Questions & Answers

Patch Changes during the Song and send MIDI Events to External Hardware

+282 votes
5,614 views
asked Jul 8, 2020 in Show Page by leszekjakubczak (500 points)
edited Jul 9, 2020 by leszekjakubczak
I really like Show Page in new S1- I was waiting  for it :). But two major disappointments:

1. Lack of automation - let's say I want to have two or more patches for my guitar sound during the song. Right now I can have only one - at least I can't find the way to do this.

2. Midi send - I really like that I can automate midi sends to control my Line6 Helix from Song Page - it's another feature that I'm missing in Show Page (of course maybe I can't do this ;))

36 Answers

+32 votes
answered Jul 11, 2020 by Lukas Ruschitzka (256,840 points)
 
Best answer

Thank you for the feature request. 

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+35 votes
answered Jul 8, 2020 by wimverheyen (340 points)
Absolutely right...I thought for a moment I would be able to skip Ableton live but apparently that'll have to wait... Sending midi for my lights etc changing patches on my helix during the song etc... I'm sure it'll be coming soon.... Cross fingers
+21 votes
answered Jul 9, 2020 by leszekjakubczak (500 points)
Yeah - cross fingers. It's pity that all that it's working in Song Page. I hope it will be nearest update :)
+21 votes
answered Jul 9, 2020 by bruceqld (630 points)
Add me to the list of people really hoping for an update with midi out capability on the show page! Such a great new feature renderd unusable for now.
+23 votes
answered Jul 9, 2020 by douglassherbert (380 points)
Another disappointed user! If I had known that SHOW did not send MIDI Data, I would not have upgraded from SOv4. Send MID Data during a live performance is an absoloute must for me. I have been using Cakewalk/Sonar (because they deal with MIDI beter when creating songs), Studio One 4 (because it processes Audio better than Cakewalk/Sonar) and then moving my rendered STEMS to Cantabile Performer (because nothing is better for live performance using MIDI Data and MIDI hardware). I'm 70+ years old and using so many steps to prepare songs is extremely time consuming and I was excited about the new Studio One 5 upgrade. According to the promos for Studio One 5, the upgrade would have allowed me to be able to use only ONE piece of software to complete the steps to a live performance. NOT going to happen with Sonar 5 (which still appears to be Audio-centric).
+14 votes
answered Jul 13, 2020 by jeffkidney1 (570 points)
I also am asking for this feature sooner rather than later.

I currently do it all through ableton live and of course this creates a huge file that makes the software rather unstable.

But I send midi to guitar control, teleprompter control and into lightkey on Mac for lighting control.

I was excited about the show page until I realised midi out was not an option....

Dissapointed!!!!!!

Please Please Please put midi out feature into the show page like yesterday!!!!
+17 votes
answered Jul 17, 2020 by benreaves (11,300 points)

There's a lot PreSonus could learn from how pro users actually use software like Live or MainStage to do live processing and control. Lighting and external device control is no small part of how people use Live to orchestrate their shows, and a lot of the same features, not to mention configurability, are what make MainStage such a powerful system for computer-based instrumentation.

PreSonus needs to listen to users interested in actually using the software to do real shows or play real gigs with real gear situations, in order to start getting the new Show page into shape. Right now it's woefully limited.

+13 votes
answered Jul 20, 2020 by carlchimi (770 points)
I agree.  Not being able to send MIDI Commands out to external devices is a real disappointment.  To be honest, I can't even figure out how to send an initial program change out, which is frustrating.  This is a must have feature for anything calling itself a Show Page.
+13 votes
answered Jul 29, 2020 by gregkeaton (350 points)
Yes, I would like to see the ability to change patches of VST instruments within a song.  For guitar effects such as Bias FX2 and for keyboards (ie Arturia).
+13 votes
answered Aug 2, 2020 by matthiasfleischmann (340 points)
Absolutely yes for MIDI-Send - but also MIDI-Recieve for switching Songs (Elements) in "Shows".

To explain:
For my live-keyboard setup I need at least the option to automatically switch my Nord and Korg via Program Changes. At the moment I´m switching the Songs and afterwards the internal Nord and the Korg sounds seperately. To make this easier I need Program Changes that are sent when a song (element) is selected. Multiple PCs should be possible to send (16 - one for each MIDI channel), so that even a whole band-setup can be switched.

