Questions & Answers

Dedicated automation per Macro Control (Macro Control usability improvement)

+194 votes
3,712 views
asked Dec 20, 2015 in Editing by niles (54,610 points)
edited Jun 7, 2020 by niles
This one has been requested on the forum a lot since the Macro Controls where introduced. Currently when automating a Macro Control it writes separate automation lanes for each attached target.

I would like to request a feature where it's possible to create an automation track/lane for the actual Macro Control itself (like it's currently implemented in the Multi Instrument). This is very useful if you want to attach, detach or modify targets or transitions later on.

24 Answers

+10 votes
answered Dec 21, 2015 by matthewgorman (52,060 points)
Nicely stated Niles. Good luck in the voting.
+17 votes
answered Feb 10, 2016 by Artem Reverse (1,380 points)
Yes! I also want to add that when i was working with Ableton Live i used a lot of macro controllers, It is really helpful feature. But in S1 it is absolutely useless because of lack of normal automation.
+5 votes
answered Mar 1, 2016 by Michael1985 (12,890 points)
I also miss the possibility to use note fx (midi fx) like note repeater with macros and to save with presets! Now they are not part of the automation show!
+7 votes
answered Mar 8, 2017 by tangerinedanger (1,330 points)
Actually other day I opened  a ticket on support thinking that the fact it works on multi instruments and don't works on channel editor was a bug.
When I asked why it works on one and not on another (I wanted to know the pratical reason why) even the support wasn't capable of found a reason.
+8 votes
answered Sep 17, 2017 by koshal (2,360 points)
+10000000

We (electronic peeps) really need this in a bad way.
+7 votes
answered Dec 9, 2017 by dinopannozzo (350 points)
PLEASE add this feature!!!! I switched vom Ableton to S1 but i am missing the super-useful mapping of multiple parameters to one automation curve sooooo much! Still not sure if it's a feature or a bug that it's missing in S1. THANKS a million in advance!!!
+5 votes
answered Jan 30, 2018 by mattiott (450 points)
Seems more like a bug because it actually works with multi instruments/vsti´s just not on audio tracks.

Can´t believe this hasn´t been fixed with the latest S1 update.
+3 votes
answered Jan 18, 2019 by judithkuijf (1,280 points)

Workaround!

1) Assign your macro knob to your physical controller

2) Create automation tracks with the parameters you want to automate (not lanes) 

3) Right Click in the inspector in the slider under parameter. A shortcutmenu pops up. Connect your automation parameter to the macro knob! You can tweak your parameters in the channel editor for more control.laugh

+5 votes
answered Jan 15, 2020 by Michael1985 (12,890 points)
Nice idea with the midi controler BUT MIDI only has 127 steps so the automation is not very fine....
+9 votes
answered Feb 9, 2020 by simonchadwick (520 points)
This made me laugh (laughing in bewilderment that is), what's the point in having macro knobs if you can't automate them with multiple selections? Great request, nailed it.
+3 votes
answered Feb 9, 2020 by kope (360 points)

Great request. There is just one more thing I'm missing. Currently, if Channel Editor is launched by shortcut (F11) it always displays the first plugin in the chain. Now, given the focused nature of external devices this is counterproductive as the user needs one more click on Macro Controls button to display the page. Point is I would like to see the macro page displayed when showing the Channel Editor by shortcut (like F11).

+8 votes
answered Jul 26, 2020 by Baphometrix (1,860 points)

Coming from Ableton and Bitwig, I have to admit that this current behavior is VERY undesirable. What's the point in having macro knobs in the Channel Editor if you can't automate the knob with a single automation line?

+9 votes
answered Aug 16, 2020 by alexelectronicmusicschool (810 points)
+1 the Macro Controls are almost useless without the option to automate them. I hope this gets added soon!
+13 votes
answered Sep 8, 2020 by Baphometrix (1,860 points)
I'll add that this is not just a "quality of life" feature request. This is an actual BLOCKING ISSUE to a very common type of workflow, especially for electronic producers.

Example: a very common type of processing rack in electronic music (especially for dance-oriented genres) is a "drop rack". In this rack you might have multiple plugins or native devices that are doing all of the following actions at the same time:  reducing the track volume, moving high- and low-pass filters inward slightly from the far ends of the spectrum, and pulling the mid-side balance inward toward the mid.  You want all of these things slowly occurring across anywhere from 1 to 4 bars of the buildup leading to the Drop section of the song.

You want all of these mapped to "one knob", and you want to create a automation ramp with ONE curve that you can fine-adjust for the right feeling of "wash out" prior to the Drop, so that the Drop hits as hard as possible when the full volume, full spectrum, and full width suddenly snaps back with a sudden vertical automation move after the gradual curve up.

This simple, common automation user goal is child's play in other DAWs, but it's next to impossible to implement in Studio One. It should be a simple matter of assigning four or five plugin parameters to a single macro knob, adjusting their relative XY thresholds and transition curves, and then spending a mere 15 seconds of drawing ONE automation curve for that knob. But instead, we're forced to right-click that single macro knob and assign it to automation, which blows it out into 4-5 different automation lanes, and then we have to laboriously hand-draw the automation curves for each parameter in a way that tries to replicate the relative XY thresholds and transition curves of each parameter.

