PreSonus Studio One 2
Can Studio One 2 build on the growing reputation of its well-received predecessor? Keith Gemmell revisits Studio One.
Price: £299.00
Manufacturer: PreSonus
Website: http://www.presonus.com
PreSonus has long been renowned for its studio hardware products but in the fall of 2009 surprised us all with the announcement of Studio One, a brand-new DAW. While we were impressed by its ease of use and remarkably lean design, its MIDI-editing capabilities were rather basic and it was missing a few key production features found in other DAWs, such as surround sound, beat-mapping tools and a comprehensive sample editor. Clearly, PreSonus’ software engineers have been busy over the last couple of years because version 2 has just arrived – and it has a bevy of new features. The star turns are Melodyne integration, transient detection, groove extraction, multitrack comp’ing, Folder Tracks with grouping and bussing, plus further mastering features. Three versions are available: Artist (32-bit), Producer (32-bit) and Professional (64-bit).
Take it easy
If you’re not familiar with Studio One we should point out that the philosophy behind this DAW is simplicity and ease of use. Everything is contained within three pages: Start (housekeeping), Song (recording, editing, arranging, mixing) and Project (mastering). Naturally, most of the action takes place in the Song page, a consolidated multitrack production environment with mixer and editing windows. A searchable browser and extensive use of drag-and-drop ensures speedy workflow.
For many audio pros, Celemony’s Melodyne is the ‘guvnor’ when it comes to tuning and manipulating vocals and instruments. That said, because the audio can’t be edited and heard in context with the whole song, working with Melodyne hooked up to a DAW has always been bit clunky. Now, though, in collaboration with PreSonus, Celemony has developed a new technology – Audio Random Access (ARA) – that enables Melodyne to run directly within Studio One, and we’re pleased to report that it works a treat.
One click on an audio track opens Melodyne, which analyses and displays the data as pitched notes. Integration is very tight and, after editing, the audio can be rendered in place without the usual exporting and importing usually associated with Melodyne. Studio One Artist and Producer come with a trial version, but Professional includes Melodyne Essential, Celemony’s entry-level application.
Tooled up
Despite its superb time-stretching features, we found Studio One’s audio- editing tools fairly basic in version one. Version 2, though, has improved dramatically in this area thanks to the addition of transient-detection and new editing tools. They’re brilliantly implemented: detecting drum hits and manipulating them with a Bend tool (no need to chop them up) is easy and fast.
Audio quantizing is now on the menu, too – good news for producers working with live drums. Quantizing multitrack drums is a simple matter of grouping the tracks and pressing [Q]. The phase-coherent analysis is performed across the kit automatically, ensuring that the phase relationship between the different kit components is retained.
Most DAWs include a Strip Silence feature for removing unwanted noise during gaps in a recording, and this has been added to Studio One. It acts like a noise gate, with three automatic algorithms plus manual options to handle various potentially noisy recording scenarios. Groove quantization, another new feature, again is a simple procedure – audio or MIDI parts are dragged into a quantize panel and matched to a target part.
Although the Audio Editor has improved significantly, we were hoping for a beat-mapping feature in the main Arrange page, for matching freely recorded audio. Other well-known DAWs do include this feature but, admittedly, it is a complex task at the best of times. You can, though, calculate the tempo of an audio file by dragging a bar line to an obvious downbeat or tempo scrolling.
Complete comp’ing
In the two years since Studio One was launched, multitrack comp’ing has become commonplace in practically all the major DAWs. It’s no surprise, then, to see it appear in this second version. As expected, PreSonus has concentrated on ease of use and the process is typically fast, with automatic crossfading between takes (manual editing optional) and no tool-switching. Takes can be auditioned directly without the need to solo an entire lane.
What truly sets Studio One apart from its rivals is its fully integrated mastering suite (the Project page). We praised this feature in our first review but it’s worth noting again that when completed songs are transferred from the Song page to the Project page for mastering, any changes made in one page are updated in the other. This is, of course, a hugely convenient time-saver because you can re-tweak your mixes and update the mastering project simultaneously or vice versa. Naturally, you can burn audio CDs and create MP3 albums here, but several new professional features have been added to the feature list, including, among others, DDP Export, PQ editing and higher-quality sample rate conversion.
Folder fun
Not everyone uses them, but Folder Tracks are a big deal for some when it comes to an organised workflow. Most DAWs have them, but Studio One’s new Folder Tracks include grouping and bussing options. For example, after creating a drum group and assigning it to a buss channel, effects can be dragged from the browser and dropped directly onto the Folder Track. A new Track List has also been added to facilitate the workflow and contains several nifty organisation features.
As with audio, working with MIDI has been improved, too, but to a lesser extent. Simultaneous editing of instrument tracks is a big help, and a Split tool has been added to the Instrument Editor. Although editing and shaping MIDI controller data in Studio One is very good, for detailed MIDI editing it remains constrictive, partly due to the lack of list and logical editors. Neither is there a Score Editor. We mention this not as a criticism, but to let potential buyers know exactly what they’re getting. For many, those features are irrelevant anyway, but for the growing number of orchestral samples library users, visual numerical data/notation is very useful.
Other major new features (too many to cover in detail here) include Track Transform (advanced freezing), event-based effects, Ampire XT (amp modelling), OpenAIR (hybrid convolution reverb), Dual Pan (independent stereo panner) and IR Maker (impulse-response creation).
Evolving DAW
Studio One 2 is way better than its predecessor – and that was mighty impressive. With all the tools needed to record an arrangement, edit, mix and master it in a single application, Studio One is evolving into one of the best DAWs around. The Artist and Producer versions are ideal for project studios and Professional is more than adequate for small pro recording studios. MTM
Verdict
WHY BUY
Brilliantly simple workflow
Extensive drag and drop
Melodyne integration
Vastly improved audio editing
Many new features
WALK ON BY
Lacks beat-mapping tools
Limited MIDI editing
Studio One is brilliant software that’s a joy to use. For the vast majority of musicians and producers, it contains all the tools they are likely to need for modern music production.
Score: 9
This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 105
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