RML Labs releases SAWStudio / SAWStudioLite v4.0a and SAWStudioBasic v1.5a

Last week RML Labs released version 4.0 of SAWStudio and SAWStudioLite and version 1.5 of SAWStudioBasic. V4.0a and v1.5a updates are already available.

Version 4.0 / 1.5 Release Notes (** Included in SAWStudioBasic)

Enhancements:

• ** Added a new feature called Roll-Over Context Help to the Info Menu. When this feature is active, each active zone, switch and control is outlined in red as you roll the mouse over the screen, while a text display window chases the mouse position. By Left-Clicking in one of the active areas, information about how to use that zone is displayed in the text window which freezes in position.
• ** Added engine modifications to support Tape-Style Record Monitor Switching. This new feature now allows full live input monitoring direct from device inputs during recording. This does require low latency operation capabilities of your system. Buffer settings of 3 x 128 or less are generally very good.
• ** New Solo Mode options have been added to the Mixer Menu:
  • The Solo In Place (Mutes Other Channels) mode is the original standard default SAWStudio mode.
  • The Solo Bus – Pre Fader mode functions as a true console PFL Solo.
  • The Solo Bus – Post Fader mode functions as a true console bus Solo.
  • The Solo Bus Out Device option can be used to route the solo signal to a separate device output to monitors or headphones, leaving the main mix bus intact when using SAWStudio’s virtual console as a Live Mode Front Of House replacement.
  • The Solo Bus Level option can be used to adjust the Solo level feeding the Solo Device.
• ** The popup Aux Send Menu has been enhanced with new features. Clicking on the Aux Send section label or any of the individual Aux Send number labels on the E, Z or W mixer views opens up a popup menu. This menu shows the list of Aux Send Master labels and now also includes some quick Aux Send setup options.
• The Store and Recall Channel file functions have been enhanced and can now act as a very powerful Partial Mix Template recall.
• ** A new feature has been added to the Driver Protocol Menu for the ASIO Protocol option. Now, whenever the ASIO Protocol mode is selected, the ASIO Data Format Type will be displayed on the ASIO Protocol Menu option line. This information will display the Integer or Floating Point data format type that the driver uses.
• ** Starting playback when Live Mode is active from the MWS version 1.6d or higher will now auto toggle back to Live Mode when playback is stopped.
• ** Many functions have now been enhanced to work while Live Input Mode or Rec/Rdy Mode are engaged. This makes it much easier to keep these modes active during a recording session with live monitoring and still manipulate the MultiTrack.
• ** Changed the Left-Right-Click Set To Default value to zero db for aux send level controls. This makes it much easier to snap the levels to a starting mix value for aux send mixes.
• ** Automation changes In Live Input Mode are now processed if you jump the cursor down the timeline. This allows Cue Location Markers to be used for Live Mixer automation within songs.
• ** The Select Mode nudge feature has been enhanced. In Select Mode, the Left and Right Arrow keys can be used to snap and then nudge the selected entries one cursor step at a time, keyed from the front of the key entry. Pressing the Shift key at the same time will key from the end of the key entry. Pressing the Shift-Alt modifiers at the same time will key from the key entry offset position, if one has been set.
• ** Double-Clicking the F Mixer view label area now opens the E Mixer offset to the main fader position for quick level adjustment.
• ** Live Input Device source assignments to mixer channels are now displayed in the F Mixer as small patch bars in the I/A zone. L-Only sources display as a bar on the left side of the zone. R-Only sources display as a bar on the right side of the zone. Stereo and other combined mono sources display as a bar in the center of the zone.
• ** Increased the maximum buffer size for VST preset settings saves to compensate for more and more VST plugins that are taking huge amounts of data space to save their presets.
• Layers may now be changed during playback to blank layers. When changed back to layers with data, the data will remain in sync with the playback. If you start playback on a blank layer, the layer can be switched to a layer with data on it, but the data will not be part of the current playback cycle because the track was never initialized into the playback loop. You must stop and restart playback to hear the new layer data.
• Working with Group Presets has been enhanced and works differently than earlier versions.
• ** The FX API has been enhanced to allow plugins to request track label information.
