Product Reviews by KVR Members

I have been a musician and producer by hobby for more than 25 years, I have tried almost all the DAWs on the market (Cubase, Pro-Tools, Performer, Logic, Reaper, Pyramix, Soundscape, Fostex/Yamaha/Akai Hardware... and a long etc.), with some I have been working professionally for years, my current professional situation does not allow me to dedicate all the time I would like to producing or playing music.

Studio One allows me from the first version to carry out many tasks that in other environments require extra time that I don't have. Versions V1 and V2 appealed to me with their minimalism and for years I didn't feel the need to upgrade. Although there are some things that could be improved, almost all the typical functions are within reach of a click.

Also, thanks to my BCR2000 and a very deep knowledge of S1 controller programming I can assign controls to any plugin in about 2-3 seconds and forget to re-assign them, keeping visual control of the most important parameters. Using instruments with multiple outputs is very easy and much more intuitive than most existing offerings. Save plugin chains, manage sample libraries, map sliced loops to a drum sampler like ImpactXT in a few seconds. It has its drawbacks, yes, it's not perfect, but to date, most of the features that make it easy to compose and edit audio are built in.

Although I wouldn't say it's the best DAW, I do think it's worth a try and from experience decide whether or not it's what you expect from a DAW. Not everyone has the same way of understanding production, although every day it is easier with tools like this.

I can't finish without remembering that Studio One started as Kreatives.org Kristal Audio Engine. A very simple application to track and process with just 2 inserts per channel. Super light, stable and easy to use.

Thank you Presonus and Studio One Team.

Soy músico y productor por hobbie desde hace más de 25 años, he probado casi todos los DAW del mercado (Cubase, Pro-Tools, Performer, Logic, Reaper, Pyramix, Soundscape, Hardware Fostex/Yamaha/Akai... y un largo etcétera), con algunos he estado trabajando años profesionalmente, mi actual situación profesional no me permite dedicarle todo el tiempo que querría a producir o tocar música.

Studio One me permite desde la primera versión llevar a cabo muchas tareas que en otros entornos requieren un tiempo extra del cual no dispongo. Las versiones V1 y V2 me atrajeron con su minimalismo y durante años no sentí la necesidad de actualizar. Aunque hay algunas cosas que se podrían mejorar, casi todas las funciones típicas las tengo al alcance de un click. Además, gracias a mi BCR2000 y un conocimiento muy profundo de la programación de controladores en S1 puedo asignar controles a cualquier plugin en unos 2-3 segundos y olvidarme de volver a asignarlos, manteniendo un control visual de los parámetros más importantes.

El uso de instrumentos con múltiples salidas es muy sencillo y mucho más intuitivo que la mayoría de ofertas existentes. Guardar cadenas de plugins, manejar librerías de muestras, mapear bucles rebanados a un sampler de baterías como ImpactXT en unos pocos segundos.
Tiene sus inconvenientes, sí, no es perfecto, pero hasta la fecha, la mayoría de funciones que facilitan el trabajo de cara a componer y editar audio están incorporadas.

Aunque no recomendaría su uso a nadie, sí creo que merece la pena probarlo y a partir de la experiencia, decidir si es o no lo que uno espera de un DAW. No todo el mundo tiene la misma manera de entender la producción, aunque cada día es más fácil con herramientas como ésta.

No puedo acabar sin recordar que Studio One empezó como Kreatives.org Kristal Audio Engine. Una aplicación muy sencilla para trackear y procesar con apenas 2 inserciones por canal. Super ligera, estable y fácil de usar.

Gracias Presonus y Equipo de Studio One.

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I started playing with this piece of software while it was still on beta stage. I ran the full beta sending suggestions and bugs to Claes and it ended up being a really fast to use. I tried to add my experience with hardware samplers from Akai, E-mu, Yamaha and software trackers like FT, IT, MPT & Buzz.

I also suggested, and I wasn't the only one nor the first in beta team, those VA oscillators to add some texture.

I was really happy when v1.01 was released and Claes prized our work with a free license. Since then, I used for everything: baselines, stabs, pads, drums...

