Now Available! Mixbus32C v9.1.96

[Ben@Harrison]

Big News!

Our store has been updated with a new software update for Mixbus32C: version 9.1.96  ... This is a huge update, so scroll down to find the complete list.

Due to high download volume, we use the FastSpring download service to provide you with localized, fast downloads of the Mixbus software.  You will be prompted for your email address and area-code so FastSpring can provide you a fast download link.

Mixbus32C v9 software installer: https://harrisonconsolesstore.onfastspri...2c-v9-demo

There is no charge for this software update.  If you have a v9 license, then the new software will find your license file without needing any steps to re-authorize it.  If you do not have a license, you may choose to update to the newest software, but it will continue to work in 'demo' mode.

The Triumphant Return of Tempo Mapping:  meet your new 'Agile Grid' !

• Real music breathes with subtle (or sometimes dramatic!) tempo changes
  
• Our new 'agile grid' lets you quickly adapt the Grid to your performance
  
• Once you've mapped your performance, you can edit with 'snap', duplicate sections on bar lines, add MIDI accompaniment, or trigger loops from the Cue Page
  
• Watch this video from Nathan to see how it's done!
  

Improved Timeline Editing:  quickly re-arrange your verse and chorus sections, and keep everything in sync

• Re-arrange your song sections including invisible items like playlists and automation
  
• Cut or copy the entire timeline including markers and all automation, whether visible or invisible, and insert it where you want it
  
• Watch this video to see how it's done!
  

Improved Session Connections Management:  for those who switch I/O devices or share sessions regularly with collaborators

• I/O connections are now saved 'per device'.  This allows you to switch to a 2 channel interface when you are on the road, and have all of your connections restored when you return to your full-featured studio I/O
  
• When switching to a new soundcard the master bus connection would sometimes get lost, resulting in no audio output. Starting in v9.1, when you switch to a new soundcard, we will re-initialize all connections including the Master/Monitor outputs (unless this same device was used in the past for this session; in which case we will recall those connections)
  
• Mixbus now allows you to rename your plugins:  this is convenient when the full plugin name won't fit recognizably in the space allotted.  Name it whatever you like!
  
• Auto-connection of USB devices:  the Faderport series will now recognize when a device is connected; automatically make the appropriate connections; and engage the control protocol.  We expect to expand the list of supported devices in the future.
  

More Improvements!

• In the "Clip List" (found on the Cue Page and Editor List), you'll find a new knob for adjusting the clip monitoring volume.
  
• In the Latency toolbar (activated in Preferences->Appearance->Toolbar) you'll find a new button to disable the channelstrip gate- and limiter-mode lookahead.  This is sometimes desirable for lowest-latency monitoring (at the expense of gate and limiter responsiveness)
  
• Exported MIDI files now export at 1920 ppqn by default; some DAWs cannot handle the higher values we were using in the past
  
• By default, Mixbus no longer colors new tracks with a random color.  This saves you from having to re-color them all, and instead only color the ones that need special attention.
  
• You can now double-click the channel name-slate to rename the channel (in mixer strip)  (in prior versions, double-click was used to trigger the narrow/wide mode in regular (non-32C) Mixbus)
  
• Add keybinding (Cmd/Ctrl+S) for Solo, in the mixer window
  
• It is now possible to set your 'snap' preferences to snap the mouse to the Playhead.  This is useful when you are using Edit Point = Mouse,  but you still want to use the playhead for some operations.
  
• You can now create MIDI subgroups:  right-click on a group header to create a single MIDI instrument bus, and send all MIDI tracks to that bus
  
• Recent Sessions dialog now shows a 'safe mode' checkbox, so you don't have to remember to hold Cmd while opening the session
  
• When using 'midi input follows selection', and a grouped track is selected, Mixbus will select the track that was clicked on, not the last item in the group
  
• In the past it was possible to click on the orange 'playhead' line to grab the playhead but this sometimes got in the way if you wanted to click behind it.  The playhead line has been de-sensitized
  
• New example Lua DSP processors: downmix 5.1 to stereo; DTMF tone generator (midi instrument/synth example)
  
• Allow the user to cancel a session-archive process, and add more verbose error messages if something goes wrong (out of disk space)
  
• MacOS:
  
• --Improve behavior when a controller device is disconnected
  
• --Update the latency when a device's buffersize is changed while running
  
• PT import
  
• --Fix PT importing to a session with existing tracks (prior versions were adding pt regions to the existing tracks)
  
• --Update session extents when importing PT tracks... move the End marker later to accommodate imported regions
  
• Control Surfaces:
  
• --Push2: holding shift while using touch strip should send modulation, not pitch bend
  
• --USB device auto-connect: Mixbus will now automatically make your USB control connections for certain devices:  the Presonus Faderport series;  Ableton Push2;  Contour Design, and more coming soon!
  
