When syncing two PCs using MIDI Time Code and MIDI Clock and MMC as applicable, it has been fairly an accepted practice for long, to send MIDI from a master PC to a second machine, hosting, say, virtual synths inside a host like a DAW or similar, and in turn return audio from the second machine to record on the master PC, obviously using transport control.

I wrongly assumed that this is so with all sequencers / DAWs including Studio One.

I had sent a query to Presonus enquiring about this feature, since I am able to load and with two instances of Studio One on two separate computers. Here is a transcript, and their somewhat confusing reply.

It is possible that either Studio One has a limitation, or may be I have not asked the right question.

My query to Presonus Tech Support:

I have two instances of Studio One Plus loaded in 2 separate machines PC1 and PC2, with PC2 running soft synths. How do I record into the PC1 DAW, from the soft synths running on PC2, in sync and in real time? Both computers have their separate USB audio interfaces and separate MIDI Interfaces as well.
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Tech Support answers:

Hi Sumit,

Thanks for contacting PreSonus Support.

The functionality is not possible in Studio One. When you record into PC2, the data is recorded to that computer. It is not possible to send it in real-time to another computer. You will need to record into PC2 and then, you can use the Workspaces feature to create a workspace and sync the song and then you should be able to have the song open on both PCs and then you can send and receive files between the two computers.

It is considerably complicated to try this method, and it may well work for you. So, give it a try. But, currently, there is no support for real-time recording between two computers.

If you would like to make a feature request for Studio One to be added in a future release, we have a forum section specifically for Feature Requests.
http://answers.presonus.com/studio-one-feature-requests

Thank you,


Kind Regards,

Jonny
Technical Support Agent
PreSonus Audio Electronics

Unable to draw a conclusion from this. Anyone any clue? Not that, in the past Presonus Support responses have been great. In fact, they have at best been bad.

Notwithstanding, perhaps someone who does have experience in this matter may be able to help see a clear path. Problem is, I am stuck with Presonus hardware and software so not much of an escape here. Only thing is I need to figure out a way to achieve what I want to achieve.

Regards

 

This is an overcomplex way to do it.
You simply need a remote plugins host on PC2.

Like
https://audiogridder.com/

Well known producers i seen never used several daws, they only hosted remote plugins.
So yes there is MIDI transmission, but not on a full DAW.
Everything was on a "master" DAW.

Since gigasampler/gigstudio , more than 2 decades ago with guys like Hans Zimmer ;D

 

This is not possible and over complicated way to do things. As a Studio One user I use Vienna Ensemble Pro hosting my Virtual Instruments & effects on my Slave PC & Studio One on my main DAW machine. As mentioned in the above comment by ItsFine, audiogridder does a similar job.

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Vienna_Software_Package/Vienna_Ensemble_Pro

 

Point taken. Thanks. Will think over and will also have a look at audiogridder.
But it’s intriguing that S1 cannot achieve this, given that Cubase has VST Link, Ableton has similar.
Even DP has this feature.

 

Honestly, guys, I'm confused. S1 can send and receive MTC and audio data. So, if you can sync it, why can't you record it?

 

Something is wrong, VST link is NOT linking several DAWs (it is VST link, not DAW link ) :

"Dedicate one computer to running VST instruments while recording audio tracks on another (not in Cubase LE)."
"You could have one computer serve as a “virtual effect rack”, running CPU-intensive send effect plug-ins only."

And no, Ableton can't do it too.

You are speaking about remote plugins hosting, that's why i linked you to Audiogridder

Because he is not speaking about sending MIDI and recording audio (as any remote plugin host do) BUT using 2 DAWs for recording realtime on the SAME project ... witch no DAW can do, as far as i know.
You always need a MASTER DAW recording the project alone, and slaves hosts.

 

Last edited: Jul 16, 2024

Ah well, it’s all my fault. A non-native English speaker can never truly express things correctly!

As I have tried explaining somewhere earlier, I am speaking about sending MIDI from Master PC1 to Synth PC2 exactly as I would do to say a Korg X5DR or Yamaha MU128 or a Roland JV1010. And same way, the audio from the synth is then sent into the monitoring system either through a mixer or direct to speakers, depending upon the setup. At this moment in time, there is no audio being recorded in either PC, but only MIDI tracks / sequences / messages are being laid with all the necessary parameters and controllers.

MASTER DAW resides in PC1.

 

No problem :D
So yes, Audiogridder will do the job : AG plugin in your PC1 DAW, as "regular" instrument track.
Plugins on PC2, hosted into AG host.

 

How would you compare Audiogridder to VSL Ensemble pro? Which is easier to setup?

I would really like Ableton Link compatibility in S1. Protools, Reason, Bitwig already support it.

 

There is no real complexity.
Try both and see yourself, that's all i can tell

It is VERY personal, like DAW choice