Studio One mysteries

[b1j]

My brother flew from MD to CA to work with me this week on recording a song in Studio One 5 Pro. We’re both mildly skilled in it. Good news first: The first morning, I recorded my J-45 using the spaced pair SDC setup I’ve been perfecting. Great stereo recording; inaudible room artifact, full sonorous tone: I think I have a winner! So pleased after much trial and error.

But several things went awry.

1) After I got through enough layers to have a passable backing track, Studio One shut down unexpectedly. By the time we’d started it back up, the track had vanished. Nothing on the track. Wave forms absent. No idea. Total loss. We called it a day, shut everything down, and opened a Presonus support ticket.

2) Today (2nd day) we were able to record the acoustic track. It actually went faster after all the prep and rehearsal yesterday. Again I found a moment to appreciate that I have finally developed an effective setup for acoustic. But after we saved the file (song), Studio One abruptly shut down. This time, at least, we still had the acoustic track.

3) Later today we put in kick and hat tracks using Impact. OK. But then when we tried to record a piano track using Presonus Grand piano through Presence, we got phantom percussion sounds jumping out of the MIDI piano. As the sun sets on the day we still have never been able to record the piano in its own voice.

With all three of these debacles, we haven’t the faintest idea what happened, how two of them magically cleared up, how to fix the piano virtual instrument voice, or how to prevent any of these heartbreakers.

I’ve been so looking forward to this session. Writing this summary has helped me temper my disappointment a bit.

Any ideas here about any of this?

[sdelsolray]

Seeking help with failures such as this typically requires a listing of your setup, i.e., computer, CPU, OS version, DAW version, plugins being used, etc. Please provide these details.

That being said, most (nearly all) of such failures are due to user error or user lack of understanding.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

Seeking help with failures such as this typically requires a listing of your setup, i.e., computer, CPU, OS version, DAW version, plugins being used, etc. Please provide these details.

That being said, most (nearly all) of such failures are due to user error or user lack of understanding.

Hey, thanks.

— 2015 MacBook Pro that has always worked brilliantly with Studio One until yesterday and today
— CPU? 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7. Never been a problem, and whenever I’ve looked into it, it’s always been well above Studio One’s requirements (maybe why it’s always worked).
— OS Monterey 12.6. I think this is the culprit. In my search for enlightenment today I saw some discouraging words to the effect that the shiny new OS that Apple forced down my throat without my permission is not compatible with Studio One. Lovely.
— As mentioned, Studio One 5.6 Pro
— plugins as noted: Impact drums and Presence piano using Presonus Grand Piano virtual instrument.
— Interface: Presonus AudioBox USB 96.
— mics, headphones, cables.
— 1TB solid state G-drive to store music files.
— Nut behind the wheel? That would be me, error-prone and understanding-challenged. Since nearly all failures come from this, I guess we have it sorted out.

Thanks for your help.

[shufflebeat]

Until the cause is identified and dealt with you might consider switching over to Reaper, which won't involve any spending, at least until the evaluation period is over (and then it's pennies - and voluntary). It'll handle any format of files you've previously recorded and is fairly rock solid.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by b1j

Hey, thanks.

— 2015 MacBook Pro that has always worked brilliantly with Studio One until yesterday and today
— CPU? 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7. Never been a problem, and whenever I’ve looked into it, it’s always been well above Studio One’s requirements (maybe why it’s always worked).
— OS Monterey 12.6. I think this is the culprit. In my search for enlightenment today I saw some discouraging words to the effect that the shiny new OS thatApple forced down my throat without my permission is not compatible with Studio One. Lovely.
— As mentioned, Studio One 5.6 Pro
— plugins as noted: Impact drums and Presence piano using Presonus Grand Piano virtual instrument.
— Interface: Presonus AudioBox USB 96.
— mics, headphones, cables.
— 1TB solid state G-drive to store music files.
— Nut behind the wheel? That would be me, error-prone and understanding-challenged. Since nearly all failures come from this, I guess we have it sorted out.

