Presonus StudioLive Help

[nervous]

Hi, I just picked up a Presonus 16.4.2 Classic and I have to assume there are many here that own this 1st (non-AI) unit, or the 24.4.2. They have an amazing array of features and not always so easy to find info on. Anyone willing to help a noob out with their experiences on a couple things that I can't seem to find simple answers to, especially on the remote setup, what Mac or PC, router, etc. are you using, etc. There will be others but lets jump in there.

 

[s0c9]

Perhaps you can provide more info on what's not working that want to get working.. so we can narrow the scope ??
even the subjects you mentioned are broad topics..
Firewire or network?
Did you check their community forum?

 

[nervous]

Hi, I just picked up a Presonus 16.4.2 Classic and I have to assume there are many here that own this 1st (non-AI) unit, or the 24.4.2. They have an amazing array of features and not always so easy to find info on. Anyone willing to help a noob out with their experiences on a couple things that I can't seem to find simple answers to, especially on the remote setup, what Mac or PC, router, etc. are you using, etc. There will be others but lets jump in there.

Sorry, posting from work to just get a conversation started.

First order of business is to find out my options for the Firewire/MAC/Router/ipad. I have an ipad 4 already. But what I am ignorant to is what Mac products will work as the laptop version. I think older ones with firewire capability will work but I have no knowledge of Macbooks. I have an iphone and ipad but that is it so I am lost in the woods of what is the least expensive means to the end for that piece. What are you folks using?

Second, do I need a router with a MacBook for ipad remote use? I see videos that show with and without. What are you folks using?

Third, if a router is needed or preferred, are you using a 5 Ghz version? Is so,which ones?

Lastly, for now, are you using a UPC or power conditioner with your SL? If so, which are you finding the best results with?

And, yes, I have been frequenting that the last few weeks and signed up last night but for these I have not found easy answers to as I said and many threads have little activity.

Thanks

 

[s0c9]

First order of business is to find out my options for the Firewire/MAC/Router/ipad. I have an ipad 4 already. But what I am ignorant to is what Mac products will work as the laptop version. I think older ones with firewire capability will work but I have no knowledge of Macbooks. I have an iphone and ipad but that is it so I am lost in the woods of what is the least expensive means to the end for that piece. What are you folks using?

I'm on an old Linksys (WRT54G) router with iPad, plus Win PC connection over firewire - for recording, etc. and as a backup device. There is a list of "approved" firewire devices... those outside that list may or may not work. Firewire is fast.. only issue I've had/seen is where the iPad shutdown due to thermal overload (too hot) at an outdoor gig.. not good, and required walking back to the console located on side of stage. I do not use it much anymore.. spend more time on an X32 now, but still own the 16.4.2

Second, do I need a router with a MacBook for ipad remote use? I see videos that show with and without. What are you folks using?

Not a Mac guy for this stuff.. so will let other weigh in...

Third, if a router is needed or preferred, are you using a 5 Ghz version? Is so,which ones?

I'm using a WRT54G and it works fine..

Lastly, for now, are you using a UPC or power conditioner with your SL? If so, which are you finding the best results with?

Nope.. plug into regular power, tho' digital devices do tend to be more sensitive to brown outs and other fluctuations.. not had an issue so far...

 

[Geri O]

To add to Steve's excellent advice...

Yes, you need both a computer and a router to make the remote use work. That's how you connect the iPads and other smart devices. The early SLs had no Ethernet port. The newer AI models do.

Macs work fine, newer ones don't have the Firewire port (friggin' WHAT is going on with dropping the ports, Apple??). I"m using my 4-year-old 17" MacBook Pro that still runs like a champ. I've no plans to upgrade anytime soon as they don't make the 17" model anymore.

Mac or PCs is irrelevant, both work fine.

As for routers, if you can make a Linksys WRT54G work, that's fine. I have run into crowded wifi space (as in give a command on the iPad and 4, 5, or even 6 seconds later, the command is executed. For they reason, I went with a gigabit router that would do 5gHz, which is a little less crowded, at least for the time being. I use Netgear R6300 router, which is close to $200. My next one will be around $600, just because I still use one for pro sound work occasionally and I want a really beefy mother. You may not need that robust a router. ASs long as you can make a solid connection and it works promptly, most any router will do.

