Mixbus32C v7 - Now Available!

[krans]

As a fanboy, I'd really love to disagree.
However, I also paid €82 simply to be part of further development and to support Harrison.

v5 was when Mixbus 32c became my main daw, v6 was when I really fell in love with it.
And then v7 comes out basically as v6 with a new rec window, which may of course be handy if I ever record in a larger scale.

I realize there's gone lots of work into the TapeX.
And I realize it's great news for recording studios.
Yet I do find it a tad disappointing that nothing else came with it, as it's a major release. You know, for us non-recording studios.

But I guess it'll come. v7 is still very young. 

[Sj7]

Yes I’m very disappointed with Harrison mixbus 7. I have purchased mixbus since version 2.5 and I stopped at version 5 for both mixbus and 32c. Version 6 is good but I didn’t like the mixer as i likes how version 5 looked but I do understand certain things needed to change. When I was scrolling through mi emails and saw mixbus and then version 7 I almost couldn’t believe. I got excited but then sadly it turned to confusion and frustration and I tried to get excited about it but it’s not worth a version upgrade. It’s a minor release update. What is this tape x, I can barely track vocals to a song I already started working on without it stopped due to cpu related errors eleven when I disable all plugins. I don’t really track vocals in mixbus and I have a decent workstation computer. I actually checked it was April fools day because as a mixbus user and supporter it definitely felt like a slap in the face. I really think Harrison dropped the ball on this one. I hope mixbus can do better because I don’t see myself using it past version 5. Plus ardour seems to be giving me more flexibility. I just get tired of always upgrading mixbus and don’t want to be bedazzled. If I upgraded to version 7 it would be a waste of money for me. I myself use studio one but I have version 2 and version 1. Till this day it’s what I do for preparation for mixing. It stands the test of time. But enough about that. 

Maybe mixbus is running out of ideas, maybe the mixer is at its full peak I unno. 


I hope it’s not the end for mixbus. 

I would love to see mixbus with another eq other then 32c with adjustable Q and some saturation with the EQ.

Would also like better compression models with some nice analog flavour and tone and grit. It’s nice to have transparent stuff but sometimes I wish mixbus offered more.

Would also like to see some nice summing or something we gain add or gain stage into like some of these cool console shapers and slate digitals virtual channel. So many other daws are showing improvement in this area while mixbus seems to be getting stale while carrying a heavy price tag for newcomers for 32c. 32c alone is no match for a good analog signal chain. We need more then just a glorified 32c model which in my opinion is not always ideal for most modern mixes today in my opinion.

Mixbus is great for what it has to offer but man this sudden release has me unsure about what’s to come.

[dtb]

I did every update of mixbus 32c in the last years but:

• I do not really need a dedicated Recorder window with TapeX for capturing multitrack band performance (even more since covid) - I am happy with RME's Total mix. And I am more into mixing than recording.
  
• Signed and Notarized Mac and Windows installers are not a feature but a necessity.
  
• Updated Mac builds use the latest Apple tools to support the new Waves v12 plugins is also not a feature but support/bugfixing.
  

• Updated ASIO driver for Windows - not a feature but a necessity.
  

Are there other features/fixes/improvements? Is anything else worth the money for an update to v7. Maybe Ben could publish a list.
Second monitor channel, vu-meters on every channel, bugfixing audition-issues etc. ... that might be arguments for me to update.
At the moment I don't see any reason updating to V7 -I will be waiting for the things to come (let's see what v7 updates will incooperate). imo this is simply not a major version update.
just my 2c
Tom

[Sojuzstudio]

Of course, everyone decides what to do with their money, but I think that upgrade price is quite reasonable when you think about supporting future product development at the same time. Version 7 development work has certainly taken time and Mixbus / MB32C is not a hobby project. Personally, I immediately decided to buy it. I even leave the car without refueling and walk into town if that money needs to be saved. All the best to everyone.

[PBuryk]

First, and foremost - Great points (both sides) in this discussion so far! I've very pleased that MB/MB32C customers are so civil in expressing their opinions.

Next - I, too, was a bit disappointed in the overall list of improvements rolled out as V7, and agree that "V6.3" would have been a more appropriate label.
There was a comment (above) that declaring it as "V7" was to "money-grab" the $79.00 upgrade fee. I can see this as a possible decision of the Harrison
Marketing Team, although, not as a "money-grab", but necessary to fund their continued existence in today's economic situation. We have no insight into
Harrison's situation due to any increase of staffing (hopefully!) to address the needs of moving its product lines ahead. Moreover, we have no insight as to
what increases in costs of doing business have been levied on Harrison over the past year. I am certainly aware of this latter point as applied to my own
company's state of affairs so I can only presume Harrison is feeling the same effects as well. So, for MB/MB32C releases to continue to be made available
as a V6 variant (that is, for free) might not have been possible, financially.

Ok... So with that thought expressed... I would hope that this extra funding will allow MB/MB32C developers to continue to work on the more "tangible"
features and fixes that we've been waiting on for the past few years. Personally, I also use other DAW related tools to accomplish production tasks, such
as MIDI arrangements. And, I find myself "making commitments" on occasion and bouncing down tracks with plugin processing in order to reduce the
overall CPU Utilization during final mixing - an inconvenience today but certainly a necessity of days gone by. I am thoroughly pleased with the layout,
features and performance of the MB/MB32C Mixer and applaud the Ardour Team for all they've done so far with the Editor. My initial move to MB was
because it was available for Linux, which allowed me to abandon (or so I thought at the time) a very frustrating Windows experience. As it turns out,
the Project Group I'm working with also run Windows and MAC based versions of MB/MB32C so I haven't been able to completely escape the woes of
those OS options and their underlying intricacies.

