Studio One 6 Content Creation Guide

1 Check List

• Collect all files and create folder structure
• Mount folder as Sound Set in Studio One Browser
• Add metadata and unique ID in Sound Set Properties
• Add Tempo and Chord metadata to loops and samples
• Convert WAV loops to Audioloop format
• Create instrument presets using files from mounted folder
• Add tags to loops, one-shots and presets
• Pack Sound Set
• Test final Sound Set on a different system
• Deliver to PreSonus

2 Installation

Before beginning, you must first install and authorize Studio One. Please review the Quick Start Guide for instructions. Third-party add-ons and Studio One expansions use a container format called, "Sound Sets." In Studio One 6 the Sound Set Builder is pre-installed and ready to use. If you're using Studio One 6, you may directly proceed to the next section (Preparing your files).

In earlier versions of Studio One, the Sound Set Builder extension must be downloaded and installed to prepare your content for use in Studio One.

1. Open Studio One and create a new Song.
2. Go to the Browser. To download the "Sound Set Builder" extension, open the Cloud Tab.
3. Sign into your MyPresonus Account.
4. Expand the PreSonus Exchange section.
5. Expand the Extensions section.
6. Select Sound Set Builder 4 for your Operating System and install it by pressing the green "Install" button located at the bottom of the Browser window. [Screenshot of Studio One Browser showing Sound Set Builder 4 for Windows in the Extensions list]
7. After installing the Sound Set Builder, right-clicking on any folder in the Studio One File Browser will reveal two new context menu commands: "Mount Folder as Sound Set" and "Pack Sound Set from Folder."

You are now ready to create a Sound Set!

3 Preparing Your Files

3.1 Naming conventions

• File and folder names must be unique and descriptive
• Don't use special characters in file and folder names ("/ : $ & ...")
• Don't use ALL CAPS

3.2 File Formats

3.2.1 WAV

Audio files in WAV format can be used where they are not visible to the user, such as within Presence XT or Impact XT instruments. Very short one-shot samples, such as single drum hits can also remain in WAV format, even if they are intended for direct use on audio tracks. Such short one-shot WAVs should not have an embedded tempo (BPM).

All other audio samples, such as loops and files with tempo-relevant content, need to be converted to the Audioloop format (see next) before finalizing your Sound Set.

3.2.2 Adding Tempo Metadata

Loops and samples with tempo-relevant content must have embedded Tempo Metadata (BPM) to be ready for time-stretching. This is easy to do in Studio One:

1. Create new Song with the desired tempo.
2. Drag and Drop all WAV files to the Arrangement window.
3. Rename audio events, if needed.
4. Select all audio events and export them via Drag and Drop back to the Browser into an empty folder. The song tempo is embedded into each WAV sample during this step.

To remove embedded Tempo Metadata from samples, like One-shots, that do not need it, go to Preferences > Advanced > Audio, and deselect "Record tempo information to audio files," then press "Apply." Any audio event you drag back from the Arrangement Window to the Studio One file browser will have its embedded tempo removed.

3.2.2 Audioloop

The Audioloop format is exclusive to Studio One. This helps to prevent unauthorized sharing with other applications. Once copy protection is applied to your Sound Set, direct conversion from Audioloop to WAV is not possible, thus locking your loops to Studio One use only. The Audioloop format uses lossless FLAC compression, keeping library sizes and download times easier to manage.

Audio samples, such as loops and files with tempo-relevant content, must be converted to the Audioloop format before finalizing your Sound Set. This is the required file format for loops and samples that are intended for use on audio tracks, and visible to the user. Audioloops should always have embedded tempo metadata (BPM). Embedding Chord metadata is also suggested, but not required.

Note: Short one-shot samples can remain in WAV format, and should not contain embedded tempo metadata (BPM).

After adding Tempo and Chord Metadata to your WAV samples, select them in the Studio One Browser, then right-click and choose "Convert to Audioloop" from the context menu. See Sections 3.2.3 and 5 for more information on embedding Tempo and Chord Metadata.

IMPORTANT: Loops and samples with tempo-relevant content need to have embedded Tempo Metadata (BPM), to be ready for time-stretching.

Conversion order:

1. Add Tempo and Chord Metadata while your Audio files are still in WAV format.
2. Convert WAV file to Audioloop format.
3. Add Style/Instrument/Character tags.

