Own both the M32 Full size console plus the new Studiolive 64s and a QSC Touchmix 30. I replaced a Soundcraft Impact 32 with the Studiolive 64. I will try to be factual and not biased to a particular product. I use them all, I own a studio plus a sound company and use all these mixers in both situations. To review a mixer based on pretty much the layout alone does not tell the whole story. The layout is a personal preference and any other the boards I am going to give you some info on will all get the job done. You will adjust to the OS and layout over time. I will try to rank them best I can. Screen and layout: They all pretty much have all the same features but different ways of getting there. The QSC has a really beautiful multi touch screen and is the easiest by far if you are a beginner. My trainees always want to mix with the QSC and use the presets and wizards to get that most important rough mix. The Midas screen is clunky but, when utilizing the combination of knobs and buttons, everything is there and can be found with a little practice. The Midas is a board that works well for experienced sound engineers who are not panicked and know what they are looking for. The Presonus does a good job at trying to emulate old school analog boards with less layers and less buttons but the screen is very slow to react and as mentioned in the video sometimes does not work well. In this category the QSC is the hands down winner. 1. QSC 2. Presonus 3. Midas OS and reliability: The QSC Occasionally has had boot issues twice in the three years we have owned it that required a hard power reset. I noticed this only happens when first firing up after sitting, never a problem when it's warmed up. I believe the way the power switch as programmed is not great. You hit the power button and it puts the console to sleep not really turned off until it's unplugged. The QSC has had a few firmware updates that have addressed some bugs early on while adding some minor bells and whistles. If the screen dies, you are dead in the water unless you have your smart device. One major firmware changed the entire overall look and feel. The Midas OS is rock solid. Its really button and knob based with the screen only there for some feedback. The Presonus OS is also rock solid, the screen is required for some activities which could be an issue if the screen fails which has happened on our previous 24 III and 32AI requiring a repair. It was an expensive repair in both cases and the one way shipping was also expensive. 1. Midas 2. QSC 3. Presonus Remote Applications: The QSC remote app is an exact duplicate of the units screen. The Midas is also like mixing on the console with a few things that are visible vs. hidden in layers. As mentioned above, the Midas does occasionally get an OSC error when 6 devices is connected to it. The Midas monitor app is slow to scroll. Presonus uses an app that looks nothing like the unit although it is intuitive. The QSC monitor mixing app is very stable and easy to use. 1. QSC 2. Presonus 3. Midas Networking: The QSC does not have direct connect protocols. The Midas has Ultranet and the Presonus has AVB. We have not had any dropouts in the in ears or TurboSound speakers which we have for small venues. The video mentioned their in-ears did not sound good. The output convertors are exactly the same as the mains so something else in your chain is causing that, Our guess would be your in ear system. 1. Midas 2. Presonus 3. QSC Virtual Soundcheck: The QSC/Midas-Live/Presonus all do it. The regular Midas 32 needs the $119.00 card to do it. No winner Overall build quality: The QSC has very minimal knobs and buttons with no sliders, the screen is very responsive. The Midas is built like an old analog desk, its sliders are super fast and the knobs and buttons feel great with no play. The case is solid. The Presonus has slow reacting buttons and screen acknowledgments. The casing is solid but the previous versions have had to be repaired after bumping around in a case in the truck. Can't say why the screens and some of the button lights went out but you need to know that to make your desicion. 1. Midas 2. QSC 3. Presonus I think we will all agree this is the most important category Preamps: The QSC has very average pre-amps, The Midas is the most transparent very mature preamps taken from their Midas Pro series mixers. The PreSonus XMAX pre amps are the exact same ones that they used in the first generation StudioLive mixers. You can look at the specs on their web site for verification. 1. Midas 2. Presonus 3. QSC So there you have it. Hopefully this offered you more than just a layout type of review and gave you some technical specific information to make a better decision. Cheers!
@@DanMarcelino not sure I understand what you are referring to. The pres on the studio live series three were a new design from previous SL series boards. They were a nice improvement.
@@tedbahas well, I have the original studiolive 24 and it has the xmax pre’s on it.. the website says the new line up also has the xmax pre’s.. so I’m asking did the xmax pre’s have an update ever, or are they the same..? I know that they for sure improved the A/D converters on the newer line up
@@DanMarcelino If you have a AI or an earlier StudioLive then yes both the Pres and the AD are improved. I also think there is a significant build quality improvement between the Series III and earlier versions. I think they went to a different manufacturer in china for the series III.
Just wanted to put an update on here. PreSonus this week released a AVB / Dante bridge, so now you can use Dante devices and networks with any PreSonus AVB devices and mixers.
@@bryceschmitt8953hey i know it’s been a while.. what do you mean with macs are AVB native? Can you connect an apple MacBook to the AVB network and send/receive audio streams through that? Would you need special software?
@@jonahollstein yeah so if I remember correctly Macs work with AVB the same way they work with Dante. Straight out of the box it’s an included with Mac iOS. There should be a good amount of videos on using your Mac with AVB
Great video guys. I am using the m32r for location recording, mostly orchestra/choir works. I have installed the Midas live card which now enables me to record 32 track backup while still routing to Protools. On top of that, recording an extra stereo backup to USB drive. Extremely important in a live environment. Works flawlessly. The Midas preamp are typically English. Warm and round. Perfect for classical recording. Greetings from Germany.
When discussing the FAT channel, I have another opinion. On the M32, you might have to hunt for the view buttons, but you dont have to select gate to adjust the gate. Each parameter has it's own knob....which makes mixing easy. IMO, 1-kno per function is nice. User layer is nice. The user section on the full M32 is really nice.
Studiolive's "Servo-fader" VCA is unbeatable. The absolute position of all channel faders always corresponds to actual dB of attenuation, no matter they're controlled by VCA's or not. No such cases like "Why this channel doesn't output anything, unmuted and fadered up? Oops, I pulled the VCA all the way down and it's affecting this channel" will ever happen on a PreSonus mixing desk.
4:10 you can adjust things without clicking view. that’s why the tactile controls are there, so that you leave the display on channel overview and HEAR the change
I've used the Studio live series for 10+ years, have used X32's at conferences and now as of 2019 have a M32. We use the M32 for Sunday service and an SL16 for Friday services. Our SL 24 is in storage. I like the eco system of the Midas, minus the P16's. With the V4 firmware and coming Midas headphone mixers, it will be an awesome experience. I feel the Midas sound is warmer/thicker than the Presonus and I do like that. We also set up and tear down every sunday. Midas has a 10 year warranty. Presonus only had a 1 year until I challenged them on social media about it. I was considering the newest 32. They went to 3 years like Behringer.
@@soundfreak8892 You could starting with at least update 2. You just had to awkwardly go to the individual channel input page and select a source. It was not doable under routing. And it was somewhat not intuitive either. I have had single channel reassignments on mine for years. All they did was change the interface.. Albeit they made configuring the x32's fabric way more flexible in the process. So maybe it was not truly 1:1 before, but my first group of 8 comes from my stage box but I reassigned channel 5 specifically for a wireless mic plugged at the back of my console. I did that a good 6 or 7 years ago.
Hey Jake, a great vedio.I am an inter working with an audio engineer who mixed at Hillsong church in London. I just wanted to give some feedback on the presonus and the midas. Iam a guy after sound quality. It depends on the speaker and ambience of the room you're mixing in. Basically, the EV's your using have muddy a kind of sound on the low minds and lows . I have mixed on yamaha's and db line arrays with the midas and have found the midas gives more better acoustic and low end beefy sound as Bethel would use to give you a better sound quality when mixed and mastered as well.Just give it a try on outdoors and using higher end speakers like jbl's,yamaha (which is designed by nexo), hence giving better high end to configure with the midas. As long as the IEM goes, IEM's are generally brighter ( more sensitive to high frequencies)and hence when you get a board having a brighter sound they match..... Its like the opposite of having to configure a mixer to your pa system to give the best sound output, in my opinion just a little eq on the IEM will do the job. Midas have the legendary pro preamps......The most warm sounding having fast transient response especially on the bass(low end) resulting in lower distortion ...thats the way in certain worship setting you need more beefy,more bass in your over all mix.....But if presonus works well then it's good to go! it's a great board as well at this price point.
sorry but the Midas stuff now gets built by behringer and has NOTHING to do with the old midas Preamps, just open one up and measure. and look a the parts.
Great video Jake. Lots of very useful info about the 2 boards. I think the comparison is a little unfair though because the M32 has been around for several years, the Presonus 32SC came out just a few months ago so it is bound to have improved features that people wished their older boards had. One detail about the effects options on the presonus, you can buy additional effects for the fat channel strip. Thank you for all the great content you give us through churchfront!