At this time, I see nothing available, or in the making, from other manufacturers that would cause me to move away from Harrison as their MB/MB32C
products fulfill all the functionality I need to mix and master audio projects successfully. Again, MB/MB32C are not perfect as based upon the evaluation
of so many other members here. However, "perfection" will always mean something different to every user. I remain with the majority of members here
who expect great things from MB/MB32C with each release. And I appreciate the efforts and decisions of Harrison to make them all available to us.

Cheers!
Patrick

[dtb]

but necessary to fund their continued existence in today's economic situation. We have no insight into
Harrison's situation due to any increase of staffing (hopefully!) to address the needs of moving its product lines ahead. Moreover, we have no insight as to
what increases in costs of doing business have been levied on Harrison over the past year. I am certainly aware of this latter point as applied to my own
company's state of affairs so I can only presume Harrison is feeling the same effects as well. So, for MB/MB32C releases to continue to be made available
as a V6 variant (that is, for free) might not have been possible, financially.

...
that's exactly what I was thinking too but hopefully not true. But if this is the case then imo the focus should have been more on solving existing problems and making lots of minor improvements rather than using too much manpower to develop a tool like TapeX (which might be great and shurely has its benefits for tracking a live band but is there really so much interesst in having such a tool? Nowadays it has become seldom that bands still record together in the studio, at least in my experience; don't get me wrong I enjoy recording a band playing live together in the studio or rehearsal room but it's been a long time since i did this and I normally get tracks to mix)

[PBuryk]

@dtb -
Agreed! I can see the new Recorder page being helpful to, say, a Bass player I work with as he is also recording a drummer for his projects. He is currently
recording multi-tracked drums using MB on MAC. So, V7's rebuild with the latest MAC tools should help him out. Additionally, I have a drummer who also
records multi-tracks into an Alesis HD24 and then transfers those 24-bit files into MB32C running on Windows... so the Windows drivers updates should help
him. In my case, I get all their stems (32-bit float) to mix into completed songs. I rarely record analog into my MB/MB32C sessions these days, choosing instead
to also use an Alesis HD24 for keys, guitars, vocals, etc. and then import them into MB/MB32C sessions. Bringing MIDI into the whole equation requires a lot
more in terms of equipment, connectivity and involvement which I won't go into here. So... Although I see little benefit in V7 for my own use I can very much
appreciate its improvements on behalf of the other partners in my Projects who will indeed should benefit from them.

Cheers!
Patrick

[Ben@Harrison]

One of the reasons we introduced the Recorder page is that it's a natural place to implement the UI for some of the new features we added in the engine: varispeed recording and record-wet; which we never could sensibly integrate into the Editor (which is already very busy!)

Another reason is that we intend to have buttons for "Import", "Record", "Edit", "Mix", and "Export" which we think will help newer users navigate the start-to-finish process more easily.

Admittedly, this may take a few more versions to fully flesh out. It's always hard to decide when a "paid" version upgrade is ready but in the future we are going to try to make yearly major releases, and pack them in with lots of small updates through the year. I think that's pretty common for DAWs these days.

Best,
-Ben

[Harvey Stuart]

Just about that point:

There was a comment (above) that declaring it as "V7" was to "money-grab" the $79.00 upgrade fee

When I saw there was a V7 I immediately jumped on to the site to check what about that surprise spring burst and in the notes of the 32Cv7 there was mention that you could as well use your previous license content to license the v7, I did and it worked fine, so there maybe was no intricate plan to mastermindmontrol the purses around (or was it an in-between facilty just meanwhile the spread of update/grade offers was mailed/spread?) anyway I found that nice and neat and when I received the updade proposal mail I processed to checkout and buy a fresh license specific to that v7 (and it worked as well as the previous one ;D ), since I had that (very reasonable as it was an update) amount available and I wanted to allow Ardour and Harrison to feel encouraged for their good to excellent work although I also would admit that this had more a release update than a version upgrade (but I'm not using it 24/7 and in the deep so there are possible revolutions inside for others) 

[Scardanelli]

Is there a comprehensive breakdown of these new features as well as a proper updated manual Ben?

I have to say that the description of the Recorder page, and the use of "TapeX" as a term is a little misleading. It sounded to me like a plugin " new recorder page with TapeX" suggesting there's something else besides the page. TapeX IS the page is it not? Or have I missed something??

Overall though I'm very happy, and have confidence in Harrison's commitment to developing MB. I really hate to have to mix in anything else now, and if the Recorder page speeds up my transition to tracking bands in MB then that alone is worth the price. Just need MB to get a better swipe / comp system going for those multiple lead guitar solos.....

As to those complaining about a paid upgrade - I see many are Studio One users. Well, I just paid for a month of the Sphere to see if it was worth upgrading from 4.6 to 5, and to be honest, I was really disappointed by what's on offer. I'd have to pay twice what I just paid for the MB 32C upgrade, to upgrade Studio One to Version 5, for features that I simply don't need, or already have (some of the plugins, batch converter etc). As for Sphere, well, Notion is a toy, the scoring in the S1 V5 really is extremely basic and limited and doesn't allow Music XML export, and the orchestra library sounds dreadful - ....and whilst the live page might be useful if there were gigs (!) it''s nothing that MainStage can't do, so for me paying 150 just for the Studio One app without all the Sphere add-ons, is a lot of money for not a lot more functionality. I'll hold off upgrading to V5 as mostly what I use S1 for now is the midi and VST instrument stuff, and the Project page for mastering. Scoring I never use a DAW - I use Dorico. Anything created in a DAW can be exported as a midi file if need be.

So I 'd say the upgrade price for Mixbus is very good value for money. You can spend a lot more than that on a plugin that you'd forget you owned and use twice a year....