PreSonus Blog

Monthly Archives: May 2017


Nikola Jeremic on Composing for Starpoint Gemini Warlords in Studio One

[Nikola Jeremic is a longtime PreSonus user, fan, and all-around good friend to the company. He’s written outstanding blog pieces for us in the past, and this is no exception! Today he sheds some light on the oft-misunderstood process of music and audio for computer games, in particular, the just-released science fiction epic “Starpoint Gemini Warlords.”]

 

How is doing music for games different than doing music for film or TV? What features in Studio One make it particularly well-suited for this application? SPGW Poster

Doing music for games is technically a completely different process than composing for film or TV, because the music in video games is non-linear and interactive, unlike on films and TV. When you compose a cue for film or TV series, you are limited to the timeline of that particular scene, and you have to sync everything to fit in that particular timeline. In the game, the music needs to follow the decisions of the player and fit itself to the various situations the players will get into. That is why I compose a cue for a game in segments. In other words, I create a piece of music that can be divided into looped 8-16 bars parts that can be interchanged inside the audio middleware and each cue has a short ending stinger that can be triggered at any point to end the music cue. This idea is best applied to big action sequences and boss fights. When it comes to ambient atmospheric music, it’s fairly similar, but sometimes it’s not needed to be looped, and you can just transition from one ambient track to another, because I usually compose them in the same key, or I at least make them start and end on the same note for easier transition. That’s the approach I used for Starpoint Gemini Warlords for example.

You’ve been using Studio One for a long time. What are some of the more recent features that you found yourself using during the scoring of Starpoint Gemini Warlords? 

Scratch Pads are hands down THE BEST idea ever! I love having the option of being free to experiment and change the arrangement of a cue in a single project that’s opened.  It is very useful when I want to create different versions of one track to test how it sounds in different variations. I also love the fact that no matter how many scratch pads you have opened, everything is mixed in the same mix window, so I can bounce different versions very easily and quickly send them off to the developer for listening. I have to say that Studio One Mixer is absolutely the finest and probably the most respected mixing engine out there today. I have a lot of DAWs that I use for composing when collaborating with other people on projects, but I ALWAYS mix my tracks in Studio One. Project page is also awesome, especially when I need to deliver a big amount of mastered tracks to a client and I need to make sure they all sound the same and have the same levels. It’s just amazing, and the fact that I can quickly take care of meta-tags and add album art cover is really cool. The official soundtrack for Starpoint Gemini Warlords is being prepared in Project page, and it makes my life a whole lot easier. I also love the fact that it has all the needed metering in a single window, so I don’t have to load other plugins and use up my CPU. Bouncing in place and converting tracks in project pool is also a feature I use a lot. Creating FX chains with various plugins has made my mixing and sound designing process lightspeed faster, because I can always recall a preset I have created and use it over and over again no matter what plugins I have in the chain. Mojito is still my favorite go-to synth for bass lines. I generally love the sleek and clean look of Studio One interface and its plugins, because it makes my job a lost faster and easier to do without the need to think about  “ooh what does this button do?” or spend a lot of time in sub-menus to find the option I need.

Do you use the Notion integration?

Yes I do. Not always, but I most of the time when I am working on piano and orchestral pieces, I always check my score sheet with Notion. What I’d love to see in the future is having Notion editor as an actual part of Studio One Pro. For example, when you open up a midi editor, you can also switch to Notion editor in the same window and tweak the notes on the staff.

 

Does your score consist of recordings of live instruments or are you using virtual instruments exclusively? If so, which ones?

 The score for Starpoint Gemini Warlords consists of both virtual and live instruments. All of the guitar and bass parts are recorded via my FireStudio Project interface, and I also recorded my external hardware synths through FireStudio. This is mostly synth-oriented soundtrack that pays the homage to some of our favorite games and sci-fi franchises. My main synths here were my hardware synths Yamaha DX7 and KORG Volca Bass and Volca Keys, and all of them were processed through my guitar pedals, but regarding the software synths, I used Arturia V collection (mostly MiniMoog V, CS-80 V, ARP 2600 V, and Modular V) and U-He Zebra 2. I also used Mojito for basses and Mai Tai for some pad and drone sounds that were later processed via different FX plugins.

As Starpoint Gemini Warlords is clearly a Space Opera of sorts, do you take any inspiration from John Williams’ use of leitmotif in Star Wars? Any other musical influences you’d care to talk about? 

