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Studio One 4

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Ramshackles:
For a while I've been doing some sort of hybrid between Reaper and Cubase; recording & editing in Reaper for all its functionality (Maybe Cubase Pro can do the same but I'm too stingy to pay for it) and mixing in Cubase Elements.
Needless to say, its not great for a fast workflow and there are elements of both DAW's that annoy me.

Reaper is incredibly cheap and has TONNES of functionality. But I just can't get along with the user interface and due to all the options and 'customise-ability', simple things can take a number of clicks and there are 100's of complicated key combinations to learn.
Cubase Elements is obviously more limited in functionality, but I prefer the GUI for mixing and the way plugins work.

Yearning for a faster workflow and a DAW that helps, rather than hinders creativity, I've been running the demo of Studio One 4 Pro. I've been reading about it for a while and it seems like it is finally in a position (maybe since v3) to really challenge Pro Tools and Cubase. I'm increasingly seeing reports of pro producers/engineers switching from Pro Tools to Studio One, so I thought I'd give it a go

So far, it feels like its going to be incredible :D
It really does offer a fast and intuitive workflow and the GUI is, IMO, much better than any of the other 3 DAW's I've mentioned.
The pricing is attractive, but I dont think I can swing for the Pro version straight away.

Does anyone have any experience of the limitations of Studio One Artist vs Pro? On paper it looks like the gap is not as big as Cubase Elements (this is the most similar in pricing) vs Pro. Anything that I'm really going to miss?

I think @Boydie has been running Studio One?

Boydie:
I was a very long-term Cakewalk Sonar user but when that hit difficulties and looked like it was going to disappear I switched to Studio One v3 pro

I really like the workflow and interface and I think the best compliment I can give it is that after a few months of use Sonar was "rescued" by BandLab - but I chose to stick with Studio One

A big advantage is that it is on windows and Mac so I am no longer tied to one OS

I can't remember the exact features but I remember seeing a comparison chart and the Pro version did see to be the only viable option for me - I think it related to plugins

Here is the comparison chart:
https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-One/compare-versions

Something that did strike me when I changed daw was that over the years I had (unintentionally) developed workflows for recording, mixing and mastering that reply almost exclusively on 3rd party plugins from Waves, Izotope, FabFilter, Celemony, IK and NI

Apart from workflow the actual host daw matters less and less to me

I haven't upgraded to V4 yet as I am in the middle of some production & mixing projects for people at the moment but the chord track looks very attractive

@Bill Saunders took the plunge for V4 I think so perhaps he can give some views

Bill Saunders:
Just like @Boydie I took the plunge when Sonar ran into problems and I switched to Studio One Professional. Wish I had done it years ago. The learning curve from Sonar was so shallow I hardly noticed it. Everything about Studio One is so logical. The biggest thing for me is that it is really rock solid.

I have upgraded to Version 4, primarily to ensure I have supported software and I like to be up to date. Whether you need the full version only you can decide by looking at the comparison chart I guess. The chord track in Version 4 is great, in fact I used it yesterday trying to suss out the chords of an old song I’d written on guitar in Ab minor for reasons I am sure made sense at the time!

Like Boydie I use mainly third party plugins, but the Presonus ones are excellent. I have used their reverb and compressor recently. Doing things like sidechaining is so easy in Studio One. You’ll never look back once you switch.

Ramshackles:
I also use mainly 3rd party plugins and a bunch of hardware, so the extras that the Pro version gives you in that respect aren't so importaint.

But, I really like the separate mastering 'suite'/project page. In Cubase I would typically export all the stems with effects etc applied, so I can start cleanly with the mastering after a few days and not worry about my CPU/RAM when adding processing to the 2-bus. It means lots of duplicated tracks and Cubase files though. I really like that in Presonus you can create a 'project' based off a 'song'

Buuuut its only in Pro. That and perhaps scratch pads and the parallel fx chains is the only stuff I would really want from Pro. Right now I'm not sure its worth the +300 euro extra cost.

The relatively low cost of entry is a big plus point of Studio One. Artist is about 150 EUR less than Cubase Artist, putting it at around the same price as Cubase Elements. Cubase Elements does not do a lot....

FaderPort v2 comes with Studio One Artist for 199 EUR. Not a bad deal. Do you guys have experience with FaderPort? Worth it?

Bill Saunders:
I have a FaderPort 16 and the integration with Studio One is deep. It is a joy to use. I know it’s a luxury, but I would not want to go back to a mouse now. I use it in conjunction with the mouse, and a ton of keyboard shortcuts, which lets me whizz along. Anything that keeps me focused on the music without faffing about is worth it for me. Mixing on it is amazing, as are certain automation tasks. But I also use it for tracking - simple things like having two separate physical knobs for pause, and stop and rewind for example. You can control any parameter of any plug in by hovering over with the mouse and turning a dial. I find this encourages me to experiment more.

It is not an essential but it’s a stack of fun. Not looking to try to encourage extra spending but I’d think about a multi fader option!

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