doncolga
Guys, good grief.  It's silly to bash Studio One (or any other DAW) if you've only spent a few hours, or a few days on it compared to years you've been on Sonar.  Some of the things I'm seeing people get stuck on are really basic, but you do need to learn how the other DAW does it; it's not going to be just like Sonar, and you shouldn't expect it to be.
 
Six months ago I thought Sonar was the only game in town.  Then, some Studio One users explained some of their workflow.  It really opened my eyes and got me investigating more.  I can tell you that after about six months Studio One, and mixing probably about 50 songs on it, my current workflow mops the floor with my Sonar workflow, for production and mixing, and that's after being with Sonar for a really long time.  Do what feels right, of course, but give it some time, you may very likely like it better after you see how things work.
 
A few bread and butter items:
 
I don't need a gain knob.  The easiest way to adjust the gain of an audio track is to click the track event and drag up the blue handle in the middle; as a bonus, the waveform changes accordingly...I may be wrong but never noticed that in Sonar.  You can toss in the Mix Tool plugin on all tracks at one if you like, and there you'll get polarity, gain knob, other good stuff.  I'll admit, they should put a polarity switch right on the strip.
 
Select multiple tracks:  CTRL+ click the ones you want, then set faders as a group.
 
Select all tracks:  Click the first, Shift, click the last.  (agreed, CTRL+A is better) 
 
Once you select the tracks, drag in any plugins you like, very easy and all at once.
 
Function Keys:  just try them out and toggle them...very cool.
 
To add a VI:  click and drag it to a track
 
Multiple outputs on VI's.  On the console, click the arrow by the VI, click expand and check the outputs you want.  Set outputs accordingly on the VI.  Eezy peezy.
 
Freeze a VI:  right click and "transform to audio"
 
Manual plugin scan:  open the browser on the right, click the home button, click "update plugins".
 
File management?  Songs and project file management is super tidy in Studio One.  Very easy to find anything.  It handles much of this for you in a great, logical way.
 
Track management?  That was a nightmare for me in Sonar.  Click, scroll, click, scroll.  On Studio One I can organize tracks for a big 70-80 plus track project in like 3 minutes on Studio One, then focus really easily on the groups I need when it's time to start mixing.  I'm lighting fast on Studio One...I'm not bragging, that's just a fact.
 
It has a proper track list, and when you click on a track on the tracklist, you land on that mixer strip.  Sonar did not do this and this was a complete PITA.  The tracklist also shows you at a glance what's playing.
  
Export:  Set begin and end markers, CRTL+E, pick your format, done.
 
Plugin chain windows:  you can get to all the plugins on one window.  I didn't notice this in Sonar, and it's insanely convenient.
 
Float the mixer to another monitor?  Of course.  But I don't need to.  F3 to show the mixer, drag it all the way up for a huge, gorgeous console with the longest faders, then F3 to toggle between the editor and mixer.  My eyes are not working so hard by constantly going back and forth between two monitors.  It's one less monitor to buy.  But yes, it will do that.
 
Sidechaining:  add a send, click side chain, pick the destination.
 
Tempo change:  show the Tempo Track. set the resolution (probably already done), alt+click and drag to draw your tempo changes in.  Or, + on the tempo track to add a new tempo.
 
Time signature change:  right click on the top timeline to insert a new time signature.
 
It's like everything is a 1-2 click operation.  It's taken me mixing about 30 songs before getting to what I felt was pretty good proficiency, and I still have much to learn.  But after that, Studio One is just working much better for me now.

I really appreciate your help getting started here, thanks. Lots of good info.
 
For me the gain control is part of my basic world.  Not having it is like having a Marshall Mater Volume guitar amp with a master volume but no "pre amp" control. I use the gain on Sonar to control how hard I push the compressors/ limiters. Changing the gain on one clip with graphics is cute but it was my habit to really make use of the gain control on each track (ie for all clips present and future). BTW, I use a RME with automatic gain control for an audio interface. It tends to be very conservative on level setting and I end up with consistently low DB tracks.
 
But thanks for your detailed instructions, which I will study. Also, I will try to change my habits and expectations about the gain control.
 
Please keep up the good work. 

doncolga

dubdisciple
I have asked year after year for proof that Mixbus does something magical aside from the built-in saturation and compressuon and always got a bunch of rhetoric. When people like Jeff acfually did objective tests my suspicions were confirmed that one could setup a default chain that would produce similar results in any DAW.

What I really like about MixBus is using the controls right on the console, so I use very few plugins, hence never have to open and close plugin windows, and that's wonderful.  I love that.  It was here I also first encountered a proper track list, and that greatly improves project navigation, especially with large projects.  With just the console processing, I could usually get the sound I was looking for very quickly, but I really missed the workflow and other features of Studio One.  I also didn't like how the controls were so tiny on the screen.
 
As a "best of both worlds", I added Softube Console 1 with the SSL 4000 E emulation a few months ago to go along with Studio One and it's a fixture on every channel and bus that's been great.  Very easy to select channels, huge, easy to read display, physical control surface, and 10% discount on a floor model.  Win, win, win.

