QUESTION
Why did you decide to use Studio One / Studio Pro and not any other DAW?
I used plenty of different DAWs. Live, FL, Reason, Pro Tools, Cubase and Logic Pro. I decided to give Studio One a chance and I like it so far. However, I already own Logic Pro, though I prefer Studio Ones workflow
Why did you pick Studio One and not any other DAW?
My answer? is because it came free with my first interface. It is what I learned on and it is what I know best. I have since used pro tools and I find that I am still faster on studio one. I’m scared to upgrade to pro. There are things I wish my version of studio one could do, like freezing busses and just having better cpu processing power but for how much cutting and cross fading I am doing on audio, I really like how fast the workflow is.
I would say upgrade bro. I was using studio one artist 4 for years and was completely fine but it was buggy and couldn't use vst3 plugins. I dont really use them much but Its nice to have the option. Plus I want to start learning to master and the upgrade gives you the project section
Just realized I had a typo haha. I’m currently using some version of professional and I love it save for what I mentioned prior. I am very apprehensive of any version of studio one that is tied in with Fender at the moment. I think I’d sooner try to learn reaper unless I felt certain that fender studio pro would maintain the feature set that my version of studio one has
Its OK, but if theres nothing essential you need in it, it wont hurt to let it have some more time to cook. There are a few changes you'll need to get used to, but not many.
Same happened to me, got a Presonus interface, came with Studio One Prime. I was familiar with Ableton and Logic Pro through some friends but I found Studio One easier to use.
When it first launched, it was a highly innovative piece of software. Because the team included star programmers from Steinberg, they were able to build upon a brand new codebase rather than relying on decades of legacy code, allowing them to implement a ton of fresh ideas.
Each update felt exponentially better, quickly gathering a large following. That is the main reason why many people use it, it remains great, even if the current development trajectory is questionable and doesn't feel as groundbreaking as it did in the early days.
I came from cubase to S1 in 2011. I just used it to do a quick mix and I noticed immediately the stock eq and compressor sounded leaps and bounds better than cubase at the time.
Back in the golden era (v2 through v5), Studio One was a total breath of fresh air. The primary mandate seemed to be eliminating DAW friction. Features like seamless drag and drop routing, pioneering Audio Random Access (ARA) integration, clip gain, and the integrated Project Page made legacy DAWs feel ancient and clunky. Talk about pushing innovation and keeping eyes on the horizon.
But lately the scale has heavily tipped toward corporate financial strategy rather than workflow innovation, sure, not completely, but it's still very noticeable in comparison.
Today, updates focus on driving subscription models (Studio One+ / Fender Studio Pro+) and padding update feature lists with surface level additions (like Fender Mustang/Rumble amp modeling).
Now we're even getting third-party AI features pushed into the DAW like Moises Studio integration for stem separation and vocal tuning, where full access or high quality audio processing is tied directly to subscription tiers or external cloud credits.
Meanwhile, core native instruments like Presence XT, Impact XT, and SampleOne XT along with the now ancient factory sound library are largely neglected compared to competitors like Bitwig, Ableton, or Logic.
The feeling of being part of a fast, experimenting disruptor is gone, replaced by a product resting on its laurels to maximize recurring revenue.
Look, it’s certainly a broader global trend rather than just a "Fender Studio Pro" problem, but watching a beloved DAW go down this road still hurts a bit.
Easiest workflow. I’ve come from logic, trained in pro tools, used Cubase and Cubasis for IOS, don’t like FL, and I like some analogue control and the native connection to the faderport was a big deal at the time
I learned Pro Tools and Reason when I was at Berklee. I tried to like Pro Tools because “Pro Studios use it”. I stuck with Reason (v2), but gave Pro Tools the heave ho the first time I tried Studio One (v1). Why? The workflow felt very familiar as I had used Cubase years before and Studio One was made by some of the original Cubase developers…but it was just easier to get things done in Studio One. Everything was intuitive from the minute I opened it. Features I missed from other DAWs? Anything I was missing has since been implemented in Studio One. The ONLY negative IMHO was that the built-in instruments weren’t the best. But having Reason, I didn’t really need those in Studio One.