Power User Tip: We advise adding Tempo and Chord metadata while your Audio files are still in WAV format, and converting to Audioloop afterward (but before adding Style/Instrument/Character tags). Unprotected Audioloops are automatically converted back to WAV, when they are dragged from the Arrangement Window to the Studio One Brower. Since this step is part of the Tempo/Chord embedding workflow, it would be moot to convert to Audioloop format prior to this. Also, we recommend adding both, Tempo and Chord information to your Samples and Loops as part of the same process, as both require importing your samples to the Arrangement Window.

3.2.2.1 Creating Sliced Audioloops

1. Create slices by "Slice at bend-markers" or simply use the Cut Tool.
2. Create an Audio Part by selecting all slices and pressing command+G.
3. Drag & drop the Audio Part to the Files tab of the Studio One Browser. An Audioloop will be created containing all tempo and slice information.

3.2.3 MIDI

MIDI loops should be in MIDI format 0 (zero). MIDI format 0 combines all 16 MIDI channels into a single track, keeping their appearance in the browser neat, and provides a better overall user experience.

3.2.4 Musicloop

This is a Studio One exclusive format. It consists of everything required to recreate a musical performance, including the virtual instrument preset, multichannel FX chain presets and the MIDI music performance, plus an Audioloop version for sound-preview in the browser.

Musicloops can be dragged in from the Browser, just like MIDI files.

To create a Musicloop, drag any Instrument Part into the Browser.

The Studio One 6 manual covers this format and its usage in greater detail.

4 Preparing Your Folder Structure

You can freely organize the files, loops, samples and instrument presets into the folder structure you think will be the most practical for your Sound Set. However, the following important points should be considered before starting to build your Sound Set and decide on the final names and locations for your files:

• The folder structure and all file names need to be FINAL before mounting as a Sound Set.
• Sound Sets and Instrument Presets use case-sensitive sample paths. A small change to a folder or file name or extension, can cause a missing Sample error for end-users, and/or make already applied tags disappear (e.g. change from .wav to .WAV).
• The folder organization should be as easy as possible to understand by the user.
• If Instrument Presets are included, they should be placed in their own folder.
• Presets are created in a later step, but it is advisable to already create the location where they will be located. See Section 7 for more information on Presets.

4.1 Mount Folder as Sound Set

Adding files to Instrument Presets from locations other than a folder that is currently mounted as a Sound Set, will appear to work normal on your computer, but will trigger a 'Missing Samples' error on any other computer.

Mounting a Folder as a Sound Set and exclusively using files from within that mounted folder ensures that the path to these files and samples is identical when the Sound Set is being used on someone else's computer so that all the samples will be found.

To mount your prepared source folder containing your audio files as a Sound Set:

1. Go to the Files tab of the Browser and locate the folder.
2. Right-click to open the context menu and select "Mount Folder as Sound Set." [Screenshot of Studio One Browser context menu showing "Mount Folder as Sound Set"]
3. This will display the Sound Set Properties Window. [Screenshot of Studio One Sound Set Properties window with fields like Title, Identifier, Presets, Icon, Vendor, Description, Copyright, Website]

• Title. The folder name will be used as the title.
• Identifier. The Identifier needs to be unique and composed in this format: "vendor.studioone.title." Do not use spaces or special characters. (Example: presonus.studioone.presencesymphonicorchestra)
• Presets. Type the name of the top-level Folder inside the Sound Set containing all the presets of your Sound Set. Loop libraries that do not include instrument or effects presets do not require this field to be completed. See Section 4.1.1 for more information.
• Icon. Click the "+" button to choose the artwork for the Sound Set. This is the artwork shown in the Previewer when the Sound Set is selected in the Studio One file browser. The image must be square with a minimum of 500x500 pixels.
• Vendor. Enter the Vendor name.
• Description. Enter a brief description of the content within the Sound Set (e.g. Audioloops & Impact Presets).
• Copyright. Enter the copyright date and copyright holder name for the content (e.g. ©2022 PreSonus).
• Website. Enter the URL of the product's Website.

After pressing OK, the folder will be mounted as a Soundset. The indicator to the left will change from a folder to the Sound Set bundle as shown below: [Screenshot showing folder icon changing to a Sound Set bundle icon in the Studio One Browser]

IMPORTANT: Do not change the Identifier after tagging or creating presets!

4.1.1 Presets Field Usage Tips

The Presets field determines where Studio One will start scanning your Sound Set for presets so that they will appear below the associated Instrument icon in the Studio One Browser's Instruments tab.

