PreSonus Blog

PreSonus’ Rodney Orpheus and Sonic Sense’s Nick Batt had a great little Q&A bro-down at PLASA 2013. This was the first-ever hands-on public showing of the new StudioLive 16.4.2AI and 24.4.2AI. 

Rodney covers the AI part of the StudioLive AI series in great detail here, and closes with a touch on the new StudioLive AI Loudspeakers. Definitely worth a watch! Thanks to Sonic Sense for bringing Nick, as well as the camera. 

[This just in from Christopher McGilvray of Magic Wing Entertainment!]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My StudioLive 32.4.2AI arrived yesterday, and after a long wait, you came through big time. Thank you. The same quick and familiar workflow on the desk, coupled with the VSL software makes this a world class mixer, for sure. I held out all summer waiting for this board, and as the minutes passed, I have to admit, my mind began to wander to the other options to fill the gap, but after plugging in the power cord and lighting the StudioLive off, I was positive that I had made the right choice to stick by the Presonus equipment. I could not be happier.

During my wait, I was enticed by the alternatives with flying faders like the Si3, but with the seamless integration of VSL and the “fader locate” feature of the StudioLive, those extra servos and belts are no longer an issue! This board has the horsepower and features of mixers at a much higher price point, while keeping the UI simple. I have been hopelessly lost in the endless system menu and setup of the Vi desks, and was going to add breadcrumbs to my FOH bag for my future journeys through that GUI black forest, but instead I can keep a thermos of coffee, and enjoy the mixing, instead of the messing around.

Please do pass along my praises. I got a chance last night to work the new StudioLive at a show, and let me just say “wow.” I am familiar with the StudioLive 24.4.2 desk, but Active Integration makes it  the most powerful thing I have used this past season, hands down. As I mentioned, I have been on Soundcraft and Midas consoles this year. Our local venue installed a Peavey 32 FX  (chosen for simplicity, not for any DSP abilities, btw). As a standalone board, the StudioLive 32.4.2AI is powerful! There is so much under the hood of this console that is not seen with the naked eye. Plug in a FW 800 cable to a quad i7 MacBookPro, however, and the desk is ready for anything! Add in SL Remote on iPad, and you have a mixer that is graphical superstation.

I routinely have an opener and a main band, and the mix scenes are a luxury that I also
thank you for. You guys and girls obviously know the deal as to what am FOH guy goes through in switching over acts, and this mixer saves me a minimum of 15 minutes in turn over time due to the scenes option. That is a lifetime in the live world!

Okay, and here is another point where I had to sit back and smile, pleasantly impressed: the built-in effects are spot on. Since I was with a band that I know well last night, I had the chance to tweak and play more then chase the sound all night, and I was so very impressed with the quality of the effects, as well as the effects level control. My experience with mixers of a similar price point have been terrible with regards to DSP engines. The Peavey 32 FX I mentioned earlier is useless in this area; it’s like a two-stroke engine trying to pull a trailer uphill when it comes to anything more then some simple EQ. Other hybrid boards as well as other digital boards also get left in the dust by the 32.4.2AI. Call up an effect, assign some inputs to it, send it on an encoder that isn’t scratchy or jumpy, and suddenly you can hear a very rich and satisfying reverb or delay gently enter the mix. THAT’s the way it should work, and you folks got it right! Delays didn’t build up and run away, reverbs didn’t sound like tin warehouses, and the crowd didn’t need to pound seasick pills by the end of the night. Perfect in my opinion.

I could write a review on this board, but that is not my intent. I really just want to say that as I waited with much anticipation from the announcement at NAMM until the shipment date of this board, I grew to find myself second-guessing and worrying a bit. Last night sealed the deal as far as my decision is concerned, and I am confident that I made the best choice. I knew it in my heart anyway. I have a rack full of FirePods that still serve me very, very well. They kept me in business as far as the recording aspect was concerned between SL boards. Oh, yeah—FW 800 deserves a huge thank you as well. A ThunderBolt option in the future will be a blessing as well, if it is in the cards.

I look forward to driving hell out of this thing. Last night was a 24-channel spin around the neighborhood. When I did need to push it a bit, there was plenty of power to spare.

Well done, folks. You’ve had me as a loyal customer for a while. Now I am a vocal one, as well, best wishes! On behalf of myself, and the folks involved in my small but extremely passionate live sound company, thanks! PreSonus got this one right from beginning to end. Still looking forward to cooking up the recipe in the manual, too!

Warm regards,
Christopher McGilvray
Magic Wing Entertainment

This video was recently uploaded to YouTube by 5aint, A-list producer for The Spice Girls, Pet Shop boys, and many, many others. He recorded this video with his cell phone to document his reaction to hearing the new Sceptre S8 monitors as compared to the Event 2030s and a pair of Yamaha NS-10s.

While the audio quality here is clearly a product of his cell phone’s mic, audio quality is not what this video is about. Well, it is about audio quality… but you get my drift. The standout here is 5aint’s reaction upon hearing the Sceptres, which starts at around the 8:16 mark. The video below is embedded to begin at that point, but feel free to skip back a bit if you want to see his thoughts on the other speakers.

