Free DAW from PreSonus

[Blooby]

I'm not the most experienced guy with DAWs.  I have done a tiny bit of work in Audacity, Soundforge, but mostly mucking about in Magix's Audio Cleaning Lab (not a DAW but similar editing functions). I have to say I am thrilled so far with Studio One. As far as recording goes, there hasn't been a hiccup (except for recording at too low of levels).  Setting up a midi controller, mixing, plug-ins, experimenting with quantizing, editing midi in the piano roll, rendering an mp3, setting up a bus, controlling the effects have all run smoothly. I also appreciate that you can upgrade as you go when you exhaust the features in the entry-level versions.

As an aside, I have a buddy who has used Cubase for years, and he is shocked with how smoothly and quickly I got up and recording. To be fair, I did watch a handful of tutorial videos in the interim between buying and setting up the system.

I noticed Presonus does deals throughout the year. Previously, I've even seen free upgrades to the Producer version if you buy an interface (purchasing an interface already comes with the Artist version).

There's a chart on the following link that compares the various versions: http://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-One/explore/start-free-go-pro

Blooby

[AndyR]

I hadn't cottoned on to the fact it was Studio One you were using.

Yep, my minimal experience with the free version a year or two ago left me VERY impressed.

Recently, I had a friend asking for advice on an entry-level Presonus package (software and interface) - that looked pretty good.

And it got me looking further... I'm starting to get tempted by their mixing desk control surfaces.

EG http://www.presonus.com/products/StudioLive-16.4.2

They come with the Artist version of the software.

[64Guitars]

Those StudioLive mixers look pretty nice. Although, they're not cheap. The 16.4.2 is $2,000 (£1,239.00).

There's also the 16.0.2 which is more affordable at $999 (£829.00). But that's still a lot more money than most BR users are used to spending on a recording system.

http://www.presonus.com/products/StudioLive-16.0.2

They seem to be geared toward live mixing and recording rather than home recording. I'd like to see them make a lower-priced system strictly for home recording. It would only need two mic preamps instead of 12 and 2 inputs instead of 8. There are probably some other features that could be removed to keep the price down too. And it should be USB 3 rather than FireWire so that it would work with most modern PCs.

One concern I have about a software-dependant system like StudioLive is that it has a limited lifetime. The software runs on today's computers but it probably won't work on the computers of 10 to 20 years from now. That means you have to constantly upgrade to keep the software up-to-date, which can be quite expensive. Then there's the hardware which is designed to work with the current version of Studio One. But if you keep updating the software over the next 10 to 20 years, will the hardware still work with it? I suspect not because they'll most likely release new, improved hardware and the newer versions of the software will be designed to work with the new hardware. So, at some point, you'll probably have to replace the hardware if you want it to work with the software. It seems like a money pit to me. Standalone recorders like the BR series are self-contained, so they'll work just as well in 20 years as they do now. Obviously, they won't be state-of-the-art at that time but they'll still work just fine. My BR-864 is now 10 years old and I'm still quite happy with it. I don't think I could say the same if I'd bought a software DAW 10 years ago (and not updated it several times along the way).

Still, if they could get the price down on these hardware/software recording systems, they could be quite good for home recording enthusiasts. The shorter lifetime might be a reasonable compromise to get the more advanced features of a software DAW (compared to a standalone multitrack recorder).

[Hook]

64 smart.    Daw pretty.   Purple green.   Me like box on table
On rock!

[AndyR]

Yeah, I just picked one of the links to one them that I was looking at the other week. The StudioLive range is also "old", they've got StudioLive AI or something now... rebuilt all the insides and added some more.

I just realised (when checking stuff out for the other guy), that something like this, a dedicated PC, and a DAW would actually replace what I'm doing now. Yes, it wouldn't be cheap(!) but it would simplify a lot of things here.

Funnily enough, I like the extra mic preamps - remember I'm used to having 8 here already on the BR1600. I'd actually struggle a bit if I went back to using my old Edirol interface to my PC

Also, these Presonus dudes seem to like seamless connectivity. I'm fairly certain that Reaper would use the desk happily, same as Studio One seems pretty happy just grabbing your interface and running with in.

I hear the argument about lifetime, but the same thing argument you apply to your BR-864 can be applied to any number of PCs out there. If you're getting a dedicated machine, to run Ver X of so-and-so software, it's only going to need replacing when it dies, same as a standalone machine. The only real problem you have to face is if you don't want it dedicated and intend to run your interweb stuff on there. The way I see it, it's the interweb and its continual drive for "MORE!!!" that's made my older PCs obsolete, nothing else

It's all early days for me, though... my gut feeling is that Reaper is the DAW that will be on my PC when/if I switch back to PC recording. But I'm also fairly convinced I want a desk, with real knobs and faders, sub-groups and wotnot, to control it.

But these Presonus guys seem to be making the right sort of noises to attract an Andrew!

And look at this man:

64 smart.    Daw pretty.   Purple green.   Me like box on table
On rock!

He's dribbling on his keyboard!!

[Blooby]

I think I got ten years out of my BR-1600, and it's now acting squirrely.  Other than one major update, the system was not updated much over those years.  If I choose not to constantly update (Studio One has rolled out several major updates in their brief history), I can continue doing what I am doing now on the same system. I am enjoying the editing features that, frankly, were a monumental pain in the rear on BR-1600.  It's ridiculous what you can do with plug-is as well (Seemingly infinitely upgradeable). Recording hasn't been fun for a while now, and I am welcoming the change. I do miss the 8 inputs, though.  Having said that, the eight input Presonus interface (not the mixer) can be picked up for about $350 used right now, and it comes with the capture software (where you can then dump the tracks into Studio One for manipulation after the fact).  If I ever start doing the bigger live jams again, I might look into that.  

Those mixers are very cool, and the connectivity does appeal.  The 16.4.2 has a Fat Channel on each strip, which means you can have dedicated hardware compression, EQ, panning, and reverb. This would mean your computer wouldn't have to labor as much while recording. What's cool as well is all your settings for the live recording get transferred over to Studio One as well. You would also be able to do virtual sound checks before the band arrives (to some degree obviously).  I was at a festival a few weeks back, and the live sound engineer was standing about 40' in front of the stage manipulating everything with an iPad.  Pretty cool in a Star Trek sort of way.

Blooby

[Hook]

Blooby smart to          my box red     

[Blooby]

Blooby smart to          my box red     

I spit up a little Coke on the monitor after I read that last one. I'm going to leave it there for a while as the pixelation is putting me in the Christmas spirit.

Blooby

[Flash Harry]

If you need real faders to grab, Behringer make a BCF2000 Midi control surface.
They work with Reaper
I also have the Scarlett 8I6 which gives 4 easily acessible inputs with 2 having mic preamps with 48v phantom power.

[Hook]

Flash have box for daw        Flash smart too       wot color flash box       ?