Presonus Studio One 3 Pro

[Joseph Hanna]

So I've had the weekend to work with this software. My background in DAW's started years and years ago when I had one of the very first Sound Tools systems. I later went on to work for then Digidesign (now Avid) as a regional tech guy. I'm also Apple certified in Logic Pro as a result of working for Apple in migrating the old e-Magic stuff to what it currently is. I've had a copy of Propellor Heads Reason since it was introduced. For the last 15 years I've been involved in audio for television and film here in Los Angeles. I'd say for those 15 years I average about 10 hours a day in combat Pro Tools mixing. In short most of my professional life has been working with and in DAW's.

It honestly seems to me that who ever wrote the code to Studio One 3 must have had similar backgrounds. They have managed to take the workflow of Reason (drag and drop, minimal effort for anything, intuitive, non-restricting, non invasive mobility) combined it with the easy to digest, logical look of Logic and the brilliant editing flow of Pro Tools (without the horrendous bogged-down problems Pro Tools currently has).

All of my "vital" plug in's automatically showed up. My Omnisphere and Lexicon reverbs are there. Latency is fantastically low. Studio One 3 runs virtual synths much like Logic. Almost limitless synths without a hint of hiccups. Views are simple and intuitive. It's almost impossible to think of a smoother, more inspiring, simple yet complex workflow than this software.

Logic Pro at $200.00 vs this at $$400.00 is a no brained for me. It is of course expensive at almost $400.00 but worth ever cent. A brilliant piece of software.

[rick-slo]

Thanks for the informative review. A good DAW is definitely worth the money.

Link to the DAW:
http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/

[KevWind]

Interesting Joseph

And somewhat similar to my thoughts .


My experience is however as a home recordist.
Having started with Pro Tools LE and Digi 002 console in 2003 I have used PT ever since and even took an on line Master Certificate course in Advanced Music Production In Pro Tools from Berklee College.
Which also got me into using Reason as one of elective courses was about Reason.




When PT first decided to go to the subscription plan I started looking for a possible alternative (just in case I decided to jump ship)
And although I have been a Mac guy since 2003 I have never tried Logic
I tried a 60 day trial of Reaper and did not find it to my liking or workflow
I then tried the trial version of Studio One 3 and decided It would be my choice if I ever bailed on PT. For much the same reasons you have stated and because I guess it was the most PT -ish feeling of the ones I have tried .
The only thing I would miss it the coloring on the entire channel strips

But I just re-upped my PTHD subscription for 2017 so we will see what the next year brings.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Interesting Joseph

And somewhat similar to my thoughts .


My experience is however as a home recordist.
Having started with Pro Tools LE and Digi 002 console in 2003 I have used PT ever since and even took an on line Master Certificate course in Advanced Music Production In Pro Tools from Berklee College.
Which also got me into using Reason as one of elective courses was about Reason.




When PT first decided to go to the subscription plan I started looking for a possible alternative (just in case I decided to jump ship)
And although I have been a Mac guy since 2003 I have never tried Logic
I tried a 60 day trial of Reaper and did not find it to my liking or workflow
I then tried the trial version of Studio One 3 and decided It would be my choice if I ever bailed on PT. For much the same reasons you have stated and because I guess it was the most PT -ish feeling of the ones I have tried .
The only thing I would miss it the coloring on the entire channel strips

But I just re-upped my PTHD subscription for 2017 so we will see what the next year brings.

Gosh I hear ya. I've spent (seemingly) my life in Pro Tools. I'm no where near replacing it at work. I know it to well and because of that a lot of the emergencies I see day in and day out aren't needlessly complicated. It also gets me home in time for dinner But work is so much different than when I want to sit down and "create" rather than just mix (as I do for a living). The drag and drop of virtually anything is a zillion miles away from the cumbersome handling of instrument track ps in Pro Tools or Logic. Drag and it's there and pre-armed for record.

For home and in particular for the things I do (at home) this is just a crazy powerful, intuitive, pretty seemless piece of software. It feels very much like 2017. I've only had two days with it so 20 years of Pro Tools habits aren't going away immediately but I could easily do a complex musical project right away.

The Sampler (I forget what they call it) is fantastic and some of the files really rival Omnisphere. The reverbs really good although I have my Lexicons so not much of an issue. It's a bit like Reason but without all the horrendously bad sounds.

Again it's not particularly cheap but this software is absolutely the real deal. The best of Pro Tools/Logic and Reason all bundled into one! Big thumbs up here and I can absolutely see why so many are switching.

[anton]

Very cool, thanks for the review. I might have to check it out.

[Bowie]

Good thread.
SO3 is amazing. Easily the most intuitive, friendly DAW I've encountered. Reminds me of the the wonderful workflow of the old Adobe Audition, but in a full-powered DAW. You can tell that someone there actually cares about the user experience!
I use PT when I'm working at other studios but always hated it. SO3 works for me in my mostly-analog environment and when I need to pull up plug-ins, they're reliable and easy to implement.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by Bowie

Good thread.
SO3 is amazing. Easily the most intuitive, friendly DAW I've encountered. Reminds me of the the wonderful workflow of the old Adobe Audition, but in a full-powered DAW. You can tell that someone there actually cares about the user experience!
I use PT when I'm working at other studios but always hated it. SO3 works for me in my mostly-analog environment and when I need to pull up plug-ins, they're reliable and easy to implement.

I hear ya I not a Pro Tools hater. I've made a decent living using it. There have absolutely however been cracks in the armor over the last 5 or 6 years. The first thing that comes to mind is how fumbly midi is. No matter how hard they try they just can't get the midi environment to an elegant place. It's like someone there just doesn't quite "get it". The second problem of course is how cumbersome soft-synths can be. It's terrible time consuming to open midi tracks and or instrument tracks, call up a synth, a preset and arm a track for record. It's clumsy and often interferes with the flow. I do think Pro Tools is still the "audio editing" king of the universe which is why I'll continue to use it at work but overall it feels like they may be backed into a corner with overly bloated code. The whole ginormous push for off-site collaboration seems very much like a miscalculation of market needs. I really don't need to collaborate with anyone from Moscow very often and meanwhile my video engine crashes 30 times a day.

Studio One 3 is clearly a lighter, more efficient piece of software.