This product has been discontinued.
More Than a Mixer—a Complete System
You'll never go back to an old-skool analog mixer once you've used StudioLive™. With its incredible signal-processing power on every channel, easy store and recall of every setting, and the ability to record it all with just two mouse clicks, you'll get spoiled fast! Easier to use, better sounding, and flawlessly integrated with state-of-the-art software, it delivers the most creative environment possible for both live performance and studio music production.
But StudioLive is not simply a mixer, it's a rapidly growing family of state-of-the-art, integrated hardware-software mixing and recording systems that deliver the features you need for live sound, live recording, and studio recording.
The StudioLive 16.4.2 is a great choice for those who want to mix smaller shows and worship services, and it's a great choice for small club systems, portable churches, small bands, corporate applications, educational institutions, and anywhere you want a rack-mount mixer. It's the perfect hardware core for a project studio.
Or daisy-chain two StudioLive 16.4.2s to form a 32x4x2 performance and recording console for mid-sized shows and events.
Here, in one device, are high-headroom XMAX™ microphone preamplifiers, a built-in FireWire recording and playback interface, more than 90 signal processors, a big library of DSP effects, 6 aux buses, 4 subgroups, extensive LED metering, mixer save and recall, channel-strip save/recall/copy/paste, talkback, and more.
Yet despite its many controls and features, it's compact, rack-mountable (14U), and easy to transport.
Build live mixes that glisten with clarity and detail—then record and enhance the performance with the power of StudioLive 16.4.2. Get creative in the studio. Build mixes, loops, sound effects, and more, then bring them out to your show and mix them with the live performance. Process channels using your favorite plug-ins and completely automate your entire performance.
That’s just the start. Control the StudioLive from your Mac, PC, or iPad®. Manage monitor mixes from an iPhone® or iPod touch®. Tune your system to the room and fix feedback problems with integrated Smaart Measurement Technology™.
StudioLive 16.4.2 revolutionizes music production, opening endless creative possibilities.
Control Your Sound Your Way!
With a PreSonus StudioLive-series digital mixer, you not only get high-end sound and tremendous processing, mixing, and recording power, you can control all of this sonic might from virtually anywhere. Want to touch your mix with the physical feedback of real faders and rotary knobs and an intuitive, analog-like user interface? The StudioLive delivers big time; sound people who have only mixed with analog boards quickly become comfortable working with a StudioLive.
Virtual StudioLive: The magic of computer control.
Despite its analog-like mixing surface, this is very much a digital console, and it offers features no analog mixer—and very few digital boards—can match. For example, the ability to control the StudioLive mixer from a laptop adds tremendous flexibility and convenience—and with the bundled Virtual StudioLive bidirectional control/editor/librarian software, you get it all for free.
Written exclusively for StudioLive mixers, Virtual StudioLive (VSL) provides a complete visual representation of the mixer, allowing you to control the features with a mouse, trackpad, or trackball on a FireWire-equipped Mac® or PC. Add third-party VPN software, and you can even control StudioLive mixers over the Internet—ideal for contractors. To get a competing mixer with computer control even close to this complete, you'd have to pay several times as much.
Learn more about Virtual StudioLive.
Even better: wireless control!
You’re mixing a live show with an old-skool mixer—make that any mixer other than StudioLive—and you need to check the sound underneath the balcony—or in the balcony, for that matter. Or you’re sound-checking and want to hear the stage monitors for yourself. If you can’t leave the mixing station, you have to rely on someone else’s ears. If you don’t have a reliable crew, you don’t have a chance.
You can say goodbye to that problem if you use a 16.4.2 and an Apple iPad®! With StudioLive Remote for iPad—available free from the Apple App Store—you have complete, real-time, wireless remote control over Virtual StudioLive, which in turn offers real-time control over the StudioLive mixer. As long as you have a wireless connection between your iPad and computer (and are connected via FireWire to the 16.4.2), you are in control of the console. StudioLive Remote is easy to use, provides control of almost every feature of the StudioLive, and looks and feels like an iPad app should.
