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emusician.com
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10.09
Studiolive 16.4.2
pan or send knobs—instead, the centrally locat-
ed Fat Channel serves all channels and sends.
Dedicated LED meters, knobs and buttons make
for quick adjustment of the parameters. Press a
channel’s Select button and the Fat Channel’s
controls are routed to that channel.
The master section includes the subgroup
and main channel sections, and areas for moni-
toring, talkback, digital FX, setup, scene storage
and metering. The dedicated meter block dis-
plays levels for the groups and main channels, as
well as the level and gain-reduction amount of
the currently selected channel. The Fat Channel’s
parameter meters double as level meters for all
16 channels.
All audio connections are laid out across
the console’s rear panel. Each of the 16 chan-
nels has an XLR mic in, ¼-inch TRS line ins and
¼-inch insert send/return jack. The six aux outs,
four subgroup outs, two stereo aux inputs, con-
trol room outs and one pair of main outs are all
¼-inch TRS jacks. There’s an additional pair of
XLR main outs, a mono output, a talkback mic
in and stereo tape in/out on RCA jacks. All con-
nections except for the line inserts and tape in/
out jacks are balanced (see
Fig. 1
).
My Big Fat Channel
The Fat Channel is truly the heart and soul of
StudioLive. The effects chain is simultaneously
available on all 16 channels, the subgroups,
main outs, aux sends, internal FX sends and
external FX returns. The chain for input
channels comprises polarity (phase) reverse,
highpass filter, noise gate, compressor, EQ and
limiter. The subgroups, main outs and sends
eliminate the phase reverse and highpass fil-
ter. The compressor includes nice touches such
as a hard/soft-knee switch, and automatic or
manual attack and release times. The EQ is a
classic 4-band semi-parametric (Q is high/
low-switchable), with shelving options on the
low and high bands, and broad/narrow band-
width selection for the midrange. All bands
have ±15dB boost/cut, and there’s a generous
overlap of the frequency ranges between bands.
The limiter is a one-button affair, designed to
brickwall signals at 0 dBFS. Every element in
the Fat Channel signal chain does its job admi-
rably, with transparent compression, surgical
(if not particularly musical) EQ and effective
noise gating with a smooth release.
While not in the Fat Channel itself, a recent
firmware update adds a stereo 31-band graphic
equalizer within one of the menus.
Capture the Spirit
Capture (Mac/Win) is a multitrack audio
recording application developed specifically for
StudioLive. It’s laid out similarly to many other
music recording programs, yet it is not intend-
ed to replace a full-fledged DAW, although it
does offer some rudimentary editing capabili-
ties (see
Fig. 2
). Music recorded into Capture
can be mixed back through StudioLive and re-
recorded back into Capture, but audio files can
also be exported for further work in the DAW
of your choice.
Capture is a great idea, but it’s very much
“rev 1” software, with some rough edges in the
user interface that hopefully will be addressed
in future releases. For example, I couldn’t get
any of the key equivalents to work, forcing me
to mouse through every command. There are
no fades available to smooth out edit points,
and I couldn’t get the loop-playback function to
work. [
Note: According to PreSonus, these were
addressed in software V. 1.1—Eds.
]
Tracks that
are stereo-linked in StudioLive still must be
addressed individually in Capture.
Is It Live, Or Is It Studio?
My organ trio recorded a song together in our
rehearsal space by plugging into StudioLive. We
recorded as a group simultaneously into Capture,
with no effects or processing. We then mixed
down the tune through StudioLive and back into
Capture, exercising the Fat Channel and onboard
effects processing. Other than Capture’s rough
edges, the process was as smooth as silk.
StudioLive excels in the sound-quality
department. The Class-A XMAX mic preamps,
fiG. 1:
StudioLive has a comprehensive set of audio connections, including direct outs on all channels.
fiG. 2:
Capture is a simple but effective recording program with a few rough edges.