Behringer/Midas X/M32 consoles are geared more for studio musicians who want unrestricted access to its many layers of signal routing and submix options. When you're doing multiple mix-downs of multiple projects, the X32's reconfigurability is genuinely helpful. The downside is the excessive amount of button-pushing you have to do just to navigate through all its layers, sub-layers, and sub-sub-layers. The X32's EQ controls are the worst offenders - you literally have to reprogram the knobs for each and every frequency band you need to adjust. The FX controls are actually easier to use the way they're mapped to the knobs below the LCD display. One major issue there, however, is that you can only have eight FX at once, and that includes any graphic EQ's you patch into your output buses. So in practice, you usually settle on four FX and four GEQ's. Last but not least, that huge pitfall you didn't mention, the schizophrenic SENDS ON FADERS (aka Fader Flip) button. During a live performance, you have to watch that flashing red light like a hawk and make absolutely sure the console's in the right mode before touching your faders. The Presonus is blessedly free of layers, but it has modal issues of its own. The earlier generation StudioLive consoles had dedicated knobs and buttons for every Fat Channel adjustment, which made them very quick to operate. With Series III, Presonus eliminated all but 8 multi-function knobs across the top left row. That requires you to juggle between dynamics/EQ modules almost as much as the X32. On the compact Series III mixers, you have to use the touch screen to adjust EQ, which again, is fine for studio sessions, but cumbersome for live performances. IMO, the lack of scribble-strips on the 8 Fat Channel knobs seriously undermines the workflow of the compact Series III consoles. Also unfortunate, as you mentioned, is the lack of Dante options, which previous-generation StudioLive consoles and rack mixers did support.
A preamp itself isn’t doing the A/D conversion although there’s a converter inside the preamp. The preamp itself applies voltage to the original signal from the source to give it a hotter waveform so that it can be processed.
Just one thing. The new M32 comes with the new card. It’s called the m32 live . Both are great consoles. What you find as a plus, someone one may find as a minus. Nothing beats having a hands on review. Go to your local music store and check them out for your self. (Sound and layout is something completely subjective)
Once i got famaliar with the X32/M32 layout and interface it was actually fairly easy for me to get it set up, even from scratch. Not to mention Scene functions where a previous scene can be called up and adjust from there. Once I had to transport an entire system to a guest church building and setup for worship service in a very short time. With 3-5 vocals, plus instruments, plus setting up main, I was able to get all the channels set up with preliminary EQs (it helps that I already had a rough idea of the EQ for the day) in around 5 minutes. I won't knock Presonus but when properly setup M32 can be very efficient if you have a good idea on structuring your mixes.
Regarding sound quality differences, I will point out that it looks like you guys are using the behringer stagebox (s32) which do NOT have the actual midas preamps. I havent worked on the new presonus yet, but I did want to point out you're comparing it to the behringer remakes
I upgraded two s16's to a single DL32 at my church and there is a definite sound quality upgrade with the pro series pre's! An interesting note, I help out from time to time with another church that uses a soundcraft expression.. those pre's sound noticeably better (to my ears), especially on raw recordings.. which surprised me.
That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
I am in a bind about the Presonus, Midas and Behringer. Build quality should be a factor and the ease of use. Vids like this, from people who actually use these mixers are what I need.
This was a fantastic comparison video. I recently bought my M32R after doing almost a year of research! The at the time the PreSonus Studio Live Series III 16 channel one and Yamaha TF1 were a serious contender. At the end I decided that the M32R was the right one for me as I've used the X32 and X-Air Mixers. I've been accustomed to the colored scribble strips and is something I found really useful. One suggestion I would mention in this video is that the M32R came out early 2015 and Presonus Series III only came in around early 2017and is a brand new mixer from the ground up and the 32C is a new variant of the series III released this year...about 4 years later than the Midas M32R.
Buttom line is the sound quality.i love the routing page of Midas which realy easy to assign outputs.i really love both mixer which i use on live events and studio recording.for me Midas sound quality is a lot better than presonus.but the plug ins of presonus is way ahead than the midas.
Excellent video! You're right, lack of Dante is a drawback and it's something that Presonus could fix in software if they wanted too. Another downside is the inability to use external plug-ins such as Waves if (and only if) you're using a stagebox. I use a SL32 at the booth and a stagebox (SL32R) on stage. So, all my channels are set to AVB input and it works fine. But, if you want to use Waves (Multirack) plug-ins, you need to be able to set the input to USB, which you can't do if you're using a staagebox and input is set to AVB. The only alternative is 2x the channels and have the source channels come into the board on AVB, route that channel to Waves and then return from Waves on a second channel. It works, but wastes half your channels. As my board fills up, I no longer have the free channels to dedicate to a 2nd return. Really a bummer!
I don't quite get why you guys say that the "view" button on the MIDAS would be an extra step!? You can edit the paramters on the MIDAS with the encoders too right away and even have an LED-ring around it showing the value. The Presonus has also the "view"-buttons, only that they are arranged together in one row while on the MIDAS they are in the "modules" having round knobs instead while all other knobs beeing rectangularish.
Thanks Jake & Spence for the comparison. Our church recently got the SL Series III 24, and it's been fabulous so far. Night & day when compared with the 32 channel 8 bus Mackie we used. Like you mentioned the lack of Dante is shocking, and hope that Presonus can find a way to implement it, if not on this new series, but certainly on future offerings. Understandably, from a business perspective, the cost of including Dante might not be justifable. Looking forward to more great videos. Blessings to you the team.
Just going to clear this one up: ALTHOUGH Dante and AVB aren't directly compatible, Mac OS from (I believe) 10.11 has support for AVB and you can use it without having to install any software. It also provides lower latency than Dante.
Yes, you are correct about Mac native compatibility, but latency on AVB is locked to 2ms and Dante has the potential to run that low, but also to run higher latency. Rather than lock it in, Dante gives you a little bit of freedom depending on what your needs are.
Preamps take a very low voltage analog signal and step it up on the desk so that the console has workable input gain. The objective is to match preamp gain so thast you are hitting unity by the time you get to ur outputs.
I have to disagree about form factor : the Presonus is just plain sexy. Been mixing on it for almost 2 years now. Love the studiolive. Seen many hands on videos featuring the x32. Never have liked the layout. Presonus is just more logical IMHO. Oh and BTW thanks to a previous comment. I did not realize the latest firmware gave me chorus etc. I think the reverbs on the Studiolive are the weak link. But there are a ton of available plugins (just no reverb plugins... Yet. I keep bugging presonus and hoping). But it's 9:45p now and I am thinking of running over to the church to check out the new effects. Can't wait til tomorrow.
I’d also like to add that even though you don’t have Dante capability, the AVB can be used in a very similar way. MOTU makes a few interfaces with avb capability. You could use that to pipe audio from ableton over the one cable, you would just also need an external audio interface. It will cost you about the same as the Dante card upgrade on the m32. Also, if you start using presonus studio one over pro tools, the integration is so tight, you can use different effect routing through a bus to and from the computer. With a solid computer, you won’t recognize latency. Just have the bus input set to a usb out and set it up in the daw
A great video guys; I've not seen any of your content before and was expecting this video to be a peeing contest...but it wasn't. A genuine comparison of two boards. I've used Allen & Heath analogue boards for over 20 years, and love them. I recently bought a Presonus 16.4.2; was new/old stock so got it for a bargain price. Being the first digital mixer I've owned, I'm really impressed by it despite it being more than 10 years old.
In the early years of the studio live series everyone was buying it and loving it. All the engineers I know all recently jumped off of the Studiolive train and either jumped on board the Allen and Heath SQ/QU or Midas train.
@@swhite36 would you mind detailing some of your troubles and your situation? Because the PreSonus are currently contenders for my situation and I would like to be well informed.
Hmmm.. you can route audio to the computer using AVB natively if you are using a Mac. The Mac OS X 10.11 or above has native AVB in the OS. No need to buy a Dante VSC license.
Hello guys... I just wanted to give you a recomendation on this GREAT video ! ... as an extra point of comparison, I would suggest you to compare the "computer, tablet and cellphone" software that a person can use to control any of these 2 digital consoles. From my personal opinion and experiece, the Midas control softwares are way better than Presonus. Best Wishes !
Thank you for the helpful comparison .From a home studio perspective it would be good if Presonus had an extended drive with view monitor just to run Studio one software .Making this a complete computer less setup with a full functioning DAW .
The Presonus actually has 6 XLR aux outs plus 4 TRS aux outs. So 10 analog aux outs, you can do up to 16 w a stage box. There are also 3 dedicated XLR main outs
Presonus really made a mistake when they went AVB.. if you use the series 3 with just the board and a couple stageboxs you MIGHT be okay.. But if you use the entire ecosystem, that would be the console, AVB switch, Earmixs and stageboxs you could be in for a nightmare of audio drops... I do like the work flow of the Presonus and UC Surface software.. But the preamps and the sliders are not even close to the Midas. Bottom line for me is I bought the entire Presonus Ecosystem and it’s been a nightmare from day one. I’ve ran Presonus for years and had good experiences with them until this series 3. The AVB network just can’t handle all the information being sent and received. So after trying two consoles two switches two different stageboxs and hours on the phone with tech at Presonus I’m sending everything back and going to Midas.
