PreSonus StudioLive Series III

[cgrafx]

Hi Phillip,
Not that it matters to me at this point, but I was wondering if the switch to MOTU from ADA8200s was sonically better. I still have a bunch of ADA8000's around that I used for live SAC use and never made the move to ADA8200s. I'm just curious if you could hear a difference, or if you changed for other reasons.

The change was for functionality not sonic quality, although it they do seem to be just a touch quieter (less hiss at idle)

The two features that were most important

1. easily repeatable gain and preamp settings

The MOTU is fully digitally controlled, Gain, Pad and Phantom power on a per channel basis and although not controlled directly through SAC/SAW Studio I can save and recall settings. Its also easy to manually get back to a known state without just guessing if the gain is the same. Settings are actually stored on each device internally, so they can actually be recalled from the front panel of the box as well as through the Web Interface.

The Behringers knobs are easy to bump particularly with all the connectors on the front. Obviously less of a problem in a setup like Bob is using for Elton John where the input cabling is permanent and everything is recessed, but in my setup I was plugging in the snakes every time.

2. digital mic split

The MOTU supports AVB audio which made it possible to do a full digital signal split. So instead of doing a mic split before the preamps its done post preamp which is so much easier. We plug in everything on stage exactly the same regardless of wether we are handling all the sound or just the stage mix. A simple ethernet cable is routed to another MOTU 24ch AVB box and I an instant split of any 24channels out of the 32 I have available. Could be extended to all 32 channels by just adding a 2nd interface, but at the present time we don't need the higher channel count.

[Richard Rupert]

Thanks Phillip. Makes sense.

I'm neck deep in learning the StudioLive 32 Series III, and am beginning to like it quite a lot. If they ever come out with a SAWStudio/SAC template, this thing will make a monster of a DAW controller.

[hclague]

No Dell, in fact it's the opposite. The question is: "Will SAWStudio recognize the Series III as an interface through USB". Using it as a control surface would be an added bonus (and a great one), but its value as an input device is foremost.

Hi Richard

I have a Studiolive 64S. I will try to look at this tonight. I did have Saw Studio Lite sending two track audio into the SL 64S via USB this past weekend on a live gig. Saw Studio see's the USB driver for playback as a 24 Bit WDM Compatible Multimedia driver in the Audio driver model Setup Area. Studiolive USB driver is not an ASIO driver.

So after I set up the console at home tonight I'll see if I can get audio from the SL64s into sawstudio via the USB driver.

Hal

Oops looks like I was too late to the party. Enjoy your Studiolive :-)

[Richard Rupert]

Hi Richard

I have a Studiolive 64S. I will try to look at this tonight. I did have Saw Studio Lite sending two track audio into the SL 64S via USB this past weekend on a live gig. Saw Studio see's the USB driver for playback as a 24 Bit WDM Compatible Multimedia driver in the Audio driver model Setup Area. Studiolive USB driver is not an ASIO driver.

So after I set up the console at home tonight I'll see if I can get audio from the SL64s into sawstudio via the USB driver.

Hal

Oops looks like I was too late to the party. Enjoy your Studiolive :-)

Well, thanks for posting anyway Hal. I don't quite understand your experience though; StudioLive 32 Series III DOES have an ASIO driver, and allows 64 track throughput with the latest firmware update. I haven't tried to get that many tracks in and out of the software, but PreSonus claims it's possible. I still have A LOT to learn about this amazing piece of gear, but I definitely am using USB and an ASIO driver from PreSonus that shows up in SAWStudio's drivers options as "StudioLive Series III ASIO". I'll know more after today, as I'm still messing with this board in the house before installing it in the studio and I have friends coming over to simulate a session. I'll report back with any pertinent findings.

On a related note regarding DAW control, I HAVE been successful in getting the board to "talk" to Studio One 4 (the bundled PreSonus DAW), and noticed that they have Mackie and HUI emulation included in the latest firmware. I vaguely remember something about SAW (or was it SAC) that allowed control through one of those? As I said SO MUCH TO LEARN, and so little time! <LOL>

[mr_es335]

Richard,

Both SAW and SAC support Mackie and HUI control.