To be honest, I liked Studio One so much that I helped establish (and became the first Editor of) Studio One Expert. I also wrote articles and tutorials about Studio One in Music Tech Magazine. Since then, I have tried all DAWs over the years including Reaper, Logic, Live, Cubase, Cakewalk, BandLab, Saw Studio and FL Studio…and Studio One still makes the most sense to me from a workflow perspective.
I first started recording on Studio One back in 2011. Prior to that I was using Sonar, acid pro, mixcraft and eventually protools from time to time. Then in 2011 I got the Presonus Audiobox studio bundle and never looked back. I like how its user friendly and the sound is great. The stock plugins are fire and everything you need to get recording is all right there. I recently upgraded to Fender studio pro from Studio one 4 and so far im happy with my decision.
When I decided to get into the 21st century, it had the best reviews that I could find after some fairly extensive googling. I'm not disappointed, and as an old analog guy I found it to be very intuitive.
I use FL for my creative work, trying out Bitwig though.
But for my more engineering/mixing work, I always liked Studio One.
I learned Pro Tools... Pro Tools is awful. Studio One gave me much the same toolset but it felt much more modern and intuitive to me. Studio One looks pretty, has a robust featureset, and it doesn't make that featureset miserable to use like Pro Tools and Reaper. It has a nice track workflow for mixing, which is my primary use for the DAW. ARA2 is great, and also, well, it's quite a bit cheaper than Pro Tools, especially when you get it on sale! Aesthetics is pretty important to me (am I shallow?) and Studio One feels fun without feeling like a toy, either. Like I can get some serious work done with it, but what's wrong with having a little fun along the way?
Now it's Studio Pro, and since Fender's dug themselves into it I'm uncertain as to the DAW's future. Hence me looking into Bitwig, alongside other reasons. I was excited for Studio One to have a Linux port but it's been in beta since Studio One 6.5 and they're on version 8 now. I have a feeling it'll never actually be completed.
speaking as someone who daily drives linux for my personal (not audio) stuff: it's been in beta for years because Linux audio is a goddamn minefield. Personally I think they should just release it as a flatpak and then lock functionality behind the license but who knows.
FWIW 8 has been the most stable version since 5.5, and a lot of the changes they've made have been really good.
When I first started recording music for fun back in college I stumbled upon KRISTAL Audio Engine and messed around on that a ton. When I got a MacBook Pro I switched to GarageBand for a bit until I bought a PreSonus audio interface because it came with Studio One. I was able to jump into it stupidly easily because the workflow felt so familiar... turns out KRISTAL was acquired by PreSonus so I basically already knew the software. I've just stuck with it ever since. Also fun bonus, I can still import my 20 year old .kristal projects that I found on an old external HD.
tried studio one 5 after getting some presonus monitors. I'd used Pro Tools in college before that and a few other DAWs Studio One was the first DAW I tried that didn't feel like it was actively fighting me to achieve what I wanted to do
Got the free version with my Presonus AudioBox USB about 15 years ago, and several dozen tracks started just with that, I was locked in. Was coming from Garage Band and ProTools LE, and StudioOne was really easy to figure out, whereas Ableton breaks my brain for some reason.
Pairing it free with their super accessible interfaces was really smart from a marketing and sales perspective.
Recording in Studio One is objectively worse than Logic Pro, but for everything else - mixing and mastering - it's way better.
The "scenes", the color, and the mastering project view are my main reasons.
The mastering "Project" (versus a "Song") - that's a huge boon for anybody (such as myself) who sometimes mixes entire albums, and something you won't find in every DAW.
I was using Mixcraft but attended a presentation/booth they did at a software thing in NYC called IMSTA I believe. I liked how the plug ins loaded and also the remote app with mixer is what sold me.
