StudioLive now in stock!

10 outta 15 ain't bad! To us it has felt like a long wait...but the highly anticipated StudioLive16.4.2 has finally arrived. And it's a perfect 10.

15 have landed in Australia, and we're rapt to know that 10 of those are (as at lunchtime today) sitting in stock ready for action. You can see more on the product here, or our orignal blog post here, or if you'd like to delve deeper - check out the Presonus StudioLive blog here.
Actually, that Presonus blog is pretty cool - you'll see both articles and youtube clips on how to use StudioLive for monitor mixing, FOH, and in the studio with Apple Logic.

and for a late-breaking news flash on expandability and connectivity, go here.

May 21st - Rode University
We had a great night. Here are some pics, and we've also put a highlights reel together for Factory Sound TV.

Above is the view from inside the fishbowl...where we had Event Opal monitors cranking. And below looking from the outside at the great spread of Rode microphones.


We had a terrific turnout, and all who came were rewarded with beer, nibblies, a free Rode PopShield, and the chance to ask as many questions to the experts as they needed.




Here's to the next chance for a gathering - any excuse will do.

Anyway, here's our YouTube clip from the night...


www.factorysound.com

Rode University on Tour

The Rode University Tour bus is just about to land at Factory Sound.
We're eagarly awaiting Thursday 21st May 2009, with the welcome mat rolled out from 5.30 - 7.00pm, at Factory Sound.

Anyone who registers prior to coming will be able to claim a free Rode PopShield. In case you haven't registered yet, send an email off to us (to the infopool address) and we'll pop you on the list. We are closing registrations at 5pm on Wed 20th May - that'll give us the day to organise some nibblies and drinks for all!

Apart from having every Rode microphone, Event Opal studio monitors, Presonus studio gear - including soundcards and their all-new StudioLive digital console on show, we're also hosting Craig and James from Rode. Craig has been the Australian representative for Rode Microphones for as long as we can remember, and James represents both Event and Presonus in Australia. They'll be ready for all your questions.

And, it almost goes without saying, there will be cracking specials for anyone who buys up on the night. We'll have lots of stock - so take advantage!

www.factorysound.com

PreSonus StudioLive

We had an entertaining visit this week from the brand new (soon-to-be released) PreSonus StudioLive16.4.2 digital console. After a quick introduction, we took it for a tour around the shop.

With a couple of firewire ports on board, StudioLive was looking comfortable, lounging on the couch in our monitor listening room. Being rackmountable and weighing in at just 10 kg, we figured StudioLive would be well suited to life on the road also.

Yep, we were right.

Then for the bench testing...we did some side-by-side (and back panel to back panel) comparisons against other 16 channel consoles we have in stock. StudioLive16.4.2 has all the ins and outs you'd normally see: 16x XLR inputs, 16x 1/4" Line inputs, 16x channel insert points. You also get direct outputs for channels 1-16 (via 2 x DB25).

Of course, the undeniable benefit of a digital mixer is the processing power on board, and StudioLive16.4.2 has got plenty for every in and out point of your mix, which leads us to...

Fat Channel
The control section of the mixer is very easy to get hands on. There's enough faders to do what you need quickly, and it's also super-simple to select the 'fat channel' control section for any of the inputs, aux sends, sub groups or master outputs. Fat Channel is the bright blue heart of the console., giving you instant access to all the controls you'd need.

Here's what Presonus have to say about their Fat Channel:
"...engaged by pressing any 'select' button, features extensive equalisation and dynamics available to every input channel, every aux output, every subgroup output, and main output. High pass filter, and four-band semi-parametric equalization algorithms are based on PreSonus’ custom-designed digital EyeQ™ equaliser, delivering extremely musical results. Also included in the Fat Channel are compressors, limiters and gates modeled after PreSonus’ award-winning ACP88 for complete dynamics control."


Did we mention 2 x dedicated internal effects...




Our new friend StudioLive16.4.2 even managed to time the visit to coincide with customers who ask all the right questions. Take John Hall for example... he's a regular user of Midas analogue and DiGiCo digital consoles, working as house engineer at Melbourne venues. No doubt he gets plenty of experience with other boards while touring Australia and US. For him, StudioLive was appealing as it offered a quick, portable (and well-priced) way of controlling a bunch of in-ear monitors for tours - especially doing festival shows where want to just patch in and get your ears going in next to no time.



It's settled then. Looks like StudioLive16.4.2 has got it's own spot at Factory Sound.

Stay tuned for further updates. If you simply can't wait, go here to download the brochure, or here to download the manual. Nice one PreSonus.

www.factorysound.com

Great deals, bec$AUS we can!

If you've been looking for an upgrade to your PA system or a new addition to the studio, there has never been a better time...and it's most definitely a case of first in, best looked after.

Recently the wheels have fallen off our dollar, and most pro audio wholesalers have reacted by putting prices up. As more than casual observers, we are amazed at how quickly we've received TWO price rises (or one enormous one) from some of our suppliers.

In fairness to them, many pro audio importers had significantly lowered the Recommended Retail Price of many lines while the going was good, although the drop in prices seemed to take a lot longer (and less steep) than the recent rises, which have been quick and big.

So rather than reducing our stock levels and running lean...we went out and spent the last of our beer money buying as much stock as possible to ensure we can offer the best deals around. We figure that the summer festival season doesn't care about our $AUD, nor does the upgrade your studio needs. The only thing that gets affected by a big price rise is your bottom line - that is, unless you go for it while you can.

While we've got stock, take advantage because the deals simply cannot last. Once our stock is gone, we'll have to replace it with more expensive stock.

Brands we have really bought up big on include: RCF (the great wall of Art boxes), Allen & Heath (Zed mixers, Wizard Mixers and GL2400 series), DBX (comps, graphics and drive racks), Soundcraft (EPM & EFX series mixers), Avalon (heaps of the black VT-737SE), Shure Wireless (PGX / SLX) and Wired (SM series & Beta Series), Sennheiser (Evolution wirelss + e900 series vocal & instrument mics), Soundcards by Presonus & RME, plus heaps more.

Until the new prices have settled (around first week of November...though there's probably more grief to come), we've disabled many 'go' prices on our website. We will be looking after existing customers first. This means that if your name is not already on our database, you'll need to subscribe to get the best possible pricing.

Think of it as an early Christmas pressie ; )