But on top of that I also have an iPad with a Songbook app on it. In Songbook I can embed a Program Change in each music sheet. That PC is sent as soon as I select a sheet. In other live situations I may just use a Program Change app on the iPad, or  number pad that send PCs. Those PCs should be able to switch the songs (elements) in "Shows", and those again should send the Program Changes to the Nord and Korg (and whatever else).

External Program Change Device -> changes Songs in "Shows" -> Songs change keyboard sounds

An even cooler version of this scenario would be if sheets could be linked to Songs (Elements) and be viewed on a seperate HDMI monitor.

No laughing about sheets please, some of us are hired guns (sometimes at least).

Cheers to all

Matt
+11 votes
answered Aug 14, 2020 by andrewmcintosh (2,500 points)
edited Aug 14, 2020 by andrewmcintosh
Yup. Plugin/patch switching during a track and automation are weirdly obvious things to have left out :-/
I would love to automate in some extra reverb on my vocals for choruses for instance....and for instruments even if I can't switch the plugins during the track I'd be able to automate the volumes of each plugin from verse to chorus etc.

PLEASE
+6 votes
answered Aug 27, 2020 by dcarmich (2,120 points)

You should also be able to integrate hardware synthesizers into the Show Page without needing to use both a Virtual Instrument Player and a Real Instrument Player as shown in this screenshot:

I've created a separate feature request for that (https://answers.presonus.com/57550/enable-users-hardware-instruments-single-player-show-page) as well.

+5 votes
answered Sep 8, 2020 by kennethjohnson13 (470 points)
I too use a helix Lt and Wished Show would send midi in/out to control patches during song playback. Personally, I would like to have a Lyric and Video along with the song. For a great reference of what i want to do is to watch Richie Castellano's Live Shows on sundays at 2 est on Youtube or facebook. He runs lights, Video, Line 6 Helix. His idea is what i am trying to accomplish With Studio One & Show
+10 votes
answered Sep 20, 2020 by markdelorenzo (950 points)

+1 Additional request to have MIDI Tracks.  Ones that either play a VST, or send MIDI externally.

MIDI Tracks to VSTs could drive things like CLICK TRACK, CUES TRACK (Impact Samples...)

MIDI to external could send CCs or Patches Changes on hardware (Keys, DMX, Presonus Mixers, etc...)

+4 votes
answered Oct 19, 2020 by kennethjohnson13 (470 points)
And Again Presonus apparently missed this totally with v5.1! Im gonna have to find another Daw to work with so when i do my shows i can send midi out to my Helix along with Lights and lyrics. A **** shame i was really liking Studio one!
+6 votes
answered Oct 30, 2020 by marcellodisante (1,120 points)

I absolutely agree ... and i'd say even more ... :-) show page should fully implement MIDI TRACKS ... So that You shouldn't convert every track to "audio stems" ... Since my aim is to keep separate tracks in show page (Bass, drum, pads, etc), when i use a plugin for some of them, it will be useful to keep trat track in MIDI format ... the same is for External MIDI (Light controls, external instruments) ... We are already allowed to "split" every song in various "sections" in show page (intro, verses, choruses, etc) if we want (and that's what i want to do) ... If We could include MIDI track and using a "MIDI NOTE MESSAGE" to "launch" the different sections, we would immediately get a very good alternative to ABleton Live ... "CLip launching" can be sostituted by Impact, driving it with an external keyboard or controller ... S1 Audio Quality is far superior to Ableton SO it would be great if We all could move Our Ableton Live Set to S1 ... smiley

