Studio Pro: The Channel Overview

The Channel Overview can be opened using a dedicated button at the bottom right of the screen, or by double‑clicking a track header in the arrangement window, or a channel strip in the mixer console. By default, it appears along the bottom of your screen. For ‘native’ Studio Pro plug‑ins (like Pro EQ and Compressor), you get all the key controls plus graphical elements, so you can edit EQ and compression graphs directly within the Channel Overview.

The Channel Overview is a powerful and efficient new way to access key parameters in Studio Pro.

One of the most shocking new features in Fender Studio Pro 8 is the Channel Overview. Shocking, because of the dramatic way it asserts itself across the front of your DAW. Once you get over the shock of this unbending window, however, you’ll find that it’s actually very useful. It’s superb for giving you a clear overview of what plug‑ins are processing the chosen channel, and it’s also brilliant for giving you immediate access to the most important plug‑in controls without you having to open the whole plug‑in GUI. What’s perhaps less obvious is that it can be tailored to show whatever it is you want to see...

Channel Overview - Overview

The Channel Overview window can be accessed in a number of ways. You can double‑click a track header in the arrangement window, or a channel strip in the mixer console. There’s a dedicated button for it on the bottom right of the screen, next to where you find the Console, Browser and Editor buttons. Oddly, you can’t open it from the main View menu, which lists absolutely everything else that can be opened in the entire DAW.

I should also note that the precursor of the Channel Overview, the Channel Editor, is still available from the little icon that looks like a hand of playing cards on a channel strip. While the Channel Overview does a better job of giving you access to the loaded plug‑ins, the Channel Editor is still the only place where you can edit the signal routing between plug‑ins and create Macro controls over parameters.

While the Channel Overview does a better job of giving you access to the loaded plug‑ins, the Channel Editor is still the only place where you can edit the signal routing between plug‑ins and create Macro controls over parameters.

The Channel Overview window appears as a tall strip across the bottom of the screen in the same position as the Console and Editor. As with the other windows, it doesn’t have to stay there. If you click the little diagonal up arrow in the top left corner of the window, the Overview will detach and become a floating window. As a floater, it can be resized horizontally, but shows no interest in any vertical changes. You can return the floating window to its original position by clicking the diagonal down arrow on the top right of the detached window....