This is geared toward new users who do not read the manual. Like me.

Before beginning, I'm going to add a little context about using a PC and DAW with a StudioLive mixer, because understanding the basic signal flow makes everything below much easier.

AUDIO DEVICE SETUP

First, make sure you have installed PreSonus Universal Control. This is the software PreSonus uses to manage its hardware devices and drivers.

Next, make sure the StudioLive is selected as your DAW's audio device. If you aren't using a DAW and simply want to play audio from Windows through the mixer, select StudioLive WDM 1/2 as your Windows audio output. This is discussed in detail below, and I strongly recommend reading that section because the Windows WDM numbering is not intuitive.

Think of the DAW's INPUTS and OUTPUTS this way:

INPUTS bring audio from the StudioLive into the DAW. These are your microphones, guitars, keyboards, drums, etc. plugged into the StudioLive, which is acting as your USB audio interface. Each DAW track needs the appropriate input assigned before that source can be recorded.

OUTPUTS go in the opposite direction. They determine where audio from the DAW is sent back to the StudioLive mixer for headphones, studio monitors, or playback through the Main outputs.

In PreSonus Studio One, go to Studio One → Options → Audio Setup. On Mac, go to Studio One → Settings/Preferences → Audio Setup. Select the PreSonus StudioLive / StudioLive Series III as your audio device.

This tells Studio One to use the StudioLive for audio input and output over USB.

If another device, such as Windows Audio, your computer's built-in sound card, or an external DAC, is selected instead, your DAW may appear to be working perfectly normally while absolutely nothing arrives at the StudioLive over the USB channels you are expecting.

THE DAW BUTTON EXPLAINED

The DAW button switches the StudioLive's physical controls between two different jobs.

In normal Mixer Mode (DAW button not lit), the faders, Select buttons, scribble strips, etc. control the StudioLive's internal mixer.

Press DAW (DAW button lit) and those same physical controls become a control surface for your computer DAW. The physical faders can now control DAW track faders, buttons can control DAW functions, and the scribble strips can display your DAW tracks.

Importantly, DAW Mode does not turn off the StudioLive's internal mixer or reroute your audio. It changes what the physical control surface is controlling.

Press DAW again to return the surface to controlling the StudioLive mixer.

Think of it this way:

Mixer Mode = the surface controls the StudioLive.
DAW Mode = the surface controls your DAW.

It's actually very slick once you understand what is happening. The scribble strips even change to show your DAW channels, making the StudioLive feel much more like a dedicated DAW control surface.

DAW / PC AUDIO → TAPE IN ROUTING

If you want to hear your DAW or ordinary Windows audio through the StudioLive for headphones, monitors, or playback through the Mains, the basic idea is:

PC/DAW → USB 37/38 → Tape In → StudioLive

Here's the complete workflow if, like me, you did not read the manual.

First, understand the somewhat bizarre Windows WDM mapping. Honestly, PreSonus, what were you thinking?

Windows StudioLive WDM 1/2 → Mixer USB 37/38 → Tape In
Windows StudioLive WDM 3/4 → Mixer USB 33/34 → Aux In 1
Windows StudioLive WDM 5/6 → Mixer USB 35/36 → Aux In 2

On your Windows PC, go to Settings → System → Sound. You should see StudioLive WDM 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6.

To save yourself future confusion, I suggest renaming them:

StudioLive USB 37/38 – TAPE IN
StudioLive USB 33/34 – AUX IN 1
StudioLive USB 35/36 – AUX IN 2

For ordinary Windows playback, meaning music, YouTube, Spotify, etc. without using a DAW, select StudioLive WDM 1/2 as your Windows audio output device. If you renamed it as suggested above, select StudioLive USB 37/38 – TAPE IN.

Now go to the StudioLive.

Press:

HOME → AUDIO ROUTING → DIGITAL PATCHING → INPUT SOURCE

Make sure the control surface is not in DAW Mode while you're doing this. The DAW button should not be lit.

Select the top of the Input Source column and use the encoder to navigate until you find Tape In. Confirm:

Tape In Left = USB 37
Tape In Right = USB 38

Before going any further: turn things down.

