Just what is the story with the user manual? Why are half the features not documented?

This message was edited 10 times. Last update was at 07/05/2014 08:47:00

The Studio One user manual well and clearly written, BUT it's very incomplete. Half the features of Studio One are undocumented. For example, I've never really known the difference between the "Re-Index Presets" and "Update Plug-Ins" as it always seems I need to click both in order for new plugins to show up in the browser, so I searched the PDF manual for the button captions:

And here are the search results (note: case-sensitive search disabled):

This is not acceptable, because without comprehensive documentation I am unable to fully utilise the product I paid for.

A good user manual should make no assumptions and every UI control and command should be referred to in the user manual once at the very least. Furthremore, the current index is practically useless: it is so incomplete that even the word "Undo" does not appear in it. In fact, the letter 'U' was skipped altogether!

I agree that it's incomplete. Every command that appear in the keyboard shortcuts list should be explained. The ball was dropped big time on this one. Not a good week for me with S1 as I'm still discovering bugs and inconsistencies.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 07/05/2014 08:18:23

"Layers Follow Events" is missing from the user manual:

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/05/2014 08:55:37

This is all the manual says about shared copies:

Audio Parts support shared, or ghost, copies, with the exception of Event FX, which only have one instance per Event.

So I guess shared instrument parts don't exist, as far as the manual is concerned. I couldn't find the word 'ghost' anywhere else in the manual either.

They ought to add what's missing in the manual if they want to be taken seriously.

seriously? seriously?

sorry for the pun... but that is rather amusing.

Gotta back you up on this. I have found the Forums far more use than the manual.

Many features were added since the manual was written. That's at least part of it.

I have never opened the manual, I don't even know where to access it as I never have even looked for it

mwright137 wrote:Many features were added since the manual was written. That's at least part of it.

Probably true. I realise maintaining documentation is no trivial task. I hope the user manual gets some love soon.

Scoox wrote:

mwright137 wrote:Many features were added since the manual was written. That's at least part of it.

Probably true. I realize maintaining documentation is no trivial task. I hope the user manual gets some love soon.

Every release has an addendum for new features, however I do agree that not all options/features are explained fully. Addendum or no addendum.

i agree it is incomplete from looking at it but i reckon i am of the lucky few (j/k) that has trouble with manuals. but as was said... that would be a monumental task to keep up with as fast as updates are available. but i think they need to put someone on it full time to try and keep it up to date... or at least closer to date.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/05/2014 23:37:29

jBranam wrote:that would be a monumental task to keep up with as fast as updates are available.

It would be somewhat understandable if that was the case but it's not. Take the "Start" and "End" navigation commands for example. I remember seeing them since the beginning of V2. You would think that they would be related to the "Start" and "End" markers as far as navigation goes. Since the shortcut keys for those commands clearly did not react the way I thought, I had to find out on what those commands reacted. Let's just say that if you never split any of your tracks, you'll probably never find out.

There are many commands like that in the "Studio One Keyboard Shortcuts" page that have been there since 2.0 and I still have no idea what they are doing to this day.

Automation > Remove
Automation > Remove current parameter

One of these two doesn't seem to work or do anything. Without documentation, I don't know if I am using them in the right context. Some commands cannot just be assigned to a keyboard shortcut, they need numerical parameters and have to be launched as a macro.