Studio One automation. What's going on?

[jamcat]

Automation in Studio One appears to be schizophrenic. Maybe someone can explain this. You can record automation to a part, which appears super-imposed over the MIDI or audio in the part segment. You can add parameters for these parts and edit the automation in the Editor window.

But then there are also automation tracks. You can add and read/write automation for the same plugins and parameters here. Automation data created in one type doesn't show up in the other. In fact, they appear to be totally separate from each other. When there is conflicting data, it appears the part automation takes precedence.

Can you consolidate or merge this automation data?
Is there a way to open part automation data on its own automation track?
Can automation created in a track be transferred/applied to a part?
Can automation be transferred/reassigned to a different parameter?

Which way do you do automation in Studio One?
Do you create separate automation tracks, or embed it in the parts?
Or both? How do you decide which method to use?

[gentleclockdivider]

Yep , it’s a bit schizo and confusing .
I almost never use the dedicated automation lanes .
Instead I create a new empty midi track assigned to the ( same) instrument and write midi cc’s-automation into a clip
Imho much easier to move the automation around .
The actual note data has it’s dedicated track.
Best if both worlds and less distracting .

[jamcat]

So you’re using clips but not in the same MIDI part as your note data?

That’s an interesting approach I hadn’t considered.

Have you had to deal with reassigning automation to a new instrument/parameter?

Let’s say you automated the filter cutoff in Moogysynth2. But now Moogysynth3 is out so you swap the old version with the new. The FilterCutoff parameter you automated is tied specifically to Moogysynth2’s filter cutoff, and AFAIK cannot be reassigned to Moogysynth3’s filter cutoff. Instead you have to copy and paste all of the data from Moogysynth2>FilterCutoff to MoogySynth3>FilterCutoff.

Do you know of a better way to do it?

[gentleclockdivider]

So you’re using clips but not in the same MIDI part as your note data?

That’s an interesting approach I hadn’t considered.

Have you had to deal with reassigning automation to a new instrument/parameter?

Let’s say you automated the filter cutoff in Moogysynth2. But now Moogysynth3 is out so you swap the old version with the new. The FilterCutoff parameter you automated is tied specifically to Moogysynth2’s filter cutoff, and AFAIK cannot be reassigned to Moogysynth3’s filter cutoff. Instead you have to copy and paste all of the data from Moogysynth2>FilterCutoff to MoogySynth3>FilterCutoff.

Do you know of a better way to do it?

Exacly , a lane with mid note data , and a lane with cc data
Never had any issues with it , havent reassigned synth x with y so can't comment on that

[Trensharo]

Exacly , a lane with mid note data , and a lane with cc data
Never had any issues with it , havent reassigned synth x with y so can't comment on that

Honestly, I can see swapping out e.g. Massive X with Serum or Hive and wanting to keep the Automation and Reassign it to another parameter.

For some reason, the scenario of switching out one Virtual Instrument or Synth for another - of similar function/domain - doesn't strike me as something that is rare.

I mean, it's really no different than swapping out one EQ or Compressor for another EQ or Compressor (e.g. iZotope for FabFilter, or a Stock EQ for iZotope/T-RackS/FabFilter/whatever).

Especially for people who use [have] create[d] and use a template as a starting point to save time in the setup stages.

[BONES]

The FilterCutoff parameter you automated is tied specifically to Moogysynth2’s filter cutoff, and AFAIK cannot be reassigned to Moogysynth3’s filter cutoff. Instead you have to copy and paste all of the data from Moogysynth2>FilterCutoff to MoogySynth3>FilterCutoff.

What's the problem with that? It seems like the logical solution and it couldn't be easier. I stopped installing DUNE 2 after DUNE 3 came out and caused me a lot of hassles with patch recall.

Overall, the way it works makes perfect sense to me. You can automate within a clip, or automate within a track or automate globally. I've never tried but if you can't copy/paste between each, that's pretty poor, so I get your frustration. I don't tend to use much automation, too fiddly, but it's a lot easier in Studio One than it was in Orion.

[jamcat]

Well, I would want to just click on the parameter and select a new one as the destination without having to copy and paste. It can be quite tedious and time consuming when you have a lot of separate MIDI parts with embedded automation, since you can only copy and paste from one part at a time. For example, a whole orchestra of SWAM instruments. Every movement has to be automated (bows, pressure, position, vibrato, etc). Upgrading from v2 to v3 means copy&pasting every data point for an entire orchestra. It was enough work the first time around.

Another example is if you originally had an effect plugin on an audio track, but then you move it to a Group channel. Once again, simply reassigning the destination to the new plugin instance would be much more elegant.