• ** The BuildMix To Current HotTrack function has been enhanced to allow the HotTrack to be one of the tracks that carries mix source data.
• A new BuildMix option has been added to the Process/Mixdown menu called BuildMix To Current HotTrack / Layer.
• ** A new option has been added to the Mixer menu called Clear Selected Mixer Labels.
• ** FX Buffer Size Changing plugins will now cause a notice to appear on the Main Window TitleBar when the engine is activated. Clicking in the displayed msg zone will display the plugin’s name and the channel it’s patched into.
• ** The Record Meter Input Zone is now sensitive to Channel Input Device Mono L-Only and R-Only assignments and correctly enables unassigned Mono Devices in the popup menu.
• ** A new feature allows you to copy an MT marked area directly to a Region by pressing Ctrl-C. The region is automatically selected in the Regions View allowing you to instantly follow up with an Insert or Shift-Insert keystroke to paste the data to a new location.
• ** All On-Top windows will now drop beneath overlapping application windows when SAWStudio looses the application focus and be restored to On-Top status when SAWStudio again gains focus.
• ** MultiTrack Waveform scaling with the Mouse-Wheel or the Ctrl-Numeric-Keypad now responds to number selected tracks and adjusts all selected tracks at the same time.
• Recall From Memory Cells and Files now creates an undo file.
• ** Altered buildmix base or device filenames are now cleared in the new edl file created when using the Save-As or Save Copy-As functions. This helps accidental buildmix overwrites of the original mix files when later working in the newly created edls.
• ** Marking areas in the SoundFile and MultiTrack Views has been enhanced to allow you to slide a fixed marked area to a different position while maintaining the marked area size.
• ** A new option has been added to the Mixer menu called Snapshot Chan Settings To MT Automation. This option allows you to snapshot all basic mixer channel settings and write them as MultiTrack automation data at the current cursor position.
• ** The Numpad functions for MT-Zoom, WaveForm Scaling and Locate are now active in all Mixer Windows.
• ** The EQ and Echo plugins have been enhanced for faster overlapped redraws when activated. The new versions are also now sensitive to offscreen positioning saved with edls from higher resolution displays and will automatically correct themselves to fit on the current screen resolution.
• ** Two new options have been added to the Process/Mixdown menu called Export Track(s)  To SoundFile(s) – [No Mixer Processing] and Export Track(s) To SoundFile(s) – [With Mixer Processing].
• ** Selecting MT Track Labels for special playback functions has been enhanced with the addition of two new commands. Alt-Ctrl-Clicking will now label-select all tracks between the last selected track and the current one. Alt-Shift-Clicking any label-selected track will transfer and add all the selections to the track numbers for a quick way to group editing functions on the fly.
• ** A new MT-Entry editing feature has been added to allow you to slide the Region data within an existing MT-Entry without repositioning the entry. Shift-Right-Dragging within an MT-Entry will slide the data within the entry boundaries without affecting the entry size or position. This can be very helpful when making slight adjustments on various tracks to align horn or vocal parts.
• ** Startup Command Line processing has been added. SAWStudio will accept a WAV or EDL filename on the command line when starting up. WAV files will automatically open into the SoundFile View. EDL files will automatically open into the MultiTrack View. With EDL filenames, you may also include a /P command option to immediately begin playback of the EDL. Make sure to include the entire path and filename and leave a space after an EDL name before adding the /P. SAWStudio will also accept a PRF filename on the command line when starting up. In this manner, multiple preference files (including different shades) can be maintained and loaded automatically. You do not need path information for the prf file, only the filename. It must be stored in the Configuration folder under the SAWStudio folder.
• A new option has been added to the Control Track Built-In Commands called Stop Playback  / Cue Next / Play. This option allows you to instantly jump to the next Cue Location and begin playback.

Video Track Viewer Version 2.9

• Framerate display has been expanded to 3 decimal places.
• A new option has been added to the File Menu called Stamp New AVI File FrameRate. This option allows you to change the framerate stamped in an AVI file header. This can be very useful to force odd framerate stamps like 24.999 to 25.000 which will stop mismatched framerate warnings when adding clips and force perfect frame accurate sync on the timeline.

