PreSonus Studio One Pro 7

[Paco Del Stinko]

Howdy, all. Ol' Paco is finally making the leap to a computer based DAW. Laugh, roll your eyes, etc., but I've been abusing my Roland vs2480 for 20 years now. Time to put it to pasture.

Anyway, I've purchased a windows based computer that comes with PreSonus Studio One Pro 7. Any users/naysayers/man I love it-ers around? I was thinking Reaper, but since this comes with...ya know? Learning curve acknowledged.

I plan on using things as a tape deck with editing, basically, like I've always done. Maybe an occasional sequencer or old drum machine, but ala Ken, practice the shit in/shit out approach, by (hopefully) recording good sounds to begin with. I'll continue to use outboard gear with internal processing, and also use it to remaster songs and eventually a 'career' spanning box set on thumb drive. I have thousands of recordings and plan to make many more with what is likely my last recorder.

So, throwing this out to the community to see if anyone has thoughts or ideas. If not, s'ok, I'll still love you. Thanks!

[fluffy]

"A tape deck with editing" is a perfectly good starting point for DAW usage.

I haven't used Studio One myself but it looks pretty solid. If I were to finally get fed up with Apple enough to switch back to Linux it's what I'd probably use.

EDIT: Hm, no, it's what I would have used. Looks like Fender acquired it from PreSonus and have discontinued all but the Windows version. Oof.

[Siebass]

Still listed as supporting M-series Macs and Linux in addition to Windows, at least on the Fender Studio Pro page. https://www.fender.com/pages/fender-stu ... resources/

I have not used it myself, but read up on Studio One Pro 7 fairly recently (last week or two) as I'm trying to get ARA support for special plugins that Logic Pro X does not, and Studio One apparently does.

Presonus Studio One Pro was designed by mixers and engineers, so it's supposed to have one of the most intuitive workflows around, plus costs about $200 I think new, so if you got it free in a bundle, I'd say definitely worth a spin. Reaper is solid, not too expensive and cross-platform, but if you're coming from nothing, I think the most intuitive things around are GarageBand/LogicProX, and probably Presonus Studio One. I dunno if Travis from Governing Dynamics/The Alleviators is on here, I know he uses Studio One and likes it a lot.

[fluffy]

Still listed as supporting M-series Macs and Linux in addition to Windows, at least on the Fender Studio Pro page. https://www.fender.com/pages/fender-stu ... resources/

Ah, good to know, I couldn’t find any actual system requirements page on the very cluttered website but I was only finding download links and information for the Windows version. Nice to know it’s still a contender.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Thanks for the input, folks. I think a reasonable concern for Studio One might be a similar fate as when Gibson killed off Cakewalk when they bought it. No guarantee either way as to its survival, but I think maybe Reaper might be more secure. From what I gather, the initial learning curve might be steep, but pays off with a very customizable work flow. Prob go that way, leaving Studio One as an available option if need be.

Thanks again, you may find me crying for help around here sometime.

[fluffy]

You could always learn both simultaneously. Also my experience with Reaper is that it isn’t that hard to learn, it’s just a bit fiddly, but most of the fiddly bits you can customize away with a bit of effort. The main problem I ran into was that automation curves were super frustrating to edit but supposedly that’s improved in the versions since I last tried it.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Both at once, interesting. My brain might explode but maybe that's the route to follow. Id hate to see the Studio One go to waste so to speak, but learning both would certainly cover a lot of ground and open up doors. I just may do that, thanks for the suggestion, I hadn't even considered that.

[ujnhunter]

Thanks for the input, folks. I think a reasonable concern for Studio One might be a similar fate as when Gibson killed off Cakewalk when they bought it. No guarantee either way as to its survival, but I think maybe Reaper might be more secure. From what I gather, the initial learning curve might be steep, but pays off with a very customizable work flow. Prob go that way, leaving Studio One as an available option if need be.

Thanks again, you may find me crying for help around here sometime.

