• Hi and welcome to the Studio One User Forum!

    Please note that this is an independent, user-driven forum and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or maintained by PreSonus. Learn more in the Welcome thread!

Working on a New CD at 73

A

Aint Right

New member
So I am 73 and I have relocated from Tucson to Washington State and found a great Studio here and decided to do a new CD. Having recorded the core tracks for 7 tunes ( in Pro Tools and a nice Midas board) I brought home the stem tracks to work on. My desktop has Logic Pro 9 and it is so old it will not upgrade to 10. Apple has decided to not allow the upgrade to the newest compatible version from the app store any more. My Studio Live 16-4-2 ai is Firewire and no alt card is available. I decide to try using Studio One again and I have version 4 Artist. I setup my Studio with a newest Mac Mini I could find that still had Firewire. It runs on Catalina 10.15. X and Logic 9 with it's plugins would not migrate. After many hours of research with Presonus and Fender I found that even if I paid for Studio One 7 ( which won't run on any of my machines) they would not allow me to upgrade to Version 6 which will run on the Mini. I also was told I could subscribe to the Pro+ and be able to down load and run version 6 but it would stop working when I stopped my subscription. I don't know if this means I lose the ability to go back to my version 4 or notLast thing I was told by Fender customer service is I could purchase someone's License for Studio One 6 and get it like that. I am getting ready to move away from Presonus altogether. I did several projects in Logic and my plugins all work but pushed the old machine too far and it was slow. If I have to throw $$$$s at this I guess I will move back to Logic or on to Pro Tools which seems to provide better support and still sells Perpetual Licenses.
Anyone have a Studio One 6 license for sale??
 
I received a perpetual license to Studio One Pro 7 when I bought a year of Studio One Pro+. See Presonus.
 
Aint Right said:
So I am 73 and I have relocated from Tucson to Washington State and found a great Studio here and decided to do a new CD. Having recorded the core tracks for 7 tunes ( in Pro Tools and a nice Midas board) I brought home the stem tracks to work on. My desktop has Logic Pro 9 and it is so old it will not upgrade to 10. Apple has decided to not allow the upgrade to the newest compatible version from the app store any more. My Studio Live 16-4-2 ai is Firewire and no alt card is available. I decide to try using Studio One again and I have version 4 Artist. I setup my Studio with a newest Mac Mini I could find that still had Firewire. It runs on Catalina 10.15. X and Logic 9 with it's plugins would not migrate. After many hours of research with Presonus and Fender I found that even if I paid for Studio One 7 ( which won't run on any of my machines) they would not allow me to upgrade to Version 6 which will run on the Mini. I also was told I could subscribe to the Pro+ and be able to down load and run version 6 but it would stop working when I stopped my subscription. I don't know if this means I lose the ability to go back to my version 4 or notLast thing I was told by Fender customer service is I could purchase someone's License for Studio One 6 and get it like that. I am getting ready to move away from Presonus altogether. I did several projects in Logic and my plugins all work but pushed the old machine too far and it was slow. If I have to throw $$$$s at this I guess I will move back to Logic or on to Pro Tools which seems to provide better support and still sells Perpetual Licenses.
Anyone have a Studio One 6 license for sale??
Click to expand...
The thing of course is FireWire, which is keeping you from upgrading. The painful but right decision is to let it go. By all means use the 16.4.2AI as a live console, I have a 16.4.2 which is still doing choir rehearsal hours. But for the studio you need something newer so that you can profit from the amazing stuff (hardware and software) that's become available over the last few years. Especially when you take stems home even a small USB audio interface would get you there. But if home recording is also on the agenda then my advice would be to go for outboard mixing capability, either with a digital console with usb interface or with a usb audio interface with built-in DSP mixer. That way your monitor mixes will always be latency-free and not taxing your DAW computer.
 