• Do not leave the Presets field blank, otherwise your presets will not appear under the instrument icon in the Instruments tab.
• Do not enter the name of a single folder containing your presets, as this will result in Studio One displaying your Presets directly below the Instrument icon without organizing them into a folder. Without an organizational folder, it will be difficult to distinguish the Sound Set with which they are associated as the preset names will be mixed in with other vendors' presets for the same instrument.
• If you enter the name of a folder in which the presets are organized into sub-folders, the folder structure from the first subfolder level will appear under the instrument icon. For example: Entering the folder name "MyCompany" for presets that are located in a "MyCompany > MyProduct" folder structure inside the Sound Set, will show a "MyProduct" folder beneath the Instrument icon, that contains all your presets.
• If you enter "/" (without quotes), Studio One will search for presets in the root directory of your Sound Set, and in all of its subfolders. Using the example above, this will cause the full path "MyCompany > MyProduct" to appear below the instrument icon and will show presets in each level of the folder structure where any are found. This is useful if other Sound Sets by your company utilize the same relative structure, but a different name for the "MyProduct" folder level. This way, all your presets are gathered within subfolders inside a master folder that bears your company name. Each subfolder will be named for each of your products/Sound Sets.

5 Embedding Chord Information (optional)

Studio One 6 includes the revolutionary Chord Track, which can make loop based libraries exponentially more useful. This new feature allows non-destructive changes to the composition of chords within audio files during playback. This is not a simple "pitch up/ down" function that affects everything in a sample equally; rather, it makes it possible to change the harmonic relationships and tonal intervals between individual notes inside of an audio sample.

While it is possible to utilize this feature with loops and samples that have not been specially prepared, writing Chord Information directly into your loops, will ensure the best possible results. Once the Chord Information has been embedded in your loops, the files will be compatible with any musical scale or chord structure Studio One 6 users would like to use.

It is highly recommended that you read the Chord Track chapter in the Studio One 6 manual to familiarize yourself with the operation and capability of this new and unique feature. This guide is limited to providing instructions how to add Chord Information to your samples only.

NOTE: We advise adding Tempo and Chord Metadata while your Audio files are still in WAV format, and converting to Audioloop afterward (but before adding Style/Instrument/Character tags). Unprotected Audioloops are automatically converted back to WAV, when dragging them from the Arrangement Window to the Studio One Brower. Since this step is part of the Tempo/ Chord embedding workflow, it would be moot to convert to Audioloop format prior to this. Also, we recommend adding both, Tempo and Chord information to your Samples and Loops as part of the same process, as both require importing your samples to the Arrangement Window.

To embed Chord Information:

1. Drag a WAV file from the Studio One browser to the Arrangement window.
2. If multiple samples follow the same chord progression (e.g. samples from the same Construction Kit), add them as well, to process simultaneously.
3. Identify the loop that best represents the chord progression for the Construction Kit, then right-click it and select Audio > Detect Chords. [Screenshot of Studio One context menu showing Audio > Detect Chords]

The detected chord(s) will appear at the bottom edge of the Audio Part. Depending on the complexity of the audio material, chord detection may not always be accurate. It is important to verify it manually by playing the same chord and comparing by ear to confirm that the chord(s) shown in your Audio Part are correct. See Section 5.1 for information on correcting inaccurate chord detection. Skip to Step 8, if processing a single audio file.

5. Once the correct Chord Information is shown on the Audio Part, right-click it and select "Extract to Chord Track."
6. Select all other loops from the same construction kit that share the same chord progression (including bass and lead parts).
7. Right-click on the Audio Part(s) and select "Apply Chord from Chord Track."
8. Once done, select all edited loops and drag them back to the Browser. This will write Chord information into each audio file as Metadata.

TIPS:

• If you drag the edited audio event back to the same browser location, it will not overwrite the original file, but create a new file and append a number to the end of the file name. To avoid creating duplicates in your Sound Set, delete the original file from the browser before dragging the edited version back. (Deleting files cannot be undone. Be careful!)
• It is recommended to add missing Tempo Metadata (BPM) to your WAV files at the same time as adding Chord Information. Because embedding both types of Metadata requires dragging the files to the Arrangement Window, it saves time to embed both Tempo and Chord Information Metadata while the WAV file has already been imported.

5.1 Changing Incorrectly Detected Chords

1. Double-click the Audio Part from the Arrangement Window to open the Editor. If the Chord bar is not shown along the bottom edge, click the "Chords" button. [Screenshot of Studio One Editor showing an Audio Part with chord detection at the bottom]
2. Click into the Chords bar. If a chord change appears at an incorrect spot, click and drag the separator to the correct location.
3. The detected Chord info will be displayed in the box to the left.
4. Use the pull-down menus to select the appropriate chord attributes - or - Click the "Chord Selector" button for a graphical interface to change chord attributes. [Screenshot of Studio One Chord Selector interface]

Changes will be written to the loop, when dragging it back into the Studio One browser.

