New Mixbus version 1.3

The Mixbus version 1.3 update is available, free of charge, for all registered customers.  The 1.3 update provides a long list of improvements.

To install the update, simply unzip the package and run the installer inside.  The installer will update your existing Mixbus application in the /Applications folder of your computer.  If you have any problems with the update, please feel free to contact us via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Download the updater here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_1.2_to_1.3_Update.zip

Download the updated QuickStart guide here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_Install_QuickStart.pdf

Thanks to you, our customers, for your continued support!  We appreciate your questions and comments, and I think you will find that many of your suggestions are being incorporated into Mixbus.

 Some of the major improvements are:

• Mixbus and Master tracks may now appear in the editor so their automation can be graphically edited.
• An "ALL" group allows edits to apply to all tracks simultaneously without having to select them manually.
• Greatly improved touch automation & automation editing.
• Better handling of mono files with stereo tracks.
• Many bug fixes & tweaks to usability.
  

A Note of Thanks from Harrison to Our Customers:

We would like to thank all of our customers for their continued support during the launch of our new product, Mixbus.  It's been only 10 weeks since our last update, and we're already launching another update with dramatic new improvements.  This wouldn't be possible without the help of our users.  We need your continuing input to make Mixbus the best audio workstation available.  Please take time to send us your questions and comments.

New Mixbus version 1.2

The Mixbus version 1.2 update is available, free of charge, for all registered customers.

The 1.2 update fixes many common problems with AU plugins, and it also includes a few additional improvements.

To install the update, simply unzip the package and run the installer inside.  The installer will update your existing Mixbus applicaiton in the /Applications folder of your computer.  If you have any problems with the update, please feel free to contact us via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Download the updater here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_1.1_to_1.2_Update.zip

Download the updated QuickStart guide here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_Install_QuickStart.pdf

Mixbus v1.2 Change List

FEATURES:

Show all tracks with regions under playhead:
        Right-click the Track/Bus side panel, and you'll find a new option to show all tracks with
regions. Any track with a region under the playhead will be unhidden. Tracks without regions
under the playhead will be hidden. This is a nice editing convenience that helps you manage
large sessions.

Save As:
       In addition to Save and Snapshot, there is now a ¨Save As¨ function which creates a new
snapshot in the session, but differs from "snapshot" in that future Save commands to go into
the newly-created snapshot.

Track templates:
       Track templates can be stored by clicking on the track name and choosing "Save As
Template". Templates can be recalled by choosing the template from the ¨Channel
Configuration¨ selector when making a new track/bus.

Language translation:
       Mixbus now supports many different languages for menus and dialog text. To select a
different language on OSX, use the “System Preferences->International->Language” dialog.
       Supported languages include English, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese,
Spanish, Russian, Greek, Swedish, Polish, Czech, and Norwegian. (See the About page for
translator credits)

Ardour Exchange compatibility:
       Ardour Exchange is a third-party utility which allows you to import AAF session files into
the Ardour/Mixbus session format. Mixbus supports the ability to import AAF files from the
regular “Open” dialog if Ardour Exchange is installed on your system. Ardour Exchange for
Mixbus will be released in the future.


FIXES

Audio Unit plugin fixes:
  "White window" plugin issues have been fixed.
  Problems with Input/Output configurations and buffering have been fixed.
  Factory presets now work with all plugins.
  Crashes at startup due to bad characters in au_cache file have been resolved.
  Favorite plugin list now saves and recalls correctly.
  AU's are now applied correctly during Consolidate and Export.
  Universal Audio plugins are now correctly supported.

Export Folder:
       The Export function will now default to the ¨export¨ folder in the current session folder.

Clicks when moving regions:
       Some plugins reacted strangley when regions were moved, and the transport was stopped. This has been fixed.

MTC Stop:
       Pressing a Stop command via MTC would result in a ¨stop and abort capture¨. This has been fixed.

K-Meter reference level:
       The K-14 meter was using the wrong calculation for RMS. This has been fixed so that the RMS level reads the same as the peak level of a sine wave. (graphic was drawn wrong)


IMPROVEMENTS
       The Main Menu now follows more OSX conventions (Quit, Preferences, and About are now in the Mixbus menu)
       Multiple AU plugin fixes improve performance and reduce crashes caused by AUs.
       The “measure latency” function no longer requires a second “click” on the button to store the latency. The latency will now be saved and recalled with the session, but only if the buffersize setting is the same as when it was saved.
       Additional filetypes are now recognized as readable by Mixbus, and some types that were reported as readable but didn't import will now import as expected.
   
      

New Mixbus version 1.1 ( now supporting 10.6, Snow Leopard )

The Mixbus version 1.1 update is now available free to our customers.

v1.1 fixes several of the most-reported issues, and also add a few commonly-requested features.  The change list is appended at the end of this email.

To install the update, simply unzip the package and run the installer inside.  The installer will update your existing Mixbus applicaiton in the /Applications folder of your computer.  If you have any problems with the update, please feel free to contact us via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Download the updater here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_1.0_to_1.1_Update.zip

Download the new QuickStart guide here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/Mixbus_Install_QuickStart.pdf

New "Jack" audio connection kit v0.85 (now supporting 10.6, Snow Leopard!)

There is a new version of JackOSX which is available for download.

It is recommended that all customers (10.4, 10.5, and 10.6) upgrade to 0.85.  The new version should make startup much easier on Snow Leopard, and it fixes some issues on Tiger and Leopard as well.

To install JackOSX, you should first uninstall your existing version by running "/Applications/Jack/Uninstall JackOSX.command".