If that is what I have to do it won’t be with Presonus.. it will be obsolete by Jan1-2026
The program is there in their server they just won’t sell it to me.. they want my credit card on file for monthly renewals. Not right.
 
Stuart Welwood said:
I received a perpetual license to Studio One Pro 7 when I bought a year of Studio One Pro+. See Presonus.
Click to expand...
I can’t run Studio One 7 on my computer I need Studio One 6, that they have and won’t sell it to me.
SwitchBack said:
The thing of course is FireWire, which is keeping you from upgrading. The painful but right decision is to let it go. By all means use the 16.4.2AI as a live console, I have a 16.4.2 which is still doing choir rehearsal hours. But for the studio you need something newer so that you can profit from the amazing stuff (hardware and software) that's become available over the last few years. Especially when you take stems home even a small USB audio interface would get you there. But if home recording is also on the agenda then my advice would be to go for outboard mixing capability, either with a digital console with usb interface or with a usb audio interface with built-in DSP mixer. That way your monitor mixes will always be latency-free and not taxing your DAW computer.
Click to expand...
i am a retired guy 73 years old.. on fixed income…not fare
 
My friend is sort of in the same boat, with his old Mac pro's. Along with Logic, etc.

It will cost a bit, and I get your fixed income retirement. As a suggestion, you'll inevitably have to upgrade to newer hardware and software. Consider the new Mac 4 Mini which is basically a beast, and with a monthly Studio One plus purchase for even a few months, you could either keep that going, or update your Logic DAW to see if works best for you, port over your existing tracks, etc.

I know its not easy, but you've been away from the "goods" for a while and technology moves on. Fortunately, the pay as you go path could potentially work in your favor. Also, if you buy a new piece of hardware like a Presonus Audio Interface, they often come with software availability options. Shop around. Maybe even someone here will have Studio One 6 but that's a bit of a stretch, and might still not get you up to speed. Studio One version 7 is a large leap in getting more bang for your buck.
Good luck though, and keep on jammin'.
 
Not sure what being 73 has to do with your recording challenges or your stalemate with Presonus. There are 23-year olds on fixed incomes, too. There is no evidence that any competing DAW is any more senior-friendly. There is no "sliding scale" pricing based on a person's income offered by any competitor. So, sure, you're allowed to lament that society is moving away from taking care of the vulnerable, which it is, but that's a whole of society issue, not an issue specific to Presonus.
 
I'm 70 and retired and I don't think that has any relevance to my music-making!

Anything technology-based has a limited time of useablity. Your Studio One v4 Artist is still perfectly useable, but lacks many of the features that later versions have introduced. Yes, it's a shame that you can't still buy old versions of Studio One, but then I can't buy a new 2020-model car either. Licences do occasionally come up for sale, but it's not common - most people simply retire old software.

No matter what DAW you eventually decide on, updating the hardware is going to be necessary. If you stick with Mac, you can buy used M1 Minis pretty cheap that will run any version of Logic (or Studio One) you wish to use, and I strongly recommend you go down this route. Studio One v7 is available with a perpetual licence, but I perfectly understand why Logic would be a more sensible choice as, with the right hardware, you can upgrade for free.

Edit: if Firewire is that important for you, you can fit a Firewire PCIE card within a PC, though I'd imagine the drivers would now be old and unsupported. Frankly, I'd bin it and move on.
 
Last edited:
As I indicated before, in different wording, FireWire is dead. Not PreSonus' fault and much to PreSonus' dismay as well (and mine), but with Apple ending support it has gone the way of the Dodo. So don't make this a PreSonus issue. Under customer protection laws they can't sell unsupported software to you, your OS is no longer supported, as is your mixer. Without upgrading you're up the creek without a paddle.

