Louisiana audio upstart

We’ve looked at a lot of PreSonus Audio gear on the channel over the years. Firstly, no matter what gear they send over, it is always a real privilege to see what they’re cooking up down in Baton Rouge. Although, I’m still waiting for review samples of their famous Cajun cooking. They started out in 1995 in a classic garage to riches tale. That is to say, they moved out of the garage quickly to become an early disrupter in the industry.

Some people really enjoy dumping on PreSonus for past efforts. Although, I think that’s pretty lame & easy to do. Especially when you pick on brands offering entry level solutions at budget prices. Pick a feature they’ve left out & get on your soapbox about how much of a bonehead move it was. Complain about the quality in contrast to gear that costs orders of magnitude more while ignoring context & market demands, instant internet points. However, from experience selling the gear alongside typical options in the day, their efforts could be viewed differently.

PreSonus Audio irl early 2000’s

We we still selling the original DCP-8 (MSRP $999) at the second music shop I went to work at years ago. We were a small PreSonus shop, selling their gear alongside the major brands of the day. As a result, I had a unique opportunity to see the effect PreSonus Audio had on the home studio market first hand. They had come from nowhere with an 8-Channel digitally controlled analog compressor/limiter/gate, in just a single rack space. The possibilities it represented were incredible. The price per channel was also very good for anything programmable. In other words, it was as disruptive as you could get.

Everyone these days seems obsessed with sound quality by contrast, and back then that often had little to do with it. The current obsession with vague specs, who’s name is on the mic preamp and marketing claims about sound seems redundant and uninspiring.

Often times in those days, a new functionality or program-ability trumped sound quality. The chance to discover a new way to interact with sound, and be the first to discover what was possible as a result musically was everything. Creating new ideas and new genres accidentally, increasing accessibility to new income levels and opening art to new influences is what gets people excited about gear, back then and still today. We’ve lost some of that along the way.

digital controlled analog

If you’re a regular viewer of the channel here, digital controlled analog might ring a bell. Above all, from my interview with Chuck Augustowski of APB consoles. We were fortunate to speak with him at the last NAMM show in January 2020, however brief it was.

Check out Jerry Vigil’s original 1995 DCP-8 Review

He spent a quick hour sharing some incredible insights from a lifetime of successful product creation. Chuck headed up products and projects for some of the biggest brand names in the business. His life’s work centers around listening to end users and having a gift for interpreting what they’re asking for next. In other words, you might say that he tries to predict the future.

In our talk, he was singularly adament about one thing. One idea has captured his imagination, still after a life time in the industry. The genuine excitement is there in the video for you to see in his eyes. Above all else, he felt strongly about a future for the pro audio industry in digitally controlled analog. In summary, a future where the best analog circuits are married seamlessly with the best of modern digital control. Interesting, right?

big brains in baton rouge

PreSonus Audio was doing this work decades ago. They were awarded patent US5740260A for the use of Midi to digitally control and recall analog audio circuits in May of 1995. Although that patent has since expired, the same technology is still in use today in their StudioLive Series 3 mixers, nearly 25 years later.

Another area they get shtick undeservedly, is their choice of AVB over Dante networking in recent years. Instead of passing along high license fees to Audinate’s proprietary technology, instead they’ve put resources into developing open source audio networking using AVB & close work with the avnu.org Milan group. Could they sell more mixers if they had done Dante from the start, absolutely. But that’s not what they’re about at PreSonus Audio & it seems weird that more folks don’t love them for that.

Over the past few years, Rick Naqvi has become a great friend to the channel, helping to make arrangements with his team for demo loaners of the gear we look at here on the channel. Ray Tantzen and the other product mangers, developers & engineers have all been incredibly accessible & always generous with their time. Without their help, we wouldn’t be able to share this gear with you here.

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