Suffice it to say; the man’s got ears, and they like what they hears. The golden moment includes notable sub-moments like:

This is the sort of historical document that simply can’t be scripted. It’s like baby’s first steps, V-J Day in Times Square, and the squirrel photobomb all rolled into one.

Thanks, 5aint!

>

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: you guys did some incredible work. We had so many astonishing submissions to the Why StudioLive video contest that we had to up the ante on our prizes significantly. We had planned to give away two prizes, and expanded this to four big prizes, a dozen copies of Studio One Professional, and a sizeable order of T-shirts that caused a cotton shortage in Kentucky.

Included below are some of our favorites that may not have made the final cut, but certainly cut out a little place in our hearts.

David B’s “Why PreSonus StudioLive at LocalMotive Studios” was a close, close contender.

“Why Not Presonus StudioLive?” from T-Bone pitches the StudioLive as exactly what it is: an all-in-one solution. “It’s so advanced, but also so simple.” This guy really gets it!

Chris’ “Get Connected with PreSonus” offers great cinematography, music, and detailed feature walk-through, while also extrapolating upon the mixer’s namesake: applications in both Studio and Live use.

Stay tuned for a future post in our next category: Best Comedies and Musicals!

Some of our fine friends from Rational Acoustics are coming down to Baton Rouge for PreSonuSphere, and they’re arriving a few days early. It’s good that they’ll have a little extra time to see the sights and sniff the smells, but the lead-up time to #PreSonuSphere isn’t all sensory indulgence. These guys are up to something, and you’re invited to take part. And if you choose to take part, we’ll get you into PreSonuSphere for FREE. What the heck. 

While we may be known for our hospitality down thisaway, fact is the Rational Acoustics team are no strangers to conviviality. On Oct. 24, they’ll make an effort to top our no-longer-so-secret Jambalaya recipe—by serving y’all up a steaming-hot kettle of garlic & cumin-seasoned knowledge.

Specifically, this is an opportunity for you to learn all about Smaart v.7 Di straight from the guys who invented it—horse’s mouth and whatnot. Smaart V.7 DI is a simplified, streamlined, two-channel version of the standard Smaart v.7 analysis software—the ideal bridge between the limited features in the VSL Wizards, and the full-blown V.7 program. This eight-hour intensive course will teach you all there is to know about Smaart v.7 Di from software installation to Spectrum & Transfer Function Measurements.

Here’s the official course overview, taken from this PDF, which contains more details.

“The Smaart v.7 Di Training Class covers the fundamentals of using Smaart v.7 Di to make basic RTA, Spectrograph and Transfer Function measurements. Special attention is paid throughout the course to the subject of how to make valid and useful measurements, as opposed to simply making cool squiggly lines appear on the screen. This course focuses on providing the attendee with a functional knowledge of how Smaart v.7 Di operates as a tool and demonstrates techniques and processes for utilizing Smaart v.7 Di in essential system engineering tasks. Both classroom lecture and lab formats are utilized as well as in-class measurements via a signal distribution system to distribute the instructor’s stereo measurement signals to the entire class.”

So, since you’re going to be in town for PreSonuSphere anyhow, you really ought to come out to this thing.

Whens/wheres/good-to-knows:

• Oct 24, 2013—9 a.m. to around 5 p.m. Class breaks at 10:15 a.m., noon, and 3:15 p.m.
• 7249 Florida Blvd. Suite A, Baton Rouge, La. 70806
• Bring your laptop and thinking cap.
• If you sign up for this class, and purchase a license of Smaart v.7 Di at checkout, you will receive roughly a 30 % discount on the license ($195).  Each license contains two installations, which can be installed on two different machines, mac or PC.

• ŒClass registration is available either via the online class registration form in the 

  ˆtraining s€ection of the Rational Acoustics website, or by contacting …Rational †Acoustics directly: +1-860-928-7828

[This just in from Joe Gilder of Home Studio Corner]

Why You Should Make Every Effort to Come to PreSonuSphere (and why I love PreSonus so much)

One word: jambalaya. Seriously.

I was working as a Sales Engineer for Sweetwater Sound. I was kind of a new guy, still learning the ropes, trying to figure out how to effectively sell music and recording gear to people over the phone. And then there was the training… lots and LOTS of training. Twice a week we would come to work an hour and a half early to be trained by one of our many manufacturers on the awesomeness of their latest products.

Some training sessions were awesome. Some made me long for a better place. PreSonus sessions were the former.

See, not only did PreSonus create cool, innovative, problem-solving products. They also cooked jambalaya for us. They would ship this big, huge silver pot from Baton Rouge all the way to Fort Wayne, Indiana, so they could cook ME a jambalaya lunch. I was hooked from the first bite.

See, I’m a Mississippi boy at heart. And these guys know how to win a guy over.

Food. Really, really good food. So I say to myself, “Joe, if these guys make gear as well as they cook, you’ve got to check ‘em out.”

Sure ‘nuff, their gear rocks.

