Fender Studio Pro 8 review - Love and 8...

At the end of 2021, PreSonus announced that it had been acquired by Fender. More than four years have passed, and the eighth iteration of Studio One is showing its face with a half-surprise: it’s now called Fender Studio Pro 8. Is that change a simple marketing strategy or a revolution? That’s the question that arises a little over a year after the release of an excellent version 7, which saw no notable updates during the year.

And it’s easy to see why, given that Studio One’s developers were busy releasing Fender Studio, a rudimentary but free multitrack notepad for smartphones, tablets and computers, which lets you produce a draft of a song. This detail is all the more important as certain aspects of this app are found in Studio Pro 8.

Fender removed the “PreSonus" name and the “One, ” and now its audio-production software range consists of Fender Studio on tablets, mobiles and computers, and Fender Studio Pro on Mac and PC. As you’d expect, the new icon and loading screen prominently feature the Fender name, while mypresonus.com is replaced by myfender.com.

Back from 3D…

Other than the name change, we can’t say that this eighth version is much of a change of scenery. Indeed, we find the same interface as in version 7, with a few minor changes: the black background of the icons gives way to a charcoal grey, while the blue of the selected item is a little darker.

Control-wise, we’ll note a few small evolutions: the Inspector and Track List icons have been moved from top to bottom, and four icons have replaced the tabs on the lower right: this is where the Browser, Mixer, Editor and Channel are displayed or not. Note that this last view is a novelty reminiscent of Ableton Live ergonomics, bearing in mind that in this mode, the lower window details the plug-ins inserted on the selected track from left to right.

Other notable changes include the ability to display/escape certain sections of the track inspector, to freeze tracks from a new icon on their banner, while most of the software’s plug-ins have undergone a discreet facelift, bringing back a more realistic 3D look that we thought had been abandoned in the 2000s, but which is making a comeback — fashion is an eternal restart.

Fenderstruck

Beyond these cosmetic changes, however, it’s the functional advances that matter most to us, knowing that these lie first and foremost in the addition of four effect plug-ins: Mustang Native, a guitar amp simulator; Rumble Native, a bass amp simulator; Voice FX, a multieffect dedicated to vocals; and Studio Verb, a reverb. Note that, with the exception of the reverb, all are taken from the Fender Studio app released earlier in the year and use, at least as far as the amp simulators are concerned, the algorithms found on the amps of the same name.

See what it’s like:

ArpegeDRY

00:0000:30

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• ArpegeDRY00:30
• ArpegeJAZZCHORUS00:30
• ArpegeCHORUS00:30
• ArpegeBLUESJUNIOR00:30
• hardDRY00:16
• hardPUNK00:16
• hard80sSTACK00:16
• riffDRY00:14
• riffCLASSICROCK00:14
• riffFUZZ00:14
• riffTWINCLEAN00:14
• bassDRY00:18
• bassCLEAN00:18
• bassOD00:18
• bassTHREEDAYS00:18
• bassECHO00:18

In terms of sound, these two amp simulators offer convincing reproductions of many legendary amps and pedals, whether Fender or not. The only hitch is that the latter, like Vocal FX, features exactly the ergonomics designed for the touch versions of Fender Studio, and which prove rather laborious with the mouse (no right-click), even though they are extremely rudimentary in terms of functionality. Don’t expect to split signals to have two processing chains in parallel, or to adjust mic positions and choices, which are absent here, and the preset browser is most rudimentary.

And it’s even worse for Voice FX, which makes it absolutely impossible to combine the various effects it offers (De-Tuner, Delay, Transformer, Filters, Ring Modulator, Vocoder), given that the settings for the latter are extremely basic. In the context of the free Fender Studio app, there’s nothing to complain about, but in the context of a sequencer labeled “Pro, " it’s a bit short-sighted. In fact, functionally, the old Ampire plug-in, a holdover from the Studio One days, is richer in options, though it doesn’t offer any pedals. Let’s just say, then, that beyond the use of the Studio/Studio Pro tandem, these new plug-ins are clearly lacking in relevance, especially if you already have an Amplitube, Guitar Rig or TH-U to name but three.