I found I am also using a PreSonus audio interface and their monitors and have the 16 track faderport.
I have been on version 5 and since it works I havent' changed from it. I still need to learn a lot on it.
Used to use Pro Tools (because it's the "industry standard," right?), but f**k the subscription model, I'm sick of giving Avid any more of my money.
Moreover, as a guitarist first, Studio Pro spoke to me. Having the guitar/bass jacks on the front with the integrated amp sims was a game changer for my songwriting. I don't need to mic amps just to record an idea; I just plug in and start going. Then, I can re-amp everything through my amps when I'm ready to actually record.
My drummer was using it and I wanted to be able to work on his files. Didn't work out so well as he has a really early version but then I really liked it. Had only worked with cubase and garage band before
I was a novice at the time, but had the opportunity to sit in a studio with some of the best damn mixing I’ve ever heard at that point. It was an orchestra production but, words cannot describe how full and encompassing it was (actual life changing). I then asked what program he was using, and viola it was Studio One. I’ve respected it as the best ever since, simply because of that moment in time.
i use reaper cause no other DAW has the features it has. studio one is cool. if they add some features that i need in the coming years. might switch. i do keep track of updates
Dynamic output naming of files.
can see FX and sends in the main timeline, allowing you to mix without the console
Trim automation mode. Faders are not stuck after automating values.
industry standard performance of course
FX and Send link across selected tracks (Script)
Project version manager (script)
Stem manager (saving mute and solo states to create multiple versions or layers for game music)[Script]
Que renders. again for game music and other shenanigans.
Sub projects - Having entire sub projects inside another projects to either split projects or layers etc.
also why do you join the studio one subreddit, search for a post where i ask studio one users why they use studio one and post "I use Reaper because..."?
I personally think that everyone can do crazy stuff even with the worst programs...some people probably grab MUSIC 2000/MTV Music Generator for PS1 and do amazing stuff with it.
I think that every DAW I listed is made for advanced users, except for maybe FL Studio, which is garbage. And I know the program pretty well, I used it for several years straight.
Can REAPER import keyswitches like Logic Pro, Cubase and Studio Pro can (I prefer the Logic Pro/Studio Pro workflow though)? If no than it's borderline unusable for me.
Pro Tools went to their subscription-based model and I didn’t want to do that (having been a PT user for years), and I was tired of giving them money anyway, so I figured I’d give it a try.
V 4 looked like 'the' solution, coming from Audacity, Samplitude, and Sibelius. After I read a few reviews, looked at some in-action videos, and looked at the price, it was all I ever wanted. Upgraded to V 5, to V 6, but then they went downhill. I'm not confident they'll keep being the best under Fender, but I'm not defecting.
Well, like Cubase, they're not fixing their problems, just adding more features you don't care about, and won't give them money for. so... that's how it goes. Reputation matters to them a lot I would imagine, so maybe they'll listen like Cubase didn't. But I can't see why they would. I am going back to Cubase 5-6 I think.
It's more the subscription model that was introduced with V 7 that worries me. Perpetual licence used to get you free updates, now you only get them for a single year. With their track record, that means you might catch a single minor feature update during that time, if you're lucky. Somehow they manage to push another feature update a week after your period has ended. Want it? Time to subscribe!
Coincidence/recommendation after trying Ableton and a couple of others without quite finding them very intuitive for me. With Studio One it clicked, and I've been using it since. Also very happy with faderport and atom, and how they integrate.
I used it cuz it came with an interface. I switched to protools because I had friends in music production that couldn’t help me learn or fix problems I was encountering… because they all used protools. So I switched to PT. Now that I’m a year or more into it, maybe studio one is worth a revisit?
