Like many musicians, producers, and songwriters, I’ve tried a few different company’s music production software. The comprehensive set of features that PreSonus offers with Studio One is great, but the new Version 6 promises to make audio content creation even easier.
Studio One has always been great to record, produce, and mix music, but now it can handle lyrics to your songs, too, even letting you customize the interface or add video with an intuitive Global Video Track. There is a lot of new functionality, so let’s take a look at some of the most powerful features of Studio One’s Version 6.
Smart and Efficient
One of the most welcome timesaving features of the latest Studio One software is called Smart Templates. They offer up a project with preconfigured tracks and channels and a customized user interface to get your projects started quickly–even if it’s a project you’re tackling for the first time.
There’s even an automatic download feature to get right into recording and producing. With very minimal (almost no) setup, Smart Templates offer you the essential tool sets for what you need to get done in a project: make a basic recording, create beats, or mix stems, even more complex jobs like mastering an album or setting up for a live performance.
Like other new features, you’ll find a convenient ‘drop zone’ to easily import needed content like audio, video and MIDI files. But if you are really looking to learn the interface, PreSonus has you covered with active tutorials with instructions and links to even more relative video content. Pretty smart, right?
A personal favorite new feature for me is the Customization Editor that is new to the Studio One interface. It gives users a convenient and easy way to show or hide almost every tool and function, so you customize the user interface to focus on just what needs to be done for your project. It makes the workflow simple. It works for complicated or simple workflows and, perhaps best of all, customizations can be saved and recalled when you need them.
Now things can get a little more complicated when you’re adding video in most audio software, but the new Studio One has a Global Video Track feature to help. Use it to add video clips by simply dragging video files onto a timeline–it’s very intuitive if you’ve used any video editing program and pretty easy to learn if you're new to video. The Video Track can hold an unlimited number of video clips, so you can work on multiple video files in a single session. Like very expensive video editing software, video thumbnails are generated automatically to provide a preview of the content to keep you on track and for easy navigation. A dedicated sub-track is provided for embedded audio to use as reference along with a mixer channel, full plug-in processing and output routing options. With the Global Video Track, you now have everything you need to do video right in Studio One.
Lots of Extras
We used to consider plug-ins to be extras, but lots of us now look at plug-in software as essential to our projects. This upgrade to Studio One comes with new and improved Native plug-ins including a new De-Esser, a tool to take the edge off vocal sibilance and other potentially distracting high-frequency sounds.
The popular Vocoder effect can turn a voice or any audio source into a unique synth or effect and Studio One adds it along with the popular ProEQ, Autofilter, Mai Tai, Sample One XT and Presence XT plug-ins, all significantly enhanced and improved for this release.
Finally, if you are a songwriter or work with vocalists, you know that song lyrics are essential to your projects and you’ll be happy to see that Studio One 6 offers what so many other audio-only programs don’t: Lyrics Support. Lyrics can be added to scores, MIDI productions, audio sessions, and even be embedded into live performances.
You can use Lyrics Display as an editor, a teleprompter or as a way to navigate through your sessions. When working in the software’s Score or Piano view, lyrics can be attached to notes either word-by-word or by syllable. Once input, lyrics can also be transferred to Studio One’s Show Page feature for use as a security monitor or to assist performers with lyrics at rehearsals or on stage.
The Best Way to Get It
Studio One 6 offers a lot of new features, many of them will streamline operations for seasoned professionals, but the software is friendly enough to help most users not only find what they need, but to quickly get the job done. Plus, this version of Studio One might very well be the most comprehensive music creation tool out there. So, how is the best way to get the new Studio One 6?
Studio One 6 is available for purchase as a perpetual one-time license (priced at $399.95 USD for Professional and less if you are upgrading from other versions), which some people prefer. However, there are real advantages to an annual or monthly subscription to PreSonus Sphere. Consider a subscription if you want to get the most out of your investment.
PreSonus Sphere gives you new opportunities to collaborate in new ways. It’s fully loaded with powerful, cloud-based collaboration Workspaces, that offer convenient sharing options and built-in sync options right from Studio One’s friendly main menu. There’s also an all-new installation window with powerful and timesaving search and filter options for members who want to explore, download and install exclusive PreSonus Sphere content–and there’s a lot of it.
A subscription to PreSonus Sphere gives members every upgrade for free. Plus, PreSonus Sphere members at $14.95/month ($164.95 annual) will always have access to the current version of Studio One Professional, as well as one version back. Why? Because having access to both versions gives you the choice to upgrade whenever it works best for you–never in the middle of a project or a busy week. With all that PreSonus Sphere has to offer and knowing the reputation that PreSonus software has, a subscription represents a great value whether you are a recording professional or an avid writer or producer. Studio One 6, especially as a PreSonus Sphere member, gets you everything you could need to make great music and makes it easy.
Learn more about Studio One 6: here.
Buy Studio One6 or subscribe to PreSonus Sphere: here.