The Midas is easier for me to find as everything is in a group where the presonus is bunched together and it’s difficult to pick out one button among buttons (needle in a stack of needles)
Hey super SUPER epic video. Would you ever consider doing a PreSonos to Allen & Heath SQ series comparison? I hear their preamps are excellent. But this side by side video was TRUELY amazing.
I wish you would talk about integration with Pro tools...very often we are using a digital mixer to control the DAW....and integration with Pro Tools is not the same with these two boards...
the thing about the SL though is that the touch screen is never necessary, it's just an alternate method. Every single control is also mapped to hardware, until you're getting into menu stuff like saving scenes and mapping routing.
This would be a really tough video to make, as AVB is a protocol and Dante is a whole system solution. There's not currently a routing interface with AVB like the Dante Controller, and the solutions for running tracks out of a computer to the network are much more challenging as well.
Couple of questions.. first does the Presonus allow you to individually route channels.. one of my biggest beefs with the m32/x32 is having to route in blocks of 8.. Second, does the Presonus have a dedicated personal monitoring system like the P16’s? And finally, Spencer commented that he likes the effect sends on faders of the Presonus, but the M32/x32 also does sends-on-faders for the effects busses.. so I was unclear about the advantage Presonus has there.
There is a pesronal monitoring system from Presonus, which is: Presonus EarMix 16M AVB Personal Monitor Mixer Well, you will need the Presonus SW5E 5-Port Audio Video Bridging Switch for PoE too
@@isaace.2244 Cool beans.. I work with X32's every week, but I haven't touched a Presonus is about 7 years... Like I sated in my original post, having to choose routing in blocks of 8 on the m32/x32 can be frustrating, and limiting... my only real gripe about the m32/x32
1. Yes, you can patch/route channels individually on the Series III Mixers; not just in banks of eight. 2. Yes, the EarMix 16M is the Personal Monitor Mixer for PreSonus: www.presonus.com/products/EarMix-16M
Robert Löfgren cool beans! That will be awesome. I have run into issues with the blocks of 8.. at one of the churches I support, they are using an s32 stage box that goes to aes50a on the console.. they have their wireless mics (5 of them) in a rack at the back by the foh console.. so We have to ‘burn’ a block of 8 and route from the xlr’s on the console for the 5 wireless mics. They recently purchased the waves plugins and wanted to use two or three channels for waves returns.. what we ended up having to do is use the aux remap to the usb card for waves and returning waves through the aux channels and move our pc audio to two of the remaining 3 xlr channels in the block we routed from the console for wireless mics. In the end we got it done, but it would have been nice to just choose what I/O we wanted at the channel level instead of having to move stuff around to make it work.
Three of my buddies (I'm still running analog but am weighing digital options now) that are in sound in other local churches started off with the presonus but all switched to Midas/Behringer because they couldn't get the Presonus to stay running long enough and repairs took a long time. This was at least 5 years ago though. Have they fixed their reliability problems yet?
I will say you are missing out quite a bit accessibility wise with the M32r (only having the 8 input fader bank I mean) I couldn't quite sacrifice the 16 channel fader bank of the full-sized. Having worked on the X32 for many years and M32 on several occasions years I would choose ease of workflow going with a full-sized that the somewhat better sounding M32. Also, I could be misunderstanding you at 6:50 about being able to "customize" your input faders. It does take time to configure and set up (certainly not something I would do on the fly necessarily) but you most definitely can change/customize the input source and strip on any channel of the input fader side and have your DCAs on the right fader bank. Again, I would recommend the full size 32 whichever brand you get it does make quite a difference in workflow. We have upgraded our main sanctuary to the Soundcraft Vi3000 and slowly upgrading our smaller satellite campuses to the Vi1000 which has the 8 input fader bank and the 8 fader DCA/bus bank (similar to this M32r). going to be interesting I havent done a servise with the 1000 yet It's going to be quite interesting to try it out for sure.
You are talking about a better sound quality from the Studiolive than the M32. One thing to consider, are you using the S32 or the DL32 stagebox when comparing. To my knowledge the preamps and the converters are NOT the same in those 2 boxes.
I have a question for you. I been having trouble getting my encoders to work for panning when I click on the mix buttons on Studiolive 32 III mixer using as DAW with Pro Tools. The encoders will work as long as I don't use the mix buttons. Once I hit mix buttons to pull up pages in Pro Tools my encoders stop working for panning and other things. Do you guys have any insight on this?
I read in little research I did when I was also bummed Presonus didn’t have Dante (except in their older console and speakers) was that the Dante company would consider compatibility once AVB was more available. Which could be why Presonus is pushing AVB.
I wasn’t sure which direction I was going to go when I upgrade from my Presonus 16.4.2ai. However, after a little research I found this out: A 32 channel Stage Box for Presonus costs $1500 A 16 channel Stage box for Presonus costs $850 Which is about the same cost as a. . . 32 Channel Snake for Behringer which is $900. If money’s not a factor for you in expandability I guess it doesn’t matter which platform you choose, but if you like to save a few coins like me, the choice is clear on bang for buck: Behringer/Midas.
A few more things that should be noted in favor of the Presonus are the tablet and phone apps are much better and more user friendly than any of the Midas/ Behringer apps. Easier to update firmware when needed, and since the parent company of Midas/ Behringer "The Music Tribe" pretty much abandoned their Distribution and local Dealer network in favor of just a handful of E-tailors local support and service are non-existent. Side by Side the Presonus does sound better period and there is no reason to choose the Midas or Behringer.
Wow “Pre-amps”? NO, NO IF you are Using an S32 (stage box)… the ‘Preamps” are IN the S32.. and the “S32 has inferior the “Behringer price point“ Pre-amps” to the “DL32”[Midas model] stage box!! If you guys are using a traditional analog snake /stage box?? Then I’m still amazed that you find the StudioLive’s “local” pre-amps to be cleaner than the “local” preamps on the M32… I would expect the Presonus to be better than the Behringer version… again the X32 uses an inferior pre-amp?? But the Midas “Local” pre’s should be better?! I never use the local inputs on any Midas OR X32… and prefer the DL 32 stage box to the cheaper S32 stage box if I have a choice! I also use the Behringer ‘Wing”… when used with a couple DL 32’s… it’s STUNNING the quality!! and I’m FUSSY!! [use a hardware based ProTools System 64 I/O -Yamaha O2r96 combination system of which II have mixed a handful of Gospel hits from over the decades, from]. So yes, the Prosonus board is friendlier [more traditionally?] laid out? But I find the Midas to have much more horsepower [sonically speaking] and even with its odd menu layabouts and odd ergonomics… it doesn’t have the kind of strange stuff [too much to comment here] that the Presonus has / does… just my opinion.
Good points (maybe dial the energy back just a smidge?). I have used a presonus, but my experience with m32-mixers has always been that the pre-amps are very nice to work with, either with a snake or with a stage box (though as you say, a stage box will differ based on the type). Maybe these guys have a unit with some hardware or software malfunctions/defects? It’s been known to happen that modern equipment can arrive broken.
Gentlemen excellent video. Workflow comparison was great.👍 Questions on sound quality 😒... 1. Is it possible for you to provide a shared link of two separate recordings (Pre-fader/No Eq/No compression/No effects) of a Studio session or Live Service recording from each board (4/8/16 Tracks or stems)? 2. Are you using a DL32 stagebox or X32 Stage Box with the Midas 32R? 3. IEM mix quality...are using analog outs from each board into your wireles (Shure) IEMs or a P16 equivalent? Once again awesome job on the video! That is all...Thank you.
@@OpinDP Still not sure. I remeber one of the earlier Mobile Church setup videos referred to the S32 stage box not dl32. I'm going to search for it. Thanks
i know this is an old video but i kinda had a n epiphany. the fact is the midas/behringer 31 cma out almost 10 years ago vs something that came out less than 5 years ago the fact that we are comparing something to the x32 says something. yes there better ways to do something but geez that was 10 years ago. to me that is something to be said should you go with the x32 thats your call but the fact thats its lasted this long in todays fast evolving tech world is still something to be said lol.
I understand that they both tried to explain some variations between both consoles but in my opinion they did not find the correct terms for both uses of these two mixers.
PreSonus added chorus and flange to the fx now and you didn't mention that they are state spaced plugins of vintage and modern eq's and compressors for every channel and aux, that you can add more plugins too.
About the dante compatibility with the Presonus mixer, it won't be a problem if the church uses AVB protocol from the first place, right? Like, everything was analog and when the church sound becomes digital later and decides to use AVB protocol
Yes, correct. With a lack of Dante I use AVB on my system. Just keep in mind that Presonus uses AVB internally and you can link 2 Presonus units with a single cable but more than 2 and you need an AVB switch. AVB switches aren't cheap and they're not in abundance yet. Presonus makes one and I think there are a couple other Chinesium ones out there too but they're small, in the 5 port range. So if you need more than 5 ports you have to start chaining them. Cisco is working on an AVB implementation for their switches and I believe UniFi is as well. Once these are on the market we'll be able to get 'big' AVB switches and this will solve a lot of problems (at least for me). And, keep in mind that AVB support in Windows is very, very, VERY limited, requires explicit and discreet hardware, (and very expensive). macOS on the otherhand has built-in AVB support.
