, with a simplified mixer like Studio Pro Remote. It actually seems like just the thing you need.

[BONES]

I never stop tweaking the songs, even at soundcheck sometimes, so I'd never pre-render anything. Drop-outs, latency and CPU spikes are part of the challenge of playing live and the occasional glitch on stage just shows your audience that you're doing it live.

[jamcat]

Ah, so that’s why you use Windows instead of Mac.

[BONES]

No, we use PCs so that we don't need to have a backup computer on stage like KMFDM do or have all our backing on a DVD-R controlled from FoH like VNV Nation do. (Both of them have Macs on stage.)

[BONES]

New minor update available -

This release adds the following new features and improvements:
• Audio Batch Converter now compensates plug-in latency
• Mustang/Rumble Native plug-ins now follow automation when Direct Monitoring is
enabled
• [Launcher] Freeze Instrument Track is now available

The following issues have been fixed:
• [BeatDelay] Hi Cut knob value indicator reversed
• [Browser] Audio Preview Controls are clipped when searching on Home Tab
• [Compressor] Sidechain Hi Cut knob value indicator reversed
• [Export Stems] File name prefix cannot be empty
• [External Devices] Aux channel output doesn't have latency compensation
• [Linux] Browser search text input cursor is jumping unexpectedly
• [Linux] Manually entering tempo does not refresh UI
• [Mustang/Rumble] Black overlay appearing on save preset, adding or renaming setlist
• [Score Editor] Cannot set polymeter as expected
• [Score Editor] The "trill with natural sign" symbol ignores the natural
• [Score Editor] Wrong time signature after Fine
• [Sound Variations] "Default Variation" is clickable when score conditions are set
• [Tonalic] Note events on Audio Event are not drawn during looping
• [Vocal Tune] Parameter automation is not working properly during playback
• [Vocal Tune] Plug-in has no category assigned
• [Windows] Click and drag in empty Arrangement results in scripting error
• Channel assignment is incorrect when closed folder is duplicated
• Copy and paste Arranger Section with key commands causes tempo issue in certain Sessions
• Moving pitch automation nodes may become laggy
• Multi Instruments not reporting latency of components
• Native effects are not prioritized in plug-in search results
• Pasting to score breaks the Arrangement in certain cases
• Plug-in added behind Splitter in rack is inserted at wrong position in the fx graph
• Potential crash during Step Recording
• Preset navigation arrows do not change presets
• Separate Stems processing window has broken UI when two events are selected
• Sidechain signals out of sync when sending to bus without channel input
• Style Plug-in-Header "Stereo"/"Passthrough" hints
• Surround instrument speaker format not properly selectable in certain cases
• Tempo track nodes aren't updated correctly
• Time signature entered after a repeat sets playback and metronome out of sync
• Track assignments are lost when moving instruments out of an Instrument Set

[Crossinger]

And seemingly a demo version has finally landed:

[jamcat]

Normally I don’t bother with demo versions, I just buy the software at release or soon after. However, since FenderPreSonus adopted their stridently anti-consumer anti-customer time-limited upgrade model, it is a very smart practice to push off purchasing the license for as long as possible, to postpone starting your time-limit countdown. Installing the demo and utilizing the full 30 days should be part of that strategy.