Ok let me preface this by saying I'm not looking to hear a lecture about how I should choose another DAW, I realize that Live has some really great midi effects built right in, and I'm sure other DAWs do too as well... that being said one of the two things I really don't like about Studio One is that it offers absolutely NO midi effects! (the other is that there is no way to patch the output of a midi instrument directly to another audio track...). So I am wondering if there are any really good MIDI utility VSTs out there? Thanks

 

Well, what exactly are you looking for?

And yes, you can send MIDI from one inst to another in S1, (using the grey dropdowns in the tracks is one way), you just wont enjoy it because its VSTi to VSTi MIDI timing is so off you think theres a humanizer feature active somewhere...

(Which by the way is the very reason why i started looking into Reaper again because with Reaper the VSTi to VSTi MIDI timing is practically 100% solid.)

 

Something like these?
http://www.squest.com/Windows/Infinity/Infinity-MidiEffects.html

I'm sorry but i think midi fx vsts have kinda gone the way of the dinosaur. The kids just don't get using midi like us older chaps who have used only midi to make songs. Good luck with the search.

 

Just basic stuff like chords, arppegiator, fixed scales, whatever... octaves, like if I am using my guitar audio to trigger midi, I would like to shift that midi an octave to trigger a bass instrument. I know that there are ways to do it that are workarounds, I was just honestly surprised not to find that ability in S1, you can do it in Sonar and Live, which are the other two DAWs I have used somewhat extensively.

@Captain_Future, I'm not trying to send MIDI from one instrument to another, I'm trying to send the audio output from a midi instrument directly to it's own audio track, so that I could capture the audio from say a groove box, or drum machine without actually sequencing in all the MIDI for the whole track. It's funny everytime the subject comes up people inevitably start in with "well why would you need to do that? you already have the midi info, so you shouldn't need that". I could go on and on about times I have found useful applications for this. The point is not why would you need to do that, but why wouldn't you just be able to do that? Which is one reason I switched to Live awhile back, the routing is SOOOOOO easy!

I'm trying to get Studio One figured out because my buddy bought it and I'm trying to work with him on it, I thought I liked it, but man, I just keep coming up against these stupid little things, like, seriously? You never thought to just put that capability in there?

 

Not sure if i understood you right, but if i wanted the audio of say an AddictiveDrums beat on an audio track i would just do this:

1) Load AD

2) Sync AD playback to host

3) Set looplength in timeline

4) Doubleclick in arrangement (Creates empty MIDI item the size of the looplength)

5) Song --> Export Stems --> AD --> OK

Viola, audio track of AD beat.


Is that what youre looking for or did i misunderstand something?

 

> Just basic stuff like chords, arppegiator, fixed scales, whatever... octaves

Some options for MIDI mangling:
1) energyXT (as plugin) with some MIDI-related addons (google for them, hint: http://asseca.com/index.html)
2) http://cps.bonneville.nl/intro.php (powerful, now freeware!)
2) VSTlua, a very powerful MIDI scripting&mangling language (http://www.hermannseib.com/VstLua/index.html)
3) http://soundkonfusion.org/SKFV2/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=19110 (just for the links)

> I'm trying to send the audio output from a midi instrument directly to it's own audio track, so that I could capture the audio from say a groove box, or drum machine without actually sequencing in all the MIDI for the whole track

What exactly do you mean by "capture audio ... without actually sequencing in all the MIDI..." ?
Why don't you just connect the groove box to the audio inputs and record it?
If it's a VSTi, use buses, or just any track-out to track-in routing VST.
VAC should also work.

 

@Captain_Future, yeah that's pretty much what I want, except more like a real time thing where I could just say jam on the guitar and capture both the audio from the guitar and the audio from the VSTi, like how Arturia Spark has a "song" feature where it kind of goes through some different loops, or how BFD2 has a randomize feature on its groove function; just trying more to retain the improvisational feel. I was reading about "Export Stems" on another forum, but just seems like it should be a little easier just to route audio to an audio track, as opposed to a bus or the main... like I said it's super simple in Live, wondering how easy it would be in Reaper...

@fiction, sorry I meant like a virtual groove box, like in Reaktor or whatever, like an evolving drone generator or something like that. As far as using buses, I have tried that and cannot seem to figure out a way to utilize them to route to another audio track in S1, perhaps I'm just missing something. Hunted around on the forum and it seemed to be the consensus that it just wasn't possible in S1.

What is VAC? And what would one google to find it?

 

In Studio one all you need to do is highlight the midi clip and hit ctrl-b to bounce the midi to a audio track. If you are using a drum vsti you can even highlight the midi then right click\part function and explode pitches to tracks. This will take all the individual parts(High Hats, toms, cymbals Etc..) and bounce them down to separate tracks for further mixing. Not very hard to do at all.

I recommend that you watch the Groove3 tutorials

 

VAC = Virtual Audio Cable. (Commercial product)
Seems like the only virtual, multi-port WDM audio driver, at least I could not find any alternative.

Though, there's a second viable (commercial) solution using Elevayta "Stream Boy". Kind of a virtual VST audio bus system. Open one StreamBoy instance in the source (MIDI+VSTi) track, open a second StreamBoy instance in the destination (VST+Audio) track as an FX insert plugin. Now you can record the VSTi's output.
Obviously, the MIDI track must be able to host the VSTi *plus* the StreamBoy VST.

It's unbelievable that Studio One obviously does not support recording from busses, not even in version 2! Only from audio drivers. Stupid IMHO, since S1 DOES have a bus system.
Something self-evident in Live, Logic, Reaper, and for many musicians just a natural workflow.

(Well, there's still the FREEZE function in S1 *no* )

 

Dude their approach to freezing is genious if you ask me. And thanks for backing me up on the need for the capability to record vsti output to an audio track, amazing how many people seem to be unable to grasp the concept or use for it.

 

You're welcome!

In fact, there are quite a few composers that often record MIDI _and_ Audio simultaneously, just in order to be more flexible and decide later if the audio track (e.g. recorded from a hardware synth) just needs some polishing, or if replacing it by a VSTi would be a better choice.
You're not stuck to the hard- or soft-synth decision anymore.
Maybe it's the Protoolers who are used to record audio first, and then *maybe* midi if the DAW allows for it (yes, from good or not-so-good ol' Protools days ;-)

BTW, the more I look back to Mackie Tracktion, the more I think about going back to it, honestly ... just so many things can be done that S1 still can't do.
Well... is this what progress used to be?