[GALLERY=media, 418]PreSonus StudioLive CS18AI Walk-Through - YouTube by audiokid posted Oct 7, 2015 at 11:55 AM[/GALLERY]

Wow, Presonus is sure breaking ground here. Every 6 month they seem to be moving closer and closer towards a live/studio tracking and mixing system I that most people would switch to.

dvdhawk
Hey Dave, @21:10 , does this appear to be a control surface for Studio One and other DAW's like we would use?

I don't think there's much argument that Presonus has been pretty innovative over the last couple years; breaking new ground - and at the same time keeping things relatively affordable.

I know there are those who feel as though Presonus gear is cheap, entry level stuff; and yes, it's true that they do make that kind of gear for the budget-level recording folks, but so does Focusrite, and it's not like they aren't respected on upper levels, too.

There is nothing wrong with the XMax preamps; maybe they're not of the same exact quality as those that reside in the $1000 per channel category - but they are not at all bad sounding pre's, and most certainly would be fine for live mixing, and are decent for tracking as well. Conversion is another strong suit for them. Far better than what you'd expect for i-o's in the price range they are in.

FOH aside for a moment, in terms of recording, where the sonics tend to be more under the aural microscope, they're still very good, and lean more towards the transparent side, so "character" isn't something you should expect to get with them. With a voltage of 30v, and a gain rating of around 65db, they might not have the balls that hi-voltage rail preamps do, but they are clean and very quiet; and I've never had any issues using low output dynamics or ribbon mics with them.

The section of the video at 21:10 shows how flexible this surface is when using it as a DAW controller - the ability to scroll through channels, call up and adjust plugs ( even third party) and adjust all those various DAW parameters independently from the live mix, is an awesome feature. Personally, I think that tis particular controller is probably far too much gun for what I would use in a typical DAW scenario - because I don't need all the FOH features it has - but that doesn't downplay the fact that it seems to be a very intuitive and flexible control surface.

Presonus is headed towards "studio standard" status on the mid-levels of audio production, and are already well-respected for live/FOH use. I've played 5000 seat theaters where Presonus desks are at the heart of the FOH rigs; their wireless capability makes them incredibly flexible. I did a gig a few years ago at a large theater, where the FOH engineer gave all the band members the option to use our own iPads to tap into his system and allow us to control our own monitor levels via house Wi-Fi. I was able to stand at my mic, and use my own iPad to adjust my own individual monitor mix. It was wonderful to be able to do that.

Great video. Thanks for sharing, Chris.