In the beginning was the Verb…

Let’s talk about the new Studio Verb, which — despite its slightly old-school interface evoking the legendary reverbs of the 80s — offers a relatively versatile and efficient processor. In fact, the sound of this Studio Verb is quite convincing and offers spaces ranging from very small (ambience, room type) to very large (hall, cathedral, or even longer). It will therefore be a good ally for mixing, even if we’re clearly not dealing with a “nextgen" reverb designed for sound design (no saturation, no pitch shift for shimmering, no reverse reverb…) and nothing to simplify mixing as seen with Sonible, iZotope or Eventide.

I’ll let you hear what it’s all about:

verbDRY

00:0000:36

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• verbDRY00:36
• verbSTAGE00:36
• verbCLUB00:36
• rhodesDRY00:16
• rhodesCHAMBER00:16
• rhodesSUSTAIN00:16
• rhodesPLATE00:16

This plug-in is certainly welcome, given that Studio One was behind the times in the reverb area, but we were perhaps expecting something more innovative from a publisher who has always been keen to surprise us. Let’s make it clear, by the way, as we do every time we test a new version of Studio One: there’s still no transient processor in the plug-in suite, and that’s a shame.

As for instruments, the Sample One and Impulse samplers offer new modulation, fade editing, time-stretching, and tempo management capabilities, along with refreshed interfaces.

It’s worth pointing out that the included software bundle features several romplers and collections based on the PresenceXT sampler, covering both the synth and symphonic orchestra domains, plus UJAM drum and bass instruments. Does all this mean that this DAW is on a par with Cubase or Logic when it comes to instruments? No, because there are no synths of the caliber of an Alchemy, while PresenceXT is far from rivalling what HALion offers, for example.

At the rank of small improvements…

More interestingly, we now have an advanced metronome: by this I mean that instead of the good old click of the metronome, you can now count on a little rhythm box with 75 patterns that are far more engaging to get your tunes started, knowing that, of course, it’s possible to transform this rhythm guide into audio.

The chord track also gets a welcome facelift: not only is editing it simpler, but there are also ready-to-use progression presets, as well as the ability to get suggestions on chords to add to a progression being written. Doubtless based on the enigmatic Tonalic technology from Celemony mentioned in the documentation (designed to adapt recordings of real musicians to the chords, tempo and groove of a project), two new functions also appear with this version to transform audio into MIDI, something Melodyne has hitherto handled. Depending on the nature of the clip, note extraction or rhythm extraction can be used, with varying degrees of success. This kind of function is indeed interesting, but often results in transcriptions that are far from clean, as you can hear:

ARPoriginal

00:0000:16

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• ARPoriginal00:16
• ARPdetect00:16
• GUITARoriginal00:16
• GUITARdetect(2)00:16
• DRUMSoriginal00:16
• DRUMSdetect(2)00:16
• STRETCHvocal00:26
• STRETCHvocaldetected00:26

Finally, this eighth version is also an opportunity for the development team to fulfill some long-standing community requests: we finally have a video track in Session mode that can also handle Fender Studio’s Jam Tracks, while synchronization from one software to another proves to be a breeze. We also appreciate the ability to save external files with a project, so there are no nasty surprises when you reopen it. In short, a host of small improvements have been made here and there, though it has to be admitted that there is no “killer feature” in this version that makes the update a must-have for V7 users.

However, let’s temper this disappointment by pointing out that, along with Reaper, Studio One has been one of the least expensive sequencers on the market since version 7, knowing that you can acquire it for 200 euros/dollars or even less, depending on the publisher’s packages that interest you. That’s a strong argument, especially as Studio Pro is also, along with Pro Tools, the software with the most developed hardware ecosystem: audio interfaces, headphone preamps, consoles, microphones, and even MIDI controllers: there’s really enough to build an entire studio with what PreSonus offers… or rather Fender from now on…