Presonus Studio One 3 Artist Version Itwo Review
Our Verdict
V3 of this impressively mature DAW proves well worth the expect, with a raft of clever new features and plenty of usable soundware.
Pros
- Vastly improved audio library. Powerful Extended FX Bondage. Useful 'MIDI' Note FX. Slick new graphics. Improved Browser.
Cons
- One-window design non suited to small monitors. Presence XT not quite a truthful sampler.
MusicRadar Verdict
V3 of this impressively mature DAW proves well worth the look, with a raft of clever new features and plenty of usable soundware.
Pros
- +
Vastly improved sound library. Powerful Extended FX Chains. Useful 'MIDI' Notation FX. Slick new graphics. Improved Browser.
Cons
- -
One-window design non suited to small monitors. Presence XT not quite a true sampler.
PreSonus Studio One 3
Add ons
Arpeggiator
Establishing the next-generation standard in DAWs is proving a little tricky, but with Presonus' Studio One 3 the manufacture's youngest big hitter might be in with a shot.
With three years having passed since Studio One 2, the 2d iteration of PreSonus' well regarded DAW, expectations for Studio Ane iii are understandably high.
Version 1 launched in 2009 with unlimited audio, MIDI and musical instrument tracks, multiple take Layers when recording, four instruments (SampleOne, Impact, Presence and Mojito), all-encompassing drag-and-drop functionality, a one-window workspace, and CD mastering via the Projection page.
"Studio One 3's bundled content has been given a large heave"
Version 2 added audio transient detection, stage coherent multiple audio track editing, rails folders, the Rail listing, event-level processing, track freeze with editing (called Transform), and a fully integrated version of Melodyne.
What's more than, a couple of our review gripes (no editing of track folders or internal bussing to rail inputs) were added with the v2.5 update. For all its positives, though, the 18GB of bundled content and express onboard instruments still felt a lilliputian underpowered.
Here we are at Studio One iii, so, which sees the mid-range Producer option binned, and the remaining Professional person (which we're reviewing here) and Artist options joined by Studio One Prime (which is withal to be released at the time of writing), replacing Studio Ane Free.
Studio line
Studio I iii'southward bundled content has been given a large boost, the headlines being the new Mai Tai polyphonic virtual analogue synth and updated Presence XT sampler, both of which are powered by an entirely rebuilt instrument engine.
Both instruments sport single-window GUIs with parameter modulation (16 slots), effects (Modulation, Delay, Reverb, Gater, EQ, Baloney and Panner) and the virtual keyboard housed in two foldaway panels. Presence XT'south 14GB library includes pianos, strings, tuned percussion, guitars, contumely, basses and a few vintage synth sounds.
Information technology's worth saying that Presence XT, although capable of importing tertiary political party sampler patches (EXS, Kontakt, Giga and SoundFont, virtually pertinently) and badged every bit a "sampler", remains a sample playback instrument with no user accessible sample import, editing, layering and and so on. PreSonus says that a Presence Editor option offer such functionality is in the works, and it volition be a paid-for add-on via the PreSonus shop.
Neither instrument is particularly groundbreaking, and Mai Tai's ii-oscillators-plus-sub-oscillators-and-noise-generator formula is wholly unremarkable and available in any number of free alternatives. However, its 200+ presets are rather proficient, specially the edgy sounds in the Heavy Artillery folder.
With Presence XT, we really like the choice of keyswitch articulations for many of the sounds, including the electrical basses and orchestrals - for a bundled library, it own't half bad.
For session compatibility, v3 includes all the v2 sample packs, such as those by Nine Volt Audio Guitars and Vengeance, while new packs from MVP Loops, Big Fish Sound and Sample Magic add 4000+ new loops and ane-shots in PreSonus' 'audioloop' tempo matching format.
Part and form
On to the more functional side of things. At the superlative of the interface, the Arranger Track provides quick arrangement editing, with moving, inserting, copying and deleting of sections, which are created manually or generated from the Mark list. It works well, making experimenting with system ideas easy.
The new Scratch Pad panel opens to the right of the Arrange view, providing a temporary area in which to try out alternative ideas. Yous simply drag parts in from the arrange view to copy them over, and use the Scratch Pad like a 2d arrange view with contained playback.
When y'all've come up with something you like, elevate your edited parts back over. The Scratch Pad besides includes its own Arranger Track, enabling easy insertion of whole sections.
On the effects front, there are two new audio processors - Rotor (a Leslie cabinet) and BitCrusher - and the introduction of MIDI effects via the new Note FX module. This sits in the Instrument track Inspector and gives access to 4 effects: Arpeggiator, Chorder, Filter and Repeater. It's a great addition, upping Studio One's MIDI programming fun gene.
Multi kill!
The new Multi Instruments permit you combine multiple instruments (Studio Ane's own and external plugins) on a single track, to build complex layered hybrids. They're created by dragging boosted plugin instruments onto an already-loaded Instrument track, upon which the dedicated Instruments editor window pops up, giving access to all of them and enabling configuration of keyspans, insertion of Note FX, paralleling with the Splitter plugin, configuration of eight assignable Macro Controls and more.
"Studio One 3 is a very solid update, boasting greatly improved content"
Extended FX Bondage aggrandize upon v2's insert FX Chains, which simply saved track insert effects into preset chains. They're incorporated into the new floating Channel Editor window, which, as well every bit housing book, pan, mute and solo controls, enables routing of the effects concatenation signal catamenia inside a aqueduct, and assignment of that aqueduct's (also new) Macro Controls to furnishings and Instrument parameters.
Each effect is represented by an icon in the Channel Editor'southward Routing folio (click to open the full plugin GUI), and the Splitter module makes setting up parallel and multiband (upwards to 5 bands) processing a snap.
Studio One 3 looks prettier than ever, with its new high-DPI graphics designed to work ameliorate with touchscreen displays - multitouch is now also supported, and Slate Digital are planning to support it with their Raven MTI.
iPad users, meanwhile, can take advantage of the Studio One Remote controller app, bachelor for free from the App Store. Finally, further tweaks include a much-improved browser, a second user-selectable edit tool, coloured channels, resizable faders and automation curves.
On the downwards side, fifty-fifty with its improved graphics, Studio One'due south single-window interface demands a fairly large monitor, which makes it a bit frustrating to utilise on a laptop. The sombre grey hue is also arguably less easy on the eye than v2'south more lively stake greyness.
Those GUI-related bug aside, Studio I iii is a very solid update, boasting greatly improved content, a significantly more powerful and creative featureset, and a more often than not more than professional feel. Information technology all adds up to a well-rounded DAW that, for the most part, stands shoulder-to- shoulder with its far more than established rivals.
Source: https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/presonus-studio-one-3-626720