PreSonus StudioLive RM16AI 16-Input Rackmount Digital Mixing System

Description

Featuring a console-free 3U rackmount design, the StudioLive RM16AI from PreSonus is a 16-input digital mixing system that can be controlled using your Mac or PC, and offers full touchscreen integration when used with an iPad or a multi-touch Windows 8 computer. Designed for a wide array of live sound mixing and studio applications, the system is equipped with 16 recallable mic preamps, 8 XLR line-level mix outputs, and can act as FireWire 800 audio interface for recording directly to your computer. In addition to flexible control and connectivity, the StudioLive RM16AI allows you to capture audio in up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution using Burr-Brown converters, making it capable of providing professional-quality digital sound.

Made possible using the unit's UC Surface software, the StudioLive RM16AI gives you compression, limiting, gate/expander, and four-band parametric EQ on each channel and mix bus. To help speed up the mixing process, the software offers 50 preset starting points for optimizing the sound of guitars, basses, drums and vocals, plus you can store your own channel presets. You also get a high-pass filter on every channel and aux bus, a low-pass filter on the main mono/center bus, as well as polarity invert, routing, and pan on each channel. In addition to being able to save per channel presets, the StudioLive RM16AI allows you to store and label up to 99 global mixer scenes, great for quickly recalling mix settings for different bands, venues, recording applications and more.

Also featuring 32-bit floating point digital effects processing, the StudioLive RM16AI has 4 built-in FX buses, two with reverb, and two with delay. Designed with practicality and usability in mind, the system provides 50 high-quality preset reverb and delay effects that each that allow for parameter adjustments, and include tap tempo, store, and recall.

Inputs and Outputs

• 16 locking XLR inputs, each with:
• Recallable XMAX Class A mic preamps
• +48V phantom power
• Stereo tape input (RCA jacks)
• 8 XLR line-level Mix outputs
• Four 300 ms alignment delays on the last four Mix outputs
• 2 DB25 jacks mirror 8 line-level Mix outputs
• 3 XLR main outputs (left, right, mono/center) with analog trim pots
• S/PDIF digital output on removable option card
• Headphone output with volume knob and selectable source
• 1x1 MIDI I/O (for future implementation)

Channels and Buses

• 32 internal channels
• 25 mix buses
• 16 aux mix buses
• 3 main mix buses (left, right, mono/center)
• Stereo solo bus
• 4 internal FX buses (2 reverb, 2 delay)
• Fully integrated, continuously bidirectional, 52-in/34-out, FireWire 800 direct recording interface (24-bit, 44.1/48/88.2/96 kHz)

UC Surface Live Mixing and Control Software

• Designed specifically for live sound mixing
• Multiplatform support for Mac, Windows, and iPad
• Windows 8 multi-touch-compatible for large touchscreen mixing
• Flexible and expandable computing options: Use a laptop with or without a touchscreen, an iPad, or any combination
• Contextual-based navigation for quick, intuitive access to all mixing functions
• 8 Mute Groups with All On and All Off
• Scene Store and Recall
• Global Scene Storage: all current StudioLive RM settings
• Up to 99 at a time
• 8 Quick Scenes for instant scene save/recall?like "speed dial" for scenes
• Automatic Global AutoStore
• Customizable naming (for example, "Saturday Gig" or "Main Worship Service")
• Individual channel-strip setting storage
• 50 factory channel-strip presets included for drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, and vocals
• 50 user channel presets for storing your own settings
• Copy and paste among channels and buses
• Can be saved as user presets
• Can be browsed by category (Drums, Vocals, Horns, Guitar, Bass, and more)
• Security features to monitor and restrict access to the mixer's controls

Other Actively Integrated Software

• Capture one-click recording software with true virtual soundcheck (Mac/Windows)
• Studio One Artist full-featured digital audio workstation software (Mac/Windows)
• QMix-AI wireless monitor-mix control from an iPhone/iPod touch
• Nimbit online "direct to fan" marketing, sales, and distribution service

Networking Connections

• USB jack and included Wi-Fi LAN adapter provides direct wireless control (using a router)
• Option card slot for future expansion
• 2 FireWire S800 ports and 1 Ethernet control port on removable option card
• Thunderbolt, Dante, and AVB cards coming soon

Signal Processing

• Dual Fat Channel signal processing on all channels and buses with:
• Variable highpass filter -6 dB/oct., sweepable from Off to 1 kHz (main channels and aux's only)
• Variable lowpass filter on the mono/center bus
• 4-band fully parametric EQ
• Low EQ: sweepable from 36 Hz to 465 Hz, ?15 dB, switchable shelf or peaking
• Low Mid EQ: sweepable from 90 Hz to 1.2 kHz, ?15 dB, variable Q 0.1 to 4.0
• High Mid EQ: sweepable from 380 Hz to 5 kHz, ?15 dB, variable Q 0.1 to 4.0
• High EQ: sweepable from 1.4 kHz to 18 kHz, ?15 dB, switchable shelf or peaking
• Master EQ On/Off
• Compressor: Threshold -56 to 0 dB; Ratio 1:1 to 14:1, LIM=8:1; Attack 0.2 to 150 ms; Release 2.5 to 900 ms; Makeup Gain 0 to 28 dB; Soft Knee switch; Auto Mode with 10 ms Attack and 150 ms Release
• Gate with sidechain: Threshold: 0 to -84 dB; Attack: 0.02 to 500 ms; Release: 0.05 to 2 sec;
• Bandpass Key Filter: 40 Hz to 16 kHz; second-order resonant bandpass filter Q (0.7) with Key Listen function
• Limiter: Variable Threshold -28 dBFS to 0, 8:1 Ratio Pan
• Stereo link for input channels and aux buses
• Polarity reverse (input channels only)
• Quick A/B comparisons of two complete sets of Fat Channel settings for each channel and bus
• 15 graphic EQs (for the first 12 aux buses plus the Main left, right, and mono/center buses)
• 4 32-bit floating point effects processors (2 reverb, 2 delay) on dedicated buses

Hardware Controls

• 16 LED meter grid
• Front-panel Mute All button temporarily mutes all inputs and outputs
• +48V Meters button to display phantom power assignment on the meter grid
• Headphone source selection between Main and Cue

Digital

• High-definition Burr-Brown analog-to-digital converters (118 dB dynamic range)
• Unlimited-headroom, 32-bit floating point, digital mixing and effects processing
• Internal sample frequency 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz

Physical

• 3U rack-mount steel chassis