10 Best Features of PreSonus Studio One 6
A remote app, channel icons, customization, and more.
The latest version of the PreSonus Studio One has a lot of new features on top of a solid foundation from previous versions. Joanna - an experienced mixing engineer - covers her favorite features below.
Studio One by PreSonus is one of the best DAWs on the market today.
It has consistently improved by focusing on the needs of music producers and musicians that need pro-level recording software. This has made PreSonus one of the largest and most recognized DAW production companies in the world.
Studio One has a very quick workflow that makes it easy to record, mix, and master music. The interface is intuitive with a well thought out design, and a great set of high-quality plugins and instruments. Every upgrade is designed to provide a more personalized experience, save the user time, and offer them more sounds to inspire their creativity — all at an affordable price.
Studio One 6 is the newest release in the PreSonus DAW series.
While there are many factors that set Studio One 6 apart from other digital audio workstations, today we'll be looking at our top 10 favorite features.
1. Smart Templates
A look at the smart templates section in Studio One 6.
The Smart Templates feature is a new addition that came with the most recent upgrade.
It's one of the first things you'll notice when creating a new session in Studio One 6.
With this feature you can choose your song template based on the type of project you have in mind. Some options include a basic "Record and Mix" template that lets you start from scratch and build your song as you go, and the "Record Now" template that opens a customized session dedicated explicitly to practicing your instrument(s) and quickly sketching down your ideas.
Studio One has done a great job providing and organizing these tailored templates for a quicker and easier workflow.
Studio One 6 has even added customized plugins like EQ, compression, and reverb to every track which further simplifies the recording process.
There’s also a quick tutorial that’s extremely useful if you're new to Studio One and are still learning how to use the interface. This new feature is one of Studio One 6's most exciting and significant additions, as it’s designed solely to save time and provide the user with an easier starting point.
2. Channel Icons
Some of the channel icons in Studio One 6
The "Track/Channel Icons" feature is another fun addition to Studio One 6.
It is especially useful if you're a messy music producer like me who doesn't name most of their tracks and wastes time looking for them during their session.
Studio One has provided a number of channel icons organized into various categories, such as keyboards, guitars, drums, vocals, and many others, to save time and make it easier for you to visually locate your track in your mix or arranger session.
You can simply add an acoustic guitar icon to your acoustic guitar track or a snare icon to your snare track, etc. You can add an icon by clicking on the wrench inside the console and selecting "Channel Icons" in the mixer view or "Show Track Icons" if you're in the arranger view.
3. Global Lyrics Track
The global lyrics track dropdown over a project.
The global lyrics track is an amazing feature for vocalists and songwriters who can now sync their lyrics to Studio One and sing along without opening a separate app or document containing the lyrics.
You can now use the "Lyrics" tab to display your lyrics across your song's timeline and adjust their position to synchronize them with your vocal track.
Additionally, Studio One now has a new "Lyrics Display" tab in the view menu, which serves as a teleprompter and is incredibly useful if you need to record a new vocal take or simply want to be reminded of your lyrics while producing or mixing your song.
The lyrics that are currently being sung will be highlighted to indicate where you are in your session as you progress through it.
In addition to adding lyrics to your audio files, you can also add them to your MIDI files using the note editor, and they will also appear in the score editor.
4.Customization Editor
The customization editor allows you to pair down the interface so that it's easier to focus on just what you're using.
If you're a new Studio One user who's just getting acquainted with the software, it could be a little overwhelming to open a new session and see all the buttons and features that you might not need when you're first getting started. Or perhaps you already use Studio One and are a minimalist who doesn't want to see extra or pointless buttons and wishes to remove them.
That's now possible thanks to the new Customization editor introduced in Studio One 6.
For instance, if you're only working with audio editing, there's no need to see anything related to MIDI. So you can simply select the "Audio Editing" option in the "edit customization" section to hide all the unnecessary MIDI buttons and only display the relevant audio editing icons.
You can switch between a simple and complete workflow and even edit your own preset so you can use it whenever you like without having to repeat the same steps each time.
5. Studio One Remote App
The Studio One iPad app helps create a more flexible workflow.
PreSonus has created a free app for Studio One that has been available for a while now.