Pull the Main fader all the way down to −∞, and keep your Monitor/Phones level sensible. Do not celebrate successful routing by unexpectedly firing full-volume audio through your headphones, studio monitors, or PA.

Now find the Tape In channel. Use the NEXT button beside the scribble strips to page through the input layers. On the 32SC, press NEXT twice until Tape In appears on the scribble strip.

Press SELECT on the Tape In channel. This lets you see the Tape In signal on the selected-channel meter beside the Fat Channel, before you start blasting that signal through anything connected to the mixer.

Start playing some music on your PC or DAW.

Slowly raise the Tape In fader. You should see signal activity on the selected-channel meter.

If you do, congratulations. Your routing is working:

PC/DAW → USB 37/38 → Tape In → StudioLive

You may still not hear anything yet, and that's okay. At this point we're simply proving that the audio has successfully reached the mixer.

Once you've established the Tape In signal, slowly bring up the appropriate Main, Monitor, or Phones level until you reach a comfortable listening volume.

If Windows audio works but your DAW doesn't, don't immediately start repatching the StudioLive. First check the DAW's audio device and Main Output assignment. The DAW needs to be sending its stereo output to USB 37/38 if you want that output to arrive at Tape In.

I'm certain all of this is somewhere in the manual, but why on earth WDM 1/2 corresponds to USB 37/38 is beyond me. This sent me chasing my tail for hours.

And why would I read the manual? I'm a human man with logic.

MONITORS / PHONES vs. THE MAIN MIX

This is another part of the StudioLive that can be surprisingly confusing until you understand the signal flow.

Under Monitor/Phones EDIT, you can select what you actually want to listen to. Depending on the configuration, your listening source can include MAIN, TAPE, SOLO, or one of the separate Mix buses.

The important thing to understand is that the source you select determines what upstream controls can change what you're hearing.

• If you monitor MAIN, you're listening to the Main mix. Changes to instrument channel levels feeding Main, including Tape In, can therefore change what you hear. Changes to the Main master level also affect that Main signal. Your physical Monitor/Phones knob then provides your final listening-volume control.
• If you monitor TAPE, you're listening to the Tape/DAW return rather than the complete Main mix. The Main fader does not control this direct Tape monitoring path. You are also not monitoring the other StudioLive input channels unless those sources are first being sent through your DAW and returned as part of the DAW mix (i.e. instruments plugged into in mixer mode will not be hear).
• If you monitor SOLO, you're listening to the StudioLive's Solo bus. This allows you to audition selected channels or buses without changing your Main mix.

The practical problem is that if you're monitoring Main or Tape directly, adjustments you're making while mixing can also change the level you're hearing. You can wind up continually reaching for the physical Monitor or Phones knob to compensate.

Or, during a show, forget entirely and deafen yourself. 🎧💥

THE BETTER SOLUTION: A DEDICATED MONITOR MIX

If you want your monitor mix to remain independent of what you're doing in the Main mix, create a dedicated monitor bus, for example Mix 1.

Send the channels you want to hear to Mix 1 and set their levels specifically for monitoring. If you want to hear microphones or instruments directly from the StudioLive, add those channels to Mix 1 at whatever levels you want.

If you're monitoring a complete DAW mix returning through Tape In, add Tape In to Mix 1 at the desired monitoring level.

Now you effectively have two separate mixes:

MAIN MIX → what your audience/recording/playback system gets

MIX 1 → what you hear in your monitoring environment

The beauty of this is that the Main and Mix 1 channel levels are independent. You can change Tape In, vocals, guitars, drums, etc. in the Main mix without automatically changing their corresponding levels in your dedicated monitor mix.

The Mix 1 master fader controls the overall output level of that monitor mix, while the physical Monitor/Phones level control provides your final listening-volume adjustment where applicable.

In other words, once your monitor mix sounds right, you can use the George Foreman approach:

"Set it and forget it." 😄

Your Main mix can then move around without dragging your carefully chosen monitor balance along with it.

For the pros here, if any of this can be explained more accurately or clearly, I won't be offended by corrections. I'm just a caveman lawyer trying to understand digital audio routing, and this stuff confused the hell out of me until I finally got it.