Thanks for your help.

First I am not sure what you mean by "new OS that Apple forced down my throat without my permission

Because it is standard DAW recording practice ( and should be any computer user SOP) to have "Automatic Update" turned off (which is a user definable option on Mac ) . Because 3 party software developers are often behind the curve on making their software compatible with new OS versions You should be able to go on the Presonus web sight and get info on what OS versions are supported your S1 version..
Also was your current version of S1 working on the previous OS version ? ---In other words the OS version is the only new change to your system yes ?

So it could be the new OS -or- it could be a corrupt 'S1 Song file"
So to clarify the 2 day did you start from scratch with a completely New Song ,, or just use the previous Song and re record ? If the latter the first thing I would is try recording a completely new Song and see if S1 shuts down on you ..
One diagnostic I would try is playing older Songs do some throw away recording on them and see if they shut down also

One other possible issue "could be" that something has gone wrong with connection using the external "G - drive" to store the music files ?? In which case you might try setting S1 to store the files on the desktop for this one song/session and see if the problem still persists

Or if the problem persists even storing on desktop with a new Song file THEN you can google "how to download older Mac OS versions " and downgrade to the last version that was stable for you.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by KevWind

First I am not sure what you mean by "new OS that Apple forced down my throat without my permission

Because it is standard DAW recording practice ( and should be any computer user SOP) to have "Automatic Update" turned off (which is a user definable option on Mac ) . Because 3 party software developers are often behind the curve on making their software compatible with new OS versions You should be able to go on the Presonus web sight and get info on what OS versions are supported your S1 version..
Also was your current version of S1 working on the previous OS version ? ---In other words the OS version is the only new change to your system yes ?

So it could be the new OS -or- it could be a corrupt 'S1 Song file"
So to clarify the 2 day did you start from scratch with a completely New Song ,, or just use the previous Song and re record ? If the latter the first thing I would is try recording a completely new Song and see if S1 shuts down on you ..
One diagnostic I would try is playing older Songs do some throw away recording on them and see if they shut down also

One other possible issue "could be" that something has gone wrong with connection using the external "G - drive" to store the music files ?? In which case you might try setting S1 to store the files on the desktop for this one song/session and see if the problem still persists

Or if the problem persists even storing on desktop with a new Song file THEN you can google "how to download older Mac OS versions " and downgrade to the last version that was stable for you.

Thanks, Kev. All useful suggestions.

I’ll have to look for that option to turn off automatic updates.

I can see an argument for having a computer dedicated to music production that is entirely off the Internet, except for times when you want to download something specific. But that seems kind of fussy and probably has unforeseen disadvantages.

To your question, the first glitch happened when we went to add the first audio track to an existing song that only had about eight MIDI tracks.

Then we did open a brand new song and had intermittent success, but it was fragile and didn’t always stay positive problem-free.

I have certainly played older songs recently with no difficulty, but not since things went sideways yesterday.

The connection of the G-drive was directly into one of the MacBook’s USB ports instead of its usual route through a 7-USB hub, because we were in a different room from where I monitor and mix. Not sure how I would check for problems there.

It does say on the web that there are compatibility problems with S1 and OS 12.6. So maybe I just have to wait it out until Presonus catches up. This throws a bucket of paint over my brother’s trip.

Today we’re going to clear our heads and walk away from the problem by doing a little local sightseeing.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by b1j

Thanks, Kev. All useful suggestions.

I’ll have to look for that option to turn off automatic updates.

it's. System Preferences > Software Updates -Bottom of window uncheck "Automatically keep my Mac up to date". then also click
Advanced > Automatically (leave "Check for updates" checked) uncheck "Download new updates when available"

I can see an argument for having a computer dedicated to music production that is entirely off the Internet, except for times when you want to download something specific. But that seems kind of fussy and probably has unforeseen disadvantages.