• -- Dedicated support for the Softube Console1 (thanks to Hoger Dehnhardt!)  .. select Console1 in Preferences -> Control Protocols
  
• Translations: Updated German, Catalan, Korean and Russian translations
  

Other Fixes

• VST3 plugin fixes
  
• --Allow plugin's gui to set non-automatable parameters (fixes Fabfilter: solo the EQ band)
  
• --Correctly display the Control Names when changing instruments in Kontakt7 (and likely other VST3s)
  
• --Skip redundant parameter-changes (fixes a problem in Steinberg HALion state-restore)
  
• When pasting a layered stack of regions, the stack order is correctly preserved 
  
• The I/O latency would sometimes be mis-reported in the latency toolbar.  This has been fixed
  
• Adding an aux-send would reset a channel's pan knob to center. This has been fixed
  
• Further improvements to MIDI Clock (MClk) output
  
• Significantly speed-up the 'Duplicate' action when multiple regions are selected
  
• Fixed Undo for multi-non-contiguous region cut/delete
  
• Fix issues with delete & backspace bindings in draw/internal-edit mode
  
• Fixed a short audio glitch when PDC latency was changed and buffersize was 64 samples or smaller
  
• Exporting multiple mp3's at different bitrates, in one export action, could crash.  This has been fixed
  

As always, feel free to write us (mixbus@harrisonconsoles.com) with your thoughts on this new update!

Best Regards,
-Ben Loftis
Harrison Mixbus product manager

[ROG]

A word of caution - 9.1 will not apparently carry over your custom colour scheme from 9.0

Even if you back-up your 9.0 colours file and then copy it to 9.1 after the up-grade it still doesn't recognise it.

Hmm....

[krans]

Even though I'm always excited about new features and the development going on, I'd like to add another word of caution:

I installed v9.1 and continued to work on a v9 project.
Unfortunately I realized too late that the transition had placed my tracks out of sync.
So before continuing the project (in v9.0), I have to clean up all the tracks to get them back in sync. At the moment it's a real cluster.

I'm sure it won't happen in a native v9.1 project, but maybe there's something in the tempo development that's made v9 and v9.1 not totally compatible.
Just be cautious.

[Dingo]

Even though I'm always excited about new features and the development going on, I'd like to add another word of caution:

I installed v9.1 and continued to work on a v9 project.
Unfortunately I realized too late that the transition had placed my tracks out of sync.
So before continuing the project (in v9.0), I have to clean up all the tracks to get them back in sync. At the moment it's a real cluster.

I'm sure it won't happen in a native v9.1 project, but maybe there's something in the tempo development that's made v9 and v9.1 not totally compatible.
Just be cautious.

Try opening a session backup in v9.0 and see if that resolves your issues.

[krans]

Even though I'm always excited about new features and the development going on, I'd like to add another word of caution:

I installed v9.1 and continued to work on a v9 project.
Unfortunately I realized too late that the transition had placed my tracks out of sync.
So before continuing the project (in v9.0), I have to clean up all the tracks to get them back in sync. At the moment it's a real cluster.

I'm sure it won't happen in a native v9.1 project, but maybe there's something in the tempo development that's made v9 and v9.1 not totally compatible.
Just be cautious.

Try opening a session backup in v9.0 and see if that resolves your issues.

I'd love to try that!
But is there a way to open a session backup, if I don't have any snapshots or other backups of the project?
Is there a way to open an old autosave or earlier saved state than the current?

[Dingo]

Assuming that you were using defaults from the factory, backups are taken every 5 minutes and there are normally 10, they are found in the folder session name / backup more info here....

[ROG]

It's worth noting that, whereas a new version can be installed alongside an old version, in the case of an up-date to a version (9.0 to 9.1) the install will routinely uninstall the previous version, including removing the custom colours file from your app-data folder. If you want to keep the version before the up-date, you will need to "hide" it before the new install.

Another word on custom colours. The up-date says -

"By default, Mixbus no longer colors new tracks with a random color. This saves you from having to re-color them all, and instead only color the ones that need special attention."

I welcome this because I always thought that the multi-colour tracks looked a bit cheap, but whilst new tracks are now one colour it appears to default to bright blue, which may not be to everyone's taste. The way to change this for all new projects is to display the palette by changing the colour on any track or bus. Then drag your colour choice to the first square in the palette (top left). Finally, open Preferences / Colors and uncheck the three boxes at the bottom of the window - "Use color palette to assingn color..."
New sessions will now use that colour for all tracks and busses.

Hope some find this useful.

[Ben@Harrison]

@krans: I'm not aware of any problems in 9.1 would that would cause tracks to be out of sync. If you have time, please write our support email (mixbus@harrisonconsoles.com) and send the session snapshot and any details that might help us recreate the problem.

@ROG: thanks for the description of changing the palette. I don't think that appears in our manual anywhere, so I will add a page for that. Thanks!

[krans]

Assuming that you were using defaults from the factory, backups are taken every 5 minutes and there are normally 10, they are found in the folder session name / backup more info here....

Oh, Dingo. Thank you so much!
The latest backup file actually had my project saved in just the state I left it before trying v9.1.
You saved me from so much frustrating sync work, I'm truly grateful. And how useful to know about the backup files, I've never been aware of them.

And yes, I definitely should have made a snapshot before ugprading and trying out v9.1. It's one of those so easy things you blame yourself for not doing.

@Ben: Thanks for the offer, I'll pass on this one as the project was actually saved by the backup files. I hope my project was an anomaly, that it'll be a smoother transition for others. 

[Dingo]

@Ben: Thanks for the offer, I'll pass on this one as the project was actually saved by the backup files. I hope my project was an anomaly, that it'll be a smoother transition for others. 

Krans, to help others who may find themselves in the same situation, or better still prevent it from happening - I would suggest sending a copy of your session_name.ardour file to Harrison so they can see if they can replicate the issue you had.