If you haven't looked on YouTube, there's a to of good stuff and tutorials there.

 

[nervous]

To add to Steve's excellent advice...

Yes, you need both a computer and a router to make the remote use work. That's how you connect the iPads and other smart devices. The early SLs had no Ethernet port. The newer AI models do.

Macs work fine, newer ones don't have the Firewire port (friggin' WHAT is going on with dropping the ports, Apple??). I"m using my 4-year-old 17" MacBook Pro that still runs like a champ. I've no plans to upgrade anytime soon as they don't make the 17" model anymore.

Mac or PCs is irrelevant, both work fine.

As for routers, if you can make a Linksys WRT54G work, that's fine. I have run into crowded wifi space (as in give a command on the iPad and 4, 5, or even 6 seconds later, the command is executed. For they reason, I went with a gigabit router that would do 5gHz, which is a little less crowded, at least for the time being. I use Netgear R6300 router, which is close to $200. My next one will be around $600, just because I still use one for pro sound work occasionally and I want a really beefy mother. You may not need that robust a router. ASs long as you can make a solid connection and it works promptly, most any router will do.

If you haven't looked on YouTube, there's a to of good stuff and tutorials there.

Thank you for this, I will digest and search. That said, I have scoured YouTube and only found a couple videso on this. I expected to find many, many more. And, bothe of them are from 2011 as I recall.

 

[Geri O]

Set up iPad to control SL 16.4.2

I typed "presonus studiolive 16.4.2" in the search function of YouTube and a plethora of things popped up, including the one I quoted above.

 

[nervous]

Set up iPad to control SL 16.4.2

I typed "presonus studiolive 16.4.2" in the search function of YouTube and a plethora of things popped up, including the one I quoted above.

Yes and thank you. Watched that one many times. That's one of the few on this specific topic and also from 2011. Good stuff, thorough but I have no idead what Mac he' s using so I am canvassing here to get a variety of ideas and applications so I get it right the first time.

 

[Jerry Ziarko]

You probably want an older Mac, since the pre AI series uses Firewire 400. I found a used one for $300 or so that worked great. For a router I used a Linksys E2500. It is a dual band and worked like a charm. One you get that far, make sure you have the old app installed on your Ipad and NOT the AI app. They are NOT interchangeable. One thing I liked was using a wireless mouse instead of the pad on the Mac book to make subtle changes. As far as a power conditioner, never needed it. We had problems from time to time, but power was only an issue once. Low voltage did make the board unfriendly. The early series were not all that stable, but I wouldn't be concerned. If yours has still been in use chances are very likely it's a good one. Lastly, back up your scenes and settings. If for some reason, something gets dropped, it's a matter of a quick drag and load to restore them.

 

[4Mal]

My sound co partner and I each own 16.4.2 boards like yours. Love 'em. They just rock. We link them using firewire for a 32.4.2 solution when necessary.

I used a 2007 macbook that I rebuilt. 4 gig ram and a 256g SSD running os/x 10.6.8. That worked fine until my partner upgraded his Mac to Yosemite and forced my hand... They require different levels of firmware in the 16.4.2. So I picked up a 2011 MacBook Pro 8 g ram and 256g SSD and upgraded the OS to Yosemite and the board to the latest firmware.

I run net gear dual band routers. Under $100 at best Buys. So far so good there. I haven't run into the bandwidth congestion mentioned above. I can see where it would be an issue in some environments though. I just don't tend to be working there...

I messed with Lenovo and Dell pc's and a few different firewire cards before giving up and going Mac. Really happy with the Macbook setup. There is no problem going from firewire 800 on the a MacBook to firewire 400 on the board. Works fine you just need the correct cable or an adaptor cable.

I have not tested this personally but I understand that there is a compatible Thunderbolt port to firewire adaptor that will allow newer Mac's to talk with the Presonus board.

The one thing I will knock on the 16.4,2 is probably the compressor. The sound quality is only OK - better than say a low end DBX but not near to say a mid-range Drawmer - my response has been to use it sparingly. I tend to put my vocals on a sub-group and compress that. Driving the comp from a bus rather than a single channel seems to work best for me. Maybe the comp wants a bigger input level coming in ? not sure but that seems to work best for me.

