What is Presonus Studio One?

Studio One is Presonus’ first foray into the digital audio workstation market. Studio One is full featured DAW and comes packed with several built in plugins, a full complement of MIDI features and all of the multi-track recording and sequencing that you would come to expect out of a DAW in this price range. Studio One PRO is priced $400 in the U.S. and comes with not only the DAW package, but also with a mastering suite. The DAW side of the software alone will not be for retail sale and will instead be packaged into bundles with Presonus’ audio hardware.

On the outset Studio One has a lot going for it. It is a full featured DAW and it is well polished. In fact it demonstrates much of the maturity that we see in several others DAW’s and includes as I mentioned before the mastering suite, a 64-bit compatible version, Mac and Windows installation options and a robust audio engine. Presonus has even gone as so far to design the interface in the same color and design scheme that is seen on most of its hardware. As you can see in the picture, the interface is based around a darker color palate with blues and silvers. It is very easy on the eyes, but still contrasting enough to easily identify elements within the UI design.

Workflow and Interface

Launch Screen

When you first launch Studio One you will be greeted with a launch portal screen that appears to be becoming more popular in DAW’s these days. This launch screen allows you the option to select whether you want to create a new song or create a new project. Projects are what Presonus is defining as your mastering tracks. The terminology is rather confusing to be honest and there is not a place that readily defines what the differences are between the two options from the outset. Naturally most musicians would want to start out selecting the song option.

Also prominently displayed on the launch screen are three very useful columns of information. On the left you have your most recent files, in the center you have your audio/midi hardware information and artist profile and on the right you have a “news” feed from Presonus. The entire interface is rather well thought out but does have a distinct “Windows feel” to it, despite the shading and gradient textures used. The heavy use of these gradients also does take a toll on your system resources as the launch of the program takes up to thirty seconds to launch, presumably because it needs to pull in the latest news information as well as launch the detailed UI. I also question the usefulness of the news column in the long term. While it serves as a nice information section, is it really needed when the real purpose of the software is to create music? I am curious if users would utilize it in the long term and questions as to why an email from Presonus with news wouldn’t be more useful?

Now before you can begin creating music you need to authorize the software. Unfortunately the authorization process is not as simple as typing in your registration key. Presonus requires you to setup an online account on their website during the authorization process and link your software and registration key to this account. This is a time consuming and rather annoying process and personally I don’t see why it is needed. I can understand the concerns Presonus might have regarding piracy, but at the end of the day piracy is going to happen and there is no point in annoying the paying customers. Presonus is fighting an uphill battle in the DAW market right off the bat so they need to win customers over by making things as easy as possible.

Working with the Interface

Now if you have made it through the launch screen and registration process you then move on to setup options and launching of a new song. The setup of an audio interface is a very straight forward process, especially if you have a Presonus device. The rest of the setup for midi devices, sample library locations, etc. is self explanatory and very simple.

Moving on to the song section, when you first create a track you are presented a template selection screen similar to what Garageband uses, only it is not as well done. You will notice from the screen shot that the template screen is focused on mixer routings for Presonus audio interfaces. There are a few other basic audio setups basic instrument setups but on the whole the entire template screen just doesn’t appear as polished as what some other software is doing and in fact it can be rather confusing. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the software to automatically detect your track routings when you setup the audio interface, especially if you are using a Presonus interface? It also would have been nice if Presonus could have at least provided templates for other popular interfaces such as those from Motu or M-Audio.

When a new song is launched you are presented with a standard tracking window with transport controls, pattern editing, etc. On the bottom right corner of your screen you will find the three buttons that you will probably be using most often during your composing time within Studio One. The “Edit” window opens up a piano roll screen and the instrument’s or sample’s parameters. The “Mix” window brings you to the software’s mixing desk and the “Browse” window opens up your library for instruments and samples. The entire setup is very standardized and doesn’t bring anything new to the table. In many respects it is using the workflow that many other DAW’s have used for years and it is sticking to that formula. Adding instruments, samples, loops or a Rewire device is as simple as dragging and dropping from the browser library into the tracking window. The appropriate audio track for the most part is automatically created, but if you want to use one shot samples, you will have to load up a plug-in first before dragging the samples over.

