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Perhaps more than any digital audio workstation (DAW) I’ve tested recently, Studio One makes it easy to record audio, compose music, and mix. It’s as if someone took Avid Pro Tools, removed many unnecessary mouse button presses, and rearranged the menus and dialogs to make sense. Studio One doesn’t scale to larger studios as well as Pro Tools, but it’s an inspired audio editing choice for anyone who needs a serious DAW and dislikes Avid’s subscription pricing (though the latter may be changing, as I’ll explain). While Studio One is an excellent app, our Editors’ Choices for digital audio workstations are Cubase Pro for Windows and Apple Logic Pro on macOS, with Avid Pro Tools as our cross-platform pick for high-end DAWs.How Much Does Studio One Cost?PreSonus offers four ways to get Studio One; the downloadable free Prime version has been discontinued, but PreSonus says you can still access it by installing the 30-day trial and letting it expire. Let’s start with the two Perpetual licenses: Studio One Artist ($99.99) includes unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, drag-and-drop editing and comping, track folders and event-based effects, five virtual instruments, and 28 effects plug-ins. Artist also supports adding third-party VSTs and AU plug-ins, and it works with Studio One Remote for the iPad and Android. Professional ($399.99) adds built-in Melodyne pitch correction for vocals, many more effects (including a multiband compressor and convolution reverb), and more virtual instruments. This remains the flagship DAW, and it has new features that I’ll cover below.
Your other two options are subscription offerings. The Studio One+ plan gives you access to Studio One Professional, Notion notation software, additional sounds and plug-ins, cloud storage with collaboration workspaces, and a master class library of videos and live streams for $19.95 per month. PreSonus has moved many add-on plug-ins you could purchase to Studio One+, and they are no longer available for Perpetual licenses.New for version 6.6, the Studio One Hybrid plan gives you the same lineup for $179.95 per year, plus a Perpetual license for Studio One Pro that’s yours to keep. This just-launched plan is confusing because it seems to imply no one should spend $399.95 on Studio One Pro anymore if they get it for $179.95 with the Hybrid subscription, yet the Perpetual license remains on sale. When I asked about this, a PreSonus spokesperson responded, “The Perpetual license awarded at the end of the annual subscription period is non-updating. A user who does not renew their Hybrid subscription will be granted the most current version of Studio One Pro, without access to future updates,” meaning you will continue to get updates if you buy the perpetual license.
Can My PC Run Studio One?Studio One requires Windows 10 20H1 or Windows 11, macOS 10.14 or higher, 40GB of free storage for the Pro version, and at least an Intel Core i3 or AMD A10 CPU. PreSonus recommends at least 8GB of RAM and a 1,366-by-768-pixel display resolution. PreSonus is also running a public beta for a new Linux version, a welcome and rarely supported platform among major DAWs. For this review, I tested PreSonus Studio One 6.6 on a MacBook Pro 16-inch (Late 2021, M1 Pro) running macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a second-generation Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, a pair of PreSonus Eris E8 XT studio monitors, and a Nektar GX61 MIDI keyboard controller.Start Page, Interface, and InstrumentsA significant change for version 6 is apparent immediately: The new Start Page now contains useful Smart Templates for different kinds of projects, plus more tools for organizing your existing ones. As before, Studio One automatically suggests dates and names for your new projects to help keep you organized. Studio One Professional now supports the open-source file format DAWproject, which lets you share project files with Bitwig Studio owners. The files contain editable MIDI data, plug-in settings, and more. It remains to be seen if other DAW makers adopt the format, but anything in this direction is encouraging news.
(Credit: PreSonus)
Getting settled in Studio One is pretty straightforward if you’re coming from another DAW, although it’s probably a little intimidating for first-timers. Studio One has received a more modern look with dark and light themes, plus all the plug-ins have received new coats of paint. New projects open with a clean view, but by the time you’re knee-deep in recording and mixing, expect a lot of visual clutter. The good news is that you can remove many elements, and a “minimal” preset lets you simplify the view considerably. Other new features: A new Lyrics Track lets you add, edit, or move lyrics, and the latest 6.6 update improves the display on Show and Project pages. The new Global Video Track makes it easier to make quick adjustments to a video production or move around podcast pieces for final assembly.PreSonus has always bundled a large, if uneven, sound set with Studio One. This is still the case, and Studio One hasn’t added any new instruments in quite some time. The one exception is Lead Architect, an exclusive synthesizer instrument for Studio One+ that is not present in the current Professional version when you buy it. Omitting it from Professional, which has been in dire need of some new instruments, doesn’t bode well for the future of the perpetual offerings taken together with the expanding subscription plan options mentioned above.Recording and Editing With Studio OneOne of the best things about Studio One is how it was conceived from the beginning to speed up typical recording and editing tasks. True to form, getting started requires fewer clicks than in some other DAWs. Click once to record, once for the metronome, and once for rewinding; double-click to split a clip into two. It’s fast, and the program is super-responsive. You can set up virtual instruments so that you just have to drag the plug-ins over, complete with a picture representation. You can easily create Split and Multi instruments by dragging and dropping additional ones on the same track.Some perennial features in other DAWs have been missing in Studio One for a while. But PreSonus is catching up, with additions such as Track Presets, which stack commonly used instruments or plug-in chains and all their settings together for call-up with a single click. Studio One now offers custom color assignments and color presets—something I wish every DAW had—along with auto-zoom during editing and more drag-and-drop editing features. You can customize the interface by adding or removing almost every tool from the various toolbars. You can even set the keyboard shortcuts to mirror Pro Tools or another DAW to ease migration to Studio One.
