Reviews PreSonus Studio One 5 As the latest version boasts many new features, GEORGE SHILLING is excited about the prospect of joining dots Goal! Having enjoyed the Score Editor of Cubase on the Atari ST from about 1988 until moving to Digital Performer, Pro Tools and Logic on a Mac around 2001, I have from that point on been rather underwhelmed by the provision of old fashioned dots on staves in my favoured DAWs, and even widely used class- leading scoring applications can make a lthough version 5 was announced as ‘Ten Years In plug-ins have been improved with new bit of a meal of things. The Making’, it is actually eleven years since Studio graphics and features, including Several budget scoring programmes One first dropped. PreSonus has continued along the sidechain inputs in many cases, and come closer to an intuitive interface, but A route of innovation, whilst also busily implementing enhanced metering and analyser most major DAWs consider scoring an features requested by the loyal and dedicated user community. options in ProEQ2. afterthought, and essential features are Some features added with this release appear to be ‘me too’ Clip gain editing has been improved, often omitted. additions, usefully adding functions found in competing DAWs, making it easier to duck problem vocal PreSonus has previously pointed some perhaps overdue. But alongside this are some really neat noises for example. This is separate from users towards their dedicated Notion innovations. Event Volume which controls overall notation software which can exchange As with previous releases, there are tiered editions with gain of clips. You can drag a central data with Studio One. But they have differing features; we are looking at the Professional package horizontal line up or down between again listened to their users and here, but there is a more cost-effective Artist version with nodes, draw lines or curves etc., and the included similar features to Notion in fewer features, and Prime, a basic free version. changes you make are reflected in the version 5’s Score Editor. It allows you to There is now support for extravagant 64-bit floating point shape of the underlying waveform edit in score view on one track, whilst audio, with sample rates up to 384kHz, which PreSonus claims graphic. It’s like having a pre-effects retaining piano roll or drum editor views makes it the highest resolution available in any DAW. Crikey! automation lane, enabling complex on other tracks. The toolbox allows you dynamic volume changes before the to add things like trills, dynamics, Show and tell audio hits any inserts — should you need accents and so on, while presenting a The new Show Page section is a streamlined area which that level of fiddling. neat copperplate appearance. emulates Apple’s popular Logic-related free-standing MainStage Scene recall saves entire mixer setups You can add dynamics which affect app, catering to live — or streamed – performance. As well as as snapshots, including volume, pan, playback, and the edit window can be optimising control of processing (including amp simulation for mute, inserts, visibility and so on. This is detached from the Arranger Window guitarists) and virtual instruments in real-time, a setlist feature handy for trying ideas within one Song and resized. However, although most helpfully stores separate settings for different songs, and opens file — different balances or effects features are superior to those of Pro up backing tracks (or perhaps individual recorded parts of chains for example — without having to Tools’ Score Edit, one big drawback is absent band members). The overall look is, helpfully, far simpler do lots of ‘Save As…’ versions. that here you cannot print scores or than when working with the main DAW, and a Perform page is MIDI editing now has a separate lane generate PDFs — for that you’ll still need like an on-screen pedalboard, with essential controls only, with a for Key Switches; custom maps for any Notion. large and easy-to-view screen representation. virtual instruments can be edited, stored Eucon support is still denied — Native effect plug-ins have been updated with a fresh new and shared — it’s certainly helpful to see PreSonus are hardware manufacturers look, and some have had an analogue saturation stage bolted names of what each Key Switch is doing after all. But while some added features on. Melodyne — part of Studio One since the co-development through the track — rather than just have been a long time coming, this (with Celemony) of ARA in 2011 — is usefully updated with the seeing long low notes in the piano roll. update to Studio One 5 further refines integration of Melodyne Essential 5. And a number of PreSonus Also new is Polyphonic Expression and an already excellent DAW. It’s well- Poly Pressure, and it’s finally possible to designed, ergonomic, and easy to find synch to external devices with MTC, with your way around and customise. independent setting of MIDI Timecode and Machine Control sources. Aux Channels now let you integrate hardware VERDICT instruments more elegantly, adding them in the mixer without needing a track in PROS Improvements to an already the Arranger window. great DAW, intuitive score editor, The Listen Bus lets you route solo-ed Show page, Listen Bus. tracks to a separate output, so you can easily add a control room monitor CONS Sadly, no score printing; no output with room correction software, Eucon support. without it affecting mix bounces. www.presonus.com 18 / Summer 2020.