Launcher: “Record Selected Cells” stops other cells, but cell Record button does not (S1 7.2.3)

[Studio2]

Hi all,

I’m seeing what looks like an inconsistency (possibly a bug?) in the Launcher (S1 Pro 7.2.3), and I’d like to check whether others can reproduce it.

Summary
- Recording a Launcher cell by clicking the Record button on the cell itself works as expected and keeps the rest of the scene playing.
- Recording the same cell using the command Launcher/Record Selected Cells causes other cells in the scene to stop.
(This happens even when the cell is explicitly selected beforehand with the mouse.)

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a Song with the Launcher visible
2. Create a scene with multiple cells
3. Start the scene so multiple cells are playing
4. Click on one empty cell in the same scene to explicitly select it (do not click the cell’s Record button).
5. Trigger Launcher/Record Selected Cells (via keyboard shortcut or MIDI)

Observed result

• Recording starts in the selected cell
• Other cells in the scene stop playing

Expected result

• Same behaviour as clicking the cell’s Record button:
  • Record only that cell
  • Keep the rest of the scene playing

Notes

• Clicking the Record button directly on the cell always works correctly
• This is not Transport Record (that correctly records to the timeline)
• I use a MIDI controller but the behaviour is the same whether the command is triggered from the keyboard or via MIDI
• Selection and focus do not seem to change the outcome

From a workflow point of view, this makes it impossible to reliably trigger Launcher cell recording via commands (e.g. foot controllers), even though the UI supports it.

Can anyone confirm if they see the same behaviour? And if so, is this expected, or should “Record Selected Cells” match the behaviour of the cell’s Record button?

Thank you!

 

[Vocalpoint]

This is a known issue and one I have struggled with - a lot.

Studio One's implementation of the Launcher is nowhere near as elegant as say - Bitwig - where you can actually do real time live looping and everything that is looping - stays looping - all the while you do whatever you want to any other cells - as long as you want it to.

Reality is - the Launcher has not been touched whatsoever since October 2024 and for anyone who is a fan - we are hoping it gets some real love soon.

Right now - it is really about as basic as it can get - it loops and plays and if you are lucky - you can record something into a cell and hope it plays back as well.

There is really no "fancy" here yet

VP

 

[Studio2]

Hi Vocalpoint,

Thank you for your answer. I agree: the Launcher’s implementation is not exactly “elegant”.

I didn’t know that since October 2024 there have been no changes on the Launcher. That’s surprising – and slightly worrying.

I find extraordinary how some companies publish software with new functionalities - presumably to attract new customers. But the software is not as good as it should be and they manage to alienate the very people they want to attract in the first place. And by the time the feature matures, the people who would have championed it have already adapted elsewhere.

Well... I guess it is the way it is.

As future updates are released, I’ll keep an eye on the Launcher but I can't wait for something that might never come.

Thank you again for your post!

 

[lokeyfly]

From a workflow point of view, this makes it impossible to reliably trigger Launcher cell recording via commands (e.g. foot controllers), even though the UI supports it.

I remember for the first time feeling downright giddy over the launcher in Oct. 24'. The climate was good, and for the first time, I was ready to adopt a launcher to explore new avenues, musically. Exciting right?
Presonus did throw in the kitchen sink with their add-ons, and with 3 to 4 promised updates a year, & perpetual licensing still available. Yes, things were looking up. Unfortunately, as far as the clip launcher is concerned, its horribly limited, and absolutely nothing has been done with it. Heck, I hardly use it in its largely decapitated state. While the DAW itself is very elegant, fast and a breeze to work with, the launcher takes its place among the other half-baked Studio One offerings. Just like the crippled arpegiator (lord does anyone even use that thing?) and the funky color control, that barely cuts it if we're being honest.
So where does having truly good ideas actually follow through, and screwing the pooch, begin and end?
Truth be told, I'm really not using the launcher much at all. My choice of writing polyrythms, and odd time signatures is still based around the old linear fashion because I have control over it. Simply duplicating parts, and seeing how it goes, musically. Ala trial & error. Wasn't the launcher suppose to make that easier? By accident, or by design? (a seemingly good thing). Currently, the launcher is just way too limited. In a word, its cute.
If Presonus want users to anti up, it would be advisable that they provide a boat load of controlability to the launcher, seriously improve that poor excuse for an arpegiator, add some useful randomization to key areas around its MIDI parameters and actually light this candle.
As far as its basic DAW functionality, its very good, but in a competitive and seemingly slowing market, Studio One needs to turn some heads. It can no longer use that "young DAW" pass, any longer.
Some actual marketing truth wouldn't hurt, either.

 

[Vocalpoint]

As far as its basic DAW functionality, its very good, but in a competitive and seemingly slowing market, Studio One needs to turn some heads.

This.

But my fear is - given this last year of sheer disappointment - those days may be behind us. I am very happy to be wrong.

Hopefully 2026 is better for us....but as of now - I am holding steady on my perpetual license.

VP

 

[lokeyfly]

This.

