Mixbus, Mixbus32C: v6.2 now available with VST3 support!

[Ben@Harrison]

Mixbus and Mixbus32C v6 users: there's a great new update available: v6.2

A full list of changes is provided below.

We've also updated our website with a new look and more functionality. Let us know what you think!

You can always get the latest version of Mixbus and Mixbus32C software from the Harrison Software Downloads page:

https://harrisonconsoles.com/harrison-software-downloads/


New Features in v6.2

• VST3 support for all platforms
  
• Due to popular demand, VST3 plugins can now be loaded by Mixbus and Mixbus32C!
  
• Visit Preferences->Plugins and click "Scan Now" to find your installed VST3 plugins. There is no need to add search paths for VST3's on Windows.
  
• By default, if a plugin is available in both VST3 and VST2 then only the VST3 will show up in your plugin list
  
• VST3 support includes extensions for Softube Console1 plugins and control surfaces
  
  
• Loudness Analysis and Normalization (beta)
  
• LAN - Loudness Analysis and Normalization tool provides a "conformity check " for the loudness targets of various streaming and delivery services
  
• To enable this feature, enable the checkbox for "master-bus output gain control " in Preferences>Mixer>Master
  
• Click the LAN button to trigger a loudness check on you session (Start marker to End marker)
  
• To analyze a different range: right-click on the Range and select "Loudness Assistant "
  
• View the Range's loudness measurements, and expose the "Conformity Analysis " to see how your your mix conforms to various targets (YouTube, Spotify, etc)
  
  
• ACE Plugins (beta)
  
• A suite of free, open-source, full-featured plugins with elegantly simple control panels.
  
• ACE EQ: a graphical 4-band parametric EQ that displays the note name under each band's center frequency.
  
• ACE Compressor (and ACE Expander): full-featured compressor (expander) with external sidechain input; the transfer-function is displayed to help visualize the effect of the compression.
  
• ACE Delay: a delay effect that clearly displays the millisecond value for various subdivisions of the selected BPM.
  
  

Improvements

• Windows packages are now code signed and will open without additional security prompts on most systems.
  
• Add toolbar widgets for monitor mute and dim
  (thanks to Andy http://mixbus.harrisonconsoles.com/forum...age-2.html )
  
• Various tweaks and fixes for the editor-list (source name-changes, channel-count, resizable columns)
  
• AudioUnit variable-i/o channel assignment has been improved to manage sidechain busses and optional connections better
  
  • (fixes issue with Renoise Redux, Fabfilter Sidechain and others)
    
  
  
• When bouncing, use a Tag rather than appending "(bounce) " to the resulting region's name, and assign a take-ID for the bounce.
  
• When the user initiates a "bounce ", prompt user for name of Range and Region bounces
  
• Show plugin-type in processor-window title (VST, VST3, AU, etc)
  
• AVX optimized routines for all platforms (reduces CPU usage for metering and summing)
  
• Add pre/post fader option to foldback sends
  
• Add option to hide VST2 instruments if the matching VST3 exists
  
• When creating a new MIDI track with an instrument, set the new track's name to the instrument name.
  
• Allow to select playlists from other MIDI tracks
  
• Consolidate MIDI range now fills the selected time Range (in the past, it was stopping at the end of the MIDI note content)
  
• Special case MIDI note selection auditioning (do not sound all notes when selecting all, remain silent on session load)
  
• Significantly speed up displaying of all MIDI automation lanes
  
• Offer snapshot name & modified indicator in the status-bar (for fullscreen use)
  
• Numeric entry was using gain coefficient (0..1) for fader and automation entry boxes. This has been fixed to use dB.
  
• Windows versions now write crash-reports %localappdata\Mixbus6\CrashLog\
  

Fixes

• Fix Mixbus 1-8/9-12 AFL/PFL (Mixbuses were implicitly muted as with SiP)
  
• Fix audible dropout of live signal when locating
  
• Fix audible click at transport-start when using sample-rates >= 96k
  
• Fix loop cross-fade glitch, use linear fade for x-fade
  
• Fix occasionally missing LV2 plugins (macOS)
  
• Fix restoring implicit solo on session load
  
• Fix bounce and freeze channel-count
  
• Allow looping without audio tracks (MIDI only session)
  
