Using Spark VDM with Presonus Studio One

[rlaine]

Have you guys at Arturia tested Spark with Presonus Studio One Mac? There's a major problem with showing/hiding the plugin, because everytime you do this, Spark redraws the GUI and you're back in the main panel. If you were editing a pad or mixer etc, you need to find your way back there (this is a problem with SEM V too).

Spark also steals shortcuts from Studio One, once you touch a knob, most of the Studio One shortcuts don't work until you click somewhere in Studio One. It's quite cumbersome to work with.

And one more question, no output routing for AUX returns?

And would I want a next/prev knobs for any of the presets! Oh boy it takes some serious mouse-navigating to find a sound

[rodanmusic]

Regarding the gui redraw I have been using Spark in Studio One on both mac and pc and do not have this issue.   

I am however having issues with gui elements in S1 overall (while using spark and other instruments) that cause a lot of lag and it is extremely annoying.  I'm not sure if it is Spark, Automap, or Mountain Lion that is at the heart of the issue.  I am currently investigating it.  I did not have the problem until I installed all my stuff so I am assuming it has to do with something I installed.

Most plugs steal shortcuts from studio one unfortunately.  It has been requested that Presonus implement a better way for managing plugin's key stealing.

Aux returns do not have routing that I know of in Spark.  You only get outputs 1-16.  I believe that this is a generic limit applying to all plugins with multi out currently.  I was dealing with this last night where I couldn't figure out where this sound was c oming from despite being completely muted.  Then I realized it was coming out of the main out from the aux sends.   Now I just turn off all fx and do it in S1.

As for presets I agree with you it takes too long to change stuff.  However, it is significantly faster on my mac than it was on my pc.  Mac time to change a kit: less than a second.  PC: 10 seconds, 5 with no sound.   

What presets do you mean? Kits, sounds, or projects?  If you refer to kits or sounds, it is relatively fast using the knob.  It took me a while to realize that if you hold select and press the knob down it enters a menu system that lets you select from analog, sample, physical.  Then it lets you pick from type of sound with another select + knob click, and finally you can browse samples.  I wish their manual was better.  It is hard to find info in it now.  I don't bother with the mouse for changing as it is annoying to have to click select and then change the knob. 

Any other questions just let me know.   

(EDIT - I just realized you are using the software not the hardware.  Some of this may not apply, but good luck with the mouse navigation...Spark sounds excellent imo so it's worth it to deal with its quirks)

[rlaine]

Are you sure you don't have the gui redraw thing? I have it on a few other plugins as well. Logic on the other hand remember where you were in the plugin when you hide/view the pane. With Arturia plugins it's especially painful since they take so much time to animate the stuff.

Shortcuts on the other hand are not stolen by many other plugins.

I usually send kick to out1-2, snare to 3-4, hats to 5-6 and would like to send snare reverb to 3-4, but the aux  sends always go to output 1-2. I've worked this out with switching kick to 3-4 and snare to 1-2. With FXPansion Geist I can send the fx to any output I want and would like to do so with Spark too.

Yes, mouse navigating the sounds with Spark is a pain in the a**. It's really slow. I bought Geist and Spark at the same time and while Geist has a lot more complex features, it's a lot faster to use than Spark. Sparks preset selectors are not consistent, with the main preset you need click and release to see the menu, then click on a preset. On the pad level you can just click - navigate - release to choose. No need to click two times. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but I get frustrated about this kind of things and frustration doesn't lead to good music .

[rodanmusic]

I do have a slight slow down with the gui in studio one, but I'm almost 90% sure it is a result of my novation automap install.  Spark runs fine.  I don't have any issues changing the panes that you speak of.  Of course as I mentioned before I am running with the hardware so there could be issues with the stand alone version that I am not aware of.

As for the shortcut stealing, I believe S1 left that up to the plugin developer so it varies between plugins.  There is a feature request on the presonus forums requesting control over this right now as it annoys a lot of people (myself included).

The interface is a little weird and it def isn't as intuitive as I wish, but once I got used to the browsing interface it wasn't all that bad. 

It's def not nitpicking as I do the same thing.  If something annoys me right when I'm in the production groove it really kills the vibe and frustrates me.

As I use Spark more I'll watch for that gui issue.  I just switched to a mac and Spark seems to run a lot more smoothly and it's much easier to navigate the menu system.

One suggestion, if you don't have a power adapter for the Spark and are running off of usb power, you should pick one up as it helped spark run a lot better for me.

[xtinct]

To me aside from the GUI issues this sounds like Spark CPU issues. Last I heard, the developers were going to focus on streamlining the program to reduce the CPU loads. Which I'm sure we all hope will improve spark's overall performance and make it usable for most users. My self and I'm certain every Spark user regardless of their situation is looking forward to this aspect of any future update.

[vaikl]

Have you guys at Arturia tested Spark with Presonus Studio One Mac? There's a major problem with showing/hiding the plugin, because everytime you do this, Spark redraws the GUI and you're back in the main panel. If you were editing a pad or mixer etc, you need to find your way back there (this is a problem with SEM V too).

I'm just in Live 8.3.4 for a project and I'm experiencing a behaviour of Spark's and SEM's gui (the only two Arturia VST plugs I'm using atm) which is very Mac-unlike. No matter where they are and how I get them to the front, both require a second mouse click on their gui to get a knob or something else working. First mouseclick seems only to "arm" the gui before it can be used to manipulate. Normally all my plugs (AU and VST) don't require a second mouseclick to get an gui-object working.

Could this immanent behaviour be the reason for all the mentioned gui issues??

[rlaine]

I'm not sure if my gui problem was understood properly or if I explained it well.

Let's say I load Spark VDM on a track, it opens up, then
- click BOTTOM, to open the bottom panel (it opens up with an annoying animation)
- click SNARE to open up the snare editor
- tweak say, attack

Now at this point I realize that I need to change my midi arrangment, because of the new snare sound. I have to first click somewhere in Studio One (because V shortcut is stolen by Spark) and then press V to hide Spark to be able to see the piano roll, I edit the snare part and press V again to show Spark VDM. I'm back in Spark CENTER screen and I need to do this again:

- click BOTTOM, to open the bottom panel (it opens up with an annoying animation)
- click SNARE to open up the snare editor
- tweak say, attack

So everytime I edit something that's not on the main panel and hide/show the plugin, it defaults back to the CENTER screen, TOP and BOTTOM closed. If you want to simultanously edit the arrangment and the sound, you need to move the plugin pane around the screen and keep it open not to loose the place you were editing.

This is not the case with for example Geist. If I edit some of the tabbed sub screens in Geist, it remembers where I was and I don't need to go there everytime I show/hide (or even close) the plugin.

The shortcut stealing is amazingly annoying too, because also <space> (=start/stop) is stolen by Spark. I have a LOT of plugins and Spark is the only plugin that does this. All this makes it really difficult to do any proper work in Studio One with Spark VDM without getting high blood pressure levels.

[Kevin]

Hi rlaine,
you are right for both problem.
We should "save" the current state of the GUI when closing it and "reload" it when you open it again.
Concerning the stealing shortcut I agree with you that it is very annoying too.

Both issues will be added to the (quiet long) todo list.

Kevin