While I do have dedicated studio computer ,IMO I do not see being connected to the internet as an issue as long as the auto update feature is off

To your question, the first glitch happened when we went to add the first audio track to an existing song that only had about eight MIDI tracks.

Then we did open a brand new song and had intermittent success, but it was fragile and didn’t always stay positive problem-free.

I have certainly played older songs recently with no difficulty, but not since things went sideways yesterday.

I have S1 but do not use it as my main DAW so I'm not much help
But again if the OS you are running is not supported then it is certainly suspect.

The connection of the G-drive was directly into one of the MacBook’s USB ports instead of its usual route through a 7-USB hub, because we were in a different room from where I monitor and mix. Not sure how I would check for problems there.

I think being connect direct USB is not an issue, seems to me the best way to see if the G-drive might be an issue,, is to switch the S1 Song file storage location to your laptops desktop which will take the G-Drive out of the equation.

It does say on the web that there are compatibility problems with S1 and OS 12.6. So maybe I just have to wait it out until Presonus catches up. This throws a bucket of paint over my brother’s trip.

Which may well be the issue but if that is the case then seems to me downgrading to the previous OS version that you know was stable would be be the best solution

[b1j]

Wouldn’t downgrading the operating system mean going into my time machine and going back to a time when I had the older version? If so, would I then lose all the files of any kind and I’ve made since then?

[b1j]

The Ghosts of Studio One Past are still haunting yesterday’s file, but today we are apparently making headway!

We started a new file. I copied the acoustic guitar and bass tracks we’d managed to capture in the old song file, and pasted them into the new file. We were delighted that the Presence/Presonus Grand Piano plug-in worked as expected. Who knew that when things work as they should it would be so wonderful?

Hold the champagne corks, though. The older file still won’t let anything rational come out of the piano plug-in. Crazy gibberish sounds, all different from the ones we heard yesterday. Just not a grand piano.

We are back in my regular mixing room, and the only material gear hookup difference I can imagine is that today the G-drive that holds the song files and the virtual instruments runs through the USB hub instead of how it was directly plugged into the laptop yesterday. Maybe that USB connection was loose? That still doesn’t explain why we can’t get a decent piano part into the old file today.

For the moment we don’t care. Presonus is looking at the open support ticket, so we’ll see what comes out of that.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by b1j

Wouldn’t downgrading the operating system mean going into my time machine and going back to a time when I had the older version? If so, would I then lose all the files of any kind and I’ve made since then?

No you can go here https://mrmacintosh.com/how-to-downl...ll-installers/. then depending on which actual OS you had running previously you can re download that version from the App store list
Then as long as you do not clear/wipe your Macintosh Drive you should be ok To just install the older version using
Migration Assistant and have your files intact
But I would recommend choosing your G- drive as a Time Machine back up first just in case..

[b1j]

Thanks for the clear and well-meant advice, Kev. You know those times you just aren’t sure you want to make the leap? This is one of those for me.

Good (workaround) news, though. After the third glitch I was able to extract the successful acoustic guitar audio track from the file we squeezed out between the second and third glitches. That became the first track in a new song file (with no Impact). We returned to my bedroom studio and recorded the next several tracks without serious mishap: MIDI piano, bass and electric lead audio tracks, and Superior Drummer 3 track. By then we were superstitious about going back to what I thought was the better sounding room, but had been the scene of the crime. So we bit the bullet and recorded the lead vocal with fingers crossed; I was relieved there was no room artifact in the vocal.

Will I ever know what happened? This so-called OS incompatibility only happened when I moved into the large room for better acoustics. Unknowns included Impact and a dangling G-drive. I’m beginning to think the G-drive was loose in the USB port.

In the future I’m still going to record acoustic guitar in the big room. The result is just too good to risk the comb filtering or phasing I’ve gotten in the past.

But no Impact. Ever.