@@BDMcGrewMcGrew actually the PreSonus stageboxes and EarMixes can all be daisy-chained. They each have a 2 port switch built-in. You only need a switch when you exceed 7 devices in a chain.
Love this VS video and your take on it for churches! I’ve worked with the Presonus 24.4Ai and my brothers at another church with the X32 and I’ve always try to push the Studiolive for there ease of use for newbies. My only complaint was motorized faders 🎚 and no Dante cards!! I reached Rick Nakvi a few years back about at least having Dante but told me nope not for now! I’d strongly suggest Presonus to up there game with faster faders 🎚 and Dante cards!! Could U make a VS video with the newer 64 Inputs Presonus with any other mixer in this price point my brothers need more fades to play with with less layers more hands on!!
They also forgot to mention that the presonus faders are touch sensitive! So if you are writing automation, once you touch the fader it enables writing mode when you move it around.
Yeah, the user configurable bank problem? Firmware 4.0 took care of that, now M32 and X32 have that covered. Where are the buttons? Simple memory skill, I dont have to hover my hands that much, Id hover them more on Presonus because the screen isnt responding and Im considering throwing it at a wall.
dantonliam That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
I completely disagree with your comment of the M32's channel setup was less effecient than the presonus. The layout of the presonus gives you no quick control of eq which is a exact backwards statement that you made. AB the sound of these 2 and the midas wins hands down all day long. Also, which one gives you a 10 year warranty? oh yeah, the midas
I'm looking into boards now and wanted to comment on this video and say there is now a AVB to Dante bridge available! So the biggest negatives to this video are mostly solved. It is $600 though. So the biggest con seems to be the fader speed?
If you look at the price of the Presonus, you don't get much more than the Midas. I'm happy with my Midas and Presonus that I sold because I wasn't happy with that mixer. these two talk about weird processing noises, I haven't heard that with the midas during recordings, they must have done something wrong or it's their cables.
The Wing is insanely great! And the newest firmware with “DCA push” [ I think it’s called?? LOL] is a game changer as well. But the board used with [at a minimum] DL32’s NOT the S32’s is stunning. I use the SD card Multitrack recorders in BOTH my M32 and our band’s Wing’s. And again the quality is stunning!! [when mixing the recoding in a hardware based ProTolls system]
One experience I just had taking my new Studiolive 24 III out for the first time, the board sounds so clean and transparent, it really highlighted the muddiness of the SM58, and now I'm having to upgrade mics, to keep up with the board! Also, the Dante thing isn't really a big deal if you're not already invested in it, as the AVB protocol does everything Dante will do, and then more! Another thing you didn't mention regarding the FX that's a huge advantage of the SL to me is alternate compressor and EQ plugin options on every single channel- also you can install additional fx plugins on this board, and they are still developing firmware and plugins for it. The big weakness of the studiolive is that it doesn't have onboard tone/noise generators, and the RTA source is not assignable, which makes tuning a room with noise a major pain without additional gear. It's possible this could change, however, as this is a feature request currently in consideration for the next round of firmware. UC surface does feel a bit clunky to me, compared to mixing station pro, which is what I use for the X/M series, though I think they might also have a presonus version, haven't looked into it yet. Also, the onboard bluetooth on the Presonus is super handy for playing house tracks without leaving your phone/tablet laying at the desk. Agreed that the touch screen is a little clunky, but it's no worse than the one on the touchmix, and in this case, every single audio function is mapped to a hardware control, so it's not a super big deal unless you are spending a lot of time re-organizing scenes and presets. One thing too about the faders, is that the SL faders feel smoother, where the motors on the Midas feel a bit more steppy, and also, the SL faders are far more silent. I've also noticed that hands-down, in terms of setting up a show from scratch, the SLIII is the fastest thing on the market.
BTW, I'm a full time audio engineer, mostly in the corporate space, some in live music, and I've used every digital board in this market segment extensively.
Javier Rodriguez That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
@@marcossebastian1739 for me Midas M32sounds Crap! I agree Midas pre amp sounds great on their higher model like Pro. series and Heritage series. not on M32....
@@chooocoooleeezhang1251 I think you are confusing X32 and M32. The X32's mic pres on it are crap compared to M32s. I had both and sonically there's a difference. The M32 carries the classic Midas pres. This is from Midas product page: "The microphone preamplifiers are the very same ones used in the industry standard Midas XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 consoles, which many consider to be the greatest analogue live consoles ever built. Over the past decade, the XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 have been utilised by countless top artists including Bon Jovi, Alanis Morrisette, AC/DC, Coldplay, Kid Rock, Metallica, Alicia Keys, Foo Fighters, Christina Aguilera, Sir Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, and many more.
Hi great video, I have a question... if I use that Presonus with a 32 channel and 10 outputs stagebox, ill be able to use all the 32 channels in the mixer? thank you very much
Midas M32 smokes the StudioLive, sorry. And I use BOTH all the time. Add that I am a 35+yr audio professional /studio owner - operator. It would take hours to explain why this is true for me. And YES the Midas is VERY unfriendly to menu around in… like the usage of “Sends on Fader”. It’s a pain to make fast
Preamps adjust the analog signal to a usable volume in the console. The converters change the signal from analog to digital. Two different components.
haha. I was gonna write the same thing.
Thanks for straightening these guys out I was just going to.
Yep, his credibility went out the window with that comment.
@@officialWWM one mistake, i thought we all made mistakes but you must not
@@asilva_media I would certainly make sure I know the difference between 2 critical components before uploading a public video!
Own both the M32 Full size console plus the new Studiolive 64s and a QSC Touchmix 30. I replaced a Soundcraft Impact 32 with the Studiolive 64. I will try to be factual and not biased to a particular product. I use them all, I own a studio plus a sound company and use all these mixers in both situations.
To review a mixer based on pretty much the layout alone does not tell the whole story. The layout is a personal preference and any other the boards I am going to give you some info on will all get the job done. You will adjust to the OS and layout over time. I will try to rank them best I can.
Screen and layout: They all pretty much have all the same features but different ways of getting there.
The QSC has a really beautiful multi touch screen and is the easiest by far if you are a beginner. My trainees always want to mix with the QSC and use the presets and wizards to get that most important rough mix. The Midas screen is clunky but, when utilizing the combination of knobs and buttons, everything is there and can be found with a little practice. The Midas is a board that works well for experienced sound engineers who are not panicked and know what they are looking for. The Presonus does a good job at trying to emulate old school analog boards with less layers and less buttons but the screen is very slow to react and as mentioned in the video sometimes does not work well. In this category the QSC is the hands down winner.
1. QSC
2. Presonus
3. Midas
OS and reliability: The QSC Occasionally has had boot issues twice in the three years we have owned it that required a hard power reset. I noticed this only happens when first firing up after sitting, never a problem when it's warmed up. I believe the way the power switch as programmed is not great. You hit the power button and it puts the console to sleep not really turned off until it's unplugged. The QSC has had a few firmware updates that have addressed some bugs early on while adding some minor bells and whistles. If the screen dies, you are dead in the water unless you have your smart device. One major firmware changed the entire overall look and feel. The Midas OS is rock solid. Its really button and knob based with the screen only there for some feedback. The Presonus OS is also rock solid, the screen is required for some activities which could be an issue if the screen fails which has happened on our previous 24 III and 32AI requiring a repair. It was an expensive repair in both cases and the one way shipping was also expensive.
1. Midas
2. QSC
3. Presonus
Remote Applications: The QSC remote app is an exact duplicate of the units screen. The Midas is also like mixing on the console with a few things that are visible vs. hidden in layers. As mentioned above, the Midas does occasionally get an OSC error when 6 devices is connected to it. The Midas monitor app is slow to scroll. Presonus uses an app that looks nothing like the unit although it is intuitive. The QSC monitor mixing app is very stable and easy to use.
1. QSC
2. Presonus
3. Midas
Networking: The QSC does not have direct connect protocols. The Midas has Ultranet and the Presonus has AVB. We have not had any dropouts in the in ears or TurboSound speakers which we have for small venues. The video mentioned their in-ears did not sound good. The output convertors are exactly the same as the mains so something else in your chain is causing that, Our guess would be your in ear system.
1. Midas
2. Presonus
3. QSC
Virtual Soundcheck: The QSC/Midas-Live/Presonus all do it. The regular Midas 32 needs the $119.00 card to do it.
No winner
Overall build quality: The QSC has very minimal knobs and buttons with no sliders, the screen is very responsive. The Midas is built like an old analog desk, its sliders are super fast and the knobs and buttons feel great with no play. The case is solid. The Presonus has slow reacting buttons and screen acknowledgments. The casing is solid but the previous versions have had to be repaired after bumping around in a case in the truck. Can't say why the screens and some of the button lights went out but you need to know that to make your desicion.