It's seriously an egregious omission. If you went to the trouble of adding Macro knobs in the first place, it's because you understood how essential this notion of "single knob" control is to modern music production. It's unfathomable why you didn't also add the ability to have a single automation curve simply control the movement of a macro knob.
+7 votes
answered Feb 13, 2021 by connorwalsh (590 points)
very bizarre this still doesn't exist.  what is the point of allowing us to make macros if we can't automate them?
+7 votes
answered May 19, 2021 by alezinua (370 points)
Just having to agree, this feature would be awesome for us EDM producers. I hope we will see it someday.
+2 votes
answered Jun 30, 2021 by Michael1985 (12,890 points)
beside this really important "feature", there could be modulators like free assignable  LFOs, random value (sample&hold) and step sequencer with bars for the value. this can be linked to the macro controls. This modulators have parmateres like speed, intensity, offset and maybe a curve which could be also automatable. Also crossmodulation of the modulaturs to modulate the intensity of a LFO with a slow step sequencer as example.
+3 votes
answered Sep 12, 2021 by nikolaykulyabko (1,850 points)

I'm seriously starting to think of switching back to Ableton as my main DAW until this gets fixed :(((
Why not just fix the stuff that ACTUAL USERS think is important first and then work on the features PreSonus thinks are important?
Here is the feedback from reality, from existing clients, but it gets ignored in favor of making more features to attract new clients.
It's mind boggling for me. It's not that this is some crazy feature that one person in a million wants. It's the feature that is already there, but not usable. And in 6 years it's still there and being ignored.

+3 votes
answered Oct 1, 2021 by koshal (2,360 points)
Commented on this over 4 years ago and we're still in the exact same position. Just an egregious omission. Lots of my friends ask me about Studio One coming from Ableton and say "I love it overall BUT it's just not that good at sound design"

This open feature request exemplifies why S1 struggles in that department. They have a good foundation to actually be a decent sound design env... macro knobs, channel editor, splitters, etc and even nice automation tools and LFO-like shapes that are easily transformable.

But many of the features in the sound design department seem to be half-way implemented or contain glaring oversights. Not being able to automate a channel macro knob with multiple params is the perfect example of something that could be decently useable in S1 just sitting there as absolute non-starter.

None of S1's "potential" in this dept matters cause they are ignoring essential features like this for 5+ YEARS. Who knows why they basically half-way implemented it and just left it to rot for half a decade.

If they could fix this macro automation issue and add things native modulation to control the macros as well (ie imagine LFOs on the channel editor panel too) and a few improvements to splitter/multi-instrument/fx chain env. Bingo now we're in business.

Would it be Ableton? No, Would it finally be decent and servicable sound design env... yes! Cmon studio one... you're so close.. just listen to what we're asking for here! I still have to go to Ableton or Reason to do anything other than the most remedial sound design. It's way too poorly implemented in S1 for me even to entertain using it for that purpose.

Most everything in S1 is great except this part of it.. all features for sound design feel so neglected and unfinished to the point they are not useable in any practical sense for electronic producers.

You can do better here. Start by FINISHING this feature.
+1 vote
answered Jun 7, 2022 by dmferenczi (260 points)
I am missing this wholeheartadly at the moment...now i have to make multiple buses for achieve what i need without this feature, and it is a hassle.
+3 votes
answered Apr 7, 2023 by Michael1985 (12,890 points)

"This one has been requested on the forum a lot since the Macro Controls where introduced."

This really basic and useful feature request is still requested by many users since 7 years!

Only with this feature, the macro control knobs get really useful beside MIDI mapping....

It is a pity, that it is not added yet...

+1 vote
answered Jan 14 by sylent1one (510 points)
Today, my companions and I wasted an entire day trying to figure out if there was a way to automate a macro, unfortunately we didn't find a solution, it would be absolutely fundamental for us. Are there any plugins that you know of? For example, create a macro inside a plugin and then automate that (at least it would help)
0 votes
answered Feb 15 by sjaloxpb (310 points)
edited Feb 15 by sjaloxpb
I never tried macros in S1 before, but I've been convinced that you can automate the macro knob just like any other.
So Yesterday I've added a couple parameters to the promising S1 macro panel... and I've realized that its not possible to automate that.
I had to just copy my automation on every single parameter.
For me this feature seems just undone and I'm very dissapointed. Even more since I saw this request here from 2015.
0 votes
answered Mar 3 by Robert Basarte (400 points)

I can't believe it's not implemented in S1. This is stone age for electronic musicians .. To have to copy each line of automation to the differents parameters is a huge waste of time and a real pain in the ***. Especially when you want to finely adjust your automation and you have EACH TIME to copy the automation ... It could really be a deal breaker. It's been asked for years .. But may it's just impossible to implement it in S1 .......

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