Question

I just read that Fender has entered into an agreement to purchase PreSonus.  As one that was left orphaned when Gibson bailed on Cakewalk and the Sonar line of DAW's I can't help but be a little apprehensive regarding this merger.  I hope there were lessons learned from the Sonar experience.  I really don't want to have to change and learn a new DAW again!  My biggest concern is that Fender will continue to support and advance the hardware side of PreSonus and just let the software slip into oblivion.  Sorry, just venting hear but the failure of Gibson to it's Sonar users really gave me the creeps when ever a purchase like this occures.

Answer 1

Fender was acquired by Servco Pacific in 2020.  Servco Pacific mostly operates in the auto industry, and owns Harley Davidson.  I share your concern.  What do Fender, or Servco Pacific know about music production software and hardware?

Answer 2

Man...I can't believe this. I can't even think about this. We'll see...

Answer 3

Funny how one can have a completely different view of something.  I saw this and thought "how cool".  Ampire will probably get some great Fender amps in the product, Maybe well see some integration with S1 and some Fender products like the GTX modeling amps, etc.  I would also expect that Fender will provide capital to enable PreSonus to continue to develop and extend their great products.

Gibson was / is a different case.  At the time of the Cakewalk acquisition, Gibson was trying to expand into too many music / sound related markets, and the CEO was disliked and was trying too many strategies, most of which (e.g. Cakewalk) didn't pan out.  They were under capitalized and lack the ability to provide direction in the new markets they were trying to enter.  Cakewalk was also in tenuous financial situation, with ProTools, Logic, and newcomers like Studio One taking market share.  Gibson also failed to support it's own core products adequately (Fender treats their core products like the crown jewels that they are...).

Answer 4

Fender bought Riffstation and killed it within 2 years.

I hope PreSonus know what they're doing here, but it doesn't look good.  It makes me think PreSonus' financial situation must be pretty dire.

Answer 5

The big problem is that we have no idea what the focus of Fender will be. We're all afraid that Studio One will become a second-class citizen, and it very well may happen. i surely hope it doesn't, but more importantly I wish we could hear more from the higher-ups about what their commitment/priorities will be. Why did this merger happen?

If Fender are able to throw more resource at making Studio One even better, faster, then that's great. If they're here to focus on hardware integration and amps then that may excite some other people but not me. I'm an electronic music producer. There are other good DAWs out there, but Studio One and me just 'vibed' nicely and so it's my preferred choice. I'd like to not have to migrate.

But I just want to hear what the roadmap is going to be. Stop keeping us in the dark!

Answer 6

It would be great to have an official statement from Presonus. We are proudly Presonist, and we deserve it!

Answer 7

3 weeks later, and zero information or communication from Presonus about how this will impact Studio One users & Sphere subscribers. Not reassuring At All.

Answer 8

I read yesterday (07/21/22) on MusicRadar that Fender CEO Andy Mooney suggested that the software’s future could be “simpler...". Hmmmm... Perhaps that would be nice in so long as a vast feature set, as there is currently with Studio One 5.5, is still offered. My fear, after this declaration of dumbing down by the new CEO is that rather than continuing to expand the capabilities of this totally viable and professional DAW platform, Mooney will drift into the realm of DAW for the masses, churning our beloved workstation into vanilla ice cream or convert it to milk toast.

I hate to say that I may be seeing Pro Tools in my future...   NAH! Reaper, maybe?

Please don't let them butcher or neglect this great platform! Please!?

Answer 9

I'm not necessarily too happy about Fender Buying Presonus either, I saw this thread after finding out two bad things already.

Please tell me if I am wrong, I hope I am.

1. No offline activations anymore for Sphere customers and it seems Studio One gets that same treatment too.

2. Re-subscribing is now $164.95/year and I haven't found a bundle that brings it down to $99/yr yet.

Here is a fun fact: My 2020 Nissan Titan Pro4x Truck has a fantastic Fender Sound System, so I did find one good thing fender achieved that is outside of their norm. I also happen to own a Deluxe Studio Fender Strat that weighs a ton, too. So, maybe there could be a loyalty reward or something? I came to Studio One from Cakewalk Sonar Platinum, and it has been a difficult transition. I did not like the direction the free bBandlab version of Sonar was headed and started to miss the innovation pretty badly having used Sonar since it made its first debut. I chose Studio one because it has  traditional tracks and a console, which for recording is preferable. I have the Sonar still running on windows XP and Windows 7 just to keep old interfaces in my setup. The computer industry seems to enjoy torturing me by changing buss slots, interface standards etc. and pays no respect to hardware that is loved like my Tascam FW-1884 with motorized faders full ADAT and 18 inputs or my realy old DSP-24 (Hoontech). They gob bought up by ESI and promptly shut down and that was a crime. The tools of the past that I have are amazing and not replacable like the Novation X-Stattion with Audio interface, battery power and a real sK-Station inside while also being a control surface, midi controller, midi interface and system clock source.

I do like how Studio One still has support for VST's but I haven't tried to do rewire with it, I am looking at the new Reason upgrade I sprung for, since this all gave me a reason, lol! But really, I may have to go to the Akai MPC team. I have had it in my studio for a couple of years and am impressed with the MPK and MPD controllers using it. They have been increasingly teasing with hardware and the integration is tight, purring audio interfaces, a control surface, multiple hardware synths together with stand-alone recording seems pretty sweet. It seems to want to be an Ableton clone, but I have tried Ableton out and discovered I can't change my workflow so much. Everything is not a sample to me, and for me grooving is something I do when improvising over a good backing track, not a millisecond of sound that has no life, that gets quantized, bit-crushed and pixelated beyond recognition. I miss they days of jamming in the garage and one long recording saving the whole session. I always had fun cutting out the songs and having live sets to remember the fun with.