1. Midas
2. QSC
3. Presonus
I think we will all agree this is the most important category Preamps: The QSC has very average pre-amps, The Midas is the most transparent very mature preamps taken from their Midas Pro series mixers. The PreSonus XMAX pre amps are the exact same ones that they used in the first generation StudioLive mixers. You can look at the specs on their web site for verification.
1. Midas
2. Presonus
3. QSC
So there you have it. Hopefully this offered you more than just a layout type of review and gave you some technical specific information to make a better decision.
Cheers!
Andrew Bily the Preamps on the series III were brand new. They were not in the previous versions. This is also true of the converters.
@@tedbahas that’s not what the presonus website says.. did the Xmax pre’s have an update?
@@DanMarcelino not sure I understand what you are referring to. The pres on the studio live series three were a new design from previous SL series boards. They were a nice improvement.
@@tedbahas well, I have the original studiolive 24 and it has the xmax pre’s on it.. the website says the new line up also has the xmax pre’s.. so I’m asking did the xmax pre’s have an update ever, or are they the same..? I know that they for sure improved the A/D converters on the newer line up
@@DanMarcelino If you have a AI or an earlier StudioLive then yes both the Pres and the AD are improved. I also think there is a significant build quality improvement between the Series III and earlier versions. I think they went to a different manufacturer in china for the series III.
Just wanted to put an update on here. PreSonus this week released a AVB / Dante bridge, so now you can use Dante devices and networks with any PreSonus AVB devices and mixers.
Macs are also AVB native so you can do everything you can with Dante.....it’s a different protocol
@@bryceschmitt8953hey i know it’s been a while.. what do you mean with macs are AVB native? Can you connect an apple MacBook to the AVB network and send/receive audio streams through that? Would you need special software?
@@jonahollstein yeah so if I remember correctly Macs work with AVB the same way they work with Dante. Straight out of the box it’s an included with Mac iOS. There should be a good amount of videos on using your Mac with AVB
Great video guys. I am using the m32r for location recording, mostly orchestra/choir works.
I have installed the Midas live card which now enables me to record 32 track backup while still routing to Protools. On top of that, recording an extra stereo backup to USB drive. Extremely important in a live environment. Works flawlessly.
The Midas preamp are typically English. Warm and round. Perfect for classical recording.
Greetings from Germany.
When discussing the FAT channel, I have another opinion. On the M32, you might have to hunt for the view buttons, but you dont have to select gate to adjust the gate. Each parameter has it's own knob....which makes mixing easy. IMO, 1-kno per function is nice. User layer is nice. The user section on the full M32 is really nice.
M32 pre amp sucks Bro. Presonus is way easier that M32.
Studiolive's "Servo-fader" VCA is unbeatable. The absolute position of all channel faders always corresponds to actual dB of attenuation, no matter they're controlled by VCA's or not. No such cases like "Why this channel doesn't output anything, unmuted and fadered up? Oops, I pulled the VCA all the way down and it's affecting this channel" will ever happen on a PreSonus mixing desk.
4:10 you can adjust things without clicking view. that’s why the tactile controls are there, so that you leave the display on channel overview and HEAR the change
I've used the Studio live series for 10+ years, have used X32's at conferences and now as of 2019 have a M32. We use the M32 for Sunday service and an SL16 for Friday services. Our SL 24 is in storage. I like the eco system of the Midas, minus the P16's. With the V4 firmware and coming Midas headphone mixers, it will be an awesome experience. I feel the Midas sound is warmer/thicker than the Presonus and I do like that. We also set up and tear down every sunday. Midas has a 10 year warranty. Presonus only had a 1 year until I challenged them on social media about it. I was considering the newest 32. They went to 3 years like Behringer.
Midas M32 and Behringer X32 now does 1:1 routing instead of groups of 8.
It always did 1:1, now its all in one spot.
@@wishusknight3009 No it didn’t, 1:1 routing was introduced to the x32 and M32 in version 4.00
@@soundfreak8892 You could starting with at least update 2. You just had to awkwardly go to the individual channel input page and select a source. It was not doable under routing. And it was somewhat not intuitive either. I have had single channel reassignments on mine for years. All they did was change the interface.. Albeit they made configuring the x32's fabric way more flexible in the process. So maybe it was not truly 1:1 before, but my first group of 8 comes from my stage box but I reassigned channel 5 specifically for a wireless mic plugged at the back of my console. I did that a good 6 or 7 years ago.
Hey Jake, a great vedio.I am an inter working with an audio engineer who mixed at Hillsong church in London. I just wanted to give some feedback on the presonus and the midas.
Iam a guy after sound quality. It depends on the speaker and ambience of the room you're mixing in. Basically, the EV's your using have muddy a kind of sound on the low minds and lows . I have mixed on yamaha's and db line arrays with the midas and have found the midas gives more better acoustic and low end beefy sound as Bethel would use to give you a better sound quality when mixed and mastered as well.Just give it a try on outdoors and using higher end speakers like jbl's,yamaha (which is designed by nexo), hence giving better high end to configure with the midas. As long as the IEM goes, IEM's are generally brighter ( more sensitive to high frequencies)and hence when you get a board having a brighter sound they match..... Its like the opposite of having to configure a mixer to your pa system to give the best sound output, in my opinion just a little eq on the IEM will do the job. Midas have the legendary pro preamps......The most warm sounding having fast transient response especially on the bass(low end) resulting in lower distortion ...thats the way in certain worship setting you need more beefy,more bass in your over all mix.....But if presonus works well then it's good to go! it's a great board as well at this price point.
samuel daga hi Samuel do you have an email I can trash you at. I’d be interested in asking you some questions about the m32
sorry but the Midas stuff now gets built by behringer and has NOTHING to do with the old midas Preamps, just open one up and measure. and look a the parts.
Great video Jake. Lots of very useful info about the 2 boards. I think the comparison is a little unfair though because the M32 has been around for several years, the Presonus 32SC came out just a few months ago so it is bound to have improved features that people wished their older boards had. One detail about the effects options on the presonus, you can buy additional effects for the fat channel strip. Thank you for all the great content you give us through churchfront!
Adan Hernandez : I agree not a fair comparison
I agree, Not fair. Plus its presonus, aint no way a presonus will beat midas
Behringer/Midas X/M32 consoles are geared more for studio musicians who want unrestricted access to its many layers of signal routing and submix options. When you're doing multiple mix-downs of multiple projects, the X32's reconfigurability is genuinely helpful. The downside is the excessive amount of button-pushing you have to do just to navigate through all its layers, sub-layers, and sub-sub-layers.
The X32's EQ controls are the worst offenders - you literally have to reprogram the knobs for each and every frequency band you need to adjust. The FX controls are actually easier to use the way they're mapped to the knobs below the LCD display. One major issue there, however, is that you can only have eight FX at once, and that includes any graphic EQ's you patch into your output buses. So in practice, you usually settle on four FX and four GEQ's. Last but not least, that huge pitfall you didn't mention, the schizophrenic SENDS ON FADERS (aka Fader Flip) button. During a live performance, you have to watch that flashing red light like a hawk and make absolutely sure the console's in the right mode before touching your faders.
The Presonus is blessedly free of layers, but it has modal issues of its own. The earlier generation StudioLive consoles had dedicated knobs and buttons for every Fat Channel adjustment, which made them very quick to operate. With Series III, Presonus eliminated all but 8 multi-function knobs across the top left row. That requires you to juggle between dynamics/EQ modules almost as much as the X32. On the compact Series III mixers, you have to use the touch screen to adjust EQ, which again, is fine for studio sessions, but cumbersome for live performances.
IMO, the lack of scribble-strips on the 8 Fat Channel knobs seriously undermines the workflow of the compact Series III consoles. Also unfortunate, as you mentioned, is the lack of Dante options, which previous-generation StudioLive consoles and rack mixers did support.
A preamp itself isn’t doing the A/D conversion although there’s a converter inside the preamp. The preamp itself applies voltage to the original signal from the source to give it a hotter waveform so that it can be processed.
Just one thing. The new M32 comes with the new card. It’s called the m32 live . Both are great consoles. What you find as a plus, someone one may find as a minus. Nothing beats having a hands on review. Go to your local music store and check them out for your self. (Sound and layout is something completely subjective)
Once i got famaliar with the X32/M32 layout and interface it was actually fairly easy for me to get it set up, even from scratch. Not to mention Scene functions where a previous scene can be called up and adjust from there. Once I had to transport an entire system to a guest church building and setup for worship service in a very short time. With 3-5 vocals, plus instruments, plus setting up main, I was able to get all the channels set up with preliminary EQs (it helps that I already had a rough idea of the EQ for the day) in around 5 minutes. I won't knock Presonus but when properly setup M32 can be very efficient if you have a good idea on structuring your mixes.
Update as of 2021 - PreSonus sells a Dante compatibility module for these boards. Not internal, but allows compatibility with Dante equipment.