But my fear is - given this last year of sheer disappointment - those days may be behind us. I am very happy to be wrong.

Hopefully 2026 is better for us....but as of now - I am holding steady on my perpetual license.

VP

Same here Veeps. I can use Studio One as a skill saw DAW for a few years ahead, as I see it. That is fine, and I'm thankful for that. The problem is when Presonus representatives have big smiles on their faces, and have some idea of updates and "getting them to you faster as they develop" is nothing more than sailboat fuel (wind). Oddly, getting features to us sooner wasn't ever really a problem. Just look at Atmos. It was delivered fast, free, and well executed.
However, If they (the three with the rather ambitous tale) had an initial plan and that got circumvented by other corporate means, then I'd understand their frustration. Only if they're going to convey the future of the product, they better put their big boy hats on, and address the needs in the best way possible on their end. I dont see that being the case without getting into it.
The ball is their court.

 

[Studio2]

Thank you for the various comments. They are genuinely appreciated. It is refreshing to hear that others share with me a sense of frustration.

As far as its basic DAW functionality, its very good, but in a competitive and seemingly slowing market, Studio One needs to turn some heads. It can no longer use that "young DAW" pass, any longer.
Some actual marketing truth wouldn't hurt, either.

I entirely agree.

Studio One earned its reputation on:

• predictability
• consistency
• “it does what it says on the tin”

This version of the Launcher breaks that contract in a subtle but important way. The irony is that Studio One didn't need the Launcher. It was (and in many ways, still is) a solid DAW. Chasing competitors but failing to deliver is a strategic misstep.

Personally, I don't have any sense of deep loyalty towards Studio One. I've just downloaded the trial version of Abeton Live 12 and if it does what I need, I'm ready to jump ship.

 

[Vocalpoint]

I've just downloaded the trial version of Abeton Live 12 and if it does what I need, I'm ready to jump ship.

Well - it does have a killer Launcher - that's for certain.

And their last 3 updates packs for the v12 series - required about a dozen pages to document all the improvements and additions the product has received. Ableton is killing it over there.

VP

 

[TimC340]

It's very interesting to look at the market share of the various DAWs. The actual sales numbers are probably not that easy to establish accurately, but the Production Expert DAW Survey comes up with some interesting statistics. They place Studio One third, after Pro Tools and Logic and ahead of Reaper, Live, Cubase and the rest. The 8.4% market share they infer from their survey is a bit larger than I expected to see, but it makes the point that S One is a major player and has a big user base that will be expecting to be listened to. It also makes the point that people will change their DAWs - eventually - if they feel they're not having their needs met. That's how S One got its market share in the first place. If they want to keep it, they're going to have to do some people-pleasing!

 

[sintil8]

IMHO.
The reality of the situation is, if you want to play in the world of recording live looping then SO1 is not the answer (in it's present state).

Regards folks

 

[Crossinger]

IMHO.
The reality of the situation is, if you want to play in the world of recording live looping then SO1 is not the answer (in it's present state).

And the good news is: you are not forced to use S1 for this! I guess that's why some people out there have more than one DAW at their disposal.

 

[sintil8]

And the good news is: you are not forced to use S1 for this! I guess that's why some people out there have more than one DAW at their disposal.

I s'pose the best trick is to get what works best for what you need or want to achieve, rather than live in never never land, and most Daws have strenghts and weaknesses. Least of all us users.

Kindest regards

 

[Studio2]

It's very interesting to look at the market share of the various DAWs. The actual sales numbers are probably not that easy to establish accurately, but the Production Expert DAW Survey comes up with some interesting statistics. They place Studio One third, after Pro Tools and Logic and ahead of Reaper, Live, Cubase and the rest. The 8.4% market share they infer from their survey is a bit larger than I expected to see, but it makes the point that S One is a major player and has a big user base that will be expecting to be listened to. It also makes the point that people will change their DAWs - eventually - if they feel they're not having their needs met. That's how S One got its market share in the first place. If they want to keep it, they're going to have to do some people-pleasing!

Considering that “the sample is self-selected and from the Production Expert community”, the results are not surprising. I suspect that a similar survey carried out among the subscribers of a hypothetical “EDM Magazine” (if there is such thing), would have showed different results.

In practice, the real market share is very hard to determine. Professionals are probably relatively vocal about their opinions and their choices are easier to capture. Non-professionals are often below the radar but they may represent a significant amount of the marker share.

There also cases that are objectively hard to evaluate. Does the guitar player composing songs using Garage Band counts? Or the composer who uses an old version of Cubase? Or people who uses Reaper without buying the full licence? Or Audacity?

 

[Studio2]

And the good news is: you are not forced to use S1 for this! I guess that's why some people out there have more than one DAW at their disposal.

I entirely agree. Fortunately, we are free to spend our money as we like, buy as many licences are we like and use them (or not use them) as much as we like.

For me, the problem is how Studio One released the Launcher. On paper and judging from the enthusiastic promotional videos, the best thing ever. In practice, a half-baked solution that, at best, underperforms.