• VST2: handle non-automatable parameters
  
• Fix interpolation of MIDI automation
  
• Fix clock editing: colors and cursor-position
  
• Fix display of rec-rectangle when recording in stacked view
  
• Fix MIDI track auto-connect and fan-out connections
  
• Fix MIDI Capture alignment
  
• Fix BPM display, windows does not support UTF8 ♩♪
  
• Fix keybindings for nudge forward/backward
  
• Prevent Session range markers from being hidden
  
• Fix master-mute button visibility in editor-mixer
  
• Fix add a/b-switch and cross-fade plugins, handle unconnected inputs
  
• Honor "Auto Play " setting after rewind to session start
  
• Handle some edge-cases when loading old (v2, v3) sessions
  
• Fix issues when copy/pasting plugins or plugin state in the mixer between mono/stereo tracks
  
• Fix occasional crashes when copy/pasting automation
  
• Fix an occasional crash when saving plugin-stats
  
• Fix crash when removing master-bus output channels with a monitor-section present
  
• Resolve occasional deadlock when updating latency
  

Control Surfaces

• Expose automation controls to Open Sound Control (OSC) surface
  
• Various tweaks to Websocket control surface (still in beta)
  
• Fix encoders for generic MIDI surfaces
  

....and hundreds of additional improvements and fixes!

[Theotherguy]

Ben, The update looks great, the new website looks even better.
Thanks to all the hard working people at Harrison!
Alex

[Jostein]

Can only agree with Alex, and the web page is much more modern now in my opinion.

In addition, the VST3 versions seem to work fine and they are loaded lightning fast compared to the VST2 versions (using Linux).

Now, I will check if it's any progress on the MIDI..

[sunrat]

Excellent update. Yet to use it but the changelog is impressive. VST3 should make a few people happy.
The website is nicer with some good details included which should reduce a few queries in the forums. The new "Download now" button opened a new tab but didn't offer a download from there. Email link was fine though.
Congratulations to Harrison and devs!

[Dingo]

Thanks Ben and everyone at the factory. VST3 is working well and opened a lot of options for side chaining.
I know it is still beta and more work is to come, but the LAN option on the Master bus is really great... up there with the phase optimizer - it is going to make Mastering and Deliveries so much faster and reliable.

[Pi_K]

I logged to the forum just as usual and see this post by accident. This is huge!!! Thanks Harrison!!

[MakerDP]

VST3... yesssssss...

[dspasic]

So awesome! Specially the Redux fix, which i will now dive into!
Thank you guys!!!

[pngaudioguy]

I installed v6.2 on my Windows 10 PC, and it largely was uneventful. The installer threw a permissions error on 2 font files which I forgot to jot down, but everything seems to be working fine and I can read all the text on the interface.

A few things I discovered (at least on my machine.)

I tried to use the new LAN feature to make sure my loudness is where I want it. I have been analyzing the export, then making tweaks to my final limiter/master buss to get the level exactly where I want it but figured this would save a step. The progress bar went all the way across and then MixBus crashed. I don't see any easy way to attach the whole crash log here which I'm happy to send to whoever needs it, but the log starts with:

Code:

Mixbus.exe caused an Access Violation at location 000000006AFA257D in module ardour-3.dll Reading from location 000000003B1CF050.

I re-opened my session and LAN was disabled in the preferences, which is fine as I probably will keep using my old method. Hit play to double-check the mix, and everything I'd just tweaked was gone - all the settings from my newly enabled VST3 plugins which had replaced the VST2 versions were gone and all the tracks now have the plugins at their default settings!

Thinking maybe this was just because of the crash exit instead of clean exit, I tweaked the soloist's channel and saved, then closed and reopened the session, but my settings on that were missing again. Guess I'll roll back to the VST2 plugins for now...

[Perry Warren]

Mixbus and Mixbus32C v6 users: there's a great new update available: v6.2

A full list of changes is provided below.

We've also updated our website with a new look and more functionality. Let us know what you think!

You can always get the latest version of Mixbus and Mixbus32C software from the Harrison Software Downloads page:

https://harrisonconsoles.com/harrison-software-downloads/


New Features in v6.2

• VST3 support for all platforms
  
• Due to popular demand, VST3 plugins can now be loaded by Mixbus and Mixbus32C!
  
• Visit Preferences->Plugins and click "Scan Now" to find your installed VST3 plugins. There is no need to add search paths for VST3's on Windows.
  
• By default, if a plugin is available in both VST3 and VST2 then only the VST3 will show up in your plugin list
  
• VST3 support includes extensions for Softube Console1 plugins and control surfaces
  
  
• Loudness Analysis and Normalization (beta)
  
• LAN - Loudness Analysis and Normalization tool provides a "conformity check " for the loudness targets of various streaming and delivery services
  
• To enable this feature, enable the checkbox for "master-bus output gain control " in Preferences>Mixer>Master
  
• Click the LAN button to trigger a loudness check on you session (Start marker to End marker)
  
• To analyze a different range: right-click on the Range and select "Loudness Assistant "
  
• View the Range's loudness measurements, and expose the "Conformity Analysis " to see how your your mix conforms to various targets (YouTube, Spotify, etc)
  
  
• ACE Plugins (beta)
  
• A suite of free, open-source, full-featured plugins with elegantly simple control panels.
  