(Credit: PreSonus)
Most of the regular audio editing features you’d expect in a proper DAW are also here. You can trim or split clips, add fades, and adjust the gain of a clip right from the Edit window. Studio One (in Professional guise) was the first DAW to integrate genuine Melodyne pitch correction directly within the app rather than exporting audio, correcting it, and reimporting it back in as you do in Pro Tools. Since then, other popular DAWs, such as Logic and FL Studio, have added some type of integrated pitch correction. It’s not only faster, but it also means you can continue to edit the pitch-corrected clips from within Studio One without having to return to Melodyne first. In version 6.6, ARA-enabled plug-ins are now available as audio editors on the Project page.The terrific Chord Track, available only in Professional, lets you create, listen to, and change chord progressions. With it, you can quickly move around song sections and test arrangements. Chord Track also allows for harmonic editing; you can play an instrument, drag the clip to Chord Track, see what you played written out harmonically, and then add new notes to complement it. You can also drop any MIDI file into Chord Track to extract its chords and automatically create strum patterns. Studio One also supports “ripple editing,” which lets you insert a section into the middle of a song; the remaining content then ripples down automatically, so you don’t have to do complex cut-and-paste maneuvers. Magix Sequoia has offered this for years, and it’s great to see it here. Based on PreSonus Notion, the score editor now supports tablature, lead sheets, and drum maps, making it much more useful. In a nod to Ableton Live, MainStage, and other performance-oriented software, Studio One includes an integrated live performance environment to run and control complete shows on stage. The Show page lets you cue up backing tracks, change patches, and set up virtual and real instrument players in one window (as you can in Apple’s MainStage). You can export channel strips, mixdowns, and instrument patches to the Show and arrange setlists. The program also presents real-time controls in a separate Perform view, plus more extensive metering and a virtual rack of plug-ins for effects, all of which minimize fumbling around in the dark for the right sounds before you start the next song. You can even program pauses between certain songs to talk with the audience or set it to go right into the next track. Mixing, Dolby Atmos, and New Plug-InsThe big news on the mixing side is Spatial Audio support, which is present from beginning to end in each project. For example, you can record in Dolby Atmos using a multichannel microphone array and mix in headphones binaurally. All relevant bundled effects plug-ins have been upgraded to support Dolby Atmos. Studio One Remote also features surround mixing and visualizations on your phone or tablet, complete with a similar 3D surround panner and multitouch support as on the desktop. Version 6.6 also adds support for Dolby Atmos composite beds.
(Credit: PreSonus)
There are some new plug-ins available as well. The new multi-tap Surround Delay can synchronize with the project tempo. DeEsser has a sharp Listen feature that can automatically find the most problematic frequency and tune itself to minimize it. The Vocoder combines two input signals and processes them with bandpass filters for glorious 1980s fun. Most importantly, two existing plug-ins received significant updates. The OpenAir2 convolution reverb sounds terrific, with plenty of lush vocal spaces you can sidechain. Pro EQ3 now offers a linear-phase low-cut, a 12th-octave spectrum display, and I/O meters with adjustable range. The latest version lets you solo individual frequency bands, and it even offers built-in dynamic equalization that would typically have you reaching for the multiband compressor or moving faders manually.Despite its cluttered appearance, the mixer is laid out well. You can insert all kinds of effects, and PreSonus provides dozens of Extended FX chains in a separate drop-down folder that helps you mix faster. You can search for plug-ins just by typing, and you can drag inserts from one channel to another and mirror them immediately as you can in Logic. The mixer now lets you control FX/Bus sends sidechains and Cue Mix from the main faders with a right-click. Three pan modes are now available—Dual, Balance, and Binaural. The new Mixer Channel Overview page shows you all relevant settings for a given track, including its controls, inserts, sends, and cue mix, plus track icons for the first time.
(Credit: PreSonus)
You can snapshot the entire mixer for recall with Mixer Scenes, which replaces saving multiple versions of a project—although, unlike Logic Pro, Studio One lets you mix a song a bunch of different ways and recall them all instantly. One feature I’ve always liked in Studio One is setting up a reverb on a send; you only have to drag the reverb to the track. Studio One automatically sets up the send, the plug-in, the return, and the level so that you’ve got a reverb happening instantly, and you can then activate the same send on additional tracks. You can also click the send to bring up the reverb plug-in to change the release, the type, or any other parameter without first hunting up and down the mixing board for the correct channel. This is all significantly faster than it is in Pro Tools.Using Studio One’s Mix Engine FX and its Console Shaper plug-in, you can model the sound of an analog console from within the mixing engine, including drive, noise, and crosstalk. The standard compressor also sounds good on the mix bus when set to a low ratio (1.3) for just a few dB of reduction on the peaks. In the box, you get enough effects to bring a project from start to finish, including mastering (though I’ll always recommend having an experienced second pair of engineers do the final mastering if the budget allows). Finally, version 6.6 adds built-in TuneCore support for distributing your finished masters across multiple digital streaming services.Studio for AllAlthough Pro Tools remains the pro-studio standard, there have been some high-profile defections to Studio One. There probably should be more, given how good this program is. However, PreSonus’ recent move to push the Hybrid and Studio One+ subscription plans seems to indicate that Studio One is heading in the same direction as Pro Tools when it comes to subscriptions, which will discourage some. Pro Tools still excels in importing session and individual track data, and its Smart Tool-based approach to audio editing is second to none. Unless you need Avid’s support for broadcast standards and massive control surfaces or you want to have maximum compatibility with other studios and sessions, going with Studio One remains a smart alternative choice for a quality DAW. Our platform-specific Editors’ Choice winners for PC and Mac DAWs are Cubase Pro and Apple Logic Pro, respectively, and Avid Pro Tools is our Editors’ Choice for high-end, cross-platform DAWs.
The Bottom Line
PreSonus reinvented the common digital audio workstation with Studio One, and the latest version further hones its capabilities for working professionals.
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