You are right, we are not forced to use S1 for this but try to see it in another way. I had to spend time understanding why what should have worked didn't. Something they promoted as useful and well-designed. I had to send support queries, create videos and reply to the support emails trying to decrypt what they were saying (I still don’t know if it's a bug or not). Did I want to do all this? Definitely not. It was entirely Presonus’ decision to release it without proper testing. So, in a way, by design or incompetence, they forced me to waste my time.

Not the end of the world though. As you rightly said, people are free to integrate S1 shortcomings using some other software. Or even move away from Studio One. Ultimately, we can vote using our wallet.

Personally, and I appreciate that this may be just me, I find Presonus approach in releasing badly tested new functionalities and not fixing the problems, disappointing. For other people, it might be perfectly fine - fair enough, I guess.

 

[Vocalpoint]

"For me, the problem is how Studio One released the Launcher. On paper and judging from the enthusiastic promotional videos, the best thing ever. In practice, a half-baked solution that, at best, underperforms"

The only logical explanation that I can think of for releasing the Launcher in it's current form was scheduling. Where Presonus was banging away at v7 for probably 18 months or more and finally reached a milestone on their Slack chart that indicated it was time to release and that was v7 for us.

V7 was of course exciting but that wore off quicker for me than for other releases - nothing in it screamed "must have". Everything in there was serviceable - but in the case of the Launcher - just barely. Clearly they wanted a tool that could be used - but not for anything more than basic looping. But that is all you can do with it. It felt like it was built to serve as placeholder and nothing more.

Now - hopefully here some 14 months later - Presonus is working on building out these placeholders to represent more of what the user base was expecting these things to be.

That said - if this next "bigger" release drops and the Launcher is still in this form - then I do not understand why they wasted time on it in the first place. It makes no sense to code this thing up - to do what it does today.

Probably another big reason that only about 8 of us ever talk about it and I can never find a single recent video about anyone doing anything with it. It's like it came and went in about 2 weeks back in Oct 2024.

VP

 

[Studio2]

(...)
That said - if this next "bigger" release drops and the Launcher is still in this form - then I do not understand why they wasted time on it in the first place. It makes no sense to code this thing up - to do what it does today.
(...)

"It makes no sense to code this thing up - to do what it does today".

I guess we’ll never know for certain but, in a way, it does make sense.

I had to speculate; I would say that PreSonus operates like any other company. They need to attract new customers and have the existing customers supporting them with updates. The way to do it is with new functionalities, advertising and marketing.

They need new functionalities - to justify a new version and to be ahead of competitors. Developers are under an incredible amount of pressure and “we need more time/resources/testing” becomes something the management don’t want to hear. In many cases, the result is as predictable as it is unavoidable. I’ve seen it, it happens all the times and it will keep happening.

Having said all the above, this is very much a personal speculation, completely based on personal experience. I know nothing about how PreSonus operates and I don’t even remotely claim that this is what happens with S1.

 

[Vocalpoint]

They need new functionalities - to justify a new version and to be ahead of competitors.

Couldn't agree more - but for this sentence to ring true - you need to first design (and then deliver) new features that are actually ahead of the competition so the justification to an upgrader or a new user - makes sense.

If we are talking the Launcher here - what we got on Oct 2024 is not even close to the main competition so justification is hard to even quantify - much less accept.

VP

 

[Studio2]

Couldn't agree more - but for this sentence to ring true - you need to first design (and then deliver) new features that are actually ahead of the competition so the justification to an upgrader or a new user - makes sense.

If we are talking the Launcher here - what we got on Oct 2024 is not even close to the main competition so justification is hard to even quantify - much less accept.

VP

Once you take into account other elements, it actually makes sense.

Please forgive me but I don’t want to be a distraction in a forum that exists to support Studio One users.

If you send me a DM and I’ll be happy to discuss this off-line.

 

[Vocalpoint]

Once you take into account other elements, it actually makes sense.

Please forgive me but I don’t want to be a distraction in a forum that exists to support Studio One users.

If you send me a DM and I’ll be happy to discuss this off-line.

No problem. We can conclude the development speculation here.

But I still do not see this chat being a distraction. A drift - maybe but I believe that any and all discussion on the Launcher is connected to the spirit of this (any other) like-topic threads.

It all comes down to the basic fact (established long ago) that it is the Launcher's shortcomings that are the actual catalyst for many of these posts.

Users roll in with very logical operational challenges that they initially perceive as bugs or issues, ask a great question and then are disappointed to find the real answer (in many cases) is that whatever they were experiencing (or NOT getting/seeing) was never even there (or possible) in the first place.

VP

 

[TimC340]

There's no way this is a distraction. This discussion is interesting and of great relevance to the users of this forum, even if some would rather not speculate about how PreSonus got S One to where it is now, and why some features are half-baked. I don't think it's 'disloyal' or insulting in any way to the userbase - there are many (like me) who've never used the Launcher and are getting an education by reading this topic!