What I love about Little Green Men studio (the developers of the game) is that it’s a group of fanboys and fangirls and it was a lot of fun at brainstorming meetings regarding the soundtrack for the game. Everybody was into sci-fi music and everyone has their own favorite franchises, so I had to do a lot of research and take a listen of various sci-fi game and film soundtracks. There were no traditional leitmotifs for characters, instead we decided to represent each sector in the game with a different melodic theme based on what usually goes down there, so for example more friendly sectors have some light evocative music, alien sectors are more mysterious and feature elven type of vocals and exotic woodwind instruments, while pirate and outlaw sectors are very dark and aggressive in sounds. The biggest inspiration came from video game soundtracks such as Homeworld, EvE Online (I’d love to score that one in the future), Mass Effect, Deus Ex The Human Revolution, and Battlestar Galactica TV series.

Any advice to share for musicians and producers who want to get into game audio or music but don’t know where to start? Nikola pic

First thing I suggest you do is to join audio societies such as AES (Audio Engineering Society), G.A.N.G. (Game Audio Network Guild), and visit conferences such as GDC (Game Developers Conference) and GamesoundCon. You will meet a lot of people from the industry, and they will all be more than happy to share knowledge and forward you to other people as well. Read books on game audio from publishers like Focal Press for example, I know that helped me a lot. You can always look for some smaller mobile gaming developers out there in your local communities and get in touch with them as well. And the most important thing of all is to learn your craft and learn it good. Don’t get overwhelmed by this or that plugin that’s newest on the market or whatever. Get a set of tools that you like and learn them well inside and out. You will be amazed by how easily you can get great results with bundled plugins that come with your DAW. I still use my Studio One Pro EQ and Compressor most of the time for sampled stuff. Create your own sounds from the stuff that you have. A developer will always learn to appreciate more the fact that you took your sweet time to create something original that’s only for them, than sending them something created with commercial instruments libraries that everyone uses.

 

Links:

 

 

Studio One 3.5 – What’s New and Release Notes

Studio One 3.5 is here! This is a free update for owners of Studio One 3.x. Click “Check for updates” in Studio One’s start page to get it!

Full release notes follow. For a less-technical overview, check out the video below or visit our What’s New page here.


IMPORTANT: This version introduces an updated file format for Songs and Projects for faster
Save / Auto-Save. Files created in 3.5 will no longer open in previous versions of Studio One.
Make sure to work from copies of your existing songs created in Studio One 3.3.4 or older if
you like to continue working with a previous version as well.

______________________________

New features and improvements:

Audio Engine and Performance
Flexible Dropout Protection
• Native Low Latency Monitoring
• Low-latency virtual instrument monitoring
• Multi-processing enhancements for improved CPU balancing

Arrangement and Automation
New shortcut to “Select all Muted Events”
• Copy/Paste Events also copies Layer data
• Import tempo map, time signatures and markers when dragging MIDI file to
Arrangement [Cmd+Alt]
• Maximum Track Delay increased to 1,000ms
• New Track command: “Apply Track Names to Channels”
• “Cursor follows Edit Position” now limited to manually selected events or
ranges
• Batch renaming events always adds leading zero
• Event Inspector: Multi-editing for Event Start and End
• Arranger Track: Move Arranger Section only [Cmd+Alt]
• “Bounce to new Track” now preserves output routing
• Complete Show/Hide for Automation
• Automation Lanes on Instrument Track
• Improved time-stretching accuracy. “Audio Bend” mode now obsolete.

Mixer (Console)
• Mixer Undo
• Remote control of StudioLive Series III Fat Channel and mic pre-amps
• New command: “Remove Track Automation” removes all automation data
• Visual plug-in bypass state in console

Instruments and Plug-ins
Fat Channel XT
• Adjustable level range for Spectrum Meter (all modes)
• Updated micro-views for Spectrum Meter
• 12th octave mode in Spectrum Meter (incl. keyboard scale)
• Loudness Meter now EBU R-128 compliant
• [macOS] MIDI input for AU plug-ins
• Event FX window follows Event selection
• [macOS] Preset list support for AU instruments/plug-ins
• FX Routing: Splitter can now be moved freely

Music Editor
Unlimited number of controller lanes
• Option to “Resize adjacent Events” (multiple overlapping) [Alt]

Score Editing with Notion
• Send audio or note data to existing song
• Tempo map import (drag & drop)
• Other improvements within Notion (ReWire handling, Studio One application
launcher, and more)

