Recording - November 2011 - 12

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2
The game-changing digital console family gets a new little sibling
In our January 2011 issue we took a look at the StudioLive 24.4.2 digital console from PreSonus. This big, feature-rich console was an impressive foray into the world of integrated hardware/software solutions for live FOH mixing, show capture, and recording-studio applications. Not only was it loaded with complex and flexible routing options and way more good-sounding DSP effects than you’d expect for a console at this price point, it came with a suite of three programs that integrated with it seamlessly and provided the user with remote control, multichannel capture of live sessions, and even a quality DAW. A full-on solution indeed. During my review, I found myself wondering if there was a market for a much smaller and simpler version of the StudioLive console, one with a price that was friendlier to small startup rooms and touring rigs, but still offered most or all of the integration and power of the StudioLive platform. Apparently PreSonus was wondering about that, too, because hard on the heels of the first two
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RECORDING NOVEMBER 2011

StudioLive consoles, we now have the StudioLive 16.0.2, which takes the majority of what made the 24.4.2 cool and puts it in a cute little package. The board The “16.0.2” in the name refers to how many inputs, subgroups, and mix channels you have to work with; a fair bit of real estate has been saved in comparison to the larger StudioLive consoles by removing the Subgroups (and a few other things—see below) and rearranging what’s left. The 16.0.2 provides all of its functions in a rackmountably compact form that still retains ease of use; I was actually a bit startled, lifting it out of its box for the first time, by how much lighter and more manageable it was than the 24.4.2, which is a pretty heavy beast. The StudioLive 16.0.2 provides 16 channel inputs, eight mono and four mono/stereo. Each mono channel has an XLR mic input with one of PreSonus’s XMAX preamps behind it as well as a 1 /4" TRS balanced line input; stereo chan-

nels have one XLR and two TRS jacks each (they function as mono channels when the XLR is in use). Two of the stereo channels also offer RCA unbalanced input pairs. The 60 mm faders are decently smooth, but a noticeable change from the 100 mm faders on the larger boards. The 16.0.2 doesn’t have the 24.4.2’s RCA unbalanced Tape I/O, Aux inputs, Subgroup outputs, S/PDIF digital output on RCA, or DB-25 connectors for multichannel patching. It does have the rest of its larger sibling’s connections: an extra mic input with XMAX preamp for Talkback, parallel XLR and TRS balanced Main Outputs with rear-panel trimpot, Mono Output on XLR with trimpot, TRS Monitor Outputs, and four TRS Aux Outputs (to the 24.4.2’s ten), as well as MIDI and FireWire I/O and an IEC power socket. Layout and functions The 16.0.2 has a front-panel layout that can be looked at vertically or horizontally, serving entirely different purposes for each mode. You can have the same
Recording - November 2011

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