Once you load up an instrument editing it is super simple. Simply double click the track and the piano roll editor instantly pops up. The piano roll in Studio One is a competent system that truth be told has a rather Cubase feel to it. Again it gets the job done, but doesn’t present the user with any ground breaking features except perhaps one. Presonus has decided to include an interesting twist in automation within Studio One actually confused me at first. In addition to standard track automation, which can be accessed in the main tracking window via a dropdown under the track, an additional set of two “mini” tracks of automation options for velocity, automation, and panning can be found underneath the piano roll. Now this option can actually be quite confusing for users. The automation within this section is automation assigned per the pattern and not necessarily the track. Presonus calls this “Instrument Part Automation” and the idea behind it is that each pattern has its own automation that can move with it regardless of how you arrange the patterns and tracks. The idea is a fantastic one, but the implementation for me personally was too clunky and confusing. It was not always clear what automation is doing what. It would have been much more efficient if the instrument part automation could have been integrated and displayed in line with the track automation in the sequencing window.

Mixing Window

Now that the basic idea of how to create some tracks is down, the next logical step that one would want to take in a composition is add effects and work on mixing parameters. As appears to be evident thus far in Studio One’s design, the basics of the mixing console are fairly easy to access and implement. The console on its face has a standard interface similar to that of a traditional analog console. Each audio track has a channel which can be supplemented by send buses and effects. From there on out though the console can get fairly complicated very quickly. Plug-in instruments are not clearly represented or distinguished from their sample counterparts. This is a travesty unfortunately because it is mostly likely the case that the majority of potential users for the software will be software based musicians. As soon as effects get into the fray the console interface becomes increasingly more complex and it seems that the complexity is mostly due to a design choice on Presonus’ part. When expanding the console to try to access effect inserts and sends, the effects channels expand next to the audio channel or above it. This seems counter intuitive to how many other consoles operate with the effects sitting below the channel strip. This is largely just a cosmetic issue, but in terms of workflow, musicians who are used to one process may find this one confusing. Overall the console mixing window comes across as a fairly daunting and intimidating section of the software that I believe will be the roadblock to many people using the software. What Presonus has developed is a rather full featured and flexible mixing setup, but the complexity gets in the way of the basic functionality that 90% of musicians will need most of the time.

Built in Instruments

Studio One ships with four basic instruments in the package. Unfortunately the instrument offerings are very sparse and the ones included are mediocre at best. Many other DAW packages out there offer much better built in plug-in libraries. Even the smaller companies have deals that package in free 3rd party plug-ins to at least get the user going. Presonus does neither and unfortunately presents the user which a setup that does not really entice them to dig deeper with the software.

Impact

Impact is a 4×4 pad MPC style drummachine that will work nicely with any drumpad controller. It is a simple instrument, but accomplishes exactly what it needs to do. In fact more DAW’s should ship with basic plugins such as this with the prevalence of pad controllers now in so many bedroom studios.

Mojito

Mojito is a simple one oscillator synthesizer and unfortunately not much more than that. Of the four instruments that are packed into Studio One this one is the most disappointing. These days a DAW needs to ship with a solid virtual analog “bread and butter” type synth that can get someone up and running. It is understandable that they are not offering something akin to what Logic Pro or Cubase offers, but when FL Studio ships with the 3xOSC which can on its own right create great sounding leads, Presonus needs to step up to the plate.

Presence

Presence is a simple sample format player. Presonus calls them “Sound Sets” and it is unclear at this time if they plan to sell these sets or not. In all seriousness though it is a glorified soundfont player and not much more than that. Useful, but not as useful as it could have been.

Sample One

Lastly for the built in instruments is a basic sample playback instrument. It would not go as so far to call it a sampler as it cannot do multi-samples and cannot even edit samples.

Final Thoughts

Final thoughts on the Presonus Studio One are mixed. On the whole there is a good foundation here for a new DAW. Unfortunately though Presonus is not doing enough within the software to really sell the user on it and some of the design choices with regards to workflow could be major turn offs for its potential user base, namely new musicians/producers. Studio One for the most part seems to be getting in its own way and there are too many clicks and menu navigations to get to what you want to. The mixing interface, perhaps one of the most important sections of the software, is just too cumbersome for most users to efficiently navigate into. The software is also severely lacking on the plug-in front. Cheaper DAWs on the market offer more and better built in plug-ins. Cheaper DAWs on the market even offer free third party plug-ins pre-packed. Whatever the case may be, Presonus let the ball drop. They need to offer more to the user to at least give the perception of value and it is inexcusable to not offer a core functional sampler or synthesizer in a DAW these days. When it comes down to it in the end, Presonus is just not offering the value for the money that other entry level DAW manufacturers are offering.

