REQ: Mixbus v4
Mixbus v4 is everything you love about Mixbus, plus hundreds of new improvements both big and small. Read about some of the changes below!
You can find lots of new information in our manual which has been dramatically improved & expanded .... it's now over 400 pages of great information!
Mixbusās new & updated GUI answers userās requests for a better window management, and it allows the transport controls to appear above the mixer. The new āmini-timelineā allows fast & easy locating directly from atop the mixer window:
The transport controls have been streamlined, and are configurable to hide & show the elements that are needed during the different stages of production: recording, arranging, editing, mixing and mastering. Visit Preferences->Appearance->Toolbar to turn the various sections on & off. You'll find a great opportunity for customization, while still remaining sensible and recognizable if you have to work on someone else's computer.
Our latest-generation āTrue Analog Mixingā engine has been updated with a stereo width knob on the console mixbuses. The width knob varies from stereo to mono, and its primary purpose is to reduce the stereo width of reverb effects ( similar to using a mono bus send to your reverb effects, in an analog console ). After reducing the stereo width, you can pan the reverb image to one side or the other.
The new mixer-strip "Switcher"
The new "Switcher" was designed to save vertical space, so we can provide the transport controls on top of the mixer while still fitting in our recommended minimum screen size. Shift+click the switcher to switch all of your channels at once ..... this allows you to see your inputs/outputs, VCA assignments, and other details during the "setup" phase of your mix. Then Shift+Click again to hide these controls on your mixer, and leave room for plenty of plugins while you are mixing!
VCA Faders:
You may create an unlimited number of VCA faders, and attach them to your tracks and buses; then you can use the VCA's fader to adjust the slave's fader level, or trigger a Mute or Solo on the slaved channels.
Input Channels (tracks and mixbuses) may be assigned to an āunlimitedā number of VCAs, allowing the user to control a snare drum from 3 VCA faders: the snare, drum, and all-instruments VCA groups (for example). This unparalleled flexibility is derived from Harrisonās large-format console VCA implementation.
The "Spill" button hides all channels except those that are attached to the VCA fader.
Even cooler: Mixbuses now have their own "Spill" buttons, so you can immediately show the channels that are sending to the mixbus. This is great to immediately show which channels are feeding the "Drum" bus, or the Reverb.
By combining the use of VCA Spill and Mixbus Spill buttons, you can organize much larger sessions than was practical in v3.
Global controls for track's input-monitoring, as well as improved support for pre-roll recording and several UI improvements, greatly improve the usefulness of Mixbus for tracking a live band. For example you can mouse-wheel on the metronome button to adjust the click volume, or right-click on it to take you directly to the metronome preferences. Combined with the new ātempo mappingā features, Mixbus is the new standard for live multi-track band recordings!
A comprehensive redesign of keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and window-management makes Mixbus more friendly to users of other DAWs.
VST's on MacOS:
Mixbus can now load VST plugins on Mac (in addition to AU and LV2), allowing for better Mac-to-Windows-to-Linux sharing of sessions. Visit Preferences->Plugins to scan for your installed VST's. The plugin's format will be displayed in the right-click context menus, as well as the plugin manager window.
Tempo Mapping: following a comprehensive redesign of tempo and meter conventions, Mixbus allows the user to elegantly add tempo markers on a live show; and when desired, the tempo can smoothly ramp to follow natural tempo changes. An elegant method of editing allows you to drag the "measure lines" directly behind your transients. You don't really think about the tempo itself; just line up the measure-lines with your performance and Mixbus does the hard work for you!
Mapping the mixbus timeline to your performance can dramatically speed-up your editing and mixing process without robbing a performance of its natural timing. For example, once you've mapped a guitar-vocal recording, you can drag&drop MIDI (or a virtual drummer) into your session, and they will follow the natural tempo changes in the music.
New instruments: Mixbus v4 includes a bundled General MIDI synth using the high-quality and compact GeneralUser soundfont by S Christian Collins. We've also bundled the FluidSynth soundfont player, so you can utilize a huge range of .sf2 sampler and instrument libraries from the internet. Finally, we've added 2 "live"-sounding drum instruments from Glen MacArthur, the producer of AVLinux. These open-sourced drum plugins incorporate velocity-layered drum samples from 2 kits ( the rocking "Red Zeppelin", and jazzier "Black Pearl" ), and they demonstrate some of the features of the new LV2 plugin format.
Multi-output virtual instruments are now easier to setup. When you add an instrument with multiple outputs, Mixbus prompts you whether to show stereo or multi-out; and in some cases it even prompts you to "fan out" the channels to separate buses. The Bundled AVL drumkits are a great example of this ability.
