chuck_cohen's PreSonus Music Gear Setup

Although I know there are better USB interfaces out there, I decided to go with the Studio 192 for maximum integration and features for use with the Studio One Professional DAW and Faderport 8 which I already own and have made extensive use of in my personal studio. It is not the best USB unit out there as far as latency goes, but what it does have is an amazingly clean sound and great solid-state preamps. ...but the biggest feature is that it has full StudioLive FAT-Channel onboard hardware DSP processing for all inputs "inside the unit" which seamlessly integrates with Studio One, and THIS is what gets you around the monitoring "latency" issue. Another cool feature is that you could use this interface and its internal DSP mixer as a stand-alone mixing console (if you wanted to) using PreSonus UC Surface on a wireless device or laptop. It does not require a USB connection to a computer to function (like its predecessors). The only negative thing I can think of is that it does not have DSP processing on the "output" channels as well (like the PreSonus 1818VSL did), but now I'm just "nit-picking" at this point.

I have another bit of good news for owners & potential owners of this product. Revive Audio is a service that performs mods/upgrades to a lot of different studio gear, and I inquired if they would be able to perform this service on the Studio 192. Their answer was "YES", so I am planning on having my unit's components, op-amps, power supply, and digital-clock modded (upgraded) by them when the time is right.

For $400 this is the best 88-key weighted keyboard controller out there! (OK, so its not quite as good as a 'Kurzweil" keybed), but it is the next best thing, responsive, stable and light. The main plus is its ease of configuration using either the on-board color LED screen or (better) using the on-screen GUI, app to do it, ....and having jacks & provision for 3 switch controls and 1 expression pedal. I also decided to get the optional laptop shelf for my laptop (good move).

This controller here and the Studio One DAW are what keep me sticking with PreSonus to be the "core" of my personal studio. This controller-board is well built and features very nice motorized faders.

I went with the 8-channel Faderport not just for the price-point, but because that was all I needed, plus both the 8 and 16 channel models have all of the same exact controls and features. ….and number of channels doesn't matter anyway, because you are not actually restricted to controlling eight channels. You can set up another set of eight channels (from the DAW) and switch between them on the fly instantly.

There is a little bit of a learning-curve to using this board (it took weeks), but once you have, ....the options for controlling a lot of the parameters in the Studio One and the ease of controlling them are endless. It is the perfect mate to Studio One!