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Studio One's single-screen focus remains from its earlier incarnation.

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Two years ago we took the PreSonus Studio One DAW for a test drive and were suitably impressed. Despite some shortcomings about the depth of features, it was clear that Studio One had the potential to become a top-flight piece of software with a little more development.

This brings us to the new, and even more numerically potent Studio One 2. As before, the single screen focus remains - the designers' intention being that you should be able to access most features from the main window. On first glance we still had the impression, visually at least, of viewing a Logic/Cubase hybrid, though perhaps now with an added dose of Reason 6 - incidentally none of this is meant in a bad way!

"Melodyne opens within Studio One 2 and updates instantaneously… this is a marriage made in heaven."

The headline news regarding Studio One 2 (for the sake of sanity lets call it SO2 from now on) is the inclusion of 'Integrated Melodyne Pitch Correction' processing - which we'll explore shortly - though there are a quite a large number of other significant feature additions (and many minor ones).

The daddy of this range remains SO2 Professional, though the 'Artist' version has been joined by the intermediate SO2 Producer. It should also be noted that SO2 has come down in price a little since version 1, but 'Artist' has plummeted from £199 to £82.

Fresh install

This time round we received our Studio One license online, and as such had to download it from the internet (as well as all additional content). Installation was quick and easy, with a simple online registration process, and no dongles in sight.

Adding content is very straightforward; SO2 asks what you wish to download and install automatically on first running the program. As well as wide selection presets for the built-in SO2 instruments, you may install a number of loop collections and third-party samples, including some new V2 additions.

The extras this time also feature Native Instruments Komplete Elements 7 (replacing the NI Kore Player from before), but there's no EZ Drummer Lite or Guitar Rig LE this time. The other important component is Melodyne Essential, which needs to be installed in order to enable the integrated Melodyne features in SO2.

Incidentally, Studio One didn't come with a manual even in its earlier incarnations, so the only thing missing from the downloaded product is the physical installation media. It's up to you to decide if they are worth the additional cost (£30).

Making tracks

Getting stuck into SO2, you're likely to receall how easy the original Studio One was to use, and there is nothing radically different on the visual front to change this. Recording audio and MIDI is easy to set up, and logical in use.

Incidentally, SO2 is one of only a few DAWs that enable you to make edits to existing tracks while recording new ones. The new Comping features using Layers makes assembling takes very easy. Folders facilitate bundling tracks together for convenience.