• ACE EQ: a graphical 4-band parametric EQ that displays the note name under each band's center frequency.
  
• ACE Compressor (and ACE Expander): full-featured compressor (expander) with external sidechain input; the transfer-function is displayed to help visualize the effect of the compression.
  
• ACE Delay: a delay effect that clearly displays the millisecond value for various subdivisions of the selected BPM.
  
  

Improvements

• Windows packages are now code signed and will open without additional security prompts on most systems.
  
• Add toolbar widgets for monitor mute and dim
  (thanks to Andy http://mixbus.harrisonconsoles.com/forum...age-2.html )
  
• Various tweaks and fixes for the editor-list (source name-changes, channel-count, resizable columns)
  
• AudioUnit variable-i/o channel assignment has been improved to manage sidechain busses and optional connections better
  
  • (fixes issue with Renoise Redux, Fabfilter Sidechain and others)
    
  
  
• When bouncing, use a Tag rather than appending "(bounce) " to the resulting region's name, and assign a take-ID for the bounce.
  
• When the user initiates a "bounce ", prompt user for name of Range and Region bounces
  
• Show plugin-type in processor-window title (VST, VST3, AU, etc)
  
• AVX optimized routines for all platforms (reduces CPU usage for metering and summing)
  
• Add pre/post fader option to foldback sends
  
• Add option to hide VST2 instruments if the matching VST3 exists
  
• When creating a new MIDI track with an instrument, set the new track's name to the instrument name.
  
• Allow to select playlists from other MIDI tracks
  
• Consolidate MIDI range now fills the selected time Range (in the past, it was stopping at the end of the MIDI note content)
  
• Special case MIDI note selection auditioning (do not sound all notes when selecting all, remain silent on session load)
  
• Significantly speed up displaying of all MIDI automation lanes
  
• Offer snapshot name & modified indicator in the status-bar (for fullscreen use)
  
• Numeric entry was using gain coefficient (0..1) for fader and automation entry boxes. This has been fixed to use dB.
  
• Windows versions now write crash-reports %localappdata\Mixbus6\CrashLog\
  

Fixes

• Fix Mixbus 1-8/9-12 AFL/PFL (Mixbuses were implicitly muted as with SiP)
  
• Fix audible dropout of live signal when locating
  
• Fix audible click at transport-start when using sample-rates >= 96k
  
• Fix loop cross-fade glitch, use linear fade for x-fade
  
• Fix occasionally missing LV2 plugins (macOS)
  
• Fix restoring implicit solo on session load
  
• Fix bounce and freeze channel-count
  
• Allow looping without audio tracks (MIDI only session)
  
• VST2: handle non-automatable parameters
  
• Fix interpolation of MIDI automation
  
• Fix clock editing: colors and cursor-position
  
• Fix display of rec-rectangle when recording in stacked view
  
• Fix MIDI track auto-connect and fan-out connections
  
• Fix MIDI Capture alignment
  
• Fix BPM display, windows does not support UTF8 ♩♪
  
• Fix keybindings for nudge forward/backward
  
• Prevent Session range markers from being hidden
  
• Fix master-mute button visibility in editor-mixer
  
• Fix add a/b-switch and cross-fade plugins, handle unconnected inputs
  
• Honor "Auto Play " setting after rewind to session start
  
• Handle some edge-cases when loading old (v2, v3) sessions
  
• Fix issues when copy/pasting plugins or plugin state in the mixer between mono/stereo tracks
  
• Fix occasional crashes when copy/pasting automation
  
• Fix an occasional crash when saving plugin-stats
  
• Fix crash when removing master-bus output channels with a monitor-section present
  
• Resolve occasional deadlock when updating latency
  

Control Surfaces

• Expose automation controls to Open Sound Control (OSC) surface
  
• Various tweaks to Websocket control surface (still in beta)
  
• Fix encoders for generic MIDI surfaces
  

....and hundreds of additional improvements and fixes!

I have IK Multimedia T-Racks 5 Max and for some reason Mixbus32c does not show the VST3 version. Other VST3 plugins show up after scanning plugins. Not sure if it's a Mixbus problem or T-Racks problem. The T-Racks VST3 plugins show up and work in other DAWs.