MixBrain v2.0 – Master + Node mix preparation plugin tested in Studio One

[Okeke]

Hi everyone,

I’m an independent developer working on a macOS VST3/AU plugin called MixBrain v2.0, and I’m looking for feedback from Studio One users.

MixBrain is a Master + Node mix preparation system.

The basic idea is:

• Insert MixBrain Master on the mix bus
• Insert MixBrain Node on individual tracks or buses
• The Master listens to the full 2mix
• The Nodes provide track-level information
• MixBrain then helps identify masking, clutter, and possible preparation moves before final balancing, EQ, compression, and mastering

It is not meant to be a one-click “magic mix” tool, and it is not intended to replace the engineer’s judgment.

The goal is more practical:
to help prepare a dense session by finding where tracks may be fighting each other, then suggesting small distributed corrections instead of heavy processing on one channel.

I mainly develop and test it in Studio One, so I’d really like to hear how the workflow feels to other Studio One users.

Some current features:

• Master + Node workflow
• Genre / era / mix direction selectors in the Master header
• Mix directions such as Vocal Forward, Live Natural, Wide & Big, Lo-fi, and Cinematic Depth
• Genre targets such as Pop, Rock, EDM, Acoustic, Metal, HipHop, Cinematic, LoFi, etc.
• Pro edition supports up to 128 slots
• macOS VST3/AU

Current limitation:
It is macOS only at the moment. Windows is on the roadmap, but I can’t give a release date yet.

I would appreciate any feedback from Studio One users, especially regarding:

• Whether the Master + Node workflow makes sense in real sessions
• Whether this feels useful as a mix preparation step
• Any Studio One-specific workflow issues
• What kind of recommendations would be genuinely helpful rather than intrusive

A Free edition is available if anyone wants to test the basic workflow.
https://kiyohbimbo.gumroad.com/l/rgjgus

Thank you.

 

[IndigoBeatz]

Hi , it looks interesting , i' m willing to beta test your plugin , but for what i can see on the website is that the free version only comes with the "node" and not the " master"

So if you want any feedback for the full plugin we got to buy it ?

 

[Okeke]

Hi , it looks interesting , i' m willing to beta test your plugin , but for what i can see on the website is that the free version only comes with the "node" and not the " master"

So if you want any feedback for the full plugin we got to buy it ?

Hi, thank you for pointing that out.

Sorry if the website made that unclear.

The Free edition does include both MixBrain Master and MixBrain Node. You do not need to buy the paid version just to test the basic Master / Node workflow.

The main difference is the limitation of the Free edition, such as the available slot count and session scale. The paid editions are mainly for larger sessions and more practical production use.

So yes, you can absolutely beta test the core system with the Free version:

• Insert MixBrain Node on tracks
• Insert MixBrain Master on the mix bus
• Let Master receive and compare the Node information
• Try the suggestions and internal processing

If you are willing to test larger sessions or paid-edition limits, feel free to message me and I can also discuss a full test license.

Thank you again — I’ll update the website wording to make this clearer.

 

[Okeke]

Quick update: MixBrain v2.0.1 is now available.

This update is mainly based on the early feedback from people testing it in real sessions.

A few users mentioned that while the EQ suggestions were useful, some of the Node readouts felt too active, especially compressor-related values. That made it harder to read the result calmly and could become tiring during longer sessions.

So v2.0.1 focuses on making the readouts more stable and easier to evaluate.

Main changes:

• Node readouts now focus more on stable analyzed results
• Compressor-related readouts should be less visually busy
• Compressor suggestions now vary more clearly between Nodes
• Tape / Saturation suggestions are less likely to feel like the same value across all tracks
• Transient suggestions have been refined without changing the core workflow
• Remaining Japanese text in EN mode has been cleaned up
• Master reports and Node suggestions should be easier to read in English

The goal is not to turn MixBrain into a one-click finished mix tool.

The goal is still mix preparation:

• find masking
• identify low-end buildup
• suggest small corrective moves
• give the user a better starting point before manual mixing

Thanks again to everyone who tested the first v2.0 release and gave detailed feedback. This was exactly the kind of real-world information needed to improve the plugin.

If you already downloaded or purchased MixBrain, v2.0.1 should be available from your Gumroad library.