Learn more about StudioLive Remote.
Yet even better: control of monitor mixes from iPhones and iPod touches!
We've given you a lot of sonic control with the StudioLive, Virtual StudioLive, and StudioLive Remote. It's only fair that we help you give the band control of their sound, too. With PreSonus' free QMix™, each band member can control their own StudioLive aux (monitor) mix from an iPhone® or iPod® touch. QMix lets you adjust a single aux mix per iPhone. Select inputs and levels for your custom monitor mix, and then use the Wheel of Me to get, well… “more me”… quickly during performances.
You can even set permissions to ensure that the bass player, always the practical joker, can't mess with the hot-tempered lead singer's monitor mix. Otherwise, that bass player is going to get in trouble someday. We're just sayin'….
The level of control you get with PreSonus StudioLive-series mixers is beyond cool—it's absolutely ice! Now you can control your sound from anywhere you choose—no limits! Only with PreSonus StudioLive.
A gigantic console in a small package thanks to the Fat Channel.
If StudioLive 16.4.2 were an analog console, it would have 4-foot-long channel strips packed with knobs and buttons or it would require a massive outboard rack of expensive signal processors! That's because each channel has its own compressor, limiter, gate, 4-band semi-parametric equalizer, and high-pass filter. In all, we've packed 31 compressors, 31 limiters, 31 gates, 16 high-pass filters, and more, into one remarkable Fat Channel.
Not just effects. Effects you'd expect from a $600 stand-alone processor.
You get two programmable, 32-bit, stereo DSP effects engines, loaded with 50 reverbs, delays, and time-based effects that you can really use. The reverbs are so rich and detailed that you feel like you're there. Delays are precise. Slap echo sounds like old-school tape effects.
All 50 effects have easy-to-use parameter adjustment, tap tempo, store, recall, and Scene selection for ultimate creative flexibility.
The reverbs are so rich and detailed that you feel like you’re there. Delays are precise. Slap echo sounds like old-skool tape effects. All 50 effects have easy-to-use parameter adjustment, tap tempo, and store and recall selection for the ultimate in creative flexibility.
The StudioLive 16.4.2's 4 dual, 31-band graphic equalizers can be applied to the main, subgroup, and aux outputs so you can compensate for room acoustics, speaker response, and much more.
Furthermore, with Smaart Measurement Technology™, you'll be able to really put StudioLive's graphic EQ to work improving the sound of your P.A. Precisely identify nasty feedback frequencies. Get your loudspeakers to play nicer with the room they're in — all without having a degree in acoustical engineering.
What was then is now: complete store and recall.
Two factors work against getting that Perfect Mix with an analog mixer. First, the Perfect Mix can be hard to reproduce a week, day, or hour after you perfect it. And second, a good mix should be dynamic: levels, effects, and EQ should be tailored to each song or segment of the show, service, or presentation. This adds up to a lot of settings to remember and reset at every performance.
That's where the power of digital comes in: StudioLive lets you save all of your digital settings for quick setup and recall. Save Scenes that include every setting on the mixer or save just the Fat Channel settings. Copy-and-paste settings across multiple channels. Save individual DSP effects for ultimate ease, speed, and control.
This means that for fixed applications like clubs, churches, and auditoriums, you can always count on the same sound and can fine-tune Scenes for different songs and call them up instantly. And it lets rank amateur volunteers successfully operate the StudioLive 16.4.2.
Recording made easy with Capture™
If you have a computer with 6-pin FireWire, you have a 32-track digital recorder instantly ready to capture your gig, church service, or presentation. That’s because StudioLive 16.4.2 features a tightly integrated FireWire interface that delivers up to 32 channels of recording and up to 18 channels of simultaneous playback. Each FireWire recording channel can be set to record either pre- or post-Fat Channel signal processing, delivering total flexibility and power.