However, the reason it made our top 10 list is because Studio One is one of the few DAWs that allows users to enjoy and control their DAW from their iPad. The remote app functions as an extension and second screen for Studio One, allowing for a more flexible workflow.
The app can control nearly all of the software.
You can manage your console, macros, channels, sends, inputs, and outputs, among other features. You can also use the Studio One Remote app live on stage by accessing the “Performance” tab on your device, and controlling and launching different sections of your songs.
This is possible as long as your computer and tablet are connected to the same network.
6. Collaboration
The collaboration feature allows you to work with musicians and producers remotely on the same project.
With the help of PreSonus Sphere, Studio One allows you to work with musicians from all over the world and join a large, growing community of talented and creative people who are passionate about music.
You can share your projects and chat with other members to collaborate on projects in any way you like.
Whether you need help building a new bassline for your song, composing a new cello section, or writing lyrics, you can create a workspace, invite other musicians to it, and share your files with them so they can edit and send them back to you.
You don’t even need to be a PreSonus Sphere member to collaborate on a project.
All you need is for a Sphere member to create their project and share their workspace, and as long as you're a Studio One user, you can work together as a team.
7. File Info
File info is a small, yet helpful feature.
Even though this is a very small and simple feature, it's the kind of helpful tool that you didn't know you needed. With this upgrade, if you right-click on a file you can see an additional section that includes the file's sample rate, BPM, time signature, key, length, and the number of tracks. This allows you to access all the file's info without having to open your file, which can save you a significant amount of time.
8. Chord Track
The chord track recognizes and displays chords that you're playing.
The chord track is another helpful creative feature that was added to Studio One a while back in the 4.0 version, but is yet another simple feature that separates Studio One from other DAWs.
Not only does the chord track recognize and display the chords you're playing, but it also gives you the ability to instantly transpose the key of your audio or MIDI tracks to any key of your choosing.
This gives you a lot more flexibility when it comes to composing music.
As soon as you select a chord you will notice the notes shifting to correspond with that particular chord. You have the ability to completely restructure chord progressions and introduce more creative options to your song. Additionally, you can extract chord information from MIDI and audio parts, quickly replace chords with your existing song chords, quantize them, and much more.
You also have a feature called "Chord Display," which displays the chords to the parts of the song that are currently playing.
This is another extremely helpful feature by Studio One.
9. Video Track
The video track in PreSonus Studio One 6
If you're a content creator who works with video, a music producer who works for film and television, or a music producer who uses videos to promote their music on social media, the "Video Track" is an excellent tool from Studio One that you can easily access by clicking on the "Create Content" smart template.
It will streamline your workflow by hiding any unnecessary buttons that aren't related to video and audio and displaying channel strips already configured that are optimized for the recording process.
Studio One has made it even simpler to create video content in the latest version by adding the drag-and-drop feature that allows you to effortlessly import your videos, making your workflow significantly easier.
You can add and edit an unlimited number of video clips, whether it's for YouTube, social media, or film. Studio One has really focused on content creators in the latest version and opened the doors to more inspiration and creativity.
10. Loudness
Match the loudness criteria of your streaming platform.
This is an underrated feature from Studio One that is so relevant in today's online world.
When you're ready to export your song and share it on a streaming service like Soundcloud, YouTube, Spotify, etc., it's crucial to properly adjust the song's loudness to match the streaming platform's loudness criteria.
Studio One's platform presets make this possible, as the program modifies the "Max Loudness" and "Max True Peak" settings automatically to ensure that your audio is at the appropriate volume level for the chosen platform.
When uploading a track to Soundcloud or any other streaming platform, you want to make sure the volume is just right, so you don't have to delete it, make adjustments, and upload it again.
Studio One has saved you countless hours of work by including this significant and useful feature.
Conclusion
Studio One is designed to evolve with you as a composer and producer.
While there are many features that it shares with other DAWs, what makes Studio One unique is that it continuously includes nuanced but helpful features that other DAWs seem to lack.
The ten features highlighted in this article are just the tip of the iceberg compared to the full scope of functionality available in Studio One, spanning all versions of the software.
With such a strong roster of powerful production and recording tools, Studio One is unquestionably one of the most creative and professional DAWs you can get your hands on.
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