So think forward. Sell whatever you can sell to allow you to buy that M1 Mac Mini, and an interface that comes with (a subscription to) a DAW, offers the number of in- and outputs you need and, per my previous advice, a built-in DSP mixer. If you stick with old it will only get worse.😐
 
As an additional bit of info which I hope may be helpful, I'd been using Studio One v4 and v5 which I got free with previous PreSonus hardware purchases. I bought a Quantum ES2 audio interface (which does all the I/O stuff I need) and it came with 6 months' Studio One Pro v7 Plus membership included, all for £130. For a further £70, I got another 6 months (stackable) Plus membership and a Perpetual licence for v7. So for £200, I got the interface, a perpetual licence for Studio One v7 and a year's subscription to the Plus membership with all of the VSTs and other software included (normally £159.99) with no need to continue the subscription to retain Studio One Pro 7. I'd call that a good deal!
 
SwitchBack said:
As I indicated before, in different wording, FireWire is dead. Not PreSonus' fault and much to PreSonus' dismay as well (and mine), but with Apple ending support it has gone the way of the Dodo. So don't make this a PreSonus issue. Under customer protection laws they can't sell unsupported software to you, your OS is no longer supported, as is your mixer. Without upgrading you're up the creek without a paddle.

So think forward. Sell whatever you can sell to allow you to buy that M1 Mac Mini, and an interface that comes with (a subscription to) a DAW, offers the number of in- and outputs you need and, per my previous advice, a built-in DSP mixer. If you stick with old it will only get worse.😐
Click to expand...
It's dead in Apple-land, still alive on the PC side. But for how long? I did some pretty intense recording earlier this year with a firewire PCIe card and the fact I was using firewire for those hundreds of hours wasn't even a factor. However, I also presently am on Win 10, with some decisions to make with end of life scheduled this coming October 14 (though Microsoft has offered a few plans to keep going with continued security support in the past weeks). I'm going to try a Win11 install-in-place over the Win10 just to see if it preserves the firewire settings. I'm also psychologically prepared to finally get a new interface if it doesn't, replacing what's been a miraculous device (Mackie Onyx Blackbird) that literally hasn't had a driver update in 12 years yet still gets incredibly low latency, causes zero mischief, and sounds just fine.
 
MisterE said:
It's dead in Apple-land, still alive on the PC side. But for how long? ...
Click to expand...
As I understood it, FireWire is dead for PC as well. Security measures (either in Win11 or on mobo hardware level) are cutting FireWire out of the low level access that gave it its speed performance. It also makes drivers 'un-upgradeable' to where developers don't bother anymore. Some audio gear manufacturers including PreSonus gave first owners of their FireWire gear upgrade deals to lighten the blow. The unfortunate side effect of that was an abundance of 2nd hand FireWire gear for sale to the unaware. Such a pity.

So, you can freeze a system (computer, operating system, interfaces) in time and use it as an isolated system even for recording. but then you have to bring those recordings to a newer system for further processing and sharing. Or you have to bite the bullet.
 
Last edited:
I'm on W11 using an ancient FireWire only MOTU 896 mk3. I keep my fingers crossed, but as at stands, all is still up and running. I know it's gonna be 'just down' some day, but my income doesn't depend on it. It's a way for me to spend the long days in sickbay, so all is good and fine. But still, Windows 11 officially doesn't support FireWire, but I got it to work, not even had to work with dodgy workarounds, just the old (very old) MOTU drivers and the drivers that came withe the PCIe card...
 
Gerran said:
I'm on W11 using an ancient FireWire only MOTU 896 mk3.
Click to expand...
You're a lucky guy. I had to give up my good old Focusrite Saffire Pro40 because of reliability issues. It was losing connection to the computer more and more often and required re-starting the computer and/or the interface. This interrupted recording sessions, which was pretty annoying. However, the Saffire worked fine 'till Windows 10 22H2, which was much longer than it was supported by the manufacturer (last officialy supported Windows version was 1809). Because of the issues and because I wanted to update to Windows 11, I finally decided to replace the interface. The Presonus Quantum HD8 is a worthy successor. Unlike the Saffire, the Quantum causes no problems and it's Windows 11 compatible, so I'm ready for the future :cool:
 
