Stem export tools make a quiet assumption: that your session is routed through buses, one per group, named sensibly. Plenty of good sessions are built around folders instead, and until this release that assumption was the price of automatic stem selection in fMusic too.
What a category is, and why it selects by structure
An export category in fMusic is a name bound to one reference in the session, and it selects its tracks through that reference automatically. Selecting by structure is what makes a category portable: one song has 20 drum tracks and the next has 13, and the Drums category finds them in both, because it reads how the session is wired instead of what the tracks are called. The same property makes favorite prints reusable. A print built from categories works on every project, where a print that listed specific tracks would break on the next one. The full export model (prints, favorites and recipes) is mapped in what changed from fMusic.
Two ways a category can read the session
A Pro Tools bounce can do two separate things, and a category can drive either of them. You pick one of the two for the whole categories table, in the Export pane of Settings, because a session is organized one way or the other.
Routing. The category names a bus or an output, and fMusic tells Pro Tools to capture from it. Nothing gets soloed: only what's routed there arrives there, so the stem is exact. This is how categories have always worked, and it's available in fMusic Studio and Suite.
Folder. The category names one or more routing folders (Pro Tools folder tracks that also carry audio). fMusic solos them and captures from the main output, so Pro Tools carries the solo down to every track inside. Because soloing adds up, one category can name several folders, and the stem is their sum. Folder is part of fMusic Suite.
The two modes hear slightly different things. A bus capture takes the sum before any processing on the track that receives the bus. A folder capture comes off the main output, so it includes the folder's own processing.
Why routing alone wasn't enough
Routing works well when routing is consistent, and consistent routing is what fMusic's own import produces: the prep half of the product is what made the export half reliable. If your sessions are template driven, our guide to mix template bus routing covers that structure on the Pro Tools side, and nothing changes for you.
Other studios organize with routing folders, where the folders themselves are the structure of the mix. For them, categories only worked after rebuilding the session around buses. A tool should match how the session is built, so Folder mode reads the folders that are already there.
Same prints, either way
Everything after the reference works the same in both modes. A category with a reference becomes an automatic print in each session, ready in your favorites, so configuring a category once gives you a deliverable. If you delete one, fMusic remembers and doesn't bring it back. Categories live in Settings, configured once and read by every session, because which part of the session defines your stems is a studio decision.
Prints still carry their own range (the whole session, a time range, or the span between two markers) and their own list of audio formats (WAV, AIFF or MP3), rendered in one pass. A print shows Inherit or an explicit override for its mix source and format, so there's no hidden state to check.
Three sessions, one export sheet
The template studio. Sessions start from a routed template, every instrument lands on its bus, and the categories point at those buses in Routing mode. Nothing changes.
The folder producer. The session is organized by routing folders: drums in one, synths in another, vocals in a third. In Folder mode each category points at its folder, and a Drums category can name the kit folder and the percussion folder together.
The flat session. Tracks go straight to outputs. In Routing mode each category points at an output, and the stem holds every track assigned to it.
| How the session is built | Mode | Category reference | What the stem holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routed template, one bus per group | Routing | The bus | Every track routed to it |
| Flat session to outputs | Routing | The output | Every track assigned to it |
| Routing folders as the structure | Folder (Suite) | One or more routing folders | Everything inside those folders, with the folders' processing |
In every case the check before the render is the same: every print can be auditioned before it prints, isolated exactly as it will render.
What it doesn't do
Selecting by structure means trusting the structure. A category exports what its reference actually holds, so a folder that collects stray tracks exports them, and a bus that picked up a rerouted track exports that track too. Cleaning the structure is a different job with its own tool, Organize, which rewrites an existing session into readable, categorized order.
VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers, Pro Tools faders that set the level of a group of tracks without any audio passing through them) and single tracks can't be used as a category reference. Folder mode is part of Suite, and in fMusic Studio categories use Routing. The full tier split is in fMusic Studio vs Suite.
Frequently asked questions
What can an export category point at?
In Routing mode, a bus or an output, in fMusic Studio and Suite. In Folder mode, one or more routing folders, in fMusic Suite. The mode is one choice for the whole categories table.
Can I use a VCA as a category?
No, you can’t. A VCA has no audio of its own to capture or solo, so today a category points at a bus, an output or routing folders.
Do categories carry across sessions?
Yes. A category selects by structure, so the same category finds 20 drum tracks in one session and 13 in the next without being edited.
Do I have to rebuild my routing to use categories?
If your session is organized with routing folders, no: in fMusic Suite the category points at the folders that already exist.
What's the difference between a category and a favorite print?
A category is a selection rule bound to one reference in the session. A favorite print is a saved deliverable built from categories. Every category with a reference also becomes an automatic print, so one configuration gives you both.
What happens if a folder or bus contains tracks that shouldn't export?
They export. A category trusts its reference, so the structure has to hold what it claims. Keeping the structure clean is Organize's job.
Can I check a category print before it renders?
Yes. Print preview auditions any print, isolated exactly as it will render, before Pro Tools bounces anything.
Categories select stems from how your session is organized: buses and outputs everywhere, routing folders in Suite. Every category with a reference is already a reusable print. The rest of the export model is at forte-ai.com/fmusic.
