Presonus new digital mixer

[Glenn Bucci]

It seems that Behringer never bothered to update their DDX3216 digital mixer which was a good unit for it's price when it came out. Presonus seems to have come out with a decent digital mixer that has better pre's, and capabilities for a good price. Has anyone checked out this mixer yet? PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 Close-Up | Sweetwater.com

[Ubu4him]

i like how it is a ITB OTB setup .... i love... i am also a fan of Presonus stuff... this might have to be my next interface =]

[KingDiamond]

Does it have automated faders?

[Zionpro]

Looks promising, but no mention of motorized faders...everything else looks really good.

$2, 000 though...ugh.

[Ubu4him]

yeah it is alot but it is like a console where you record to the computer... then you can have everything routed into the mixer via firewire...=] that is a huge plus ... i could sacrifice motorized faders for that.... but it is alot ....

[uncle duncan]

Make sure to compare it to the latest incarnation of the Yamaha 01V96, which also goes for around $2k. The Yamaha does have motorized faders, and a downloadable internal memory for 99 scenes, which means your mixes are 100% recallable. The version I have is a couple of years old. It has no internal automation, but you can switch scenes in the middle of a mix, like say if you want to try no drums on the intro. Of course you could also do that in your DAW, but sometimes doing it in the mixer is easier, ergonomically speaking. Plus, you can do most of your EQ, compression and gating with the mixer, leaving your DAW processing free for boutique plugs.

The Yamaha has 12 mic pres with DI outs if you want to go directly to the DAW interface, or you can route them digitally via adat lightpipe. There's so much flexibility with a digital mixer, I'm surprised more studios don't use them. They'll pay an equal amount of money for a controller, and get 1/3 of the functionality. Very strange.

One more reason to consider Yamaha - they've been building digital mixers since the beginning, so at this point, they probably know what they're doing. Nothing against Presonus, but my MP20 preamp just took a poop, (in the middle of a session) while my 01V96 is still going strong, and it gets way more use than the MP20 ever did.

[Herman Munster]

I actually think the N12 will likely be more of a direct competitor. There are videos on YouTube of the Presonus and I recall it does not have motorized faders. I've owned a Firepod for years and am in the process of upgrading. I have to say I'd take an N12 over this....

[sirthought]

Well, I'd think the Yamaha n12 would be more of a competitor, features wise, but then Presonus is charging $2,000 for the StudioLive, which is the price range of the Yamaha 01V96. Clearly, the Yamaha 01V96 now with the VCM plugs included is the better solution, both in the studio and live. It's expandable for up to 30 channels and the Yamaha eq and reverb are excellent. And, as mentioned, you can have the automated faders, although it's a bit of a set up I hear.

The StudioLive might be a better option over the n12 if you are using it as a live board more often. More inputs and it's organized for someone running live sound. I'm betting that the n12's pres are pretty nice, though, which is ideal in the studio. I'm leaning towards the n12 unless I hear more about the results from StudioLive users. Presonus always seems behind the 8 ball on customer service.

[ricknaqvi]

Hi Folks,

We're now in our second round of beta testing for the StudioLive mixer and I am posting weekly videos showing how it works.

So for anyone that might be interested, here's the link:

PreSonus's StudioLive Blog

Cheers,

[JimmyPage]

1. Did anyone notice if it's possible to update the firmware of the Studiolive. Could this be a function of the Capture software?
2. And will it be possible to save/recall the scenes on the PC/Mac?

[Mylithra]

I have the afore mentioned DDX3216 and I still really like it.. I like it even more since I swapped out all the NJM 4580s for NE5532s.
Ive not heard the Presonus mixer yet but I pretty much dismissed it as I didn't like its digital IO options. (which is practically non-existent)
Not 100% true that B. never updated the software. They did but they havent in a long time. (Mine is running the 1.3v of the Mixer's OS)

Im pretty certain it has the capability to be updated through the firewire port. Now if they actually do software updates for it is another matter.