Regarding sound quality differences, I will point out that it looks like you guys are using the behringer stagebox (s32) which do NOT have the actual midas preamps. I havent worked on the new presonus yet, but I did want to point out you're comparing it to the behringer remakes
I upgraded two s16's to a single DL32 at my church and there is a definite sound quality upgrade with the pro series pre's! An interesting note, I help out from time to time with another church that uses a soundcraft expression.. those pre's sound noticeably better (to my ears), especially on raw recordings.. which surprised me.
The x32 does have Midas preamps however the M32r uses Midas pro preamps so they are still Midas but the Midas pro ones are just better
@@lucasriddervevo midas DESIGNED preamps. same circuit, built as cheap as possible...
That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
@@themightyjosh not Midas they just slap the name on there.... Midas doesn't make shitty preamps trust me bud not cheap..
I am in a bind about the Presonus, Midas and Behringer. Build quality should be a factor and the ease of use. Vids like this, from people who actually use these mixers are what I need.
Awesome breakdown...I was considering the Midas M32, but I suppose I will give the S-3 a better look now! thanks guys!
This was a fantastic comparison video. I recently bought my M32R after doing almost a year of research! The at the time the PreSonus Studio Live Series III 16 channel one and Yamaha TF1 were a serious contender. At the end I decided that the M32R was the right one for me as I've used the X32 and X-Air Mixers. I've been accustomed to the colored scribble strips and is something I found really useful. One suggestion I would mention in this video is that the M32R came out early 2015 and Presonus Series III only came in around early 2017and is a brand new mixer from the ground up and the 32C is a new variant of the series III released this year...about 4 years later than the Midas M32R.
Thanks bro! Great content!
I use Presonus StudioLive 32 Series 3 over five months and this sound awesome!
Very useful console!
Buttom line is the sound quality.i love the routing page of Midas which realy easy to assign outputs.i really love both mixer which i use on live events and studio recording.for me Midas sound quality is a lot better than presonus.but the plug ins of presonus is way ahead than the midas.
This video has literally saved me so much time and money. Thank you so much!!
Excellent video! You're right, lack of Dante is a drawback and it's something that Presonus could fix in software if they wanted too. Another downside is the inability to use external plug-ins such as Waves if (and only if) you're using a stagebox. I use a SL32 at the booth and a stagebox (SL32R) on stage. So, all my channels are set to AVB input and it works fine. But, if you want to use Waves (Multirack) plug-ins, you need to be able to set the input to USB, which you can't do if you're using a staagebox and input is set to AVB. The only alternative is 2x the channels and have the source channels come into the board on AVB, route that channel to Waves and then return from Waves on a second channel. It works, but wastes half your channels. As my board fills up, I no longer have the free channels to dedicate to a 2nd return. Really a bummer!
Waves introduced an AVB to Soundgrid box at Infocomm last month. They said it will be shipping around the end of the year.
The software only version of Dante is not yet available. As of today, special hardware is required.
I don't quite get why you guys say that the "view" button on the MIDAS would be an extra step!? You can edit the paramters on the MIDAS with the encoders too right away and even have an LED-ring around it showing the value. The Presonus has also the "view"-buttons, only that they are arranged together in one row while on the MIDAS they are in the "modules" having round knobs instead while all other knobs beeing rectangularish.
Well Said Guys! I'm a proud Presonus User ..
Thanks Jake & Spence for the comparison.
Our church recently got the SL Series III 24, and it's been fabulous so far. Night & day when compared with the 32 channel 8 bus Mackie we used.
Like you mentioned the lack of Dante is shocking, and hope that Presonus can find a way to implement it, if not on this new series, but certainly on future offerings.
Understandably, from a business perspective, the cost of including Dante might not be justifable.
Looking forward to more great videos.
Blessings to you the team.
Just going to clear this one up: ALTHOUGH Dante and AVB aren't directly compatible, Mac OS from (I believe) 10.11 has support for AVB and you can use it without having to install any software. It also provides lower latency than Dante.
Yes, you are correct about Mac native compatibility, but latency on AVB is locked to 2ms and Dante has the potential to run that low, but also to run higher latency. Rather than lock it in, Dante gives you a little bit of freedom depending on what your needs are.
@@aaronadams1630 Dante doesn't and can't provide latency *guarantees* though, so it can be subject to dropouts when the network is congested
Preamps take a very low voltage analog signal and step it up on the desk so that the console has workable input gain. The objective is to match preamp gain so thast you are hitting unity by the time you get to ur outputs.
The m32 also has the USB recorder that you can route anything to. Longer warranty as well, 10yrs vs 3 year
Andy Strebel, at the rate Midas puts out new consoles, a 10 year warranty is a no brainer. 😉
That 10 year warranty is definitely something to look at.
For the M32 you can create a cue or snippet that quickly changes the channel inputs to pull from your card or stageboxes, or local I/O.
Man you guys know your stuff. Thank you for what you do.. Amen...
StudioLive 32SC, I use the 32SX and 64s, both are awesome especially with the 32R as a Stagebox, insane connectivity
I have to disagree about form factor : the Presonus is just plain sexy. Been mixing on it for almost 2 years now. Love the studiolive. Seen many hands on videos featuring the x32. Never have liked the layout. Presonus is just more logical IMHO.
Oh and BTW thanks to a previous comment. I did not realize the latest firmware gave me chorus etc. I think the reverbs on the Studiolive are the weak link. But there are a ton of available plugins (just no reverb plugins... Yet. I keep bugging presonus and hoping). But it's 9:45p now and I am thinking of running over to the church to check out the new effects. Can't wait til tomorrow.
Michael are you running the entire ecosystem?
@Shane White - If by Entire Ecosystem you mean SL 32s, Digital Snake, etc, the no. We only have the SL32s board. But like it very much
Michael I’ve been running Presonus for about 7 or 8 years, yes the ecosystem is what I was referring to... the board by its self is good..
❤️
I’d also like to add that even though you don’t have Dante capability, the AVB can be used in a very similar way. MOTU makes a few interfaces with avb capability. You could use that to pipe audio from ableton over the one cable, you would just also need an external audio interface. It will cost you about the same as the Dante card upgrade on the m32. Also, if you start using presonus studio one over pro tools, the integration is so tight, you can use different effect routing through a bus to and from the computer. With a solid computer, you won’t recognize latency. Just have the bus input set to a usb out and set it up in the daw
A great video guys; I've not seen any of your content before and was expecting this video to be a peeing contest...but it wasn't. A genuine comparison of two boards. I've used Allen & Heath analogue boards for over 20 years, and love them. I recently bought a Presonus 16.4.2; was new/old stock so got it for a bargain price. Being the first digital mixer I've owned, I'm really impressed by it despite it being more than 10 years old.
3 years later I'm in the market for a budget friendly digital mixer. Presonus 32c is what I'm leaning towards, but I'm here doing my homework.
In the early years of the studio live series everyone was buying it and loving it. All the engineers I know all recently jumped off of the Studiolive train and either jumped on board the Allen and Heath SQ/QU or Midas train.
Justin Pompper you are spot on, we are jumping off series 3, the AVB just is not reliable... Midas is on the way.
@@swhite36 would you mind detailing some of your troubles and your situation? Because the PreSonus are currently contenders for my situation and I would like to be well informed.
Hmmm.. you can route audio to the computer using AVB natively if you are using a Mac. The Mac OS X 10.11 or above has native AVB in the OS. No need to buy a Dante VSC license.
The not being able to drag is a great feature.
It's not difficult incidentally drag a bit when touching or incidentally press something else.
Hello guys... I just wanted to give you a recomendation on this GREAT video ! ... as an extra point of comparison, I would suggest you to compare the "computer, tablet and cellphone" software that a person can use to control any of these 2 digital consoles. From my personal opinion and experiece, the Midas control softwares are way better than Presonus. Best Wishes !
Thank you for the helpful comparison .From a home studio perspective it would be good if Presonus had an extended drive with view monitor just to run Studio one software .Making this a complete computer less setup with a full functioning DAW .
The Presonus actually has 6 XLR aux outs plus 4 TRS aux outs. So 10 analog aux outs, you can do up to 16 w a stage box. There are also 3 dedicated XLR main outs
AVB is supported by all netwerkcards on a mac. So you can run protools and mainstage multitracs over AVB with presonus.
Presonus really made a mistake when they went AVB.. if you use the series 3 with just the board and a couple stageboxs you MIGHT be okay.. But if you use the entire ecosystem, that would be the console, AVB switch, Earmixs and stageboxs you could be in for a nightmare of audio drops... I do like the work flow of the Presonus and UC Surface software.. But the preamps and the sliders are not even close to the Midas. Bottom line for me is I bought the entire Presonus Ecosystem and it’s been a nightmare from day one. I’ve ran Presonus for years and had good experiences with them until this series 3. The AVB network just can’t handle all the information being sent and received. So after trying two consoles two switches two different stageboxs and hours on the phone with tech at Presonus I’m sending everything back and going to Midas.
