Questions & Answers

Mastering File Still Not Updating Correctly

+6 votes
1,457 views
asked Jul 9, 2020 in Studio One 5 by harveywright (1,610 points)
After upgrading to Studio One 5 Professional, the mastering file still does not update correctly. After updating the mastering file in the Song Page, the Project Page only plays the changes toward the end of the song. I've had this problem since the 4.6 update on a High Sierra and Mojave iMac and Windows 10 PC. Others have reported this issued, but we never figured out the problem or found a solution. Tech Support was aware of the problem and indicated it would be fixed in a future release. The problem still persists in version 5.

9 Answers

+3 votes
answered Jul 19, 2020 by audiodog1 (240 points)
Man.... I am SO TIRED of this kind of thing... It's July, 2020.

I am working diligently creating a project for a client, and my dammm mastering file WON'T UPDATE...

I'm on 4.5.5. Terrified to "update" to 4.6 OR Version 5, for fear of MORE broken modules...

Hey Presonus??? This is NOT some minor little bug! This is a MAJOR component of the Studio One DAW! Why is it that your brilliant sonfware engineers cannot fix this???

After 7 years of being a dedicated user, I am seriously considering switching to Logic or Pro Tools. I need a DAW wherein everything actually WORKS.

With all the hype and bluster about the greatness of Studio One, they cannot fix this major flaw??? If it was me, I'd lock my programmers in a room and say, "Do not come out till this is FIXED!"

What a sad state of affairs...
0 votes
answered Jul 19, 2020 by harveywright (1,610 points)
They roll out all of those features in 5.0, but never fixed the fundamental problem with the Project Page. I'm in the process of moving everything over to Pro Tools. It doesn't have the flashy bells and whistles as S1, but it works.
+1 vote
answered Aug 1, 2020 by Baphometrix (1,860 points)
New user, starting out in Studio One 5 Pro (Sphere, actually). Just ran into very similar problems like this today, on my first chunk of finished work in S1, so my first attempt at using the much-hyped Song <> Project update workflow.

Let's just say when you manage to shake the beverage dispenser several times and finally hit the thing hard enough, it finally works and it works well.  But the basic, bread-and-butter "Update Mastering File" workflow is terribad and bug-prone. I found myself needing to literally copy my song-specific mastering inserts into the "Mastering" section so that I could literally delete the existing song in the project, then go over to the song page and do the "update mastering file" from there, and then come back into the Project page and re-import the .song file again and set up everything again on that new instance of the song in the project: offset inside the track, fades, moving inserts back into the track-specific section.

It was a frustrating experience. I had to go through this process usually two-three times PER SONG ITERATION to get the latest small song changes to actually sit properly in the Project with no issues.

The biggest--and most alarming--issue I keep running into is a song file (in the Project) that would have a random dropout. That dropout did NOT exist in the song, but it would be there in the project until I did the delete-and-reload manually dance. Another time I had the song all set up right and looking good, but then went back to the Song to make one small change, and the "update mastering file" caused a regular set of complete dropouts literally every 16 bars, like clockwork, right on the downbeat of every bar. Again, nothing at all like that in the Song file. The Song file was perfect. The only fix was the blow away the song track in the Project and once again do everything all over again.

Note that in one case you could not SEE the dropout in the waveform in the Project, but you could certainly hear it and see in any type of oscilloscope display of the song as it played past that point in the timeline.  In other cases, though (like the big dropouts every 16 bars like clockwork), you could actually SEE the dropout sections in the waveform in the Project.

I can see how y'all are frustrated by this. It's supposed to be a major workflow feature of S1, but it's unreliable as heck.

FWIW, I'm on a beefy Windows 10 system and Studio One Pro 5 is generally working well, but at this point I'm already reconsidering my Sphere subscription and whether to stick with S1 or keep looking.
+1 vote
answered Jan 5, 2021 by benjamingreen2 (800 points)
Everything started out fine. Upgraded maybe a week ago. Now today mastering will not update the files correctly. I ciuld have just invested in another daw . This is sad and they should be embarrassed
0 votes
answered Jan 6, 2021 by harveywright (1,610 points)
The mastering file update issue was finally fixed for me in version 5.0.1 (released August 11, 2020).
0 votes
answered Jan 6, 2021 by mojo12 (630 points)
I have this problem too. Master not updating and random dropouts that are not present in my songs. This is a terminal software disaster not a bug. This needs fixing or its find a new DAW.
0 votes
answered Feb 11, 2021 by mojo12 (630 points)
I am still having this problem with longer songs. A new development is that automation data ie volume control, fade in/out are ignored.

I am loosing all confidence in this software as this is stopping me from completing songs at the final hurdle of mastering.
0 votes
answered Mar 29, 2021 by chrisgannon (490 points)
Is anybody from Presonus checking these boards? They stay absolutely silent. When updating a Mastering file, suddenly, it'll drop a part of the wave form of part of a song and/or, the wave forms are there but on playback, the kick drum is missing (for instance, just happened today). What is going on with Studio One? Can somebody from Presonus at least respond, please? It's a bit ridiculous!

For the record I'm on Studio One 5 Professional version 5.2.0.63799 with a late 2019 Mac Pro
0 votes
answered Mar 29, 2021 by chrisgannon (490 points)
Also, just for the record, the only thing that seems to work when this happens... is deleting the project and creating a new one. Make sure and save your Insert and Master Effects Chains before deleting, of course. It is frustrating as hell.
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