Fender Buys PreSonus

[agedhorse]

Andy @agedhorse still services Genz products to this day if I recall. So they aren't "orphans".

Yes, and this continuing service was supported by Fender as well, they (and KMC) did care about the customer and went out of their way for me to be able to continue this support. It's been about 7 years now and nothing is different.

Presonus has an increasingly large market share due to their better-than-most integration of hardware devices and their DAW/software. This was a smart move by Fender, or rather by their parent company, from a financial perspective as far as I can tell. If they just leave them alone it’ll probably remain profitable. If they get in and monkey around it’ll probably be bad for Presonus as a brand. Pure speculation on my part.

I agree, probably pretty accurate read.

People are always quick to forget, but the majority of the brands that disappear under Fender were brands that were already falling out of favor when Fender bought them. Presonus is still fairly popular, but I definitely don't see nearly as many people using their mixer compared to back when digital mixer started becoming more mainstream.

Some were falling out of favor, but not all of the brands. Much of what they did was IMO strategic and was probably spurred on by the recession rather than anything inherently evil. At least from my perspective.

True. I thought Fender torpedoed SWR for years until I talked to an industry insider who kind of explained the situation to me. SWR was on the way down when Fender acquired them but they didn't exactly put a lot of resources into rebuilding the brand. Of course, the late 00's recession trimmed a lot of fat from large corporations. In a perfect world I could still go out and purchase a brand new SWR amplifier and take it home in my brand new Pontiac Trans-Am, but life happens.

Actually, Fender did put a lot of resources into SWR, including redesigning many of the products to comply with the safety standards in place at that time. They also introduced some new products, including amps and speakers.

FWIW, Andy/@agedhorse has spoken very positively about Fender as it relates to smart and talented people. He has also shed some "insider light" on the SWR acquisition by FMIC as well as that of Genz Benz. None of his insights suggest horrible/evil stuff on Fenders part. I know people get very attached to brands, but I don't think folks should get to excited about all this just yet. No matter how emotionally attached any of us get to certain brands/stuff, it's still just businesses trying to make the most of their markets and do as well as they can for themselves ....and generally, their customers ... at least IMO/IME.

Yes, this is correct. I met some very smart, talented people there. Sometimes decisions get made that are driven by much bigger things than anybody can control. I was ok with that then and still am.

 

[fokof]

Behringer didn't actually take over Midas, there is a holding company (Music Tribe) which owns them both along with TC Electronic and a number of other companies. Uli Behringer is the Music Tribe CEO of course.

You probably mean Music Group ?
Yeah they bought Midas , good thing for Behringer , so they can "name drop" Midas on their product without being sued , not the same for Midas....

https://fohonline.com/newsroom/international-news/behringer-buys-midas/

 

[Pilgrim]

I'm on v4.6.2 so I'm already almost two years behind. Kind of in the "upgrade only if I have to" camp. It does the job. But it's feeling old these days....

So this may be the optimal time to upgrade to the current version. Then if it slips in the future, you'll still be good.

Get ready to plug your Fender bass into your Fender audio interface with your Fender cable to record into your Fender DAW and hear it out of your Fender monitors.

I don't see a problem with that. Granted it's a bit extreme, but Fender is a company with decent and consistent quality. Besides, you can obviously mix units as needed.

 

[two fingers]

Get ready to plug your Fender bass into your Fender audio interface with your Fender cable to record into your Fender DAW and hear it out of your Fender monitors.

That would he plausible if there weren't dozens of companies making every part of the signal chain you just described.

 

[gstaats]

That would he plausible if there weren't dozens of companies making every part of the signal chain you just described.

I can hear it now... "Hello, this is tech support. Thank you for calling about your Fender Studiolive purchase"
(ignores what caller says)
"Results are only guaranteed if using all F3nd3r OEM equipment, sorry. You want something other than pbass tone on your tracks? Sorry, that isn't supported at this point in time, unless using a Jazz bass."
(ignores what caller says)

 

[Hummergeist]

Get ready to plug your Fender bass into your Fender audio interface with your Fender cable to record into your Fender DAW and hear it out of your Fender monitors.

You can already do this, if you include one of their amps with USB audio as an interface, and the Fender Focal monitors from a couple of years back

 

[gstaats]

I can see it now!!! Fender is going to sell scratch and dent, b-stock and returned Presonus units as "Road worn" and charge moar for them!!!

 

[two fingers]

I can see it now!!! Fender is going to sell scratch and dent, b-stock and returned Presonus units as "Road worn" and charge moar for them!!!

.....and paint a certain interface a slightly different shade of red, call it an entirely new "series", and charge EVEN MORE for it!

Ad copy....

"We give you the Deluxe series. All specs are identical to the Standard series except the new colors. All specs on the Custom series are identical to the others, but with chicken head knobs!"

 

[gstaats]

.....and paint a certain interface a slightly different shade of red, call it an entirely new "series", and charge EVEN MORE for it!