As far as the iPad goes. Any iPad will work. I still have an old iPad v1 as my GoodReader, on stage lyrics tablet. It has SL Remote on it. Works fine. Got that one I 2010 IIRc.

 

[nervous]

Really great info here from everyone and thank you.

So, if I am understanding I can use any Macbook or Mackbook Pro, equipped with Firewie 400 or 800, and be just fine? Is there an age that would be too old or incompatible? As I shop I see many of them described by date or era of mfg so if I can gain some clarity I can be a better shopper.

 

[Geri O]

I'm using a late 2011 17" MacBook Pro that works great with the SLs when I use them (not very often).

 

[nervous]

So, MacBook pro looks to be my best option. Are there any memory considerations for live recording? is 4GB useable?

 

[rmars]

I use a 16.0.2, a 2009 Macbook Pro and Ipad. You should be able to use Firewire 400 or 800 as long as you have the appropriate cable. I use my Macbook as my router by creating a wifi network with it then connect my Ipad to that network . No extra router and it works slick.

 

[Geri O]

So, MacBook pro looks to be my best option. Are there any memory considerations for live recording? is 4GB useable?

Every time I say, get as much RAM as you can afford, someone comes along and says they record or whatever tasks they are doing on "just 4 gigs of RAM", which is fine, if they can make it work.

Right off the bat, I put 16gigs of RAM in my machine and replaced the 7200RPM drive with an SSD drive. However, I know guys that use 7200 spinning platters just fine. The main idea is how fast the drive writes the data to the platters (or SSD memory) (and that's way over-simplified, I hope a real computer guy can elaborate on that and why). The guys that record for real (I mean, recording for making a CD or other commercial release) us external drives, usually Firewire drives, but I don't know how that would work with the need to tie up the Firewire port on the MacBook. I "think" that a 7200rpm external drive on USB 2.0 with 24 tracks will be fine.

For the time being, I'm recording 32 tracks with my X32 and Reaper on the internal SSD of my MacBook Pro (and as many as 64 tracks using a Yamaha CL5 console and Nuendo Live with my former employer), but I do want to move to an external drive. I"m going to try a USB drive and see how it works as I increase the number of tracks. If this thread is still active, I'll report back.

Meanwhile, my guess is that there are Youtube videos out there that explain all of this a lot better than I do!

 

[nervous]

So, riddle me this please. On my first live outing with this board on Saturday it went mostly well for the limited time that I had to familiarize myself but it was on the monitor side that I had a few issues. Lead singers in ears were perfect. Two other floor monitors were great. But the drummers in ears were awful, kick and snare seemed to have some effect even though I had none dialed in. So I'm baffled. And while looking for a possible cause and solution the first place I looked was on the effects to monitor assignments. The first pic is from a video showing the FX page 4. However, no FX page 4 looked like the second pic. Third pic is the version and build so it looks pretty current and updated. So... Where do I find the FX to monitor assignment page?

 

[EastCoastThump]

Really great info here from everyone and thank you.

So, if I am understanding I can use any Macbook or Macbook Pro, equipped with Firewire 400 or 800, and be just fine? Is there an age that would be too old or incompatible? As I shop I see many of them described by date or era of mfg so if I can gain some clarity I can be a better shopper.

Just to confirm from personal experience that Firewire 400 boards will work with Firewire800 and Thunderbolt Macs. You just need the appropriate adaptor(s).

 

[4Mal]

hmm. never gone there. Never say never but so far I have not sent effects to an aux. I'll have to try this next time I have the board off the truck

 

[s0c9]

effects to monitors (AUX) is controlled by settings on each aux.
not in front of my unit but IIRC its done via pushing select twice, and using (I think) controls on 5/6 to adjust level of 2 effect busses sent to AUX.
Out of town and can't verify actual steps (w/ pics) until at Sunday...

PS: I know it's NOT controlled by MASTER section

 

[nervous]

Well, MacBook Pro and router should be here next week. On to the next phase for me!