I would also worry about the Fender/Gibson Fate myself... even if I wasn't a Reaper supporter, which as you have guessed is definitely more secure going forward... plus it's Mac/PC/Linux. Your built in Studio One might have some features/plugins that come with it that might still be useful even if you don't go all in and use it as your everyday DAW though, so you might still want to give it a look, but Reaper to me... even with a learning curve/setup is the way to go. The "Action List" in Reaper is your best friend... if there is ever anything you don't know how to do... just opening Action List and typing a keyword that comes to mind will probably get you what you're looking for... but their are a TON of YouTube/Tutorial/Help Forums/Etc... for Reaper online as well. You can also find me in the Song Fight! Discord (for now...) if you have Reaper related questions.

You could always learn both simultaneously. Also my experience with Reaper is that it isn’t that hard to learn, it’s just a bit fiddly, but most of the fiddly bits you can customize away with a bit of effort. The main problem I ran into was that automation curves were super frustrating to edit but supposedly that’s improved in the versions since I last tried it.

They have "Automation Items" now which you can copy/paste/move around...

[fluffy]

You could always learn both simultaneously. Also my experience with Reaper is that it isn’t that hard to learn, it’s just a bit fiddly, but most of the fiddly bits you can customize away with a bit of effort. The main problem I ran into was that automation curves were super frustrating to edit but supposedly that’s improved in the versions since I last tried it.

They have "Automation Items" now which you can copy/paste/move around...

Nice, I'll have to look into that. My main complaint was that at least in REAPER 5 actually setting the automation points was a major chore using fiddly clicking motions and deeply-nested context menus that set off my chronic pain, but you mentioned on Discord that there's a better interface for that now.

[ujnhunter]

Yeah, to be fair, I've got to admit to not using Automation much... and if I do, it's usually riding a fader or something... however, both Signboy and reve use it a ton... and I've found that even if they aren't using "Automation Items", I can even "Insert" one on Top of their Automations to Copy/Paste/Move it around if need be... Reaper 7 is the latest (I only just upgraded from 5/6 for Xmas this year) and adds a bunch of QOL improvements, even showing some of the "built in" Reaper Plugins visually on Tracks now.

[fluffy]

yeah I actually don't use automation all that much but when I do need it, I need the workflow to be extremely low-friction. The project I was doing in REAPER was extremely automation-dependent and so that left a really bad taste in my mouth.

The other thing that REAPER 5's UI left lacking was the way it manages take lanes and time remapping, which are both pretty nice in Logic, but my understanding ist hat those have also improved immensely. I should give REAPER 7 a proper shot, particularly since I'm getting tired of Apple's shit and have been tempted to switch back to Linux.

[ujnhunter]

I'm not sure how Logic works at all (no Mac), but Takes\Time Stretch(?)\Editing in Reaper 5\6\7 can be set up a bunch of different ways... per project or media item even... so you might have just had the settings "wrong" (not how you'd prefer them). I prefer my Takes to just show up as 1 Item with the Current Take selected and Take No. at the Top... but some people might prefer having the Takes all be visible in a bunch of different lanes or whatever... and time remapping\stretching (not sure what you mean) can also be set per item or on a project (standard) level to either not change or change with tempo/etc... i.e. Reaper "Defaults" just might not be setup how you'd want them to be...

[fluffy]

In Logic, takes become folders where each take gets its own virtual track and then there’s tools you can use to choose which one wins at the top of the stack and the transition between them and so on. It’s super flexible and lets you manage dozens of takes pretty easily (given enough monitor size).

And then time remapping has a couple of different interfaces depending on what you’re doing. Simple time remapping appears as an overlay on the arrangement where you can drag the transients around, and pitch editing is basically Melodyne but integrated in.

Back when I used reaper, the only interfaces I could find were that you could stretch and shrink audio at a region level (requiring a lot of fiddly region splitting to do fine adjustments of a vocal take), and take lanes would split the track itself so more than 2-3 became super difficult to actually see what was going on.

[ujnhunter]

Ah... time remapping = stretch markers in Reaper. I was thinking about "whole item" stretching/mapping to Tempo, which is something else.

[the panna cotta army]

I use Studio One although I'm only on version 5. I haven't bothered to upgrade further because I've not seen any improvements or additions that make it worthwhile forking out the extra £££. It does everything I want for a DAW pretty well and works smoothly on my M1 Mac Mini.
I'm a believer that you just get used to using whatever DAW you choose to go with. They all have good points and others they could do better.