Alongside its highly-rated DAW Studio One, US brand PreSonus has built much of its reputation on studio hardware including mixers, monitors, headphones and interfaces.
For many users, the company is best known for its Eris range, which covers monitors and headphones, and is particularly popular at the budget end of the spectrum where it has some great value options that have scored well in our reviews.
However, for those looking to take their setup to the next level , PreSonus’ current hardware lineup is topped by a selection of interfaces and monitors that are crammed with clever, convenient features that make them perfect for recording guitarists and solo producers alike.
In the video above, we’ve put together a simple recording setup to demonstrate some of these features. The core of this setup is PreSonus’ Quantum HD 8, which is a USB-C audio interface. That interface acts as a bridge to Studio One Pro 7, which allows us to configure our recording setup directly from the DAW. For monitoring we connect speakers from PreSonus’s Eris Pro range.
The Quantum HD interfaces are the top end of PreSonus’s interface range, which includes the more compact HD 2 as well as the flagship HD 8, which has more input and output options.
The HD 8 can be rack-mounted or sit on a desktop, and includes all the features you’d expect from an interface at this level. That includes two instrument inputs on the front panel, eight mic/line inputs on the rear and 10 line outputs on the back panel.
The interface also has two quarter-inch headphone outputs for monitoring. There’s also Word Clock and optical connectivity, which makes it possible to expand the I/O up to 26 inputs and 30 outputs.
PreSonus says that the Quantum HD interfaces have a ‘high performance signal flow’, which comes from converters with a massive 124db of dynamic range.
Another big part of that performance is provided by the all-new Max HD preamps. There’s eight available in the HD 8 and two in the HD 2. These are digitally controlled analogue preamps, which offer 75db of gain but are low noise and very transparent, so they’re well suited to whatever you want to record.
One of the most convenient features of the Quantum HD range is the Auto Gain functionality, which takes a lot of the hassle out of setting up gain staging for different input types. This can be set up easily using the front panel button, from within Studio One, or via the Universal Control app.
That control app is another highlight of the interfaces’ workflow, providing hands-free control over a multitude of features. The app is available for iOS and Android as well as PC and Mac.
PreSonus was brought under the umbrella of Fender brands a few years ago, and as a result these latest interfaces include a few nice touches that particularly suit those recording guitars.
The front panel instrument connections have been designed with input from Fender and include both inputs and outputs – designed for easy re-amping. This means that users can send instrument-level signals out of a DAW in order to process them via an amp, amp sim pedal, stompboxes or a desktop effects unit.
This is great for guitars, as it makes it possible to record your guitar clean and then apply an amp and effect tone later. It’s also really nice for processing things like synths, samples or plugins so that you can treat sounds from your DAW through external effects or analogue gear.
The Quantum HD interfaces come with a bundle of software including a perpetual license to Studio One Pro 7, along with 12 months of Studio One Pro+, which is the subscription service that gives access to every plugin and sound pack PreSonus has to offer – containing sounds to suit pretty much any genre you can think of.
Although the interfaces can be used seamlessly with your DAW of choice, there’s some really nice integration when using these with Studio One specifically.
When opening a new Studio One project, users can make use of the preset Quantum HD project templates, which mean the session will open already completely set up for a multitrack project using the interface’s I/O.
Users can also directly access controls for the hardware within the Studio One mixer, meaning there’s no need to turn to the control app or hardware to set up features like phantom power or Auto Gain.
Studio One also allows users to save track presets in the DAW, which include insert effect chain and any settings for the interface.
In our simple setup, we have the outputs of the Quantum HD 8 connected to a pair of Eris Pro 8 monitors. These are coaxial monitors, which essentially means the high and low frequencies emanate from a single position, making for a more natural listening experience.
On the rear panel, they also have Acoustic Tuning controls that make it easy to adapt the speaker response to suit our studio.
If we wanted more bass, we could connect a sub – PreSonus has an Eris Sub available – and we then use the low cut to prevent our monitors from clashing with the sub.
Putting these three elements together creates a simple but powerful recording setup, with some handy touches that are likely to really appeal to busy music makers.
This setup would be great for recording guitars or vocals at home, but with the ins-and-outs of the Quantum HD 8, we could also hook up a whole rack of hardware synths, or record a multi-track band session.
The Quantum HD 8 is available now priced at £869, and the HD 2 is available for £429. The Eris Pro 8 monitors are £349 each.