Just two mouse clicks engages Capture™ recording software. When you install it on your laptop, it automatically “maps” to the outputs of the 16.4.2 to automatically record all 16 input channels—or 32 channels if you’ve chained two StudioLive 16.4.2s.
Studio One® Artist — A serious digital audio workstation.
Once you’re recorded studio tracks or a live multi-track performance, it’s time to finish it with effects and a good mix (not to mention editing out that huge burst of feedback during the third song).
Studio One is a groundbreaking music-creation and -production application for Mac OS X and Windows® that makes audio recording and MIDI sequencing ridiculously simple right out of the box.
Studio One changes the rules of the game with fresh code, innovative drag-and-drop features, advanced MIDI mapping, auto-configuration with your StudioLive 16.4.2, insanely good audio quality, unlimited tracks and plug-ins per track, and a powerful, inventive Start page. Studio One Artist also comes with a Native Effects™ 32-bit effects library, complete with dynamics processors, reverbs, modulation effects, amp simulators, and more. And with Studio One's Nimbit® extension, you can immediately start selling your music.
Inside, it's pure PreSonus.
Ease of use and powerful features only count if the sound quality is equally impressive. After all, it really comes down to how good those microphone preamps are, how clean the signal path is, and how well the algorithms perform.
That's why you should choose a digital mixer made by PreSonus, a company already famous for its analog mic preamps, pristine digital interfaces, and well-regarded signal processors.
XMAX™ Class A preamplifiers deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs, and a richer overall sound than the preamps found in competing mixers. Ultra-high-headroom, 32-bit floating-point processing is used for all digital mixing. All analog inputs and outputs use the highest quality digital converters available.
The XMAX difference
At PreSonus, we know that the mic preamplifier is a key component in the sonic quality of a recording. The StudioLive includes custom-designed, high-voltage, discrete, XMAX Class A microphone preamplifiers that are suitable for use with all types of microphones.
The job of a microphone preamplifier in a digital mixer is to boost a microphone-level signal to line level before conversion to the digital domain.
A good preamp boosts the level to almost 400 times that of the original signal, making the preamp one of the most important stages in an interface. A cheap, off-the-shelf, op-amp-type mic preamp delivers thin, noisy, harsh results.
But with XMAX preamps, the sonic quality is limited only by what microphone you plug into it.
XMAX preamplifiers are built with three key elements:
- High Voltage. The XMAX preamplifier runs on power rails of 30V. Most off-the-shelf, op-amp-based designs run on power rails of 10V to 18V. Higher-voltage power rails deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs, and a richer overall sound.
- Discrete components—not op-amps. We only use genuine transistors, resistors, and capacitors. Op-amps add noise, coloration, and harshness to a signal. Our discrete design delivers ultra-low noise and transparency.
- Class A. Class A circuits have no crossover distortion and deliver purer, clearer, and more musical results than the Class AB designs that are found in many preamps.
The net result of the XMAX preamp design is high headroom, low noise, wide dynamic range, extended frequency response, and—most important—musicality and transparency, with smooth highs, solid deep lows, and everything in between.
Synchronization to your computer is stable and robust, thanks to JetPLL™ synchronization technology, resulting in great stereo separation and clear, transparent audio.
Superb sound from the interface experts.
Ease of use and powerful features only count if the sound quality is equally impressive. After all, it really comes down to how clean the signal path is and how well the mixing algorithms perform.
That’s why you should choose a digital mixer made by PreSonus, a company already famous for its analog mic preamps, pristine digital interfaces, and well-regarded signal processors.
Ultra-high-headroom, 32-bit floating-point processing is used for all digital mixing. All analog inputs and outputs use the highest-quality digital converters available, with +118 dB dynamic range, for spectacular sonic results and unmatched musicality.
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Synchronization to your computer is stable and robust, thanks to JetPLL™ synchronization technology. JetPLL™ incorporates noise shaping to virtually remove all audio-band jitter, ensuring near-perfect clock performance and optimal converter performance when networking two or more digital-audio devices.