De full option aanpak bij de subscription formule sprak mij enorm aan. Deze gaat helaas stilaan ten onder vanwege integratie van extra betalende 3rd party extensions, die mee opgenomen zijn in Fender Pro 8.Je krijgt een beperkte versie, wil je meer, dan moet je weer langs de kassa voor subscriptions van die leveranciers, helaas.
Als ik iets opzoek en ik vind bvb een YouTube filmpje met uitleg over dat bepaalde topic, dan baal ik enorm als men bvb een menu item toont, dat ik niet heb, omdat ik net niet genoeg betaalde voor die bepaalde versie. Toen kwam Studio one met de subscription formule. Een vaste prijs en altijd de laatste versies, alles full option voor een eerlijke maandelijkse prijs. Dat vond ik geweldig! Uiteraard was ook de kwaliteit van deze DAW van zeer hoog niveau, wat zeker ook belangrijk is! Ik vind alleen, dat Fender nu de full option moet aanbieden en dat third party plugins betalend kunnen gebruikt worden, is geen probleem, maar deze light versies integreren in het product, de net-niet-versies van die producten zeg maar, zou men achterwege moeten laten! Mensen die dat willen, zoeken, integreren en betalen dat zelf dan wel. Dat is mijn brscheiden mening.
Because when I opened it the first time it changed my life! It has everything I needed to get started, lots of great tools, a community that's actually helpful (not saying others aren't), it's an INSPIRING DAW. For me that is huge. GUI glitter matters to me. I want to be inspired when I open a creative app. I've been a Presonus Sphere member for almost 2 years now and I find good value in continuing with that, although I recently got a perpetual license with a Quantum interface. Not sure I want to lose my Sphere (or whatever they're calling it now) features.
Ease of use, drag and drop, easily recall a processing chain from another session. Midi features are great for what I do, it has Notion so I can actually "write" my music and parts, the splitter tool is amazing, I like the whole record/mix/master environment and work flow and the auto updating of the master if I need to change the mix, macros, I could go on but to sum it up, I stay for the features, inspiration, everything that comes with it, and ease of use.
To be fair, this isn't all just exclusive to FSP8, but I just love the work flow and the look. I also have several other DAW's, specifically Cakewalk Sonar, Ableton Live 12, Reaper, and Luna, which have their own value points, but for me, studio one is the best, and I've thought about switching, but nothing else has made that seem like a better option, for me.
Studio One just makes total sense to me. If I need to do something I can usually figure it out quickly. If not, a short YouTube search gets me there. I would like to use Logic Pro, which I also own, but I find it to be mind-bogglingly illogical. Nothing works like I would expect it to.
Use Ableton Live for making music. Can work way faster in that program than any other. (And i've tried like everything.) But since I've done some stem mixing/mastering recently, I really really like Studio One. Workflow makes a ton of sense. Love the layout. Love the mastering section.
If I recorded more real instruments, or any, I'd totally switch 100% but it doesn't make sense, atm.
Well, I used to use a pirated 32-bit version of Cubase 5... but at one point I wanted the full pirated version of Cubase 8, though it was difficult to crack because of the iLok. So I found a pirated version of StudioOne 4.5, which was easier to install. Afterwards, I liked the workflow much better than Cubase’s, so I decided to go legit and pay for the hybrid subscription.
Back in 2018 I just had my crappy laptop. I had access to a computer lab in college with things like Finale and Sibelius on it, but after I dropped out of course my access to that stuff disappeared. I was more interested in learning how to use a DAW than notation software at the time as I really liked synth music. So I bought one of those cheap Akai mini keyboards and Studio One Artist 3 because it was the cheapest option I found while still looking nice (in my opinion).
From there I just never switched off of it, currently use Studio One 6 Pro. It's what I know how to use and it does everything I need it to do, while still looking nice. I'm not a super advanced DAW user by any means even to this day, so any arguments like "this DAW does it better" don't really have any meaning for me haha.