Project Page
• Independent Track Markers
• Flexible Loudness Detection options
• New Loudness Meter
• New Spectrum Meter
• DDP import
• Improved meta-data editing
• Pool in Project Page
• New Bounce Track option
• Dynamic search for Songs in Project (improved compatibility)
• Faster rendering (if a Song is used multiple times)
• New command “Bounce Track” (includes Track inserts, not Master FX)
• Extended “Add to Project” menu
• Improved ID-tag export (adding Composer and ISRC)
• User interface improvements
• New “Split Track” and “Split at Cursor” commands + shortcuts

Browser
• New “Construction Kits” node in Loop Browser
• Search fields in Browser and Mixer reset on close

Hardware and Multitouch
• Dual-screen support (Raven MTi)
• Higher MIDI update rate for control surfaces

General
• Delete unsaved files and folders when closing new song w/o saving
• Warnings shown when errors occur while exporting mix in real-time
• Updated FLAC codec (better performance)
• Improved save and auto-save performance for Songs and Projects
• [macOS] Independent recording and playback devices
• Extended Bounce and Export options
• Support for 176.4 kHz sample rate in audio export
• [Developers] Gain Reduction API for VST2
—————————————————————————–
—————————————————————————–

The following issues have been fixed:

• “Invert Selection” didn’t restrict range when Scratch Pads exist
• Arranger Track section copy doesn’t work backwards on timeline
• Pre-recorded notes overlapping loop start are doubled after loop recording
• Fade handles are hard to reach when event volume is not at max.
• Overlapping audio events with fade-in are out of sync
• Crash when recording MIDI in loop
• Play Start Marker affects bounce between markers
• No “Paste” in context menu for Tempo Track
• [ARA] Events show wrong content when split after analysis with Melodyne 4.1
• Crash with NI Komplete Audio 6 when changing sample rate
• Audio time-stretch with bend markers is not exact
• Chorder: Crash when transposing out of range with automation
• Install from “Cloud” inside Studio One 3.3 hangs
• Plug-in menu search box loses focus
• Command for “Show in Finder/Explorer” not working for Macros
• Can’t drag more than one Instrument from Browser
• [macOS] Newly created folders not visible in Browser
• “Copy external files” not working for multiple opened songs
• [macOS] Studio One language changes after re-install
• Crash while closing all songs
• Musicloop exports without audio when routed to outputs other than Main
• Wrong-placed note events in loop recording
• Sustain pedal with latency writes wrong data
• Global plug-in bypass not functional if any plug-in in Chain is disabled
• Spectrum Meter curve has offset depending on FFT size
• Channel buttons missing on Multi-Instrument channels
• [macOS] AU Instruments saved in OFF status load back empty
• [macOS] Kontakt AU not showing all available outputs
• Global deactivate FX not working with disabled tracks
• Inconsistent behavior when chasing long notes
• [Impact] Wrong channel order when moving sub outs in mixer
• Wrong channel order after transform to audio and back
• Wrong channel order between folders and busses
• Wrong channel order when dragging instrument to track
• Studio One will not export note data to Notion if the file has an apostrophe in the name
• [macOS] Crash on start with OSX 10.11 El Capitan
• [macOS] AU presets always marked as edited
• |macOS] Invisible scroll bars in help window
• Offset when dragging audio file with bend-markers to Instrument Track
• Notes are transposed one octave when dragging to new Instrument Track via
Melodyne

Notion Update v.6.2 Available NOW!

Notion62Release Date–Tuesday, May 23, 2017.

New Features:

Top 3 features

  1. Now merge audio and note data into existing Studio One and Notion documents, not just create new ones.
    • Got a Studio One project and want to edit in notation? Now you can send notes to Notion, make some changes, and then send back the notes, updating the original Studio One document.
    • You can even also send a mixdown to Notion, as well as the note data – and if it changes in Studio One, then just send the mixdown to Notion again.
    • Sending stems from Notion to Studio One, and need to make some changes in the original? Keep your Studio One mix and effects exactly as is, and just update the stems from Notion.
  2. Tempo track now sends when transferring between Notion and Studio One.
    • Send all tempi and time signatures, whether you’re sending audio or note data.
    • Clean up a performance in Studio One, maybe using Melodyne’s tempo detection, then send to Notion for the notation.
    • Notion will show all tempi – and if there are many changes, will show them as ‘abbreviated’ tempo (which can then be hidden).
  3. Slur Control – now when a slur is selected, you can drag its control points to adjust the start and end points, its placement, and even the curve itself.