Inline Plugin Displays:
Mixbus v4 supports a new feature of the LV2 plug specification: Inline Displays.
We're often asked why we chose the LV2 format for our plugins, and this new feature is an example of the innovations that we will be able to implement with the new open-source format.
5 example plugins are provided that utilize this new feature: a-EQ, a-Filter, a-Compressor, a-Inline Scope and a-Inline Spectrogram.
Lua Scripting: A comprehensive new scripting engine has been added which allows users to write simple scripts to modify their sessions. Scripts may be triggered from events ( such as āon transport stopā ). Similar to macros from Harrisonās large-format consoles, a Lua script can trigger a sequence of actions.
Some of the many included example scripts:
"Faders to trims" sets all of your channel faders to unity, while inserting a ātrimā plugin before each fader with the faderās previous value. This is an awesome way to keep your mix, but zero the fader so you can try 'vocal up' or other alternative mixes.
"Reset Mixer" resets the mixer faders, mutes, EQs, compression, and bus sends; and it disables any third-party plugins. Because it's a script, you can tweak it for your own needs: do you like to start with faders at OFF? Or start with all the EQ's enabled? You can change the script to do whatever you need!
Your Lua scripts may be triggered from keyboard shortcuts or the Toolbar. You can write your own DSP or MIDI processing plugins as Lua scripts. They can even display their own icons!
In the next few weeks, we will post some additional scripts in our user forum, and we hope that a community of developers will rally around this cool new concept.
A glimpse into the future of computer audio workstations:
You might have noticed that Mixbus's development is accelerating quickly. This is largely due to the rapidly increasing open-source community that we are encouraging. Over the last year, Harrison has worked to lower the barrier to entry for developing the Ardour platform so more developers can take part in the process. The new Lua scripting features are also a new opportunity for users and casual developers to take part in the development of Mixbus.
Continuing our collaboration with the Ardour open-source community, Mixbus v4 is session-file compatible with other Ardour-using workstations: Ardour5, Waves Tracks Live, and the newly-announced iZ Session. This unprecedented level of inter-application support is largely due to Harrison's continued funding and support of open-source development.
And speaking of inter-application support, you'll find something very interesting in the v4.0 release: .ptf and .ptx file import. This new item in the "Session" menu allows you to select a Pro Tools session file, and import the raw audio and midi data. This is a "Beta" feature that was developed by a member of the open-source community, and is provided for adventurous beta-testers only.
You can find lots of new information in our manual which has been dramatically improved & expanded .... it's now over 400 pages of great information!
Mixbusās new & updated GUI answers userās requests for a better window management, and it allows the transport controls to appear above the mixer. The new āmini-timelineā allows fast & easy locating directly from atop the mixer window:
The transport controls have been streamlined, and are configurable to hide & show the elements that are needed during the different stages of production: recording, arranging, editing, mixing and mastering. Visit Preferences->Appearance->Toolbar to turn the various sections on & off. You'll find a great opportunity for customization, while still remaining sensible and recognizable if you have to work on someone else's computer.
Our latest-generation āTrue Analog Mixingā engine has been updated with a stereo width knob on the console mixbuses. The width knob varies from stereo to mono, and its primary purpose is to reduce the stereo width of reverb effects ( similar to using a mono bus send to your reverb effects, in an analog console ). After reducing the stereo width, you can pan the reverb image to one side or the other.
The new mixer-strip "Switcher"
The new "Switcher" was designed to save vertical space, so we can provide the transport controls on top of the mixer while still fitting in our recommended minimum screen size. Shift+click the switcher to switch all of your channels at once ..... this allows you to see your inputs/outputs, VCA assignments, and other details during the "setup" phase of your mix. Then Shift+Click again to hide these controls on your mixer, and leave room for plenty of plugins while you are mixing!
VCA Faders:
You may create an unlimited number of VCA faders, and attach them to your tracks and buses; then you can use the VCA's fader to adjust the slave's fader level, or trigger a Mute or Solo on the slaved channels.
Input Channels (tracks and mixbuses) may be assigned to an āunlimitedā number of VCAs, allowing the user to control a snare drum from 3 VCA faders: the snare, drum, and all-instruments VCA groups (for example). This unparalleled flexibility is derived from Harrisonās large-format console VCA implementation.
The "Spill" button hides all channels except those that are attached to the VCA fader.
Even cooler: Mixbuses now have their own "Spill" buttons, so you can immediately show the channels that are sending to the mixbus. This is great to immediately show which channels are feeding the "Drum" bus, or the Reverb.
By combining the use of VCA Spill and Mixbus Spill buttons, you can organize much larger sessions than was practical in v3.