Gerran said:
I'm on W11 using an ancient FireWire only MOTU 896 mk3. I keep my fingers crossed, but as at stands, all is still up and running. I know it's gonna be 'just down' some day, but my income doesn't depend on it. It's a way for me to spend the long days in sickbay, so all is good and fine. But still, Windows 11 officially doesn't support FireWire, but I got it to work, not even had to work with dodgy workarounds, just the old (very old) MOTU drivers and the drivers that came withe the PCIe card...
Click to expand...
It took a fair amount of finagling to get up and running on Win10 with firewire during the pandemic; that said, once my system was happy, it's been rock solid ever since. I know having the same luck in Win11 is far from guaranteed, as is continuing to have that luck with future Win11 upgrades even if I luck out with the upgrade-in-place. I think the finagling had to do with experimenting with Windows compatability modes; Win10 gives you a choice including Win7, Win8 (yes, it was hardly out there, but it was there), and maybe something called Windows Vista if memory serves. As I said, with the way things are heading (firewire kaput) I'm not going to fight to the death, if it aint happening, RME USB here I come.
 
Aint Right said:
I can’t run Studio One 7 on my computer I need Studio One 6, that they have and won’t sell it to me.

i am a retired guy 73 years old.. on fixed income…not fare
Click to expand...
Check this out. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Studio24C--presonus-studio-24c-usb-c-audio-interface
I purchased this for a family member. It states it come with a version of
Studio 6 Artist which the Installation manual states it does also. I did not attempt to download Version 6 Artist
since I already have version 7 installed on computer this Interface is connected to. The cost is 157.00 US
Of course you are limited to 2 channels in and this will be very limiting after being on a 16 channel firewire 16.4.2

I have one of those boards also and tried everything i could dig out of the Internet to make this old firewire board
work but, no dice. All the apple adaptors they talk about just don't work, not on my 2018 mac mini anyways.
Good luck, us ol' guys are hoping you get it resolved!! I do have an old 2009 Mac tower running El Capitan (10.11.6)
It has firewire ports. i will connect the 16.4.2 board to the 2009. If it is seen. I will get a copy of version 6 to see of it works.
 
Last edited:
brmichael said:
You're a lucky guy.
Click to expand...
I know, I'm counting my blessings and dreading the day it does break. I've picked up a Focusrite Liquid Saphire 56 as a secondary input over ADAT. That works well, but the unit doesn't work reliably over FireWire on its own.
Well, if all goes down, I can at least use them as extra inputs over ADAT, until that day, I'm happily FireWiring..
Back to OP: there might be possibilities with older FireWire hardware and Windows systems, but officially it's a dead end and not a road I would invest in. I'm keeping things alive, but I know I've got to tear the band-aid off some time...
 
I think I found away to keep my board out of the land fill… i can use the great channel preamps to record in capture or even in Studio v4 on my old machine and I subscribed to Pro + and got access to v6 Pro to see if it was worth the investment in v7 and I believe it is. Be carefull to save your new files with a new name in a different directory cause you will not be able to reppennyhem in your older version …Sooo… I found a newer 2018 Mac mini that has Ventura on it and that will run a licsense copy of v7 Pro. I will have to put on my magnifiers and add memory but that will allow me to take the recorded tracks on the old Mini and move them to the newer for processing and mixing. Not convenient but certainly cheaper than $2k + to start all over. Keep it up … my main teason for doing the new CD is to have the 8 and 10 year old grand kids Doing this music thing. They have a mini Pearl drum kit, Yamaha keyboard, mini Strat and a telecaster and one is started on violin…getting even with my daughter big time. Feel sorry for the son in law!! ha
 
Congratulations! Glad to see you found a solution. I whish you many happy music making hours! I'm hoping to be able to celebrate music with my future grandchildren some day as well!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top