In this free video series we highlight Paul Drew’s top four Studio One features. In this second episode, Pauls shows you how Drag and Drop in Studio One really helps him maintain a speedy production workflow, which is essential when you are in the creative flow.

One of the core features of the Studio One workflow is drag and drop which enables its users to work fast, spending more time making music. If you are new to Studio One, here are four ways you can also use drag and drop in Studio One to help aid your workflow:

• Creating new instruments: The quickest way to get a new instrument (or plug-in or preset for that matter) going in a Studio One Song is to find it in the browser and simply drag and drop it to the track. What’s cool is if you drag an instrument, Studio One will create the track and routes the audio. If the VI has multiple outputs Studio One will even take care of that for you. If you want to change your VI you simply replace it by dragging a different instrument on to the track to replace it.

• Copying Plug-ins: If you want to copy settings from one plug-in to a different channel you simply drag the plug-in you want to use across from one track to the other. Studio One copies the plug-in along with its settings to the new track. You won’t believe how simple this is.

• Creating Automation: When moving settings in a VI or plug-in in Studio One the data relating to that setting shows in the black box at the top left. This should show a meaningful name though in some third-party plug-ins this may only display a basic control number. Either way, whatever this shows reach up with your cursor and grab the hand icon so it goes white. Drag it to the channel where the instrument or effect is used. Now you have the automation lane - which you can use to automate that control.

• Coping The Groove From One Track To Another: Let's say you have a drum part and you want the bass track to follow the same groove. Hit the 'Q' button in the toolbar to see the Quantize toolbar appear. To the left, there's an option to choose 'Grid' or 'Groove'; select 'Groove'. Simply drag the audio from the track that has the Groove you want to follow up to the window directly to the right of the Groove selector. Find the track which will be either MIDI or Audio to which you want to match the groove and hit the Apply. You may want to use the Bend settings to modify how much of the groove is copied to the groove window. Also experiment with the intensity of the quantize to taste. This can take some trial and error and, in most cases, you'll find subtle moves works best.