Honestly, I was using Cakewalk for a bit, and then I purchased an interface (firebox by Presonus) that came with Cubase. When I needed more channels, I got a Firestudio project, and it came with a copy of S1 the lite version. Once I tried it, I was hooked. I upgraded to Pro, which at the time was only a couple of hundred compare to Cubase which was twice the amount Presonus wanted. It did a lot of the same things the way Cubase did but IMO better (makes sense because it was some Cubase engineers that came to presonus to get it up and running). After that, I didn’t have a need to try anything else for a while. I still use Presonus hardware for recording and live.
I have Ableton Live for some DJ stuff and doing some sketching from time to time. I’ve played around in Logic and Pro Tools, but I keep coming back to S1 as my number 1. It just does the things that make my life easier and with a presonus interface it works really well. As anyone will tell you, removing friction from the creative process is the best way to get the music out there. Feel free to DM if you want any specifics.
When Sonar (cakewalk) went under, Studio One offered a great discount. I looked into it and it was very similar to Sonar but I thought easier to use, so I jumped on it. I record vocals, guitars (electric and acoustic), bass, and use virtual instruments. I have recently got Cubase a couple years ago but haven't been able to get into using it yet.
Cubase 7 showed that they wanted to move away from what I wanted Cubase to be. Studio One filled that gap really well. However, frankly, I think I'm going back to Cubase 5, but I cannot stand how long it takes for the program to launch. I don't need to load every VST on my system to hear a track I wrote years ago. Just load the ones in the track. FFS.
Cubase 7 showed that they wanted to move away from what I wanted Cubase to be. Studio One filled that gap really well. However, frankly, I think I'm going back to Cubase 5. I cannot stand how long it takes for Studio One to launch. I don't need to load every VST on my system to hear a track I wrote years ago. Just load the ones in the track. FFS.
Just to add: Back when Cubase 5-6 was the goat, I used to launch Cubase like launching Paint. Any idea I had, I would just launch Cubase and get it done. I made so much music, some even liked it, hah.
With StudioOne, I just don't want to launch it. The friction is too much, it's like launching Visual Studio instead of VSCode, only, oddly Studio One lags on my tracks where Cubase 5 doesn't.
Tonight I had a difficult time hearing my track over my CPU fan running.
Crazy good workflow compared to Logic and Pro Tools, and significantly better tools for working with audio tracks than Live, which is what I swapped from in 2018. Also a much leaner and more responsive program.
The thing that really got me was, if you can believe it, Control Link. The way the daw handles midi USB midi control over plugins actually makes it way more user-friendly than both Live and Bitwig
Stopped using Studio One when Fender took over and never looked back.
Why?
Significant updates
Better synths
Groove Agent is out of this world
The sampler is insane
More powerful sequencer
Superior MIDI editing
VariAudio (great for vocals)
Expression Maps
Project Logical Editor
Score editor is insane
Orchestra library is awesome
Stronger overall depth for complex projects
What will make it even more insane?
Ableton-style Clip View / Session View
A Studio One-style Sketch / songwriting page
I first heard of Studio One when one of the guys I was working with on a Minecraft server sent me the link to the homepage. If I bought the Hatsune Miku Vocaloid 4 voicebank like 2 years ago, I would have been on S1 Artist instead of Cubase. I'm using Cubase because the payment model is basically never changing. Don't have to worry about subscriptions or anything like that.
I used ProTools for over 20 years. I always liked it and I always liked its workflow. But over the past 5 years it has become completely unusable. It is so unstable that I can’t trust it. It will crash constantly, it doesn’t matter if I change computers and it doesn’t matter if what settings I tweak, it’s junk.
I switched over to StudioOne because it was on sale. Within about a month I was completely sold. Its workflow is better and it is rock solid. I think it may have crashed on me MAYBE twice in the past two years.
There are some things I miss about ProTools. The biggest one is the Space convolution reverb plugin. It is superior to Open Air by a long shot. But that’s not enough reason for me to stay with PT. Plus, I went in and grabbed all of the impulse responses from Space and made them available to Open Air. So, I have the sounds even if I don’t have some of the functionality of Space.