The Midas is easier for me to find as everything is in a group where the presonus is bunched together and it’s difficult to pick out one button among buttons (needle in a stack of needles)
Hey super SUPER epic video. Would you ever consider doing a PreSonos to Allen & Heath SQ series comparison? I hear their preamps are excellent. But this side by side video was TRUELY amazing.
Presonus DOES have a AVB to Dante bridge now, solves that issue which is awesome..
Thank you guys. That was very helpful.
I wish you would talk about integration with Pro tools...very often we are using a digital mixer to control the DAW....and integration with Pro Tools is not the same with these two boards...
Great thanks again.
Am a Presonus person 🙋♂️🙋♂️
I don't like touch screens, I bet you can guess which one I ended up with 🤣
the thing about the SL though is that the touch screen is never necessary, it's just an alternate method. Every single control is also mapped to hardware, until you're getting into menu stuff like saving scenes and mapping routing.
How about a video comparing Dante to AVB? Possibly like your automobile analogy. Cadillac and Lincoln Dante or AVB.
This would be a really tough video to make, as AVB is a protocol and Dante is a whole system solution. There's not currently a routing interface with AVB like the Dante Controller, and the solutions for running tracks out of a computer to the network are much more challenging as well.
Awesome work Jake! 🔥
Is the StudioLive 32C compatible with a digital stage box and does it have the capability for the in-ear mixes to be controlled via a mobile app?
The Studio Live board does have a 64 channel version unlink the x32/m32 only has to 32 channels version
with Stagebox you receive 64
StudioOne is my at home DAW of choice. So it’s only practical I choose a presonus.
I’m suppose to choose between the presonus 32XS and Midas M32 I actually don’t know what do choose pls e help me choose
Couple of questions.. first does the Presonus allow you to individually route channels.. one of my biggest beefs with the m32/x32 is having to route in blocks of 8.. Second, does the Presonus have a dedicated personal monitoring system like the P16’s? And finally, Spencer commented that he likes the effect sends on faders of the Presonus, but the M32/x32 also does sends-on-faders for the effects busses.. so I was unclear about the advantage Presonus has there.
There is a pesronal monitoring system from Presonus, which is:
Presonus EarMix 16M AVB Personal Monitor Mixer
Well, you will need the Presonus SW5E 5-Port Audio Video Bridging Switch for PoE too
Go to the selected channel and in the preamp view screen scroll over to config and you can route channels on an individual basis
@@isaace.2244 Cool beans.. I work with X32's every week, but I haven't touched a Presonus is about 7 years... Like I sated in my original post, having to choose routing in blocks of 8 on the m32/x32 can be frustrating, and limiting... my only real gripe about the m32/x32
1. Yes, you can patch/route channels individually on the Series III Mixers; not just in banks of eight. 2. Yes, the EarMix 16M is the Personal Monitor Mixer for PreSonus: www.presonus.com/products/EarMix-16M
Robert Löfgren cool beans! That will be awesome. I have run into issues with the blocks of 8.. at one of the churches I support, they are using an s32 stage box that goes to aes50a on the console.. they have their wireless mics (5 of them) in a rack at the back by the foh console.. so We have to ‘burn’ a block of 8 and route from the xlr’s on the console for the 5 wireless mics. They recently purchased the waves plugins and wanted to use two or three channels for waves returns.. what we ended up having to do is use the aux remap to the usb card for waves and returning waves through the aux channels and move our pc audio to two of the remaining 3 xlr channels in the block we routed from the console for wireless mics. In the end we got it done, but it would have been nice to just choose what I/O we wanted at the channel level instead of having to move stuff around to make it work.
Three of my buddies (I'm still running analog but am weighing digital options now) that are in sound in other local churches started off with the presonus but all switched to Midas/Behringer because they couldn't get the Presonus to stay running long enough and repairs took a long time. This was at least 5 years ago though. Have they fixed their reliability problems yet?
the series 2 was a totally different animal than the sIII- like the difference between the xair and the x32. Also, the price point reflected that.
I will say you are missing out quite a bit accessibility wise with the M32r (only having the 8 input fader bank I mean) I couldn't quite sacrifice the 16 channel fader bank of the full-sized. Having worked on the X32 for many years and M32 on several occasions years I would choose ease of workflow going with a full-sized that the somewhat better sounding M32. Also, I could be misunderstanding you at 6:50 about being able to "customize" your input faders. It does take time to configure and set up (certainly not something I would do on the fly necessarily) but you most definitely can change/customize the input source and strip on any channel of the input fader side and have your DCAs on the right fader bank. Again, I would recommend the full size 32 whichever brand you get it does make quite a difference in workflow. We have upgraded our main sanctuary to the Soundcraft Vi3000 and slowly upgrading our smaller satellite campuses to the Vi1000 which has the 8 input fader bank and the 8 fader DCA/bus bank (similar to this M32r). going to be interesting I havent done a servise with the 1000 yet It's going to be quite interesting to try it out for sure.
You are talking about a better sound quality from the Studiolive than the M32. One thing to consider, are you using the S32 or the DL32 stagebox when comparing. To my knowledge the preamps and the converters are NOT the same in those 2 boxes.
or the dl251...
The Midas now offers multi-track recording to dual SD cards
More inportant is about colour of both mixer
I have a question for you. I been having trouble getting my encoders to work for panning when I click on the mix buttons on Studiolive 32 III mixer using as DAW with Pro Tools. The encoders will work as long as I don't use the mix buttons. Once I hit mix buttons to pull up pages in Pro Tools my encoders stop working for panning and other things. Do you guys have any insight on this?
I read in little research I did when I was also bummed Presonus didn’t have Dante (except in their older console and speakers) was that the Dante company would consider compatibility once AVB was more available. Which could be why Presonus is pushing AVB.
Tq.. I'm amazed with you guys. So cool explanation. Thx God
I wasn’t sure which direction I was going to go when I upgrade from my Presonus 16.4.2ai. However, after a little research I found this out:
A 32 channel Stage Box for Presonus costs $1500
A 16 channel Stage box for Presonus costs $850
Which is about the same cost as a. . .
32 Channel Snake for Behringer which is $900.
If money’s not a factor for you in expandability I guess it doesn’t matter which platform you choose, but if you like to save a few coins like me, the choice is clear on bang for buck: Behringer/Midas.
you can get a b-stock studiolive 32R for 1k, and then that will work as a stagebox, OR as a standalone mixer.
plus, the SL comes with a killer software suite, whereas you'll have to buy your own with behringer/midas.
Also, the preamps on the behringer box sound very noticeably worse than the Midas or Presonus boxes.
A few more things that should be noted in favor of the Presonus are the tablet and phone apps are much better and more user friendly than any of the Midas/ Behringer apps. Easier to update firmware when needed, and since the parent company of Midas/ Behringer "The Music Tribe" pretty much abandoned their Distribution and local Dealer network in favor of just a handful of E-tailors local support and service are non-existent. Side by Side the Presonus does sound better period and there is no reason to choose the Midas or Behringer.
Are you guys setting up and tearing down week to week? How well is the PreSonus holding up?
Also, the x32 faders move as fast as the m32
Wow “Pre-amps”? NO, NO IF you are Using an S32 (stage box)… the ‘Preamps” are IN the S32.. and the “S32 has inferior the “Behringer price point“ Pre-amps” to the “DL32”[Midas model] stage box!! If you guys are using a traditional analog snake /stage box?? Then I’m still amazed that you find the StudioLive’s “local” pre-amps to be cleaner than the “local” preamps on the M32… I would expect the Presonus to be better than the Behringer version… again the X32 uses an inferior pre-amp?? But the Midas “Local” pre’s should be better?! I never use the local inputs on any Midas OR X32… and prefer the DL 32 stage box to the cheaper S32 stage box if I have a choice! I also use the Behringer ‘Wing”… when used with a couple DL 32’s… it’s STUNNING the quality!! and I’m FUSSY!! [use a hardware based ProTools System 64 I/O -Yamaha O2r96 combination system of which II have mixed a handful of Gospel hits from over the decades, from]. So yes, the Prosonus board is friendlier [more traditionally?] laid out? But I find the Midas to have much more horsepower [sonically speaking] and even with its odd menu layabouts and odd ergonomics… it doesn’t have the kind of strange stuff [too much to comment here] that the Presonus has / does… just my opinion.
Good points (maybe dial the energy back just a smidge?). I have used a presonus, but my experience with m32-mixers has always been that the pre-amps are very nice to work with, either with a snake or with a stage box (though as you say, a stage box will differ based on the type). Maybe these guys have a unit with some hardware or software malfunctions/defects? It’s been known to happen that modern equipment can arrive broken.
Is the touch screen the same on the 32S? Limited?
Gentlemen excellent video.
Workflow comparison was great.👍
Questions on sound quality 😒...
1. Is it possible for you to provide a shared link of two separate recordings (Pre-fader/No Eq/No compression/No effects) of a Studio session or Live Service recording from each board (4/8/16 Tracks or stems)?