I've been using it with a bridge since my jump to x64 for drums, mixing samples & virtual analogue oscillators to get enhanced shape/timbre.

Sometimes I throw in a long sample containing a full kit of sounds, I chop, split keyzones with the split function and get a full multi output kit in just 2 or 3 minutes.

It's been my way to do things in sampling for years. I own Kontakt & Air Music sampler but never used them far from testing purposes (can't remember the Air sampler name as I never downloaded the 60GB libraries, same for Kontakt purchased with Maschine).

Just buy a jbridge license (or stick to VST32) and enjoy this fast & able geared towards sampling must be. Maybe some day it'll be released as freeware to get a full update as Surge had. Anyway, I think I should start uploading some kits for this jewel.

You can find it in the Wayback machine.

And remember that Claes is one of the brains after Bitwig Studio.

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About this Synth there's a lot of things to be said.
It seems much more based on SH series from Roland but as long as I've not searched along the Roland Keys history I can't say that for sure.

The oscillator section is based on two Pulse (width modulable) oscillators, but the only controls are 2nd Osc detune, 2nd Osc Coarse and Mix. It's a bit limited in comparison with some ones, but in fact, it does the job.
The filter section is a selfoscilating resonant LowPass filter modulated by a very fast envelope with bipolar modulation (positive and negative).
The Amp envelope is also very fast (try short attack and decay time), altough pads can also be achieved by pushing the fader up to the end.
Finally, an LFO that modulates the filter and the oscillator PWM or Pitch. It's a shame that you only have the possibility to modulate one parameter of the escillator, but the fact is that this lack of controls allows this synth to be very easy to understand.

The envelopes are very fast and it's easy to adjust them to fast rates without getting artifacts.
The resonance starts selfoscillation very early when the fader is moved and its sound doesn't matches for Pads os Basses easily.

Altough it do the job with Basses, Pads, Drones, stabs... its sound and play modes (wow, it's polyphonic) gives good classic Leads, arps and glissandos.

And rating the KVR values...

User Interface:
No Gui... Ok, I'm so used to work with no Gui that I can't imagine it out of the Logic faders.

Sound:
As long as it has no effects, it sounds dry and the presets doesn't help, but adding a flanger+Xdelay gives a more exciting machine. The ease of control also lets you focus on the music, forgetting to adjust tones of controls.

Features:
Altough it's feature limited and lack a bunch of parameters, it is fast to understand and tweak, and very low on CPU usage. Also, the voice modes helps when searching classic sounds.

Documentation:
Forget about it. Not needed

Presets:
Useful when you need to create a new sound, but not specially inspiring.

Customer support:
Unknown and unneeded.

Value for money:
Freeware. It costs a download.

Stability:
On Logic, I've found two kind of problems, it can clip Equalizer bands inserted after it and sometimes it stops sounding... in fact, it stops sound when an eQ after it is clipped. Well it only happens tweaking it while it's played, but it's a shame that it happens (altough it happens rarely)Read Review

Maybe it's not the best virtual instrument for long convolving pads, but their oscillators and filters has enough thickness to fit it's sound quality among some analog machines.
I use it for basses and leads, and sometimes for a soft analog pad, but it is the king of bass sounds for some electronic styles. The envelopes fast response and also a faster filter than most around the net (free & commercial) will open you a door to get punchy sounds with only one oscillator... but there are two more to thicken the sound. In this point, the resonance may not work as you'd like, in fact doesn't autooscillate easily, but it helps keeping control over the sound... and if autoosc is needed, just push the reso to the top....

To use it you should have some experience with other easier instrument, because it's modulation capabilities are enough complex to get lost when modifying presets to fit a sound within a mix.

And referring to some of the questions about doc, support... I've never needed the documentation, and neither those presets (that are really useful, but just presets), and I've never thought:
"oh, sh** it'd be great to have a thing here to do somthing" or the opposite when I've found a lack.
Maybe its user interface is not the best due to its distribution and because all the knobs are of the same size, but when you get used to it that's not a problem.

It's correct and useful, and like analog machines, you'll have to tweak very fine it's knobs to get the sound that you're looking for (but sure you'll find it).Read Review