I agree, i like the convenience of having this right there and intuitive. If mixbus scored better in other categories i would use it more

Wow, dove into S1P tonight and all I can say is LEARNING CURVE.  It really seems it will do everything Sonar did (that I use anyway) but it is like it is more bass-ackward than Adobe products was when I learned those.  The nomenclature is very different and while workflow might be good in the long run, when you are unlearning 20 years of muscle memory and thought process, it is like learning a whole new language to this old dog.

Sonar feels much more "studio" like (as do Mixcraft and Mixbus) heck, compared to studio one, Protools feels more like a studio environment.  Almost as if too many things have been buried under the streamlining.  It is all there, it is just hidden and called something totally foreign than what I am used to.

Not giving up.  I dig the vibe of Mixcraft and Mixbus but Mixcraft is just missing a few too many Sonar staples (good midi editing, audio clip slip editing that includes fades...  Creating and dragging envelope dots is a flow KILLER)  As for Mixcraft, umm, still too far back in development.  32 bit and no VST3?  No thanks.

SO I will try to learn S1P before I pass judgement but I do think they might look in future releases to make the visual presentation more resemble at least a little of the hardware of a traditional studio.

slyman

Sacalait
I haven't started a project (song) in Studio One yet.  I'm learning the shortcuts to the basics at the moment.  I'm confident it can get my job done.  I probably won't move full-time to it until a couple more months.  But I have made a decision that it will be my studio DAW in the next year.  So for now it's wrapping my head around how it does things that I'm SO used to in Sonar.  No complaints at the moment.

+1
 
As far as sound difference, projects I've transferred over to S1 sounds exactly the same.
Software only passes through audio from and to your converters, it does not modify the source file in any way unless you process it. 
It's like saying Windows Media Player and VLC sound different playing raw files. They don't. 
 
 

Is that so? Well, as promised, I have documented some tests. I did three tests. On test 2 I did get the results to null, the other two I could not. Also, there is a clear difference in sound which is demonstrated in the third test. 
 
In my best Morpheus voice (from the Matrix,) "All I can offer you is the truth."
 
I was surprised by test #2. The other two tests were as I expected.
 
Here is the truth...
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
 
Now that we know the summing is different, lets move onward and forward. I would love to hear from Studio One developers about why this difference exists. Maybe they did it on purpose. I have an open mind about it. But all the rhetoric about the mix engines being identical can be laid to rest.

I watched that on my phone so could not read the clipping comment. I have never seen that warning and could not read what it said on my phone. The volume of the screen cap for Studio One sounded louder on that first playback, which made me wonder with the clipping comment as well.

The only other thing I would check is the sample count and synch between those files.

If you get the opportunity to post the mixdowns, they would also help to evaluate.

I loaded all the full WAV files used in these tests here
Feel free to download and test for yourselves.
 

If you do try summing test only you will get perfect nulls.  As I have said I have done this with 4 DAW's in fact and got perfect nulls (with any two) but this is summing only.  If you are not getting perfect nulls then you are making some mistakes somewhere.  As I have also said this test requires very careful setting up and checking.  
 
The 4 DAW's in my case were Sonar Producer 8.5, Logic, Pro Tools and Studio One. Maybe the latest version of Sonar is doing something that Sylvan does not know about.  It is usually the case. 
 
No plug-in of any description anywhere.. Fade levels with raw tracks only all the same and whole number only.  LCR panning only with the  DAW's.  Making sure that extreme L and R panning also produces no increase in level anywhere.  In the C position you must set all the DAW's in question to agree e.g. C = -3dB (standard in Studio One and in many others too but also a common setting too)
 
Once you do this and render there will no differences in sound quality and perfect nulls.  The sound quality tests in my case were also done with expensive monitors in a studio situation with great acoustics.  Had several very experienced engineers present and no one could pick any DAW in particular.   Also when you do a test like this no one actually knows when the switch takes place either.  This is way harder. (something you cannot do yourself easily) 
 
My tests were much more carefully done and listened to as well.  For summing only there are no discernible differences with any DAW.  End of story.  
 
 

Please watch the tests and point out my mistakes. I want to be enlightened.

My tests are based on trying to get nulls. I followed the formula and only got a null on one test.

If I may ask, what would it mean to you if there is a difference in summing? Is this something that you hope to avoid? If it is true will it cause you any problems? Just curious is all. I have demonstrated something here that seems to draw fierce resistance at all costs. I wish I knew why.

The null sounds like there is no high end. Are you sure you have not got any MixFx engaged in studio One.  Easy to do and not obvious either. Are you sure you are not applying some processing somewhere.  Is the Sonar pan law set to -3db centre as well.  I don't think it is standard in Sonar not sure.
 
This is not what I hear at all.  And also in my test there are 32 tracks present as well. So way more complex musically than in this test and yet I still get a null. 
 
That null is like way obvious. In my case even there were artifacts present in the null they were like 60 db down in level so therefore not audible.
 
You are doing something wrong and eventually you will find it and agree. Have you created the same  type of tracks in Studio One. e.g. if the track is mono create mono track and the same for stereo. Studio One does some level changes when you playback audio files on the incorrect types of tracks.
 
I even tested Mixbus against Studio One and got a perfect null. And Mixbus is supposed to adding some special analog console sauce and yet I could even get those two to null.