Harrison has announced the upcoming version 4.0 release of Mixbus, featuring Harrison's latest-generation "True Analog Mixing" engine, which has been updated with new features including a stereo width knob on the console mix-buses.

YouTube.com/watch?v=M2h-HTBo8nE

Mixbus's new and updated GUI answers users' requests for a single-window interface, and it allows the transport controls to appear above the mixer. The new "mini-timeline" allows fast & easy locating directly from any view. The transport controls have been streamlined, and now provide user-configuration to hide and show the elements that are needed during the different stages of production: recording, arranging, editing, mixing and mastering.

Global controls for track input-monitoring, as well as improved support for pre-roll recording and several UI improvements, greatly improve the usefulness of Mixbus for tracking a live band. Combined with the new "tempo ramps" feature (described below), Mixbus is optimized for live multi-track band recordings.

Mixbus v4 includes a wide range of user-requested improvements and fixes. A comprehensive redesign of keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and window-management makes Mixbus more friendly to users of other DAWs. Mixbus can now load VST plugins on Mac (in addition to AU and LV2), allowing for better Mac-to-Windows-to-Linux sharing of sessions. Multi-output virtual instruments are now easier to setup.

Tempo Ramps: following a comprehensive redesign of tempo and meter conventions, Mixbus allows the user to elegantly add tempo markers on a live show; and the tempo will smoothly ramp to follow natural tempo changes. This feature can dramatically speed-up your editing and mixing process without robbing a performance of its natural timing.

VCA Faders: Channels may be assigned to an "unlimited" number of VCAs, allowing the user to control a snare drum from 3 VCA faders: the snare, drum, and all-instruments VCA groups (for example). This flexibility is derived from Harrison's large-format console VCA implementation.

Lua Scripting: A comprehensive new scripting engine has been added which allows users to write simple scripts to modify their sessions. Scripts may be triggered from events (such as "on transport stop"). Similar to macros from Harrison's large-format consoles, a Lua script can trigger a sequence of actions. For example: a provided example script sets all channel faders to unity, while inserting a "trim" plugin before each fader with the fader's previous value. User's Lua scripts may be triggered from keyboard shortcuts or buttons. You can even write your own DSP or MIDI processing plugins as Lua scripts.

Continuing Harrison's collaboration with the Ardour open-source community, Mixbus v4 is session-file compatible with other Ardour-based workstations: Ardour5, Waves Tracks Live, and the newly-announced iZ Session. This level of inter-application support is largely due to Harrison's continued funding and support of open-source development.

Harrison's proprietary plugins, including the new Spectral Compressor and Drum Character plugins, are now available separately for LV2 hosts like Ardour5 and iZ Session.

Mixbus v4 is scheduled to release on March 1st, 2017. If you buy Mixbus v3 at regular price (US$79) between January 1st and March 1st, 2017, you will receive a free update to Mixbus v4 when it is released.

Similarly, if you buy Mixbus32C at regular price (US$299) between January 1st and May 1st, 2017, you will receive a free update to v4.

http://harrisonconsoles.com/