Ad copy....

"We give you the Deluxe series. All specs are identical to the Standard series except the new colors. All specs on the Custom series are identical to the others, but with chicken head knobs!"

And they'll sell "vintage inspired" updates for their software. And extra $35 for tweed. The BSODs from the software will be considered "features" and "retro" to remind users of all the BSODs from previous windows versions. The lack of new drivers, or software interfaces will also be considered "vintage". For throwbacks, they'll offer their software on DVD or CD for an extra $99. The "road worn" DVD will look like is was hit with 40 grit on an orbital sander. USB ports will be replaced with iscsi or serial for that vintage feel.

Free firmware updates? Ha!! That new "performer" firmware (that fixes bugs and may add a feature) is gonna cost you. The next iteration, to fix other bugs and add security updates will be called the "professional" firmware for double the price. Want all the updates, security updates and feature pack updates? Welcome to the ULTRA firmware. 4x the price of the base unit.

 

[SC Bassboy]

Actually, Fender did put a lot of resources into SWR, including redesigning many of the products to comply with the safety standards in place at that time. They also introduced some new products, including amps and speakers.

Agreed. From what I heard SWR amplifiers were potential fire hazards until Fender redesigned them. That may have made them safer but they weren't as reliable in my experience. I had a Fender-era SM500 that would constantly shut down due to overheating even with a fan blowing on it. That was a disappointing experience. Sounded good though.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Bobby Owsinski says:

Fender Is Coming And PreSonus Users Are Scared - Bobby Owsinski's Music Production Blog

 

[MonetBass]

From the Mix Online article, "A quote from Jim Odom, founder/CSO of PreSonus, implied that PreSonus would remain as a separate brand that would continue to cater to its established customer base, well-known for its vocal presence online: 'After more than 25 years, PreSonus feels it has found the right partner to support us as we continue our growth. We look forward to showing our current and future music community what this opportunity means for them.'"

Those PreSonus guys are smart, and it sounds like they weren't looking to just offload a flailing company (which we know they aren't).

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I've often wondered if Fender's owners realised they were buying a music company, based on their core business and the company name

 

[agedhorse]

Agreed. From what I heard SWR amplifiers were potential fire hazards until Fender redesigned them. That may have made them safer but they weren't as reliable in my experience. I had a Fender-era SM500 that would constantly shut down due to overheating even with a fan blowing on it. That was a disappointing experience. Sounded good though.

Actually, the Fender redesigned units (mostly identified by Corona CA on the back, but there were some existing designs that continued on until redesign) were quite a bit more reliable.

 

[SC Bassboy]

Actually, the Fender redesigned units (mostly identified by Corona CA on the back, but there were some existing designs that continued on until redesign) were quite a bit more reliable.

 

[Geri O]

I can hear it now... "Hello, this is tech support. Thank you for calling about your Fender Studiolive purchase"
(ignores what caller says)
"Results are only guaranteed if using all F3nd3r OEM equipment, sorry. You want something other than pbass tone on your tracks? Sorry, that isn't supported at this point in time, unless using a Jazz bass."
(ignores what caller says)

Nah, that’s voices in yer head.
You should have that checked….

 

[Geri O]

Bobby Owsinski says:

Fender Is Coming And PreSonus Users Are Scared - Bobby Owsinski's Music Production Blog

I would have thought that this guy was more familiar with Jim Odom and his success and how he achieved that success with Presonus than what I just read (which took a whopping 2 minutes to read…)…

 

[Analogeezer]

Calm down people, this could work out really well. I look forward to "Relic" versions of Presonus hardware products, you know they will give the dudes who smoke cigarettes hardware units to take out back on their smoke breaks to lay cigarettes on them and give them "authentic burn marks". Then back inside the plant they will have a room where the workers beat on the Presonus hardware gear with chains and drop them on the floor to "relic" them.

Over on the SW side they will release "relic" PresonusSW products that only run on Windoze 3.1, well except for the Windoze ME products which will of course never work LOL

Analogeezer

 

[Patrice B]

I hope it turns well. Being a recent owner of a Quantum 2626 (impressive interface) and got Studio One Pro as an upgrade to the bundled Artist version.

As I understand, the software team (S1) is composed of old employees of Steinberg and they are located in Hamburg Germany.

The hardware team is in Louisiana isn’t it?

 

[Geri O]

I hope it turns well. Being a recent owner of a Quantum 2626 (impressive interface) and got Studio One Pro as an upgrade to the bundled Artist version.

As I understand, the software team (S1) is composed of old employees of Steinberg and they are located in Hamburg Germany.

The hardware team is in Louisiana isn’t it?

Yes.

Apparently, most folks don’t realize how really smart of a guy Jim Odom is (nice as he can be, to boot). I can see no way he’d let something happen to Presonus under Fender’s or anyone else’s watch.