6 Tagging of Files and Presets

Audioloops, WAVs, Musicloops, MIDI files, as well as instrument Presets must be tagged, to enable customers to quickly locate specific types of content by applying filters in the Studio One browser. To understand the purpose and importance of tagging, it is recommended to experiment with the filters found at the top of most Studio One browser tabs.

IMPORTANT: The file format, file name (case-sensitive) and location inside your Sound Set must be final before beginning the tagging process. Your tags will disappear from any sample that is moved, renamed or converted, after tags have been added. For example, do not start adding tags to WAV loops that have yet to be converted to the Audioloop format (see Section 3.2.2 for more information on Audioloops).

To open the Tag Palette, select a file within the mounted Sound Set and click on the Tags: button in the Previewer. [Screenshot of Studio One Browser showing a file selected and the Tags button highlighted]

This will open the Tag Palette: [Screenshot of Studio One Tag Palette with categories like Style, Instrument, Character and various tags]

There are three (3) main categories: Style, Instrument and Character. Each file included in your Sound Set should be tagged with at least one tag from each of these three categories.

• Style. Use only one or two matching Tags (e.g. HipHop or Urban + HipHop).
• Instrument. Use one or more matching Tags (e.g. Synth, or Synth + Pads + Strings).
• Character. Use any relevant tag (e.g. dry + acoustic + vintage + dark).

6.1 Special Tags

In order to make the content as consistent as possible, please follow these rules:

• To ensure your content is found, assign a minimum of three tags per loop, one for each category (Style, Instrument, Character).
• Feel free to add additional and specific attributes. The more accurate the attributes, the better the search results.
• Loops should always have the Tag "loop."
• Samples like drum hits should always have the tag "one-shot."
• Construction Kits should have the Tag "Construction Kit." This will ensure that related loops are displayed in the Browser in a consolidated view under “Construction Kits." PLEASE NOTE: This tag should only be used with audio loops, and not with one-shot samples or instrument presets.
• "Animated" should be used only for arpeggio-like sounds with lots of movement.
• The tag "full" is reserved for mixes (e.g. drum loop + bass + keys etc).

6.2 The Tag Palette

The Tag Palette is bi-directional. This means you can drag & drop a folder or multi-selection of files to a tag icon, or drag a tag icon to a folder within the Browser. This results in a fast and easy workflow, making it unnecessary to tag your files individually.

In general, it's recommended to use multi-selections or text search results as much as possible.

Let's examine the following use-case, demonstrating the tagging of an audio loop construction kit:

1. In most cases a Sound Set will have the same "Style" for all files. Select all files or folders and Drag & Drop them onto the desired "Style" tag (e.g. "Jazz").
2. You can use the Text Search in the Studio One Browser to display groups of related files with descriptive names for easier tagging (e.g. "Drums"):
3. Select the mounted Sound Set, click on the magnifier icon on top of the Browser to bring up the "Text Search" field. [Screenshot of Studio One Browser showing the magnifier icon and text search field]
4. From here you can enter any search term to view a list of files with that string of characters in their name. For example, if you type "drums," a list of all files containing "drums" in their name will be displayed.
5. Select all drum files by using "shift + click" within the Browser and drag & drop them to the "Drums" tag icon within the Tag Palette.
6. You can save a lot of time by performing text-search based multi selections. If descriptive file names were used, this approach is very useful for applying Instrument tags. Depending on your file-naming concept, it may also be useful to quickly apply one-shot or loop tags, as well as other "character" tags, if their character is reflected in your file names.

If the Character of your loops and samples changes from file to file, it is usually necessary to tag each file individually, rather than by using the text search. All tags are written directly to an SQL-based database file (.db) within your mounted Sound Set. It is not necessary (or possible) to save / load your applied tags manually.

6.3 Deleting Tags

To clear unwanted tags, drag & drop the files containing undesired tags to the "Clear Tags" field at the bottom of the Tag Palette. This works for files, folders and multi-selections, in the same manner as when adding tags. Please note that Sound Sets without or with poor tagging will be rejected by PreSonus QA.

7 Instrument Presets

To include Instrument Presets (e.g. Impact XT kits) inside a Sound Set, it is critical to have the final folder structure for your Sound Set in place before beginning to build your presets.