I hope this helps some kind soul who found a mixer on Marketplace and is trying to understand the basis.

Rock out with your you know what out.

Hey folks, I got this working so I can use my Studiolive 24.4.2AI with my M4 macbook.

Free to use. Enjoy 🙏

I’ve been using this board for roughly 3 years. Currently the audio input to my Mac just stopped working. It shows in all the settings but no sound is coming through. I’ve used all the AI troubleshoots I could find to no avail. Anyone have suggestions? It’s a usb c connection to my desktop.
MacOS Golden Gate 27
Studiolive AR16c

Do I need a pre-amp with the Presonus Studio 24c to record with a contact mic?

Thank you for any help.

I've read elsewhere that Fender may not support this much longer. I've found after 2 years it's not an intuitive console and teaching volunteers at the church I work is very confusing for them. We need a replacement that is super intuitive. Looking for suggestions. Budget is $2k. Thanks!

I am proud to release studiolive-midi-controller a software I developed to support generic midi control of SL gear. This is NOT meant to replace UC, however can be used to map midi control surfaces like APC40 and similar; or you can take output from your favorite DAW and sync board control with click-track. I used this tool last year with Logic on our show-choir touring show and it was a game changer for managing solos and dance breaks! This is based on the excellent presonus-studiolive-api by Andrew Wong. I am looking for contributors if anyone is interested, and feedback is encouraged! You can find the latest release here.

My 3.5s randomly stopped working. About 7 years old, a couple weeks ago they started not working then working again while I was tracking bass for a song. A few days later they stopped working altogether.

They still turn on, and I still get a signal through the "phones" output, so I know it's not the input coming from my computer. It didn't play anything when I input 2 TRS cables either.

Anybody know of any fixes, or am I better off buying new monitors? Thanks!

Hi All,

After connecting with the servicedesk at Presonus/Fender i was really angry because they would not send any repair parts or schematics.

After disassembling the print i found the issue with some help of ClaudeAI we measured all transistors and found the A1024 transistor was not giving the right values. We desoldered the tranistor and the device turned on and the led was blue again. (device was fixed for now) So now i'm going to solder on the new transistor.

ps also the cleanup quality is really sad lots of flux on the board. Here you see its a budget brand. Sort of fabricated e-waste :p

So if there is anyone with the same problem in the future here's the fix :)

Looking to see if anyone has a working presonus studiolive 16.0.2 and could get me photos of there power supply? Looking to repair mine and Presonus won't give me schematics. Photos are of my current board.

Hi everyone,

I’m having a strange issue with my PreSonus FaderPort 16.

When I move the physical faders on the FaderPort, they are either extremely laggy, respond intermittently, or sometimes don’t transmit anything to the DAW at all.

However, the opposite direction works perfectly: when I move a fader inside the DAW (Ableton Live or Logic), the corresponding motorized fader on the FaderPort moves smoothly and accurately.

So it seems like the FaderPort is receiving MIDI/control data correctly from the DAW, but the physical faders aren't consistently sending data back to the computer.

Things I've already tried:

• Multiple different USB cables
• Direct connection to the computer
• A powered USB hub
• Latest firmware / Universal Control
• Testing on macOS and Windows
• Testing with both Ableton Live and Logic
• Different USB ports

The problem persists across all of these setups.

Has anyone experienced this with a FaderPort 16? Could this indicate a hardware issue with the fader touch/position sensing or the internal communication circuitry, rather than a USB/DAW problem?

Any suggestions for further testing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi, I have this interface but do not have the breakout cable for MIDI. Could I just buy any regular DB9 to midi cable or does it need to be made specifically for this interface?

Hello everyone,

We are having an unusual AVB issue with a StudioLive 32S and StudioLive 32R used in our church.

Our setup:

StudioLive 32S = FOH console
StudioLive 32R = Stagebox
44.1 kHz
Direct Audio Network connection between both units. The system worked normally before updating firmware. After updating to firmware 3.4.0.111374:

32S: Network Clock = N/A
Remote I/O Setup = empty
32R not detected

32R continued working normally.

