How to Use the Align Transients Macro in the Auto Editing menu

[Justin]

Hey everyone,


I recently came across the Align Transients macro under the Auto Editing section in Studio One, but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly how it works. I was hoping someone here could shed some light on how to properly use it.


From what I understand, it should help align transients across multiple tracks, but I’m not sure if it works like traditional quantizing or if there are specific steps to follow for best results. Does it require specific settings or grouping? Also, does it work best for drums, guitars, or other instruments?


If anyone has experience using this macro, I’d really appreciate some guidance!


Thanks in advance.

 

[Trucky]

Here's the specific commands and settings used in the "Align Transients" macro...

 

[ianaeillo]

Hey everyone,


I recently came across the Align Transients macro under the Auto Editing section in Studio One, but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly how it works. I was hoping someone here could shed some light on how to properly use it.


From what I understand, it should help align transients across multiple tracks, but I’m not sure if it works like traditional quantizing or if there are specific steps to follow for best results. Does it require specific settings or grouping? Also, does it work best for drums, guitars, or other instruments?


If anyone has experience using this macro, I’d really appreciate some guidance!


Thanks in advance.

So I had a similar revelation when I found it. I did a bit of testing and discovered that it's really not something to be totally trusted in the way that I hoped it would be. I was hoping it would be transient phase alignment which obviously it doesn't say that it is so my expectations were unreasonable. It doesn't align transients to each other, moreso aligns individual transients on individual tracks to the grid. Essentially just a quantize where it fills gaps and creates auto fades and bounces. Which is fine!

To verify, I just opened a new session and put the same exact drum loop on three different tracks. I spaced them a few milliseconds apart off the grid, simulating tracks I'd like aligned *to each other* for transient alignment. I selected all three tracks, applied the macro, and everything was phasey. So transient detection and alignment, good. Transient phase alignment not good. But also not intended. I have and trust Sound Radix's Auto Align for that. Guess I was hoping I could skip a few steps.

 

[Gerran]

By sheer coincidence I came across a section in the manual that mentions phase coherence is considered when you group the tracks before aligning transients. I haven't tried it out yet, but I was mighty curious when I read it. I'm not sure it 'locks' the phase as it currently is before timing adjustments or that it is actually fixing issues it detected... The reference is in the last chapter of the page.