The samples and files you want to use as part of an Instrument must be added to the instrument from your mounted Sound Set folder.

WARNING: If you add Samples from elsewhere on your hard-drive - even from the folder used for your Sound Set - if it is not mounted in Studio One when you begin, your samples will appear to work while you prepare the Sound Set on your own computer, but will not be found on other systems, causing missing sample errors.

The only way to fix this problem is to start over, making sure to only add samples from a mounted Sound Set folder.

Follow these steps:

1. Make sure the Sound Set folder is mounted.
2. In the Studio One Browser (Files tab > Sound Sets), locate the Sound Set associated with your source file folder, then locate the folder containing the samples to be used in a preset. [Screenshot of Studio One Browser showing navigation to Sound Sets and a folder with samples]
3. Drag samples from the mounted Sound Set in the Studio One Browser to your Instrument, such as onto Impact XT pads, and edit as you wish.
4. Save the Instrument preset. This save it to the global Studio One Preset folder.
5. In Finder/Explorer, locate the preset inside the global preset folder defined for Studio One. By default, the location is: Documents > Studio One > Presets > PreSonus > 'Instrument Name'
6. Move the saved preset file(s) to the destination folder inside the mounted Sound Set folder.

IMPORTANT:

• Do not drag in samples from the Finder/Explorer, or the path information will be incorrect.
• Do not import samples from the "Volumes" tree in the Studio One Browser or the path information will be incorrect.

8 Pack Sound Set

The final step to completing your Sound Set is to pack it. This should only be done after the following steps have been completed:

• Tempo and Chord Information have been added to your samples.
• WAV files have been converted to the Audioloop format.
• Style, Instrument and Character tags have been added.
• Instrument Presets (if applicable) have been saved and moved into your Sound Set's Presets folder.

Before packing, the mounted folder needs to be unmounted. To do this, right-click on the mounted Sound Set folder and select the "Unmount Sound Set Folder" command from the context menu. [Screenshot of Studio One Browser context menu showing "Unmount Sound Set Folder"]

NOTE: If attempting to unmount results in the error message "The Sound Set [Sound Set Name] is still in use (# files open)," then an Instrument Preset from your Sound Set is still active. Open the Instrument and click the down arrow in the tab in the upper left, then select "Remove."

After unmounting, the icon will change back to the normal folder icon and the "Pack Sound Set from Folder" function will be available again.

1. Right-click or CTRL+click on the folder you wish to pack and select "Pack Sound Set from Folder." [Screenshot of Studio One Browser context menu showing "Pack Sound Set from Folder"]
2. This will display the "Sound Set Properties" dialog. Verify the entered data one final time for accuracy. [Screenshot of Studio One Sound Set Properties dialog, similar to the mounting one]

WARNING: Do not change the Identifier at this point, as this will break all tag references and sample references.

3. Click "OK" to build the final .soundset file.
4. A progress bar will appear to show the packing progress.

Your Sound Set is now done!

PreSonus recommends checking the finished Sound Set on a different computer in order to make sure that all files and paths are intact and working. Since the files used to prepare the Sound Set do not exist in the same location on a secondary computer, this is the most reliable way to detect if samples were accidentally added to presets from folders that were not mounted as a Sound Set. If so, they will trigger a “Missing Samples" error on the secondary computer, when attempting to load an instrument preset.

After delivering the file to PreSonus, we will take care of the copy-protection and the file encryption for publishing at the PreSonus Shop.

Added bonus: PreSonus' previously Top Secret recipe for... Red Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried Red Kidney Beans
• 1 large onion (diced)
• 3 celery stalks (diced)
• 1 large green bell pepper (diced)
• 6-8 C vegetable stock
• 1 Tbs. Old Bay seasoning
• ½ fresh parsley
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 smoked ham hock (optional)

Cooking instructions:

1. Rinse red beans in cold water.
2. In a pressure cooker, heat olive oil on medium high. Sauté onion, celery, bell pepper, beans, and ham hock (if using) until onions are translucent.
3. Stir in Old Bay, parsley, and salt.
4. Add vegetable stock until beans and vegetables are covered.
5. Close pressure cooker and bring to full pressure on high heat.
6. Reduce heat to low while maintaining full pressure. Cook for 40 minutes.
7. Allow pressure to drop naturally (20-30 minutes).
8. Remove lid and crush with a potato masher until creamy.
9. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
10. Serve over rice with hot sauce and grilled Andouille sausage (optional).