JetPLL quickly locks to any digital format through a wide range of frequencies and is extremely robust and tolerant of wide variations in clock frequencies.
As a result, you’ll experience better stereo separation and clearer, more transparent audio.
StudioLive expands with your input needs.
Need more than 16 channels for mixing and recording? Daisy-chain two StudioLive 16.4.2s via their FireWire ports to get up to 32 input channels and 8 submix buses. You can still record and can simultaneously control the StudioLive with Virtual StudioLive for Mac and Windows and StudioLive Remote for iPad.
If you need more than 16 channels for recording, and you don't need a full channel strip for the additional inputs, you can daisy-chain a StudioLive 16.4.2 with any PreSonus FireStudio-series interface. It could not be simpler.
A Smaart addition to your system.
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Building a great mix is almost impossible unless you tune your system to account for the acoustic properties of the room—and every room is different. If the room overemphasizes the lows, sucks out the highs, or emphasizes frequencies that tend to cause feedback, you could have a long night ahead of you.
With other mixing systems, you use your eyes, ears, and EQs; wade in; and do the best you can. If you’re a top pro, you know how to read a difficult room and compensate, but the rest of us usually just muddle through—with uncertain results.
Fortunately, it’s a lot easier with StudioLive mixers because the included VSL control/editor/librarian software incorporates Rational Acoustics’ Smaart Measurement Technology™. Smaart is a collection of visual audio-measurement tools and techniques for sound-system analysis and optimization that makes tuning the system and squelching feedback much easier and more precise—and you don’t need an engineering degree to use it.
Which StudioLive is best for you?
Your mixing and recording needs aren't necessarily exactly the same as everyone else's. That's why we created a StudioLive family of digital mixers: the StudioLive 16.0.2, 16.4.2, 24.4.2, and 32.4.2AI.
Why choose StudioLive 16.4.2 rather than StudioLive 16.0.2? The StudioLive 16.4.2 has more mic preamps, more FireWire streams, more graphic EQs, longer-throw faders, more bands of semi-parametric EQ, and more meters than the StudioLive 16.0.2, and it can be rack-mounted without requiring an adapter. It has digital outs and analog direct outs, and you can daisy-chain two 16.4.2s to create a larger system; the 16.0.2 does not have these features.
On the other hand, the StudioLive 16.0.2 is more compact and lighter than the 16.4.2, it's less expensive, and it has a very cool feature that the larger StudioLives don't offer: MIDI control over main output level, effects levels and routing, and Scene change.
If you need more channels, aux sends, and other features, consider the StudioLive 24.4.2 or the next-generation StudioLive 32.4.2AI.
Read more about the additional features in the StudioLive 24.4.2 and StudioLive 32.4.2AI
You've read the book. Now see the movies.
We've provided plenty of written material about StudioLive. In addition, you can go to the Media tab at the upper section of this page and watch a whole series of instructional videos showing StudioLive mixers in church, club, and project-studio applications. Video blogs go into detail about various powerful StudioLive features. And we regularly add new videos.
Reading about the StudioLive 16.4.2 is a good start but nothing beats actually getting your hands on one, so visit your nearest PreSonus dealer today. Use our Where to Buy section to locate your nearest PreSonus dealer.
You'll see what we mean about intuitive ease-of-use. You'll hear what we mean about Class A preamps, rich DSP effects, and overall sound quality. And when you have seen and heard it for yourself, you'll understand why your new mixer should be a StudioLive—the most exciting small-format digital mixer on the planet.
Includes Studio Magic Plug-in Suite.
This suite of plug-ins adds a wealth of fresh virtual instruments and effects to Studio One. Cherry-picked from the first names in virtual instruments and effects, each plug-in brings a different flavor of practical magic to your songs. These plug-ins aren't gimmicky one-trick ponies — these are real-deal workhorses that you'll rely on for countless mixes.
Read more about the Studio Magic Plug-in Suite
Content and terms of the Studio Magic Plug-in Suite are subject to change.