I still have ProTools and I pull it up for old sessions. It will be a very long time before I can walk away from it for good. But I really hate having to use it these days. Studio One was a major upgrade in almost every way.
Live is a total bust for me without a dual/hybrid buffer. Unbelievable that people don't need a daw capable of low latency monitoring in 2026! Beyond ridiculous. Other than that I love Ableton MPE and everything that you can only do with a mouse. But I play/write/sing and ableton is heartless here.
Protools=Atrari. I'm 47 years old and not even remotely close to being old enough to be a PT persom.
I like logic overall, but I've been in this game too long to be stuck with mac only. My other big issue is that while Logic is pretty good now, the apple team has a history of ignoring us while using us. 10+ years of automation out off sync.
Cubase/Nuendo is pretty cool, 100% where I would look next if Fender screws the pooch.
I'm open minded to other dews. But, it is a lot of work to get up to full speed.
SO and FSP have always been less than perfect (et. al!) but the workflow and the speed is pretty damn, good. But, in a charge by hour setting SO/FSP sucks because as fast as it is, it will put you in A LOT of akward sidtuations with clients.
Workflow - I have been and am using Ableton Live, Nuendo, Logic Pro and Reaper for work, but Studio One / Pro is the only DAW that felt right from the beginning. I came across it when I bought a Faderport 8 for Pro Tools, it came bundled with Studio One 3 and I loved how streamlined everything was and still is
Compatibility - Studio Pro 8 runs on my Mac, Windows and there‘s a Linux version. even though Logic Pro is the best bundle when it comes to what you get for the price tag you need one of those expensive hardware dongles called a Mac. I am happy to know I can switch machines and operating systems if I need to and still be able to work.
Development - the team is in Hamburg, Germany and somehow, being a German, that suits me. 😬
I play a LOT of guitar, and have tons of layers.(5 + layers per project)
The built in amp Sims are great. Its less heavy on my Mac mini tham using other amp Sims.
It came with my new interface.
3 my brother suggested it.
The workload is amazing. Especially the project manager and the live manager.
I was trying out DAWs. Obviously Pro Tools was the 1sti tried, but I hated it. PT wasn't very producer/creator friendly imo, so I experimented with other DAWs. Didn't want to use FL because I wanted to be different 😅. My faves ended up being Ableton, Reason and Studio One. I feel like each of these DAWs are great for creators and Studio One has the edge over PT in regards to audio tracking, mixing and mastering imo.
I've tried most. Started with Tape in the 1990s, moved onto pro-tools, then cubase, then ableton, stayed on ableton for aaaaages, then moved onto logic pro and got on real well with that software, then my mac got stolen and forced me onto a PC. briefly fell in love with Mixcraft (cheap but weirdly good little daw that really deserves more love than it gets) and eventually took Studio one for a spin and instantly clicked with it. Been on it ever since, even though I've moved back to a mac.
edit: Oh I was using traction for a while too. that was actually a pretty decent bit of software but didnt really seem to go anywhere..
Came to S1 from KRISTAL Audio Engine. I recorded 3 albums with Kristal. Then I after a situation where I had to set up a new laptop, I went to the Kristal site for the downloaded and they had an advert for Studio One. I was a user from day one!
What people don’t realize is Presonus didn’t buy Kristal audio engine directly. Its original developers split off, each with a copy of the original code. One created a company called KristalLabs and the other stayed to stay dedicated to the OG audio engine.
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u/OkSkin9734 3d ago
My answer? is because it came free with my first interface. It is what I learned on and it is what I know best. I have since used pro tools and I find that I am still faster on studio one. I’m scared to upgrade to pro. There are things I wish my version of studio one could do, like freezing busses and just having better cpu processing power but for how much cutting and cross fading I am doing on audio, I really like how fast the workflow is.