Hi,

To download Notion you would've had to create an account. All of the downloads should be available there when you login.

You will need to download and install all of the free instrument packs that come with Notion. You should also be able to find the Notion update there as well if you already haven't installed the latest version.

Thanks for the reply!

But still no go. I downloaded and installed Notion strings, it indicated they were installed, but when I open Notion and try to play the demos I still get the message, "sounds are not available".

I am a Presonus Sphere member, so according to everything I read, activation of Notion is automatic. And Notion does open up, the demo score moves, but no sounds are heard. When I click "update sounds" the box states "all sounds are up to date."

How can all sounds be up to date, but no sounds are available???

Would an uninstall of Notion followed by a clean reinstall help?

I do everything on the Mac, but a few possibilities come to mind . . .

THOUGHTS

This happens on the Mac, so it might be happening on your Windows machine . . .

(1) The installer for instrument sounds installs to a specific location (drive and folder on the Mac and drive and directory on a Windows machine).

Check and set the location of the instrument sounds (a.k.a., "Samples") in NOTION Preferences and ensure it is the correct location . . .

If this is the problem, then it's not a matter of uninstalling and reinstalling the NOTION application . .

Instead, it's a matter of NOTION being unable to find or access the instrument sounds, which in the simple scenario is a matter of ensuring the location is set correctly in NOTION Preferences . .

[NOTE: The default NOTION tuning frequency is not the US Standard ("Concert A" = 440-Hz), so you need to change it to 440-Hz if you want to use the standard. This needs to be done with Studio One Professional, as well, although as I recall Studio One Professional uses the US standard as its default. Most third-party VST instruments and virtual engines use the US standard, but check to ensure everything is consistent. I use the US standard CD quality (44.1-KHz) as the sample rate, although the standard audio rate for video (48-KHz) also is good, but it needs to be consistent for Studio One Professional and NOTION when so specified. The sample rates for Studio One Professional and NOTION need to match, as do the various VSTi virtual instrument engines like SampleTank, Miroslav Philharmonik 2, Syntronik, et al. (IK Multimedia), Kontakt (Native Instruments), Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL), MachFive (MOTU), UVI Workstation (UVI), Addictive Keys and Addictive Drums (XLN Audio), and so forth . . . ]


NOTION Preferences ~ Audio Tab ~ Mac

(2) In some scenarios, the default Master stereo output channel pair is not the actual stereo output pair used by your computer and its sound card or external digital audio and MIDI interface . . .

This happens on my Mac when I use a MOTU 828mk3 Hyprid external digital audio and MIDI interface for sound output, in which case instead of "Channels 1-2", I need to specify "Channels 3-4" . . .

MOTU Technical Support suggested trying each possible stereo output channel pair until one of them worked, which is the way the problem was solved . . .

MORE POSSIBILITIES

For the most part, every Mac is the same with respect to basic configurations, since they all are designed and made by Apple . .

This makes it easier for me to provide help for other Mac folks, because my stuff pretty much is the same as their stuff . . .

It's different in the Windows universe, since (a) there are many machine designers and builders and (b) they tend to use different audio processors and audio boards, but so what . . .

This is the reason I suggest checking the channel pair for the NOTION Master stereo output in the NOTION Mixer.

It needs to be the same as you have it set in Studio One Professional for Audio . . .

(3) The specific user account is another possibility in Windows . . .

On the Mac, most folks use the Admin account or in some cases an account granted Admin privileges, although it's usually just the Admin account . . .

In Windows, the account needs to have Administrator privileges and all that travels with it, including access to directories, since a lot of the NOTION configuration stuff and instrument samples are kept in directories that might require Administrator privileges to be seen by NOTION--or something along that line, including the Windows System Registry . . .

I did a lot of work in Windows as a software engineer starting in 1987, but it's been over a decade more recently since I did anything in Windows or had a Windows machine, and I have nearly no idea how Windows account and other privilege are handled now . . .

I mention Windows account privileges in case nothing else works . . .

It's probably not a matter of Windows account privileges, but if they are not set properly, it can cause problems . . .

SUMMARY

Based on the information you provided, NOTION is telling you it cannot find the instrument samples; and this suggests the first solution (see above) . . .

Sometimes on the Mac, the NOTION sounds installers do not run to completion or have other problems, so you download the sound(s) and run it again . . .

It's rare, but in some instances, you need to install the sounds manually, which is possible on the Mac and probably can be done on a Windows machine, but that's a different discussion . . .

And yet another possibility is that your local Internet Servce Provider (ISP) is throttling your downloads so that when you download the sounds for a set of instruments, the download has problems and the installer only appears to run but actually does not run to successful completion . . .

There is another, somewhat subtle nuance, which is that if you had standalone NOTION before subscribing the PreSonus Sphere, then you need to remove the license for standalone NOTION to use NOTION with PreSonus Sphere . . .

This possibility--and its simple solution--is explained in detail in another of my recent posts to this forum . . .

This is all that comes to mind at the moment, and one of these suggestions should provide a solution . . .

Lot of FUN!

In addition to checking Surf's suggestions, I'd recommend submitting a support ticket to Presonus Support. The Notion specialists are very helpful and respond quickly.

Thanks for the replies!

I will try all those suggestions and get back with any (hopefully good) results.

michaelherbert4 wroteThanks for the replies!

I will try all those suggestions and get back with any (hopefully good) results.

In the second scenario (2), the key clue is that the LED-style volume level meters show movement, indicating audio is being output, although nothing is heard . . .

THOUGHTS

When the LED volume level indicators are moving, autio is there and is being generated; so it's just a matter of configuring the output to the correct device . . .

In this scenario, NOTION is generating audio but sending it to the wrong output device, hence you do not hear the audio . . .

Lots of FUN!