Goodbye, PreSonus Studio One… Hello, Fender Studio Pro!

PreSonus has announced that the popular DAW Studio One and the PreSonus name itself are coming to an end. The brand announced this news on its website. As part of its efforts to build its own music ecosystem, Fender is taking a significant step: all PreSonus products will officially be released under the Fender brand. The company has announced plans to rebrand all its product lines. For example, PreSonus Studio One Pro will be called Fender Studio Pro.

PreSonus, which has been owned by Fender since 2021, said the parent company's management decided to bring all products under its own wing. This clarifies last year's release of the free DAW Fender Studio, which completely mirrored PreSonus products in appearance and functionality – a "trial run" for the company in the music software market.

Fender is looking to expand its market presence and move beyond the guitar world. The current idea is pretty simple: Fender Studio will become the "umbrella" for software and hardware, and Studio One (in its Pro version) will become the central DAW component of this system.

The company clarified that Fender Studio Pro will not be "version 1.0" and that development will not start from scratch. Developers will continue to work on Studio One under a different name. The workstation will retain its architecture and logic but receive an updated interface and new features. Thus, Fender Studio Pro 8 will be the next major DAW release as part of the update plan announced by PreSonus several years ago.

At the same time, special attention will be given to the guitar's capabilities. The workstation will receive native software emulations of Fender effects and amplifiers, available exclusively to DAW users. According to representatives of the guitar manufacturer, Fender Studio Pro will be the next stage in the development of Studio One, offering Fender's "tonal identity" and more "intuitive" scenarios specifically designed for guitarists and songwriters.

According to Fender and specialized media, the Fender Studio Pro 8 will feature:

• The Fender Mustang Guitar and Fender Rumble Bass plugins have native plugins with a large set of amp models and effects. According to the available data, processing will include copies of 39 guitar amps, 18 bass amps, and 125 effects pedals.
• The updated interface includes modes/views such as Arrangement Overview and Channel Overview, which provide simplified channel parameter control.
• Songwriting tools and smart features: Chord Assistant and audio-to-MIDI conversion. The press presents this as a set of AI assistants that speed up routine tasks without replacing creativity.
• There are updates to stock instruments and effects, including improvements to the sampler and drum instruments, as well as new processing, such as reverb with more intuitive controls.
• There will be a more connected workflow between the mobile and desktop versions of Fender Studio. For example, you can start an idea on your phone and drag it into a larger project.

Fender is paying special attention to the simplified Fender Studio, released last year. The software will remain a separate free application for recording and demo production, which Fender describes as a fast and free solution with “authentic Fender tones.”

However, the point of the two applications is not only to divide them into a product for beginners and a solution for advanced users. The developers are applying the following logic:

• The Fender Studio is not just a solution for beginners; it's also a product for quickly recording ideas. Capture your ideas by recording them here and now with the addition of guitar, vocals, and other instruments.
• The Fender Studio Pro 8 is a solution that can help you bring your ideas to life. It offers full functionality for recording, editing, arranging, mixing, and mastering.

The company expects the free version to serve as an important bridge to deeper immersion in the ecosystem. Users who try Fender Studio and become accustomed to it will eventually switch to the advanced version, Studio Pro. This is how the guitar brand aims to keep musicians engaged with its products for as long as possible.

Fender Studio is available on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. It supports multitrack sessions and includes a selection of the company's classic amplifiers. Both the free and paid versions of the workstation are equipped with a project converter to facilitate the quick transfer of work from one program to another.

According to the Fender website, all PreSonus users will automatically transition to the Fender account system. All purchased licenses and subscriptions will remain valid.

Fender Studio Pro is currently available and is sold as a perpetual license or subscription. Users of licensed versions of Studio One Pro can upgrade at preferential rates.

Fender acquired PreSonus in 2021, and there has been periodic talk of closer integration between the brands since then. This integration is now becoming clearer: Studio One Pro is becoming Fender Studio Pro, and a "unified system" of software, controllers, and interfaces is being developed alongside it. A large number of new and updated products previously released under the PreSonus brand will be released under the Fender brand in the near future.