Notion621

Other enhancements

  • New Brass Band (UK style) template.
  • Step Time pencil icon added to Drumpad.
  • Enter key now repeats previously entered chord in step time, when using drumpad and keyboard (as per fretboard).

Enhancements to Studio One Interop

  • Export to Studio One in score order
  • Can now update audio and note data into existing and open files, in either direction
  • Studio One now does not add MIDI Out track when importing Notion note data
  • If transfer successful don’t show extraneous Transfer Success dialog in Notion
  • Time signature and tempo changes now sending in both directions
  • If many tempo changes are sent from Studio One, Notion will show an abbreviated tempo change in the score (which can be selected with right click, and then hidden if required)

Fixes:

Handwriting Fixes

  • When handwriting where part contains existing tab notes, for any notes that are not changing, preserve the existing tab strings.
  • When handwriting into a part that is linked to tablature, us the same tab logic as for standard note entry.
  • Fix for when handwriting into a measure that already has an existing dotted chord, the dotted chord would become double-dotted.
  • Fix for when adding a note with handwriting to a measure that contained a chord with multiple ledger lines, the chord would change.
  • Fix for handwriting over more than one measure at a time in the handwriting window.
  • Fix for when handwriting over more than one system.

General Fixes

  • Fix for occasional crash when selecting Recent Items or Templates from the Home Screen (Mac only)
  • Fix for crash if Notion home screen is Full screen on Mac, and a file is opened (Mac only)
  • Export MIDI files in score order
  • Rework of mixer window controls under the hood
  • Gliss/port/slides: now go in the correct direction between two close notes; start on the correct side of the note; now do not collide with augmentation dots or accidentals; now centre on notehead rather than attachments.
  • First and second time endings now not hidden, if top staff is hidden with Hide Empty Staves
  • View settings for virtual instruments saved on exiting file
  • Reset tab numbers now only resets selection, rather than whole measure
  • Can now type lyrics into the left hand of a grand staff
  • Sibelius/Finale keypad articulations and ties now work in Step Entry.
  • Enharmonic tool with mouse now fixed (Windows)
  • Tie in Step Entry now works when International Shortcuts are selected.
  • MIDI Export now retaining repeats
  • Fix for not setting some instrument transpositions when importing MusicXML
  • Fix for adding an extraneous double barline, when an existing double barline is followed by a cut (and linked fix, for a crash when layout handles are shown on the extra double barline)
  • Right-click selection now does not audition notes (Windows)
  • Right-click selection now does not start an object drag (Windows)
  • Left and right cursor now moves dynamic, when dynamic is selected
  • Chord symbols now respace measures again
  • Finale keypad 9 now creates a triplet as expected, instead of a duplet
  • Edit Velocity keyboard shortcuts now work again, providing Sequencer overlay is selected or if the staff is a sequencer staff.
  • Fix for hairpins jumping if the start point is dragged past the end point (and vice versa)
  • Fix for an adjusted hairpin width sometimes being ignored
  • Change Instrument text is now not removed, when converting a Sequencer staff to standard notation
  • Drumpads now stay lit, if in chord mode
  • Drumpads now light up when in step entry

PreSonus LIVE: Breaking Barriers airs May 23, 2017.

BB_Insta_1We’re gearing up for our next PreSonus LIVE!

We’re going LIVE on Facebook and YouTube May 23 at 10 am CST! Get your questions ready for us! VP of Sales, Rick Naqvi and QA Head Honcho Dominic Bazile, will be hosting and taking your questions. This broadcast is all about speed–smashing latency into the ground and leaving it in the dust.

And we have a Studio One secret to share–don’t worry, Tuesday is only a few days away.

Of course there will be prizes. RAD PRIZES. Don’t miss out.

Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and turn on your notifications so you won’t miss the show!

Follow us on Facebook here!

Watch us on YouTube here!

PreSonus LIVE: Breaking Barriers airs May 23, 2017.

BB_Insta_1We’re gearing up for our next PreSonus LIVE!

We’re going LIVE on Facebook and YouTube May 23 at 10 am CST! Get your questions ready for us! VP of Sales, Rick Naqvi and QA Head Honcho Dominic Bazile, will be hosting and taking your questions. This broadcast is all about speed–smashing latency into the ground and leaving it in the dust.

