PreSonus Blog

We, and our advocates, make a lotta to-do about the audio quality inherent in our products. After all, every weensy component choice in the guts of our gear begets some sonic consequence, so such engineering decisions are not made lightly. Serious business. We’re proud.

At PreSonus, we believe in finding the right person for the job, which is why we leave it to Rodney Orpheus to blow minds. That’s what he’s paid to do, after all, but “mind-blower” isn’t the most flattering title to have on a business card, so we call him a “Technology Evangelist.” I would prefer to call him a “Cyber-Paladin,” but doing so would place me just to the left of my jurisdiction, and just to the right of Rodney’s favor.

So here he is, evangelizing our technology in the best worms-eye-view, hands-on, golly-it’s-really-that-easy demonstration of StudioLive Remote on the iPad that I’ve ever seen. Rodney gallantly sojourns across The Scala, effortlessly slaying a 330Hz  resonance dragon with one hand, while stoically rescuing the bassist’s monitor mix with the other. Raise a glass of Romulan grog, for the hero has restored order to the kingdom!

Edwin McCain’s isn’t a guy who’s on the road, Edwin McCain is a guy who is from the road. He’s a 100-shows-in-100-days sort, yet he has somehow has managed to write, record, and release a full-length album every couple of years—for the past 20. The guy knows what he’s doing.

It speaks well of us, then, that Edwin chooses to use not-one-but-two PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 mixers on the road, for monitor and FOH. At every show. Each show gets a multi-track recording, because hey, why not? I mean, the mics are already plugged in and everything.  Hit REC on Capture.

I’ll let Edwin and his crew explain in their own words. Listen closely for a clever tech tip or two…

Digital Recording Arts was kind enough to drive a FaderPort around the block a few times and post the results of their road test. The verdict? They like it, and so do we. Hope I didn’t ruin the ending. Fader automation is a high-endy feature that oft doesn’t come inexpensively… but we got that covered.

I like the FaderPort for its small-footprint and surprising ergonomics. After a half-hour of use I found myself  having memorized button functions for both transport and Window controls. I very quickly found that I didn’t even need to look at the FaderPort to use it.

But hey, this isn’t about MY review. It’s about Digital Recording Arts’ opinion, which can be found after the jump. Their favorite feature of the FaderPort? “My favorite feature on the Faderport…  is the punch button, allowing the user to toggle punch recording in the DAW.  The unit has a single footswitch input, giving self-recording artists the ability to punch in hands-free.”

JUMP!

Yes, I’m sure some of you are looking at that title and thinking “But isn’t the Winter NAMM show in January?” – and you would be right. But here at PreSonus, we’re already starting to get stuff ready for the show about six weeks ahead of the date. Yep, so much for the holiday season…

There’s an old music biz joke that the acronym NAMM stands for Not Available, Maybe May (or even less kindly, Maybe Movember). We took the decision a while back not to show stuff unless it was actually ready to ship, and we’re trying to stick to that, though sometimes when you have some wonderfully cool piece of technology in development it is really hard to resist the temptation to show it off. This time round we have Studio One 2.0 to show of course, and the new AudioBox VSL range, but we’re currently looking at the other stuff we have in engineering and evaluating how ready it is, and how best to debut it if it is indeed ready for prime time.

I’m pretty happy to say that I think we’ve got a couple of really cool things that we should be able to introduce at the show, so for the next weeks my head will be buried in technical notes and slideshows figuring out just how it all works and preparing to show it off. Cant wait!

B&H is making Paul and my jobs a little easy by doing great work for us! Rob Rives of B&H takes us on an in-depth tour of the entire AudioBox line, including hardcore gearnographic I/O closeups, and audio demos of the Fat Channel audio processing that defines the AudioBox VSL series’ particular brand of kick-assedness.

Rob’s run-through is so thorough and accurate that I half expected him to just unveil a schematic and start giving away all our sonic circuit secrets. He stops just shy of this, but I’m still a little suspicious. He seems like a Man Who Knows Too Much.  I’m going to go talk to HR and see if this guy used to work for us or something.

A great question came in via Twitter this morning, and I thought the answer was worth sharing with everyone. I was asked how GarageBand owners should demonstrate proof-of-purchase in order to qualify for our Studio One Crossgrade offer, as GarageBand is often bundled with a Mac upon purchase.

The answer is to take a screenshot of your registered applications list including GarageBand, and send it to us. In case you don’t know where to find this information, (its in the system profiler, and who ever needs to mess around in there?) I’ve taken the liberty of assembling this handy li’l guide. Click to embiggen any screenshots.

1. Click “About This Mac” from the Apple Menu.

2. In the dialogue that pops up, click “More Info…” The System Profiler will appear.

3. In the left column, scroll down to “Applications,” under “Software.” Click here.

4. In the main System Profiler window, scroll down until you find “GarageBand.”

5. Press Command+Shift+3 (all at once) to take a screenshot. It will be saved to your desktop.

6. Send this screenshot to crossgrade@PreSonus.com to qualify for your discount, and we’ll send you a coupon allowing you to purchase Studio One Professional 2 for $299 USD!

If you’re not familiar with Transient Detection, the first thing you need to know is that it’s not about finding the homeless. You’re thinking of a hobometer. Forget that. Transient Detection, in the DAW sense, is about grabbing the louder, pokier bits in your wave form. Now sure, you can do that with your eyes and ears, despite the creeping tinnitus you likely have by now, but what’s important is what you do WITH these Transients once they’ve been detected. Grab these os and 1s by their digital little collarbones and bend them to your will! But why?

Because drummers have substance abuse issues. Let’s say you spent EONS on your snare tuning and mic placement, and it sounds like a squib in a squnich. Then the drum-dum shows up reeking of cheap patchouli oil, tail and sticks dragging. You get the take, but it’s sloppy, and said drummer is all “THAT WAS THE ONE, MAN!”

The advantages of Transient Detection begin with the ability to grab those late-but-great-sounding snare hits and snap ’em to grid. Just make sure no analog purists are looking. You’ll end up with pixel-perfect snare whacks—if you like. The quantization is scalable; you can render the performance TR-909 mechanized, or leave some natural looseness, or set it somewhere in-between.

Now that you know what this technology has to offer, let’s consult with another aweseomesauce OBEDIA video on the how.

If you’re not familiar with Transient Detection, the first thing you need to know is that it’s not about finding the homeless. You’re thinking of a hobometer. Forget that. Transient Detection, in the DAW sense, is about grabbing the louder, pokier bits in your wave form. Now sure, you can do that with your eyes and ears, despite the creeping tinnitus you likely have by now, but what’s important is what you do WITH these Transients once they’ve been detected. Grab these os and 1s by their digital little collarbones and bend them to your will! But why?

Because drummers have substance abuse issues. Let’s say you spent EONS on your snare tuning and mic placement, and it sounds like a squib in a squnich. Then the drum-dum shows up reeking of cheap patchouli oil, tail and sticks dragging. You get the take, but it’s sloppy, and said drummer is all “THAT WAS THE ONE, MAN!”

The advantages of Transient Detection begin with the ability to grab those late-but-great-sounding snare hits and snap ’em to grid. Just make sure no analog purists are looking. You’ll end up with pixel-perfect snare whacks—if you like. The quantization is scalable; you can render the performance TR-909 mechanized, or leave some natural looseness, or set it somewhere in-between.

Now that you know what this technology has to offer, let’s consult with another aweseomesauce OBEDIA video on the how. Click below.