Recording - January 2011 - 14

PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2

choice of four stereo pairs from any of the Subgroups, Aux sends, Aux returns, FX returns, the 2-track RCA input, the Mains, the Solo bus, or the Talkback. The 26 outputs (“FireWire returns”) correspond to the 24 input channels and a 2-track return from your DAW’s main mix output to the Monitor section, so you can listen to what’s already on your computer while working with other signals. Because of the way FireWire taps into the mixer, it’s possible to use each input channel’s FireWire send and return as a virtual insert. Just set up a channel in your DAW that takes audio from an input and returns it to that same output, and drop in the plug-ins of your choice; on a fast computer, the latency is low enough so that this works well in real time. The software This deep multichannel FireWire integration begs for the StudioLive 24.4.2 to be set up to work with software that takes advantage of it, and PreSonus doesn’t leave you hanging. The mixer comes with three free applications for Mac (OS X 10.5.2 or better) and Windows (XP/Vista/7) that complete the hardware/software integration picture. First and not least, there’s Studio One Artist, PreSonus’s DAW. I can’t go into all—or any!—of this powerful program’s features in this article; see my August 2010 review for details. It’s been designed from the ground up to work with PreSonus interfaces, so there’s exactly zero jumping through hoops to get all the StudioLive’s tricks to work (e.g. using plug-ins as insert effects). There are some things Studio One Artist doesn’t do, and if you find yourself liking the program but chafing at the omissions, it’s not too expensive to upgrade to Studio One Pro, which is just as well integrated and adds third-party plug-in support, a complete track assembly/mastering/CD burning function set, and more. Second, there’s VSL, or Virtual StudioLive. This handy program runs inside the Universal Control application that handles drivers and I/O assignments for all PreSonus interfaces, and gives you a visual representation of the
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mixer itself. From here, you can quickly and easily store and recall Fat Channel presets, graphic eq settings, and entire Scenes, moving them to and from the mixer and storing them on hard disk. There’s a graphical editor for the Fat Channel effects, which gives computer-screen ease to setting up eq curves and compressor and gate parameters. Saving your work is as easy as drag and drop, whether it’s a particular effect, a full Fat Channel, or the state of the entire mixer. (See Figure 1.)

These three programs, taken together, give you free tools for everything you might want to do with the StudioLive... store and recall its settings, edit its parameters quickly with graphic feedback, use it as a front end for capturing live gigs, and use it as a front end for a full-on tracking and mixing DAW. Quite literally, the whole package in one box. Is it for you? I’ve lurked on the very active user forums for the StudioLive boards at the PreSonus website for quite some time, and have seen the usual run of issues and questions that surround a complex piece of hardware that relies somewhat on a computer for its full feature set. PreSonus carefully spells out in the manual which FireWire chipsets are known to work well with the StudioLive boards, and points out a number of places where PC users should be aware of possible hardware conflicts that can cause issues on their machines; it seems that this topic constitutes the majority of complaints (and resolutions) out there. Well, that and using a really highquality FireWire cable for your hookup. (Kudos, by the way, to the PreSonus tech staff, who seem quite prompt and helpful when answering questions and suggesting fixes.) Working primarily with a MacBook (2 GHz Core 2 Duo) running Mac OS X 10.6.3, I had no operational issues at all with any of the software, and the mixer worked like a dream and sounded fantastic. My only real wish-list item is one that would likely have substantially increased the cost of the StudioLive, and that would be to motorize the faders and allow full dynamic automation. VSL offers a very good partial solution in allowing you to see, manipulate, and store parameters in scenes, then quickly sync them to the board, but it’s not quite the same as two-way communication with a DAW and automatically updated fader positions. That having been said, the StudioLive 24.4.2 still represents a remarkable return on your investment—a greatsounding mixer with tons of worthwhile signal processing, transparent and flexible integration with a computer, and a bundle of software that does way more than just get you started. You’d do well to check it out on your own and see if what it offers dovetails with your studio’s needs... and if you do any live recording at all, the Fat Channel and Capture make it an all-in-one problem solver that’s going to be hard to beat. Price: $3999 ($3299 street) More from: PreSonus, www.presonus.com.

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Third, there’s Capture. It does what it says: capture audio from all of the StudioLive’s input channels and other assigned FireWire sends with the touch of a button. It’s not a full-fledged DAW—it only has a few simple features for setting markers and doing basic audio track edits, has no plug-in support, etc.—but it’s a very simple and straightforward way to quickly record audio at a gig in a form that can be imported into Studio One or another DAW later. Old-school recordists can think of Capture as a multitrack tape player patched into the StudioLive, with all tracks hardwired to mixer channels and a few nice extras to help the process along. (See Figure 2.)
http://www.presonus.com
Recording - January 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2011