And we have a Studio One secret to share–don’t worry, Tuesday is only a few days away.

Of course there will be prizes. RAD PRIZES. Don’t miss out.

Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and turn on your notifications so you won’t miss the show!

Follow us on Facebook here!

Watch us on YouTube here!

Notion iOS Update (2.0.177) Available Now!

Notion iOS update (2.0.171), April 2017Notion iOS Drums

What’s New

  • New Notion “Widget” to quickly access recent scores, or to quickly setup a simple score. To add,  just swipe right over your device’s Home screen, Lock screen, or Notification Centre, tap ‘Edit’ and select Notion.
  • New “Send To…” feature, to share exported files from Notion with other apps on the same device or to use AirDrop with nearby devices via Bluetooth. Go to export, select required file format, and then tap “Send To…”
  • New “Open in” button on Help pdf, allowing the Notion Help Guide to be opened with other pdf readers on the same device (and thereby allowing search, export etc)
  • Updated Chorus and Organ sounds – go to ‘Sounds’ and swipe left to remove the old versions. Then re-download the sound by tapping on the cloud icon.
  • New button to engage Step Entry when using an external MIDI instrument
  • New option in Instrument Setup to show circles around half/whole notes in tablature
  • When importing or exporting drum parts via MIDI, Notion now maps the notes to its standard GM drum mapping
  • Notion now draws drumset cymbals and hi-hats with cross-head noteheads by default, when importing drum parts via MIDI or using onscreen drum pad
  • Scroll in Playback option added to View Options

Fixes:notion widget

  • Handwriting
  • Fix to adding extra ledger lines to previously entered notes
  • When handwriting where part contains existing tab notes, for any notes that are not changing, preserve the existing tab strings.
  • When handwriting into a part that is linked to tablature, use the same tab logic as for standard note entry
  • Fix for when handwriting into a measure that already has an existing dotted chord, the dotted chord would become double-dotted.
  • Fix for when adding a note with handwriting to a measure that contained a chord with multiple ledger lines, the chord would change
  • Fix for handwriting over more than one measure at a time in the handwriting window
  • Fix for when handwriting over more than one system

General

  • Dynamic Parts now show in score order
  • Glissandi between two close chromatic notes now show in the right direction
  • Glissandi now centre on noteheads, not attachments
  • Fix for not setting some instrument transpositions when importing MusicXML
  • When dragging an articulation, the crosshead is centred on the articulation, rather than its notehead
  • Fix stems not lining up on cross-staff chords
  • Accidental is now not hidden if a note from a chord is sent to the other staff with the cross-staff tool
  • Flags now show on unbeamed cross-staff notessend to
  • When in Step Time, Bb and Eb transposing instruments now spell notes as expected
  • When importing lyrics from MusicXML, verse number is now correctly set
  • Enharmonic tool now works on chords
  • Clear special no longer clears harp tuning diagrams or attached rules
  • Notes for transposing instruments now spelt better when in remote minor keys
  • Measure is now spaced correctly when empty and another staff has a whole rest in the same frame
  • Drumset unmeasured tremolo now responds to hairpins
  • Stem direction now only affects the selected beam group (rather than the whole measure)
  • When exporting as MIDI, articulations (such as staccato altering note lengths) are now taken into account
  • Fix up occasional issue with hairpins when exporting MusicXML
  • If language is set to Spanish, then load Spanish feedback page.
  • Fix for tab notes not being retained, when recording in real-time with the onscreen fretboard
  • Reset tab numbers now only resets selected notes, rather than whole measure
  • Scores now save whether onscreen virtual instruments (e.g. piano/fretboard are showing or not)
  • Fix for adding an extraneous double barline, when an existing double barline is followed by a cut (and linked fix, for a crash when layout handles are shown on the extra double barline)
  • Can now type lyrics into left hand of grand staff
  • Slides between two close chromatic notes now show in the right direction
  • Glissandi now do not collide with note dots or accidentals
  • Hide resting staves now does not hide first and second endings, if the top staff is hidden
  • Fix for some short sounds causing a crash in playback (e.g. closed hi-hat, high claves, oboe duo)
  • Fix for scores jumping when entering notes towards the bottom of the screen
  • Fix for occasionally not being able to scroll to the bottom of the score.
  • Fix the All Bundle image being used in Score Setup for Piano instead of the Piano image
  • General stability improvements