+4 votes
answered Oct 30, 2020 by Kickstar (690 points)
Yes, we sure feel lied to about the capabilities of Show Page in S1v5 and at the moment wish we had selected another product for live application because we can't do what we expected based on the advertisement of v5. Notice there is not a single suggestion in these answers to help the problem. Get with the program Studio One! We need a fix for Midi, monitoring, tempo changes and click track in Show Page.
+3 votes
answered Nov 17, 2020 by andrewmcintosh (2,500 points)
I have been waiting impatiently for automation on the Show Page since the first release of SO5. Such a weird omission that renders the main reason I upgraded to SO5 quite pointless and full of latency.
At the moment I'm getting around this by using multi-instruments and switching octaves to add a layer to my synth (when the chorus hits for instance). This however leads to me having to have duplicates of instruments. I switch up an octave where the same instrument PLUS another instrument is loaded. I have no clue if I'm explaining this clearly. If automation existed on the Show Page, I could simply automate the volume of the layers in on the multi-instrument. Saving me ram and saving me from latency and dropouts. Not to mention I wouldn't have to move a muscle between the verse and chorus and I can just continue playing and singing. Not that switching octaves is a hassle mind you. The main problem is having to load double the instruments.
+3 votes
answered Feb 17, 2021 by mavericktaylor (1,010 points)
If you would simply emulate what Cakewalk has been doing for years, you could knock out a ton of feature requests.

Simply make the "show page" a 'Playlist' of Studio One Song Files. Then I wouldn't have to du7plicate all of my Studio One songs over to Cakewalk for my live show.

Once you get that done, users will then be able to send MIDI patch changes to Gtr rigs, MIDI commands to DMX light shows, etc. AND not have to export stems from every song and double the work to get a project into the "Show Page". Additionally, if a modification is done in the song file, the user wouldn't have to re-export the stem(s) to the 'Show Page'.

Perhaps it might even be useful to leverage the 'Save Version' in S1 to link the playlist to a 'Live Version', while avoiding an accidental 'update' to the live version when continuing to work in the studio.

It's very helpful to display to total runtime of a playlist, as performances (playlists) are most always confined to a block of time, such as a 90 minute set, etc... This way the user can see how they are filling the block as they build the 'set'/playlist and save it for the gig.

Once you accomplish this, the only remaining 'live performance' feature needed, would be the 'Lyrics View' (something similar to Cakewalk only perhaps better). This allows a user to create a view on an alternate display, for singers as a 'confidence monitor'. I have noticed that when I open my STANDARD MIDI file (Type 1), Studio One drops the lyrics since it appears to not understand what to do with them. A disappointing oversight since 'lyrics' is part of the Standard specification.

Studio One is the best for the studio, but I still can't drop Cakewalk (or live folks using Ableton) until Studio One actually becomes a DAW for live performance. The first attempt at the 'Show Page' was useless. Let's work together to get this right and make Studio One the world dominance DAW!
+2 votes
answered Mar 16, 2021 by charlestelschow (470 points)

Ok, so I am a solo artist. The Show function, with the instant patch changes for example, is such an absolute game changer. The literal LAST step preventing me from forgetting about Ableton is the lack of the ability to actually RECORD the Show session. Currently, I have managed to manipulate an 8-bar loop with the help of a foot switch pedal to arm each individual track as I go, and then putting stop markers after each loop. Having the ability to record a loop in performance mode, and have it playback, would be the last step in making me a full Presonus convert. I know I am not a big artist, but I believe with this feature alone, I can truly utilize this software to make the most of my music.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

+1 vote
answered May 11, 2021 by felixolschewski (470 points)
edited May 11, 2021 by felixolschewski

I would like to see Midi send (or Program change, to be precise) to be enabled for audio tracks - in studio/track mode! Maybe in a similar way to how sound variations have been implemented?

My scenario would be this:

  1. I create a template with 4 audio tracks for electric guitars. Those electric guitars are fed to StudioOne through an external effects unit like the Line6 Helix, FAS AXE-FX or whatever.
  2. Those four tracks are preset to 4 different sound patches.
  3. When I select such an audio track, StudioOne sends a program change command via Midi to the external FX unit.
  4. I can just select a track, hit record and the it automatically selects the appropriate patch in the external unit.

This is a consequent way to combine the thinking behind Pipeline XT and the integration of external instruments etc - again, not only for the SHOW page but also for standard recording mode.

+1 vote
answered May 14, 2021 by radosawdoliski (610 points)
Show page is looking perfect but since there is no way to controll and send different Midi CC's as a preset for example to change different parameters on the hardware it's unusable for my aplication and many others that use a lot of hardware live. Bank and preset selection is deffinitely not enough.
+1 vote
answered Jul 18, 2021 by clmentmarion (1,690 points)
+1!

