Dear Product Managers, Marketing managers, holy developers and creative folks at Presonus:
Since version 3, Studio One has become the undisputed and growing number 1 in DAWs. Well done!!
However, I find it a pity to follow that you still ignore a massive user group from one of the top-selling music genres worldwide: The Hip Hop and RnB musicians and producers. Traditionally, Sampling and chopping to pads will and always will be a major topic.
For years, Native Instruments is leading the hardware accessoires market (look at current figures) for the Hip Hop and RnB user group with their dedicated machine controller for special sampling needs. And some old heads still swear by the AKAI MPC. Have the responsible decision makers at Presonus looked at that issue in detail and those simple reasons - BEFORE you extensively updated Impact and Sample One as XT versions and the release of ATOM? Apparently not exactly enough... to sell them due to or even because of a similarly simple sampling workflow as NI or AKAI does.
From my point of view, the following features in either ATOM and Impact XT are still missing:
1. Assignable loopmarker L + R in the Impact waveform view to a hardware controller (ATOM rotary knobs..). So you can easily seek and adjust the perfect sample start and end point per pad while hitting the pad. (Exactly as Maschine MK2/MK3/Studio or hitherto each MPC model works)
2. Take the further suggestions on the topic MASCHINE of your users here from the forum serious. Rather than perhaps trying to only better "integrate" current or future Maschine controllers in future S1 releases, STUDIO ONE should become THE BETTER MASCHINE (since it already has the much more powerful software).
With the release of ATOM + the update to 4.1 Presonus would have been able to create and announce THE Maschine Killer par excellence across all networks. Thus, without looking at highly-demanded sampling and chopping workflow features, ATOM is in my eyes just another "relatively" generic drum controller - between the vast of numerous competitors for now. DEAR PRESONUS - GO CHANGE IT WITH v.4.2 PLEASE!!!!