PreSonus Studio One Artist to Pro Upgrade Review

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(More customer reviews)Do the research. Cubase, Abelton, ProTools and the list goes on. I have done my homework and I know my budget. You can't get all the features this Pro version offers for less than $600. And THAT is an upgrade from their "light" (AKA "Lite" or "LE") versions or freeware that come with a product that is overpriced for the "free" software. I bought the AudioBox USB for $150 and was going to use it with the DAW I already own. After installing the "free" Studio One Artist that came with it, I realized it is 100 times better than any of the "light" versions of various DAWs I have receied and decided to go ahead and upgrade through their website. I am AMAZED. Not only does it give you 64 bit processing, it gives you the ability to digitally publish your music. Yeah, to any website you want. You can use Redbox CD, Facebook, MySpace, whatever. You can even publish to SoundCloud directly within the software. And it comes with GIGS of more instruments and loops. It has VST plug in support, too. Oh, and you just want to export to MP3's, make a CD for your friends? It has that, too. Try finding a DAW with this one's simplicity and "never-done-this-before" ease and I'll pay you back. I've been at this for 23 years. I know Cubase, Cakewalk, Ableton, ProTools and Logic and they are all great. However, all of them require a serious amount of dedication and education to be able to even mix down a single song. My 12-year-old can use Studio One (sorry, Kevin, it's true) to master a CD. You can't say that for any of the other DAWs that cost at least half as much more. Don't believe me, download the 30 day free trial from the PreSonus website and see for yourself. Just come back here to buy it since this is where you found it.

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Pro Tools 9 Software Review

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(More customer reviews)(FYI i purchased PT MP/8 from Amazon and upgraded to PT9 directly through Avid)
Yes, PT is the de facto standard among studios. Yes, PT is very rich in cool and useful features. Yes, with version 9 Avid has finally un-crippled Pro Tools so that it works with any interface and unlocks features previously available only to users of their dedicated-hardware TDM version (of course these features and the ability to work with any interface have generally been available in competitors' products).
But the sad truth is that the big studios that use Pro Tools use it on Mac-based systems with tens of thousands of dollars worth of specialized TDM hardware, and they have service contracts with technicians who keep it configured and running smoothly.
As a PC user running PT9 on native hardware, I have found Pro Tools to be extremely buggy. I installed PT clean on a new PC, and followed the (several pages of) hardware guidelines for setting up the box so that PT would be happy. I am using a new Avid interface. The virtual instruments I use are limited to either Pro Tools Instrument Expansion (PTIE) and Native Instruments Komplete (the latter of which never hangs or crashes under other hosts). Nonetheless, I have experienced frequent crashes and hangs. In particular, I can reliably expect that when I close PT down and try to restart it I get a message the "Pro Tools did not close properly and your system will need to be restarted." Likewise, Pro Tools intermittently fails to recognize my licenses for PTIE's Structure, and will crash if I open up too many virtual instrument tracks. Users who have invested in a 64-bit system should be aware that PT9 is a 32-bit product, by the way.
I have given PT9 a solid try but I have found that it is too unreliable for recording. I also own and use Ableton Live Suite (also limited to 32 bit), Reason/Record, FL Studio 10 (Producer), and Reaper. None of these products have the bugginess / crashing problems that PT9 has.
If you just want to learn Pro Tools, then getting PT9 for the PC is an OK choice. But if you really want to use it you may have to get a Mac (I can't absolutely vouch for this, but on the DUC message board I do not see Mac users complaining about these things the same way PC users do). If you can't afford to invest in a Mac, then you should probably check out Reaper, which despite its criminally low price continues to amaze me as I discover its capabilities.


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