Next choose, one of the two versions of Jack for your system:

For Mac OS X 10.6, with a 64-bit audio driver, download JACK here:
http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/JackOSX.0.85_64-32bits.pkg.zip

Otherwise, for Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6 with a 32-bit audio driver, download JACK here:  http://www.harrisonconsoles.com/mixbus/JackOSX.0.85_32bits.pkg.zip

For additional installation instructions, see the Quick Start guide.  (Note:  if you aren't experiencing any problems with audio I/O or transport playback with your current setup, it is not necessary to upgrade)

New "Intro to Mixbus" Video!

This 2-hour video covers session startup, recording, editing and mixing in Mixbus.  Produced by Nathan Adam, the producer of the Multi-Platinum.com instructional series including "Intro to ProTools", "Multi-Platinum Mixing", "Project Studio Mastering", and "Multi-Platinum Hip Hop" which have sold thousands of copies worldwide. 

Now, you can spend two lightning-paced hours learning over 120 ins and outs of the editing, mixing and recording interface in Mixbus.

The video will be sold via Nathan's online store for $29.99.  For a short time, we are selling it on our store for a special price of $19.99.

To purchase your video now, click on the link below:
https://sites.fastspring.com/harrisonconsoles/instant/mixbusvideo

The list of topics includes:

New Manual for the Ardour Editor

There's a new, free manual for the Ardour editing workstation.  While not comprehensive, this is a clean and up-to-date introduction to the editing facilities provided by Ardour:
http://en.flossmanuals.net/Ardour/Introduction

Mixbus v1.1 release notes

Features

• Master Bus:  Add "Program Release" to final limiter.  Show limiter gain redux in yellow.  Add "input trim" and "limiter in/out" function to popup dialog.

• Add Insert "ping" function to measure latency and accomodate it (on tracks & mixbusses).  You can now use external h/w processing and get sample-accurate latency compensation within Mixbus.

• Add key stroke (left/right arrow) and wheel (left/right, shift-down/up) scrolling in mixer window

• Plugin manager now has a "hide" option so that you can control which plugins show up in the plugin menus

• New "by category" plugin menu, to complement the "by creator" one that already existed

• If auto-play is enabled, defining or changing a range selection will immediately start playing it

• New action, ToggleRollMaybe, which leaves loop play or range play mode but without stopping the transport (Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-space by default)

• New "Region Layering Editor". This is accessed via the region context menu, and provides an easy way to modify the layering of regions at a given location (it will only show in the menu if there is more than one region under the mouse pointer). It can be used as an excellent tool for comping loop recording or overdubs in general.

• Provide host callbacks for AU plugins to get tempo, musical time and transport information

• Mixbus can now open un-writable sessions without complaining. This includes sessions on read-only media and those for which write access is not granted to the user.

Fixes

• Increased Mixbus latency compensation to 8192 samples to accomodate UAD and other "hardware" AU plugins

• Fix EQ & Dynamics settings at 96k

• Allow Ardour Busses to assign to Harrison Mixbuses

• Fixed MIDI bindings to solo/mute, and fix pan knobs on the Mackie/MCU/Logic controller

• Many fixes to AU plugins, to keep the GUI updating correctly

• Fix BWF header contents

• Fix crash caused by auto-saving after unloading a session

• Fix crash caused by using an audio interface without inputs or outputs

• Fix crash caused by data overrun when generating peak files

• Plugin/send/insert displays in mixer strips should now always list the correct items

• Handle localized decimal indicator in BarController widget

• I/O buttons now show connection state a bit more sensibly

• Edit group visibility maintained in session file

• Prevent sends/inserts from ever being renamed to the same name as a track/bus

• Make handling of session and history files more robust across ardour versions

• Don't allow crossfade point dragging to create illegal values

• Fix crash when importing 96k wav files and doing SRC

Improvements

• Automatically "scale up" the size of knobs and switches if you have a larger screen

• Make exported file name text entry "activatable" in export region dialog

• Correctly continue to keep sending MTC when looping

• Make display of files to process during import correct  (i.e. "23 of 24"  instead of repeating "1 of 24")

• Window titles are now consistent (and do not include "ardour")

• Show region sync point in the popup region editor

• Fix copy-drag operations when in lock edit mode

• Tidy up region gain line drawing so that it doesn't extend past the region

• Improve audio file format names shown in the interface

• Remove edit point clock which was causing confusion with some users

• More vertically-oriented layout of toggle controls in LADSPA editors

• Fix missing display of plugins in the plugin manager (corrupt plugin type information)

• Do not ignore auto-connect setting when it is disabled for a new session

• Do not stop at session end if synced to JACK but not the time master.

• Don't reset panner or plugin parameter values when switching automation to Write or Off (avoids losing a manually set value)

• Fix "separate" edit so that regions created do not overlap by 1 sample

• Make region "lower-to-bottom" and "raise-to-top" have persistent rather than temporary effects

• Sort items in the region context menu to match order in the track

• Cleanup of Mackie/Logic Control support to prevent it from stopping Session unloading from proceeding correctly

• Save and restore seamless loop setting when changing transport slave mode, since no JACK doesn't allow seamless loop

• When renaming tracks/busses/sends/inserts, scan everything to avoid JACK port duplicate names

• Display an explanation if JACK shuts down due to backend issues (e.g. another application changes the sample rate)

• Change the chat link to #ardour-mixbus, our own channel!

Known Issues:

• There is no AU plugin "validation".  Some plugins cause crashes, strange noises, or silence.

• Occasionally, the first recording in a session will work, but the waveform will not be drawn after recording.  Re-open session to re-draw.

• On PPC (only) the region names do not appear under the regions as they should.

• Stereo-only AU plugins may not be loaded into mono channel strips.

• Solo-ing a Mixbus does not mute the assignments to the Master bus

• Some graphical glitches in file lists (GTK issue)

• Multi-monitor displays are not very well supported  (GTK issue)

• Occasional crash when changing sessions without a restart in-between