SAW, see Section 21
SAC, see Section 10

[Richard Rupert]

Richard,

Both SAW and SAC support Mackie and HUI control.

SAW, see Section 21
SAC, see Section 10

Thanks Dell, you've pointed me correctly to where the help file explains the setup. I'll have to delve into this deeper since I have minimal understanding of this whole controller process. Specifically, the StudioLive III has no midi ports on it. There must be a way to get midi to and from the computer to the controller device... maybe through USB... or the ethernet connection? I'm just thinking out loud; not asking you to research this!!!!! Right now I'm still tinkering with so many other aspects of the board... I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest. And I'm glad that my old analogue board is still happily working in the studio for my on-going sessions.

So far, I'm quite impressed with the board, but I feel like a 1st grader in a differential calculus class!!

[mr_es335]

Richard,

MIDI is part of the "device drivers" - so MIDI should appear in SAW/SAC Midi configuration settings.

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks Dell, you've pointed me correctly to where the help file explains the setup. I'll have to delve into this deeper since I have minimal understanding of this whole controller process. Specifically, the StudioLive III has no midi ports on it. There must be a way to get midi to and from the computer to the controller device... maybe through USB... or the ethernet connection? I'm just thinking out loud; not asking you to research this!!!!! Right now I'm still tinkering with so many other aspects of the board... I'm a bit overwhelmed to be honest. And I'm glad that my old analogue board is still happily working in the studio for my on-going sessions.

So far, I'm quite impressed with the board, but I feel like a 1st grader in a differential calculus class!!

Well, I got curious.

No MIDI. It's all via Ethernet. There are addendum documents (to the user manual) for DAW control applications that say this:

Please Note: At the time of publication, remote control over USB is not supported. You must network your mixer and your computer to use DAW mode, in addition to connecting USB for audio transport so that your StudioLive can be used as an audio interface.

Important: If you are hardwiring your computer to the same router as your mixer, you must disable the wireless connection on your computer. UCNET does not support dual network connections.

Note: Ethernet-to-Thunderbolt and Ethernet-to-USBC adapters are also supported. Ethernet-to-USB adapters will not allow your computer to network to a StudioLive mixer.

Here are the links:

HUI

MCU

Interestingly, IIUC, you can actually go into your computer at a USBC or Thunderbolt port using an adapter.

[Dave Labrecque]

Richard,

MIDI is part of the "device drivers" - so MIDI should appear in SAW/SAC Midi configuration settings.

Looks like HUI emulation is 8 faders per MIDI port. But that you can select multiple ports to get all your faders assigned. Hmmmm... I don't know if SAWStudio will allow for that.

I did find this in the HUI control addendum at the website:

The HUI Control Emulation mode has been optimized for use with Avid Pro Tools software. While also compatible with any DAW that supports the HUI Control protocol, performance may vary. Because of this, PreSonus does not recommend HUI Control Emulation for use with any other software.

It'll be intresting to see how well it works with SAWStudio.

[Richard Rupert]

Looks like HUI emulation is 8 faders per MIDI port. But that you can select multiple ports to get all your faders assigned. Hmmmm... I don't know if SAWStudio will allow for that.

I did find this in the HUI control addendum at the website:

The HUI Control Emulation mode has been optimized for use with Avid Pro Tools software. While also compatible with any DAW that supports the HUI Control protocol, performance may vary. Because of this, PreSonus does not recommend HUI Control Emulation for use with any other software.

It'll be interesting to see how well it works with SAWStudio.

Thanks for your input here, Dave. You, along with Dell, have pointed me in the right direction in this DAW control subject. I'll post as to how effective it is when I get some time to fool with it.

I guess it's because I'm coming from a totally analogue board that this StudioLive III seems like something out of Star Trek... but I'm slowly getting a handle on it. Actually, it's really exciting to see the potential of this mixer. I wish I could focus on just learning the mixer and not all the other things in life tugging at me.