Question

Is there a reason why Studio One doesn't support sending midi to VSTs? I have a few plugins (e.g. Vocoders) that I can't use in Studio One, simply because they require midi data that I can't send due to these limitations. I really like the straightforward approach of many features in Studio One and to me that makes it even harder to understand why PreSonus wouldn't include a feature this (seemingly) easy to implement. Maybe there are technological difficulties that I don't know of, but then again that's exactly why I'm asking this question.

Are there good reasons for this feature not being implemented? Because if there aren't I would be deeply grateful, if it was implemented as soon as possible. I'm used to working with Cubase and although I prefer Studio One overall, I really miss this feature a lot.

Answer 1

Studio One does allow sending MIDI to plugins.  You can send MIDI to both instrument and effects plugins.  I send MIDI to Waves Morphoder (a vocoder plugin) and iZotope Stutter Edit all the time.

It takes two tracks to make it work.  You have to setup both an audio track/channel and a MIDI track. Insert the VST effect plugin on an audio channel, Bus, or FX channel, and then have a separate MIDI track that contains the MIDI you want to sent to that VST plugin.  In the “Instrument Output” drop down menu in the MIDI track you can choose the plugin you want to send the MIDI to.  It should just work.

Answer 2

Thanks @matthewritenburg, I tried it and it worked, that's my bad. I read on the PluginBoutique website that Vocalizer Pro doesn't work with Studio One and also found an old thread claiming that you couldn't send midi data to an vst, so I wrongly assumed that you just couldn't. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Vocalizer Pro works now as well as my other plugins.

Also, if anyone stumbles upon this thread and is searching for a good and free Vocoder, I can strongly recommend MidiChoir or La Voz Cantante. Just found them through bedroomproducersblog.com and to me they sound on par with some paid vocoders, certainly better than most free options.