Summary

Pros

• Good tracking/sequencer interface
• Excellent integration with Presonus audio interfaces
• Competent DAW for musicians
• Deep mixing console if you have the patience for it.
• Useful launch screen
• Mastering suite in “Pro” useful for basic purposes
• Windows & Mac OS X support

Cons

• Slow load times
• Too many clicks to do most tasks.
• Interface feels “heavy” in response to user
• No QWERTY keyboard support for musical typing
• Audio routing for non-Presonus interfaces is confusing.
• Confusing interface with automation and mixing
• Included instruments are poor.
• Monopolized audio output on Windows Vista machine

System Requirements

Macintosh

• Mac OS X 10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.2 or higher
• Minimum:
  • PowerPC G4 1.25 GHz or Intel Core Solo 1.5 GHz processor
  • 1 GB RAM
• Recommended:
  • PowerPC G5 or better or Intel Core Duo or Intel Xeon processor or better
  • 2 GB or more RAM

Windows PC

• Windows XP or Vista
• Minimum:
  • Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz processor or AMD Athlon 64 (Turion)
  • 1 GB RAM
• Recommended:
  • Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz EM64T or better or AMD Athlon 64 3000+ or better
  • 2 GB or more RAM

Tested on

• Windows Vista
  • Dell Dimension DXP061 32-bit
  • Intel Core 2 Duo: 2.4 Ghz
  • 2GB Ram
• Mac OS X 10.5.6
  • Macbook
  • Intel Core Duo 2.0 Ghz
  • 2GB Ram

Price

$399
http://www.Presonus.com

Aviary, the makers of popular online image and vector editing tools has announced a new product to its lineup called Myna. Myna is a multi-track recording software akin to Garageband or Reaper. In fact the transport windows even act the same was as Garageband. It doesn’t support plugins, but it has all of the basic audio editing and multi-tracking tools one would expect from a piece of software like this like cut, paste, trim, automation and the like.

The effects section is rather slim pickings with only four slots available per track. It features the basics like phaser, flanger, ParaEQ, etc. but doesn’t appear to have a master effects channel

A test in Google Chrome with the interface is amazingly fast for a web application and was built using Flash. You can try the software for free at Aviary’s website. Overall it looks like a solid first start for a web based DAW like this and the foundation is there. Now lets just see if they can take it somewhere to begin to compete with desktop apps.

Features:

Powerful Clip Editing
Trim, Loop, Stretch and Reverse your audio clips, width editable loop points, and interactive time stretch capabilities.

Automation
Easily add fade-ins, fade-outs, pan from left to right, and modify gain over time, with editable control points.

Effects
Add non-destructive effects to your audio clips including Pitch Change, Reverb, Delay, Parametric EQ, and more.

Import / Export
Import your own audio files, or search one of our provided libraries. Mix it down and export directly to your desktop or publish back to your account.

Share and learn
Collaborate with other users. Follow step-by-step tutorials to learn new skills.

via Mashable

Propellerheads just a few months ago annouced Record, their new recording platform to compliment Reason. For the past month they have been hosting Beta testers and just this past week Record hass officially been released for sale.

Propellerhead Record is available to registered Reason owners, non-Reason owners, and as a Record/Reason bundle for $149, $299, and $629 . Curious to see how this pricing breakdown resonates with users in the next few months.

Propellerheads.se

Reading in the pipeline that FL Studio 9 has just been released. On 09/09/09 no less

Key New Features and Changes

FL Studio:

• Sidechaining – The FL Studio Mixer ‘Track Send’ now has an additional ‘Sidechain’ mode to support multiple-input mixer plugins.
• Multi-core CPU (Hyperthreading) – Improved multithreaded generator & added multithreaded effects processing.
• Multiple controllers – Can now control multiple independent instrument channels, assigned by MIDI number.
• New volatile linking feature.
• Wrapper – Aligned tick lengths checkbox for greater plugin compatibility.

Revised Playlist:

• Playlist track naming & icon – Tools for better song organization.
• Playlist track mute controls.

Piano roll:

• Riff machine – Automatic sequence generator tool.
• Note Grouping – New feature (works on selecting, moving, resizing, deletion, muting, shifting using mouse-wheel).

Mixer:

• More tracks – Now has 99 Insert tracks (up from 64).
• Multi-core CPU support – Added ‘multithreaded mixer’ tracks processing for improved multi-core performance.

New Plugins:

• Autogun (free) – Sonic adventure, Based on Ogun.
• Ogun (demo)- Additive metal simulation synthesizer.
• Gross Beat (demo) – Real-time, audio-stream playback, pitch, position and volume manipulation effect.
• Stereo Shaper (free) – Mid / Side stereo processing.
• Vocodex – The last word in vocoders (free with Producer Edition).

