[MortParticipant]

Good to know. Thanks Guys!

[MortParticipant]

Hi,

I´m new to this forum too and that´s because I recently sold my Presonus Studiolive 24.4.2 mixer an purchased a Qu-24. I used the Presonus mixer for more than three years (both live and in recording sessions) and after a couple of months with the Qu-24 I think I can answer to the first question of your initial post. I am from Germany, so bear with my english please.

I like both mixers but they are very different and it really depends on what you want to do with it. The Presonus mixer is in my experience 70% a live mixer and only 30% a studio mixer while the Qu-24 is more or less really 50/50. Since you said that you use the mixer only for recording sessions I think the Qu might be the better choice for your individual situation.

I think one of the main differences between the two boards is that you can use the Qu-24 as a DAW Control which you can´t do with the Studiolive. Especially the fact, that the Studiolive is not equipped with motorized faders makes it quite difficult to use it in a mixdown session. On the other hand the Studiolive comes with a massive bundle of free software like the Capture recording software (great program, very reliable, very easy to use!), Virtual Studiolive, Studio One DAW, iPad App, Rational Acoustic´s Smaart Suite etc. On the other hand the Qu hast the option to directly record on an external usb drive which is really great for live recordings when you don´t have to record more than 18 tracks at the same time which is, unfortunately, often the case. If you want to record more than 18 tracks at the same time you have to use a computer. So up to 18 tracks the Qu has an advantage, because with the Presonus you have to use a computer in any case for recordings.

I can only imagine the problems a blind person might have with a mixing desk but I think the Presonus is the less suitable. The Preamps of the Presonus are analog, so they cannot be recalled and have to be adjusted every time you change a scene. And, as I mentioned before, the faders are not motorized. There actually is a recall option for the fader positions, but this feature works with an optical indicator using the led chains and you have to bring the faders in position by hand.

On the other hand the Presonus mixer is open to external gear. Unlike the Qu every channel has a insert jack and you have two “classic” auxes to use external effects which is important, because the internal effects in the Presonus mixer are only reverbs and delays. To use other effects like chorus etc. you have to use an external effect engine. Unfortunately even in the new A.I. series this has not changed. I never understood this because with all its dsp power this must be a peace of cake…

Well, a I said before, I like both mixers and I would love to have them both, but unfortunately I can´t afford that.

I finally decided to sell the Presonus mixer and bought the Qu-24. But that´s mainly because I was tired of carrying old fashioned copper multicores. I use my mixer mainly as a live console and so I wanted an digital stagebox with cat5 ethercon cable. Early this year I visited the Musikmesse in Frankfurt/Germany which is the biggest fair for musical equipment in Europe. At the Presonus booth I asked the guys about their plans about a digital stagebox but I only got lot of “err” and “well” but no straight answer. They even could not tell me if it is possible to use a 3rd party stagebox via the announced Dante-card…

All in all I still think for me it was the right decision to part with the Presonus and go on with the Qu-24, but again, I think it depends on what you want to do with it.

I hope this helped a bit.

Cheers from Germany,

Martin

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