Question

I have Bias FX 2 set up as a plugin on my guitar channels but every time I make an adjustment to a patch in real-time in the plugin, I have to switch monitoring off and on again in order to hear the changes. Any changes I make without turning the plugin on and off are not heard. I suspect I am doing something wrong, any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Making changes to my tone and having to switch the plugin off and on in order to hear them is quite annoying!

Answer 1

I don't have an answer for this - but commenting as I'm experiencing the same issue in Studio One 5.1.2 when using Overloud TH-U. Super frustrating when trying to dial in a guitar tone to record with.

Answer 2

Hi all -

I struggled for hours with trying to figure out how to get MIDI control of pedalboard preset changes and individual pedal controls in Bias FX 2 (v.2.2.2), when running it as a plug-in for Presonus Studio One 5. I was able to easily get great MIDI control of Bias FX 2 functions when working with it as a stand-alone application, but not as a plug-in.

I have now figured it out for my own set-up and thought I would post my solution here, in case it may help others (and me, if I forget somewhere along the way).

My setup uses a MacBook Pro. My MIDI Controller is the Melo Audio MIDI Commander, configured in "Bias FX" mode. My audio interface is an Presonus Audiobox iTwo.

Once you do this procedure once and get it working properly, setting it up on a new empty song becomes much easier/faster and takes many fewer steps.

1. Close Studio One, if open on Mac.
2. Connect audio interface to computer, turn on.
3. Connect MIDI Commander to audio interface, turn on.
4. Open Bias FX 2 in stand-alone application mode.
5. Configure MIDI controls in Bias FX 2 as desired - get all of your settings done in Bias FX 2 while running as a stand-alone application. Be certain to assign MIDI values to at least a few pedalboard presets and associate some pedal controls to the MIDI Commander buttons 1 - 4, so that you can test and observe their control through Studio One 5 later on.
6. Close the Bias FX 2 stand-alone application.
7. Open Presonus Studio One 5 and create a new, empty song, with your audio interface as the audio input and output source.
8. Add an empty audio track and arm it for recording and monitoring.
9. Add an empty instrument track - just create the empty track and that's all, we'll come back to it.
10. Show the console (press F3).
11. Add the MIDI Commander as an external device within your song. Configure it as a "Keyboard", receiving from MIDI out and Sending to MIDI In. Select all MIDI channels in the device setup. No other setup or "learning" of buttons is needed within Studio One.
12. Open the plug-in browser in Studio One (press f5), on the Effects tab, select the PositiveGrid folder, then (IMPORTANT) find the BIAS FX 2 plug-in that is an "AudioUnit" (AU) plugin.  Do not use the VST3, if one is present, or you may not be able to gain full MIDI control of BIAS FX 2 through Studio One 5. Click and drag the Bias FX 2 AU plugin into the console area and release to create an FX channel.
13. Within the console area, find "Sends" in the audio track controller column, click the plus (+) sign and select Bias FX 2.
14. Go back up to the empty Instrument track and click on the dropdown labeled "None" - select Bias FX 2
15. Test the operation of your MIDI Commander's buttons labeled A - D (program/preset change buttons) to see that pressing the preset button will change the pedalboard preset in the Bias FX plug-in. Check the operation of the effect buttons (1 - 4) to see that they will perform the operations you established in Bias FX 2.

Depending on your familiarity with each of the steps above, you may need to consult the reference manual for Studio One 5 and/or Bias FX 2.

It truly is much easier than it may at first seem - just be sure to set up all the MIDI controls in Bias FX 2 running as a standalone operation FIRST, before trying anything through Studio One. And then be sure to use the "AudioUnit" (AU format) plug-in....that was the total key to success for me, with my setup.

Good luck!
Ernie