2. Are you using a DL32 stagebox or X32 Stage Box with the Midas 32R?
3. IEM mix quality...are using analog outs from each board into your wireles (Shure) IEMs or a P16 equivalent?
Once again awesome job on the video!
That is all...Thank you.
answer no 2. see video 17:00
@@OpinDP
Thanks 😞 Missed that...
@@OpinDP
Still not sure.
I remeber one of the earlier Mobile Church setup videos referred to the S32 stage box not dl32. I'm going to search for it. Thanks
There is an avb to dante card now!
THAT ROCKS! PLZ DO A REVIEW!
i know this is an old video but i kinda had a n epiphany. the fact is the midas/behringer 31 cma out almost 10 years ago vs something that came out less than 5 years ago the fact that we are comparing something to the x32 says something. yes there better ways to do something but geez that was 10 years ago. to me that is something to be said should you go with the x32 thats your call but the fact thats its lasted this long in todays fast evolving tech world is still something to be said lol.
Presonus All The way ! Thanks guys!
I understand that they both tried to explain some variations between both consoles but in my opinion they did not find the correct terms for both uses of these two mixers.
PreSonus added chorus and flange to the fx now and you didn't mention that they are state spaced plugins of vintage and modern eq's and compressors for every channel and aux, that you can add more plugins too.
A Yamaha TF5 is in that same price range and has Dante. I’d be interested to see how you guys think that stacks up against these 2.
About the dante compatibility with the Presonus mixer, it won't be a problem if the church uses AVB protocol from the first place, right?
Like, everything was analog and when the church sound becomes digital later and decides to use AVB protocol
Yes, correct. With a lack of Dante I use AVB on my system. Just keep in mind that Presonus uses AVB internally and you can link 2 Presonus units with a single cable but more than 2 and you need an AVB switch. AVB switches aren't cheap and they're not in abundance yet. Presonus makes one and I think there are a couple other Chinesium ones out there too but they're small, in the 5 port range. So if you need more than 5 ports you have to start chaining them. Cisco is working on an AVB implementation for their switches and I believe UniFi is as well. Once these are on the market we'll be able to get 'big' AVB switches and this will solve a lot of problems (at least for me). And, keep in mind that AVB support in Windows is very, very, VERY limited, requires explicit and discreet hardware, (and very expensive). macOS on the otherhand has built-in AVB support.
@@BDMcGrewMcGrew actually the PreSonus stageboxes and EarMixes can all be daisy-chained. They each have a 2 port switch built-in. You only need a switch when you exceed 7 devices in a chain.
Love this VS video and your take on it for churches! I’ve worked with the Presonus 24.4Ai and my brothers at another church with the X32 and I’ve always try to push the Studiolive for there ease of use for newbies. My only complaint was motorized faders 🎚 and no Dante cards!! I reached Rick Nakvi a few years back about at least having Dante but told me nope not for now! I’d strongly suggest Presonus to up there game with faster faders 🎚 and Dante cards!! Could U make a VS video with the newer 64 Inputs Presonus with any other mixer in this price point my brothers need more fades to play with with less layers more hands on!!
❤️
Do you have any video on the Yamaha Digital boards?
10:00 The speed of the faders on the Presonus are fine, plenty fast.
They also forgot to mention that the presonus faders are touch sensitive! So if you are writing automation, once you touch the fader it enables writing mode when you move it around.
Which stage boxes were you using with the M32R Mixer - (MIdas or Behringer digital I/O stage boxes)...?
Yeah, the user configurable bank problem? Firmware 4.0 took care of that, now M32 and X32 have that covered. Where are the buttons? Simple memory skill, I dont have to hover my hands that much, Id hover them more on Presonus because the screen isnt responding and Im considering throwing it at a wall.
Which actually sounds better?
Will the Presonus sound good as the SSL Big Six?
If only you could come to our church to look at the dlive Soundboards XD
Yep and the sq7!
Everything I have read is that the X32/ Midas sounds way way better...
dantonliam That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
@@marcossebastian1739 believe me the Presonus sounds great with the Xmax Preamps
hallo.. how about avid s3lx? sorry, im newbie
You are very good. My man. I have 24ch that is not tuning no. Can I use the same approach for it
Jake have you used audiofusion with presonus. I have a presonus rm16 and having trouble with sound caster picking up FireWire connection.
I completely disagree with your comment of the M32's channel setup was less effecient than the presonus. The layout of the presonus gives you no quick control of eq which is a exact backwards statement that you made. AB the sound of these 2 and the midas wins hands down all day long. Also, which one gives you a 10 year warranty? oh yeah, the midas
Simply not true on the eq comment. You can lock the fat channel encoders to have eq, hpf and gain easy peasy. Sound quality... a little subjective.
I've own both, first statement not correct about EQ. Pre amps, close but might have to give the nod to presonus. Both great boards.
I'm looking into boards now and wanted to comment on this video and say there is now a AVB to Dante bridge available! So the biggest negatives to this video are mostly solved. It is $600 though. So the biggest con seems to be the fader speed?
If you look at the price of the Presonus, you don't get much more than the Midas.
I'm happy with my Midas and Presonus that I sold because I wasn't happy with that mixer.
these two talk about weird processing noises, I haven't heard that with the midas during recordings, they must have done something wrong or it's their cables.
Thank you for posting useful video!
Which audio mixers of sound quality is better? Presonus StudioLive series lll and Beringer Wing.
The Wing is insanely great! And the newest firmware with “DCA push” [ I think it’s called?? LOL] is a game changer as well. But the board used with [at a minimum] DL32’s NOT the S32’s is stunning. I use the SD card Multitrack recorders in BOTH my M32 and our band’s Wing’s. And again the quality is stunning!! [when mixing the recoding in a hardware based ProTolls system]
One experience I just had taking my new Studiolive 24 III out for the first time, the board sounds so clean and transparent, it really highlighted the muddiness of the SM58, and now I'm having to upgrade mics, to keep up with the board! Also, the Dante thing isn't really a big deal if you're not already invested in it, as the AVB protocol does everything Dante will do, and then more!
Another thing you didn't mention regarding the FX that's a huge advantage of the SL to me is alternate compressor and EQ plugin options on every single channel- also you can install additional fx plugins on this board, and they are still developing firmware and plugins for it.
The big weakness of the studiolive is that it doesn't have onboard tone/noise generators, and the RTA source is not assignable, which makes tuning a room with noise a major pain without additional gear. It's possible this could change, however, as this is a feature request currently in consideration for the next round of firmware.
UC surface does feel a bit clunky to me, compared to mixing station pro, which is what I use for the X/M series, though I think they might also have a presonus version, haven't looked into it yet.
Also, the onboard bluetooth on the Presonus is super handy for playing house tracks without leaving your phone/tablet laying at the desk.
Agreed that the touch screen is a little clunky, but it's no worse than the one on the touchmix, and in this case, every single audio function is mapped to a hardware control, so it's not a super big deal unless you are spending a lot of time re-organizing scenes and presets.
One thing too about the faders, is that the SL faders feel smoother, where the motors on the Midas feel a bit more steppy, and also, the SL faders are far more silent. I've also noticed that hands-down, in terms of setting up a show from scratch, the SLIII is the fastest thing on the market.
BTW, I'm a full time audio engineer, mostly in the corporate space, some in live music, and I've used every digital board in this market segment extensively.
What is the difference between the m32R and m32 live, are the features and functions different?
M32 quality and sound better my professional opinion
Javier Rodriguez That’s right! I would never trade the Midas pre-amps for anything else. The Midas mixers are an upgrade from the X32. Features are nice but sound is king...
@@marcossebastian1739 for me Midas M32sounds Crap! I agree Midas pre amp sounds great on their higher model like Pro. series and Heritage series. not on M32....
@@chooocoooleeezhang1251 I think you are confusing X32 and M32. The X32's mic pres on it are crap compared to M32s. I had both and sonically there's a difference. The M32 carries the classic Midas pres. This is from Midas product page: "The microphone preamplifiers are the very same ones used in the industry standard Midas XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 consoles, which many consider to be the greatest analogue live consoles ever built. Over the past decade, the XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 have been utilised by countless top artists including Bon Jovi, Alanis Morrisette, AC/DC, Coldplay, Kid Rock, Metallica, Alicia Keys, Foo Fighters, Christina Aguilera, Sir Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, and many more.
Javier Rodriguez I’ve now had experience with both Presonus and Midas... Midas sounds much better.
@@marcossebastian1739 are you a Bot from Midas ? you repeat the same thing like above
Hi great video, I have a question... if I use that Presonus with a 32 channel and 10 outputs stagebox, ill be able to use all the 32 channels in the mixer? thank you very much
Midas M32 smokes the StudioLive, sorry. And I use BOTH all the time. Add that I am a 35+yr audio professional /studio owner - operator. It would take hours to explain why this is true for me. And YES the Midas is VERY unfriendly to menu around in… like the usage of “Sends on Fader”. It’s a pain to make fast