Global controls for track's input-monitoring, as well as improved support for pre-roll recording and several UI improvements, greatly improve the usefulness of Mixbus for tracking a live band. For example you can mouse-wheel on the metronome button to adjust the click volume, or right-click on it to take you directly to the metronome preferences. Combined with the new ātempo mappingā features, Mixbus is the new standard for live multi-track band recordings!
A comprehensive redesign of keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and window-management makes Mixbus more friendly to users of other DAWs.
VST's on MacOS:
Mixbus can now load VST plugins on Mac (in addition to AU and LV2), allowing for better Mac-to-Windows-to-Linux sharing of sessions. Visit Preferences->Plugins to scan for your installed VST's. The plugin's format will be displayed in the right-click context menus, as well as the plugin manager window.
Tempo Mapping: following a comprehensive redesign of tempo and meter conventions, Mixbus allows the user to elegantly add tempo markers on a live show; and when desired, the tempo can smoothly ramp to follow natural tempo changes. An elegant method of editing allows you to drag the "measure lines" directly behind your transients. You don't really think about the tempo itself; just line up the measure-lines with your performance and Mixbus does the hard work for you!
Mapping the mixbus timeline to your performance can dramatically speed-up your editing and mixing process without robbing a performance of its natural timing. For example, once you've mapped a guitar-vocal recording, you can drag&drop MIDI (or a virtual drummer) into your session, and they will follow the natural tempo changes in the music.
New instruments: Mixbus v4 includes a bundled General MIDI synth using the high-quality and compact GeneralUser soundfont by S Christian Collins. We've also bundled the FluidSynth soundfont player, so you can utilize a huge range of .sf2 sampler and instrument libraries from the internet. Finally, we've added 2 "live"-sounding drum instruments from Glen MacArthur, the producer of AVLinux. These open-sourced drum plugins incorporate velocity-layered drum samples from 2 kits ( the rocking "Red Zeppelin", and jazzier "Black Pearl" ), and they demonstrate some of the features of the new LV2 plugin format.
Multi-output virtual instruments are now easier to setup. When you add an instrument with multiple outputs, Mixbus prompts you whether to show stereo or multi-out; and in some cases it even prompts you to "fan out" the channels to separate buses. The Bundled AVL drumkits are a great example of this ability.
Inline Plugin Displays:
Mixbus v4 supports a new feature of the LV2 plug specification: Inline Displays.
We're often asked why we chose the LV2 format for our plugins, and this new feature is an example of the innovations that we will be able to implement with the new open-source format.
5 example plugins are provided that utilize this new feature: a-EQ, a-Filter, a-Compressor, a-Inline Scope and a-Inline Spectrogram.
Lua Scripting: A comprehensive new scripting engine has been added which allows users to write simple scripts to modify their sessions. Scripts may be triggered from events ( such as āon transport stopā ). Similar to macros from Harrisonās large-format consoles, a Lua script can trigger a sequence of actions.
Some of the many included example scripts:
"Faders to trims" sets all of your channel faders to unity, while inserting a ātrimā plugin before each fader with the faderās previous value. This is an awesome way to keep your mix, but zero the fader so you can try 'vocal up' or other alternative mixes.
"Reset Mixer" resets the mixer faders, mutes, EQs, compression, and bus sends; and it disables any third-party plugins. Because it's a script, you can tweak it for your own needs: do you like to start with faders at OFF? Or start with all the EQ's enabled? You can change the script to do whatever you need!
Your Lua scripts may be triggered from keyboard shortcuts or the Toolbar. You can write your own DSP or MIDI processing plugins as Lua scripts. They can even display their own icons!
In the next few weeks, we will post some additional scripts in our user forum, and we hope that a community of developers will rally around this cool new concept.
A glimpse into the future of computer audio workstations:
You might have noticed that Mixbus's development is accelerating quickly. This is largely due to the rapidly increasing open-source community that we are encouraging. Over the last year, Harrison has worked to lower the barrier to entry for developing the Ardour platform so more developers can take part in the process. The new Lua scripting features are also a new opportunity for users and casual developers to take part in the development of Mixbus.
Continuing our collaboration with the Ardour open-source community, Mixbus v4 is session-file compatible with other Ardour-using workstations: Ardour5, Waves Tracks Live, and the newly-announced iZ Session. This unprecedented level of inter-application support is largely due to Harrison's continued funding and support of open-source development.
And speaking of inter-application support, you'll find something very interesting in the v4.0 release: .ptf and .ptx file import. This new item in the "Session" menu allows you to select a Pro Tools session file, and import the raw audio and midi data. This is a "Beta" feature that was developed by a member of the open-source community, and is provided for adventurous beta-testers only.