Macro Toolbar

The Macro Toolbar is a special control panel that lets you customize your workflow in powerful ways, giving you easy access to often-used functions and custom command combinations. You can add and change command groups and buttons freely to fit your needs.

Macros are grouped into Pages of related commands. To view the available Pages, click the menu arrow next to the name of the current Page on the left side of the Macro toolbar. Then make a selection from the menu.

You can create Macros, which string together multiple commands to form a single action. For instance, you might want a quick way to select multiple events across multiple tracks within the loop range and merge them to form single continuous events. This would normally involve a number of separate actions, either with the mouse or keyboard, but creating a Macro for this reduces the process to a single action.

Independent Macro Toolbars are available for the Arrangement, Note Editor, and Audio Editor views. You can show or hide the Macro Toolbar for any of the views by clicking the appropriate Macros button or by navigating to View/Additional Views/Macros.

Overview

When you open a Song in Studio One, the Macro Toolbar button is shown next to the Audio Bend, Strip Silence, and Quantize panel buttons in the top toolbar. Click this button to expand the Macro Toolbar panel, which is docked to the top panel by default. However, it can be detached like the other panels by clicking on the detach button to the far right of the panel. When detached, [Right]/[Control]+click in the panel to adjust for vertical or horizontal orientation.

Several items are in the Toolbar by default for demonstration purposes. Note that any button can be moved or removed, as well as any entire group of buttons. This toolbar is completely customizable. To see how Macros are put together, click the gear icon next to the Page name and select Macro Organizer. You can also navigate to Studio One/Macro Organizer.

Select Merge All Events in Loop from the list and then click the Edit button.

This is the Edit Macro window where you can create and modify your Macros. On the left is the Commands list, which lists all available commands in Studio One. On the right are the Macro Title, Group, and list of commands that the Macro performs when triggered. Commands are executed in the order in which they are listed here. So, this Macro selects all events, splits them at the left and right locator locations, then merges the events that are still selected (those within the loop range, in this case).

Close the Edit Macro and Macro Organizer windows and look again at the Macro Toolbar. Click on the Action button in the Edit group, and a list of all of your Macros is displayed, categorized by the Groups you entered in the Group field for each Macro in the Edit Macro window. Clicking on any item in this list performs the associated Macro.

Click on the Name button in the Edit group to rename any selected events. The list of predefined names can be customized by clicking on Edit Names in the Edit group to open the file 'EventNames.txt', which uses a simple syntax to build the menu hierarchy.

Customize the Toolbar

It is possible to add new Groups and Buttons to the Toolbar, as well as remove or modify any existing item. [Right]/[Option] + click on the Edit group in the Toolbar, and a contextual menu is displayed.

Double-click on the name to rename the Group. The Compact toggle makes the interface use as little horizontal space as possible when engaged. Click on Remove Group to completely remove the Group and all Buttons it contains. Click on New Group, New Menu Button, or New Button to create one of those items. Groups are named Group by default, and are renamed in the [Right]/[Option]+click contextual menu by double-clicking on the name. New Buttons are blank but can be named and edited, which is described below.

Modify a Macro Button

[Right]/Option]+click on a Button and choose one of your Macros from the top level list, or navigate to Assign/Assign Command to select a Key Command to associate with the button. You can associate any Macro or command to a button, or create a new Macro from this menu.

Buttons can also make use of custom icons. [Right]/Option]+click on a Button and click Icon/Select Image, then choose any 22x22 pixel PNG image file to use a custom icon.

Rearrange Buttons and Groups

Buttons and groups of buttons can be placed in any order on the Toolbar. Hold [Ctrl]/[Cmd] and click-drag a Button to the desired location, even into another Group. To move an entire Group, hold [Ctrl]/[Cmd] and click-drag on the Group name to move it to the new location.

Macro Menu Buttons

These buttons help you to collect and organize your Macros. They can hold many Macros and Submenus of their own, which the menu arrows reveal. To give the Macro Menu button a name, [Right]/Option]+click the button and select Edit Menu. Then double-click the grey bar at the top to enter a name.

To add items to the Menu button, [Right]/Option]+click the darker area under the name. This presents three choices:

New Menu Item This one adds an empty Menu Item. [Right]/Option]+click the new item and use it like a Macro button: Assign a Command, an existing Macro, or create a new Macro.
New Submenu This creates another menu inside the Menu button. It can do everything a higher-level Menu can do.
New Separator This adds a line that can be clicked and dragged anywhere inside the Menu, which can help you find specific items more easily.

Items inside a Macro Menu can be reordered: just click-drag the items until they are in the desired order.

Make a New Macro

There are two ways to make your own Macro; the first was described above. The second way is to open the Macro Organizer window by selecting it from the gear menu next to the Page name in the Macro Toolbar, or by navigating to Studio One/Macro Organizer Click on New to open the Edit Macro window. Give your Macro a Title, which is how it appears in any menu, as well as a Group Name, which determines how it is organized in the previously mentioned Action list of the Macro Toolbar.

Next, navigate the list on the left to find the first command for your Macro, select it, and then click on Add to add the command to the list on the right. Repeat this until each command you need is in the list. Note that the commands are performed in the order they are listed, so be sure the order is set up to achieve the desired result. Select any item in the list and click on Up or Down to move the item in the list.

Arguments

Note that some commands have Arguments associated with them, such as Track|Expand Layers. Commands with Arguments show an Argument descriptor next to the command in the command list. Arguments provide a specific behavior for commands where multiple behaviors are possible.

With the Track|Expand Layers command, the Argument 'Expand' should be set to 0 or 1. Setting the Argument to 0 disengages the Expand Layers option, whereas setting it to 1 engages the option.

Some commands can have multiple arguments. For instance, Edit Volume has 'Level' and 'Relative' as separate arguments, where 'Level' is a dB value and 'Relative' can be "0" or "1" to either set the event volume to the absolute dB value or to add/subtract it from the current level.

Edit a Macro

If a Macro needs to be modified, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click on its button in the Macro Toolbar and select Edit Macro from the menu. This will open the Edit Macro window as described above. Note that some Macro buttons are built-in commands that cannot be altered, so the Edit Macro window is not available for them.

Duplicate a Macro

There's a quick way to duplicate a Macro. This can be useful if you want to keep an existing Macro the way it is, but also need another that has a few modifications.

To do this, [Right]/[Ctrl]-click on the button and select Duplicate Macro from the menu. A new Macro button will appear next to the first one, ready to be edited and named. Note that the Macro buttons for built-in commands do not offer the Duplicate Macro menu option.

Make a Key Command for your Macro

Key commands can be associated with your Macros, just like any command in Studio One. Open the Studio One/Keyboard Shortcuts... window and type "macros" in the search field to quickly show the Macros section. Select any Macro from the list and assign a key command by typing into the Enter Key field and clicking on Assign.

Map Macros to your MIDI Hardware

As with any command in Studio One, Macros can be mapped to your MIDI hardware. To do this, open the device map for the hardware you want to map macros by double-clicking on the device in the External panel of the Console. While any control you have learned for the device can be mapped, buttons are the most logical choice. [Right]/[Option]+click on any button in the map and choose Assign Command.

Type macros in the search field to quickly find your Macros, select the one you want, and click on OK. Note that even control surfaces that are not natively supported can have commands assigned, so long as the desired controls transmit MIDI CC values.

Macro Storage

Your individual Macro commands are stored in a single location, reached via the [Show Macros Folder in Explorer/Finder] button at the bottom of the Macro Organizer window. Each Macro is a unique file in XML format, and it is possible to edit the XML directly if desired. These files are also portable, so you can share them with other users via the PreSonus Exchange.