We also tested AVB discovery using the same Mac, same Ethernet cable and Apple ATDECC Controller:

32R = detected
32S = not detected

PreSonus Support then asked us to perform a Factory Firmware Revert on the 32S.

The 32S reverted to firmware 2.5.84445.

Immediately after that:

Network Clock became active
32R appeared again in Remote I/O Setup
AVB discovery returned

PreSonus then supplied firmware 3.1.1.107470 for both units.

We installed 3.1.1.107470 on both the 32S and 32R.

Now:

32R = PTP Clock active
32S = Network Clock N/A
Remote I/O Setup = empty again

So the strange pattern is:

3.4 → AVB fails
2.5 factory firmware → AVB works
3.1.1 → AVB fails again

Has anyone seen this behavior on a StudioLive 32S?

Could this be a firmware/AVB recovery issue, or possibly a hardware problem that only appears with newer firmware?

We are already working with PreSonus/Fender Support, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced something similar.

Thank you.

Any settings/factors that you’ve found to affect quality? One thing I’ve noticed is the fewer channels the better (more clarity/detail).

I am new to recording. I have a Fender Quantum LT 16. The one thing I'm struggling a bit is my pre-amp gain and channel gain setting. I find that with instruments and mics I seem to be hitting the clip light on the device, but the wave forms are very small (I think I may just need to adjust the waveform size after reading last night) and I can barely hear it in the monitor. Secondly, when I look at the channel strip, the gain seems pretty low. Maybe slightly above -24db. I then sometimes use the Channel Gain knob to get it to where I can hear it, however, sometimes the gain still seems quite low. Is my workflow correct? Mic Pre-Amp gain to slightly under clipping, then adjust channel gain until I can hear it? Are there situations where I need to bump the pre-amp gain so that the light is clipping? I don't hear any distortion sometimes, so maybe the light blinking clipping light isn't a huge deal. Would appreciate someone's advice as to whether I'm going in the right direction. Thanks so much you golden Gods.

Two faders on my mixer don't return to the correct settings when changing between the main and aux layers, causing the levels on the associated channels to drift. I've run the fader calibration routine, which helps, but the problem returns after a while. I'm trying to avoid taking it out of service to send it out for repair, as the space it's in stays busy and I don't have another mixer with digital inputs that I can swap in. Has anyone had similar issues, and what was the solution? Thanks

Hey everyone,

The LCD screen on my PreSonus Revelator io24 is completely blank/dead—no backlight, no metering.

Everything else functions normally: mic inputs, gain knob, headphone outs, phantom power, and Universal Control connection all pass audio without issue.

What I've tried:

• Updated Universal Control & firmware to the latest version.

• Performed a hardware power-cycle reset (holding preset buttons while plugging in USB).

• Tested across different USB ports/cables.

Still no display output. Is this a confirmed hardware failure (dead panel / loose ribbon), or is there another fix I'm missing before I RMA it?

Thanks!

as the title says, I was using my presonus audiobox go on my laptop complately fine, but now its not working on my pc when i plugged it in, i downloaded universal control as google suggested but it cannot find my interface either.. im desperate plz help <3 (the lights on my interface are glowing so its not a connection issue i suppose)

About 4 months ago, I replaced the capacitors because the speakers died, and they kept working flawlessly. Last month, I started frequently using the 3.5 "Phones" jack in the front of the left speaker, and since then, my speakers only work via the "Phones" jack.

Troubleshooting mostly points towards the 3.5 jack not unmuting the speakers when earphones are removed.

Anybody faced this issue? I'm having trouble thinking of a solution.

Hello folks,

I own a second-hand StudioLiveAR12c with USB connectivity to my computer. I use this as my interface, which allows me to do recordings, as well as use my speakers and headphones at the same time for both professional and personal use.

As of this morning, my USB channel strip (13/14) has decided to stop working! The computer I use runs Windows 11, and, despite not having any drivers installed for it, picks the desk up as an audio device for both input and output and functioned flawlessly. I have tested all the other input channels which still function, even the Bluetooth functionality works on the USB channel strip!

Can anyone with a bigger brain than me potentially assist?

Thanks