Fast forward several years, and I’m now running the popular home recording website HomeStudioCorner.com, where I help thousands of people get better recordings out of their home studios…and I still have a big crush on PreSonus. I own almost one of everything they make, and I’ve even transitioned to using their DAW, Studio One for all my studio projects. I literally haven’t opened Pro Tools in a looooooong time.

And that’s the topic of my presentation at PreSonuSphere this year. I’ll be teaching a class on “Making the Switch,” where I will be sharing about my transition to Studio One, why and how I did it.

Also, I will be eating a lot of food, particularly jambalaya. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

See you there,

Joe Gilder
Home Studio Corner

Click here to register for PreSonuSphere!

Check out this incredible prize package from our friends at Audix! You could win a StudioLive 16.4.2AI, a MONSTER drum set from Pacific and Sabian, and an 8-Piece Custom Mic package. It’s worth nearly ten grand! Click the image below to enter, and make sure you do so before November 31, 2013.

Here’s all the news on the giveaway, straight from Audix themselves:

OVER THE TOP GIVEAWAY!

Audix 8-Piece Custom Mic Package, May Internal Mounting System, Pacific Drums, DW Hardware, Presonus Digital Mixer, & Sabian Cymbals. Total value $9878!

1. Audix mics—MSRP $3875
2. Sabian Cymbals—MSRP $1295
3. Pacific Drum Set—MSRP $2209
4. PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2AI Mixer—MSRP $2499,
5. Audix Customized 8-piece Microphone Package includes:

• One D6 Silver kick drum mic with internal May Monorail mounting system
• One i5 Silver dynamic mic for snare
• Three D4  dynamic mics for floor and rack toms with internal May mounting system
• One ADX51 pre-polarized condenser mic for high hat
• Two SCX25A large diaphragm condensers for overheads

Total Value—$9878

StudioLive™ 16.4.2AI
16x4x2 Active Integration Digital Mixer

Features:

• Dual Fat Channel signal processing on all 16 input channels and all buses, with 4-band semi-parametric EQ, compressor, gate, limiter, and more—all with A/B comparison
• Tightly integrated software library includes PreSonus Studio One® Artist 2.6 DAW with StudioLive scene compatibility, Capture™2.1 live-recording software with Virtual Soundcheck mode, and Virtual StudioLive™-AI mixer-control software with Smaart Measurement Technology™, plus free StudioLive Remote-AI iPad® app and QMix™-AI iPhone®/iPod touch® aux mix app for wireless remote control.
• 16 dedicated mix buses for easy configuration: 4 subgroups, 6 analog auxiliary buses, 4 internal FX buses, and stereo main mix with mono sum
• 32-in/18-out FireWire s800 recording interface (24-bit, 44.1 and 48 kHz)
• Dedicated Ethernet port and USB 2.0 port for included Wi-Fi LAN adapter for direct networking – no computer required!

PDP Concept Series™ CB5 5-piece All-Birch Drumset
with DW 3000 Series Hardware and Pedals:

•   9×12” rack tom, 12×14” floor tom, 5.5×14” matching snare drum, 16×20” bass drum

Features:

• All Birch Shell
• STM (Suspension Tom Mount)
• Cherry to Black Fade Lacquer Finish
• True-Pitch™ Tuning System
• MAG Throw-Off
• F.A.S.T. (Fundamentally-Accurate-Sized Toms)
• Graduated Counter Hoops
• Remo Heads

 DW 3000 Series Hardware Pack includes:

• 3000 Single Pedal
• 3500 Hi-Hat Stand
• 3700 Straight/Boom Cymbal Stand (3)
• 3300 Snare Stand
• 3100 Throne

Sabian AAX Series pack includes: 

• 14” AAX Stage Hats
• 16” AAX Stage Crash
• 20” AAX Stage Ride

The AAX Series from Sabian is a game changer! AAX are the first B20 Bronze cymbals designed and manufactured using completely modern lathing and hammering techniques. The result? Increased brightness, cut and musicality – for the widest dynamic range ever achieved. And suddenly, the bright, explosive tone of AA cymbals are present even at low volume.

Rules: Giveaway is open world-wide. The winner must reside in a country where the participating companies have distribution. Contest ends November 30, 2013 at midnight PST. Winner will be notified by email and have 48 hours to claim their prize, otherwise another name will be chosen. Valid ID required.

PreSonus LIVE airs today!

ForkLiftSphere! Get LIVE tech support from the PreSonus Warehouse!
2 p.m. CST / 3 p.m. EST / Noon PST / 20:00 UK / 21:00 EU

http://presonus.com/videos/presonuslive

Learn from the team captains of the PreSonus know-it-all squad! Justin Spence and Gary Hasenbeck will put their audio cred on the line as they answer your tech support requests LIVE! Hit us up in the chat room and ask whatever questions you want. We’ll choose the best ones and answer them right on command from our glorious warehouse. No steel-toed boots required.

This just in from Augusto of Quanta Music in Brazil! They just wrapped up the ExpoMusic show there. Augusto reports that it was a “total success!”

ExpoMusic is the largest music fair in Latin America; manufacturers and artists from all over the world arrive to show off their latest and greatest for five days! We’re glad to be a part of it, of course—big thanks are due to Quanta for making it all happen.