Question

Studio One offers many quantization options. But these options are always global (there is only one set of current settings) and not available as clip parameters / per clip. Q-Settings are not easily changable afterwards once applied. You always have to setup quantization presets and "apply" them in order to use them and the q-settings are not remembered per clip so that you could change one of the q-parameters easily for fine-tuning. Selecting clip A after changing the q-settings for clip B will still have the settings for B active as these settings are a singleton.

So what I am suggesting here are the following changes:

• make quantization fully non-destructive (no "apply" required)
• make quantization parameters specific to the clip they belong to
  (they become clip properties)
  -> clicking on different clips will load and show their specific q-settings in the q-editor
  -> there is no longer a "global" set of q-settings but each clip has its own ones
  -> allow to edit multiple clips at the same time (they will end up having the same yet independent q-settings)
• allow to enable / disable quantization per clip:
  -> when enabled: auto-use the clip's current q-settings
  -> when disabled: play the clip with its original / manually configured timing
  -> add a tool that allows to enable and disable q for multiple clips at once
  -> add a tool to batch transfer the q-settings between clips
• add a control to the q-settings which allows to control the q-weight / q-strength in a linear fashion
  (as all q-settings: non-destructive!)
  -> at 0% the q-settings do not have any effect on the original timing of notes
  -> at 100% the q-settings have their full effect and everything follows the q-grid setup
  -> at anything between 0% and 100% the param will continously shift the notes towards their final positions as set up with the q-settings; e.g. 50% is a equally weighted blend between the original timing and the q-settings
  -> as q-settings are applied non-destructive this control can be changed at any time (experimentation!)
  -> it would help a lot if the fader for this control would allow realtime visual feedback while moving it!!

This behavior would be much easier to handle than the current "apply" / global q-settings approach and would indeed be much more logical because each clip has its own non-destructive q-settings.

Please have a look at this request, too:
http://answers.presonus.com/9676/quantization-please-hide-default-grid-straight-modes-option

Thanks :)

Answer 1

I agree 100%, good request! I'd also add that Quantization settings need to always follow this basic rule: 100% is fully quantized to grid and 0% always goes back to the original timing. You probably already meant it would work that way, I just want to be clear.

For comparison, right now, if I add 30% quantization, then leave a clip, quantize something else and go back to that original clip, then change the quantization to 25%, it adds 25% MORE quantization when I actually want LESS (to go from 30% to 25%).

The velocity scaling slider also needs to be fixed. 0% velocity scaling should be the middle of the slider with the ability to scale up or down. Like you already indicated, this should be totally non-destructive with 0% always returning to the original velocity.

Answer 2

Yeah I agree that having a control which adjusts the strenght / weight of quantization in a linear fashion (0%..100%) would be very nice indeed! I did not mention this in my post but will add it now ;) Thanks.

It's not the same as on / off however which would still be handy to have (to quickly disable q-settings temporary).

Answer 3

THIS IS KILLING ME!  When I'm using audio bend to quantize multitrack drums, it's impossible to use 16th triplets for a fill or ghost notes, because the WHOLE TRACK shifts to that timing.  The only workaround is to bounce each part after it's edited correctly, but god help you if you need to revert to your original edits after switching quanization settings.  I don't even understand how this could be overlooked.