Revised Plugins:

• SimSynth Live, DrumSynth Live, DX-10, WASP and WASP XT are now included in FL Studio (Fruity edition upwards).
• Fruity Reeverb 2 – Added Mid vs Side input signal processing.
• Fruity Wrapper – Now supports multiple inputs/outputs (free).
• Wavecandy – Visualization & analysis tools (free).
• Fruity Limiter – Compressor section now has sidechaining (free).

Browser:

• Presets – Drop effect presets onto mixer tracks & channels, mixer track presets onto effect slots and channels, channel & generator presets onto mixer tracks & effect slots.
• Windows file shell menu – Available from Browser (right-click) item menu

And this is only a handful, full list can be found here: http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/history.html

Nice job Imageline

Steinberg Cubase Essential 5, the latest version of its personal music production system for Windows and Mac.

Quote:

Steinberg has announced Cubase Essential 5, the latest version of its personal music production system for Windows and Mac.

Providing an easy, intuitive approach to composing, recording, editing and mixing, Cubase Essential 5 is the smallest full version of the latest Cubase music production systems.

Cubase Essential 5 shines with the same user interface as its elder sibling Cubase 5 as well as the award-winning Steinberg Audio Engine heralded by countless professionals the world over.

Cubase Essential 5 combines premium virtual instruments, outstanding audio and MIDI VST effects with a vast range of proven editing and sequencing tools while being extremely easy to use.

All customers who have bought Cubase Essential 4 between July 15, 2009, and October 15, 2009, are eligible to obtain a Grace Period Update to Cubase Essential 5 at a special price.

You are eligible for the Grace Period Update if you have purchased one of the following products within the eligibility period above:

•    Cubase Essential 4

•    Cubase Essential 4 Updates

•    Cubase Essential 4 Upgrades

•    Cubase Essential 4 Educational

Not eligible are Cubase AI 4 and Cubase LE 4. Used products — regardless of purchase date — are excluded from this offer.

Please note that requests for Grace Period Updates to Cubase Essential 5 will only be accepted until December 31, 2009.

Here are my top five picks

FL Studio 8

WHY: FL Studio is on this list primarily for one reason. That is because of its piano roll. The piano roll has emerged as THE number one compositional tool for any computer based musician these days and the folks at Imageline have nailed it. Not only have they struck the right balance in UI design between contrast and 3D, but the little nuances and fluidity of working in the piano roll make it one of the simpler tools on any DAW to work in. Imageline also has added some other fantastic features such as plugin thumbnails and a great wav editing UI that make the interfae even more slick and intiuitive.

Tracktion

WHY: Tracktion is one of those DAW’s that really does not recieve enough credit for what it is capable of. It is a fantastically well designed DAW that did a great job of breaking away from some of the older DAW design ideas. Tracktion’s biggest accomplishment was the single window UI design implementation. Prior to Tracktion really bringing a single window UI everyone was working in tabs or multiple windows bouncing all over the place. Tracktion found an elegant solution of collapsable sub-menus that when paired with its minimalist 2D interface was the first DAW to really get it right. Since the release of Tracktion v1.0 we have now seen other DAW’s such as Logic and Energy XT follow suit with similar design concepts.

Renoise

WHY: Who would have thought that 20 years ago the tracker would still be in use today? Not many I think. While most trackers have not progressed to keep up with modern DAW’s Renoise has done an excellent job of striking the balance perfectly. It maintains the effcient minimalist interface that make trackers so appealing, but at the same time was able to integrate modern DAW features such as graphical automation, waveform editing and routable mixing. Renoise in many respects has struck such a good balance between effciency and features that much higher priced software appears clunky in comparison. Oh, did I also mention that you can completely customize the interface design and color to your needs?

EnergyXT

WHY: While I mentioned Tracktion above as nailing the single window UI design criteria, the newsest version of EnergyXT has also nailed it as well. In fact it takes some of the greastest bits of other software UI’s and brings them together extremely well. It has the very intuitive one window UI design and flat UI color scheme similar to Tracktion. It can also be colored and customized like Renoise. Also however is the abilityto treat the sequncer in a modular fashion with the instruments. While there have been some other DAW’s that have and can do this as well, the easy integration in EnergyXT make them one of the only DAW’s to successfully pull it off.

Ableton Live

WHY: If there is one DAW out there that has grown the fastest and changed the landscape more than any other it is Ableton Live. Not only is the UI diesn elegant and lightweight, but the software was originally designed for live performance work. Ther session menu system that they implemented has almsot single handily changed the way electronic music is performed live and in many respects has changed the entire concept and perception of DJ’s on the whole. The software and interface design not only was flexibile enough for live performance, but was also flexible enough to make the jump into a full featured DAW and took that session view concept and expanded it to use as a sketch pad for composers to work in.