1. When working with backing tracks it would be really helpful to read & write Automation. For example recently I noticed during the soundcheck that we needed to make the verse of a backing track quieter. A simple Volume Automation would have worked and could have been easily deleted if the necessity was for this concert only, but I had to actually open a new Studio One song, edit the file & export it.

2. We do need to have some sort of "MIDI Backing tracks", to either write MIDI CCs (I guess in a similar fashion as the Automation discussed before) or MIDI Notes, to either address external or internal synths or vocoders. That's a key feature missing IMO, without it the Show Page still feels a bit like a work in progress I believe.
+1 vote
answered Aug 3, 2021 by mariuuzfvindedal (270 points)
Completely agree! Show Page looks so good, but the lack of this feature stops us from using the Show Page, as we are not able to midi trigger patch changes and automate our rig.
+1 vote
answered Nov 6, 2021 by comixoxxline (220 points)
This automation is so necessary, at least for knobs, faders and buttons in "Controls" tab.
+1 vote
answered Nov 23, 2021 by alexadk (210 points)
Yes please!

PreSonus folks! I know you guys are looking at this thread, we need to make it happen!

I'm literally one step away from building perfect live rig where I could run my backing tracks, click track + lights and external patches changes all from Studio One. MIDI automation integration is a wanted feature and I hope we are getting it in the next update.
+1 vote
answered Jan 16, 2022 by dazbec (300 points)
The song page is useless to me without mid control for external devices. I want to be able to control lighting fixtures via basic midi, and also axe fx preset changes via basic midi. It seems like a really basic function for a DAW selling itself as a live performance tool.
0 votes
answered Jul 6, 2022 by darrencordova (470 points)
I think this is done per the latest update.
+1 vote
answered Nov 8, 2022 by michaelmcgrath4 (440 points)
Yes this feature would be huge. would stop the tap dancing if i could send commands to my helix and vocal processor during performance, and lights would be great as well.Please add this feature.
+1 vote
answered Nov 8, 2022 by averybryant1 (360 points)
Yes. please add this feature
+2 votes
answered Jan 28, 2023 by rogerbarlow (210 points)
How is such an essential feature still not in the product?
+1 vote
answered Mar 11, 2023 by residue (280 points)
I would loooove to use the show page. I really would. But without midi automation, this page is useless. Was hoping it would come out with S1 6. It is such a standard use case for modern bands. Automating a delay in the vocals or guitar and patch changes on guitar during a song switching from distorted to a clean tone. All this without the need of an audio tech, or tapdancing.

Right now its just a glorified backing track player.
+3 votes
answered Mar 30, 2023 by taylorhansen1 (430 points)
Still hoping this happens at some point. We can currently send program changes on the Show page, but we also need to be able to send CCs. A lot of guitar modelers and effect units use CCs to select scenes. This is essential for automating a live rig, as program changes are not always enough. I'm currently using regular Song mode to automate my rig, and it's extremely tedious and user-unfriendly to do it this way. More and more musicians are automating their equipment in live settings, and the Show page would be perfect for doing this. Please add more MIDI functionality to the Show page.
+2 votes
answered Oct 1, 2023 by dongyangliu (500 points)
This feature is essential
+1 vote
answered Nov 6, 2023 by ollieandrews (240 points)
This is such a frustrating shortfall for the show page - I am trying to automate a lighting rig with my backing tracks, I use a combination of standard midi notes and automation to achieve super nice lighting effects which work a dream in the song page but are not supported in any way in the show page. My future plan was to also midi control a pedalboard looper / switcher to help stop me tap dancing onstage (controversial as a live performer yes I know).

It just seems as easy as exporting the project audio files but there is just no support for midi or automation at all. I have solely been a Studio one 5 (artist) user for a good few years now and was about to upgrade to the professional 6 package but this lack of functionality is leaving me having to fork out for Ableton live instead which is genuinely disappointing considering how sleek the S1 user experience has been to this point.

I understand that Studio One isn't the market standard in live playback software and therefor it isn't a priority but this seems like a real simple blind-spot.
+1 vote
answered Jan 22 by jaybrown12 (180 points)
Midi out is a Must have; This would really seal the Deal with Show Page.
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