A list of fixes in v4.0 / 1.5 and v4.0a / 1.5a changes are detailed below.

Fixes:

• ** Fixed automation copies of overlapped automation data when using the V Filter.
• ** Live Input Mode now handles automation changes correctly and no longer chases the automation moves while sitting idle on the timeline.
• ** Code modifications done to enhance stability and eliminate corruption of screen displays with multi-processors, multi-core processors and hyperthreading processors.
• ** Alt-Drag MT-Entry boundary adjustments now correctly ignore the Auto-Zero Cross setting and allow exact boundary adjustment in both directions on selected or non selected tracks.
• ** The active mixer window now stays active after using a popup fader from any of the controls.
• ** Locate points and Control Track View tempo entries now correctly display measure count offsets if used.
• ** Setting a new MT sample rate now correctly updates the MT Timeline.
• ** Changing SMPTE Sync Devices while a SMPTE mode is active, now correctly switches to the new device settings without having to toggle SMPTE Mode on and off.
• ** Adjusted code to fix SRP startup from sometimes failing when initiating directly from Rec/Rdy mode.
• ** Fixed code to properly display the Dynamics GR Meter on the E-Mixer when switching between F-Keys.
• ** Fixed code that could cause buffer crashes with certain VST Synth plugins when passing data streams between SAWStudio and the MidiWorkShop.
• The Wide Mixer view now correctly displays marked channels when switching from the Return or Output section to the Input section using the I, R and O zones.
• ** Offset Mode now correctly offsets default mixer values when you stop and restart playback without ever exiting and committing Offset adjustments.
• ** Opening a Mix Template will now correctly disengage any active solo mode.
• ** Using any of the commands to mark the entire SoundFile in the SoundFile View now first correctly clears any existing marked areas and then properly marks the entire file.
• ** Modified VST initialization code to compensate for certain plugins that seem to require the audio engine to be running in order to initialize their interface properly.
• ** Control Track View long name entries are now truncated in the display window and no longer push the tabbed columns out of alignment. The internal name length is preserved.
• ** The Control Track Listbox correctly updates back to the beginning now after the execution of the Cue Beginning / Play command.
• ** Fixed link between Dynamics Hi and Lo Eq when using the popup fader with the Shift Key. Video Track Viewer Version 2.9
• Video Track splits and moves will now correctly redraw marked areas.
• Edit Mode can no longer be toggled when Edit playback is active.
• The Render To DV File functions will now correctly re-sync the video viewer display and the MT cursor when the render is finished.

Changes in v4.0a and v1.5a

Enhancements:

• Two new options have been added to the Options menu to allow adjustment of the base Priority Class of the program. The code has been adjusted to allow for safely increasing the Process priority internally to High or RealTime priority.
• A new option has been added to the Command Line processing when the program first starts. SAWStudio will now accept multiple FKY filenames on the command line when starting up. The first .fky filename found will load as the default F-Keys. The next one found will load as the default Alt-F-Keys. The third one found will load as the Midi WorkShop default F-Keys (requires MWS Version 1.6f or higher). You do not need path information for the Fky files, only the filenames. The SAWStudio files must be stored in the Configuration folder under the SAWStudio folder. The Midi WorkShop file must be stored in the MidiWorkShop_Configuration folder under the SAWStudio Native_PlugIns folder.

Fixes:

• The new Slide MT-Entry data function undo creation has been fixed.
• Both new Export Tracks to SoundFiles options have been fixed to properly handle automation and Fx buffer size changes with no glitches.
• Fixed the loss of window focus when using Ctrl-S and other menu commands with message and dialog boxes.
• Fixed code to keep Solo Bus options from interfering with the performance of BuildMix operations.
• Fixed Solo Bus mode solos to be active in Rec and Rec/Rdy modes.
• Fixed MTLoad readout to be active in Rec and Rec/Rdy modes and for the MTLoad and SrcLoad windows to be properly cleared when the engine is stopped.
• Code modifications have been extended to the SoundFile View to enhance stability and eliminate corruption of screen displays with multi-processors, multi-core processors and hyperthreading processors.