EagleFiler 1.9.20
Provides a workaround for a crash at launch when running the forthcoming macOS 26.4 Tahoe. ($49.99 new, free update, 34.3 MB, macOS 10.13+)

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MarsEdit 5.4.1
Maintenance update primarily focused on bug fixes for the blogging app. ($59.95 new, free update, 23.9 MB, macOS 10.15.4+)

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The iPad Mini 7 256GB is $100 Off
The iPad Mini is made for Apple Intelligence, the personal AI system that helps in making things organized and get things done easily while providing you with groundbreaking privacy protections ensuring that no one else but you has access to data stored in the device. The device features an A17 Pro chip for strong and […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Apple Sports App Allows for Easy NCAA March Madness Tracking
The Apple Sports app received an update allowing fans to follow collegiate basketball and their favorite teams more easily during March Madness. Version 3.8.1 adds new brackets for fans to track NCAA D1 men’s basketball. Metrics such as play-by-play updates, detailed stats, and live scores will be provided along with a path visualized from the […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Tim Cook In China
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, is in attendance during the 50th anniversary event in China at the temporarily closed Taikoo Li retail store situated in Chengdu. They have kicked off celebrations, starting with an impromptu concert at New York’s Grand Central Store featuring Alicia Keys. Tim Cook will be attending the Development Forum in Beijing, China, […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Apple Headed To South Korea and China
After the impromptu concert featuring Alicia Keys in New York at the Grand Central Store, Apple is now going to Asia for more celebrations for their 50th anniversary, and as of now, events will be held in both South Korea and China. Apple features CORTIS, a South Korean boy band, at their Myeong-dong Store in […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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The 11th-gen iPad 256GB Is $50 Off
The 11th-gen iPad is powered by the A16 chip for strong performance for games and for work. It has a battery life that lasts all day and features 256GB of storage, perfect for storing games, documents, photos, videos, movies, and more. Featuring an 11-inch Liquid Retina Display, the iPad allows for an immersive viewing experience […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Tim Cook Answers Rumors On Retirement
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, has responded to talks and rumors about his retirement during an interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, stating that the idea of wanting to step back from the company is just a rumor. The CEO did not deny or confirm explicitly that he will be retiring in the near […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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iPhone 17e Teardown Video Uploaded
iFixit has provided us with a teardown video for the iPhone 17e, the most recent budget-friendly iPhone Apple released last week. The device is similar to the design of the previous model but has a back panel for MagSafe. iFixit found the panel of the MagSafe is the same size as the panel found in […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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Brian Lynch Leaves Apple
The senior director for the home hardware engineering team at Apple, Brian Lynch, has left the company to join Oura, where he has taken a role as vice president for hardware engineering. Oura has managed to grab some former employees from Apple over the past few years. The Home Hub is planned for release later […] The post appeared first on iLounge.

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MacBook Neo may be one of Apple’s most inspiring products in quite some time
As someone who bought my first Mac in 2019 as a young student without much money of my own, the MacBook Neo is incredibly inspiring. When the M4 Mac mini came out towards the end of 2024, I had already felt quite strongly about its potential for inspiring young creatives – and the MacBook Neo takes that much further. more…

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Amazon's $949 15-inch MacBook Air deal hits lowest price ever ahead of Big Spring Sale
Amazon's weekend deal drops the 15-inch M4 MacBook Air down to a record low of $949 ahead of next week's Big Spring Sale.Amazon's $949 15-inch MacBook Air deal matches the lowest price ever.The blowout $949 deal at Amazon reflects a $250 discount off the original MSRP on the M4 15-inch MacBook Air with 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of storage.Buy 15" MacBook Air M4 for $949 Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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Apple wanted to buy Halide, co-founder lawsuit reveals
A lawsuit has revealed Apple was close to acquiring Lux Optics, the developer of the Halide camera app for iOS, but the partnership between the cofounders later broke down over the alleged misuse of funds.Halide for iOSApple's acquisitions are big news, but discussions are typically held with utmost secrecy, as per Apple's usual way of operating. While confirmations of acquisitions often surface after they have been agreed upon by both sides, it's rare to find out about failed acquisition attempts.One such instance occurred to Lux Optics, makers of the third-party camera app Halide and video app Kino. The Information reports that Lux Optics was in talks with Apple for a potential acquisition during the summer of 2025. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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I pushed my MacBook Neo to the limit. It didn’t break
Macworld I noted in my MacBook Neo review that benchmarking the Neo as well as using it as a daily computer resulted in an experience that was quite satisfying. But that was only for a few days of very specific testing, and the Neo’s A18 Pro processor and 8GB of RAM, which can’t be upgraded at all, is certainly underpowered compared to the other M5 models. The chip and 8GB of RAM had not been a problem during my evaluation period. You can obviously see the difference in benchmarks, where the mobile chip and limited RAM affected performance, but by “problem,” I mean as a person using the Neo. They weren’t an issue. But the concern is real–after all, Apple only upgraded its base RAM configuration for its other Macs to 16GB nearly two years ago. So I decided to make it a problem–in other words, I used the MacBook Neo in ways to see if usability became problematic because of its low-end chip and 8GB of RAM. This meant I had to break my habits and purposefully push my Mac to its limit–and it left me a little frazzled at times. But what I found is that the Neo still feels capable under heavy loads and handled the “mess” better than I did. Here are some of the tasks I did to push the MacBook Neo as far as I could. Editing 1080p video in Adobe Premiere Pro As a reviewer of Macs, when people ask me for a recommendation, I ask them what kind of stuff they do on their computer, and then I try to fit what they do with a specific Mac. But as Sam Henri Gold points out, that’s a script reviewers like me use out of convenience. A lot of people want to do what they’ve been told not to do on a $599 computer like the MacBook Neo. I used the MacBook Neo to edit the Macworld Podcast in Adobe Premiere Pro.Foundry So I did one of those things you’re not supposed to do. I edited a few videos with Adobe Premiere Pro, a professional-level video editing tool. I edited episode 974 of the Macworld Podcast and a couple of video shorts with the MacBook Neo and its 8GB of RAM. The editing I did on the full podcast episode included basic trimming, adding lower thirds, a basic multi-camera setup, and some audio clean-up. The video shorts involved more editing, but nothing complex. I am by no means an experienced Premiere Pro user (in fact, I only recently started learning how to use it). But that’s exactly the use case a MacBook Neo user could have: they have a budget computer, and they’re just starting to learn higher-end software. They’re not going to go buy a more powerful computer just for this situation. And the whole experience went off without a hitch. I never had to wait for the Mac to catch up to what I was doing, nor did the MacBook Neo stall, hiccup, or churn. The only thing where I noticed a slowdown was in the export of the full podcast episode, where the 67-minute video at 1080p took 31 minutes to complete, about 10 minutes longer than it took on the M5 Max MacBook Pro. Below is a screenshot of Activity Monitor after I had finished the project and saved it, but did not quit the app. The only other apps that were open were Slack and Microsoft Edge (which I needed to access the online recording tool that we use for the podcast). Foundry I used up all of the available memory during these tasks, and macOS used the SSD as swap. When the Mac runs out of available RAM, it resorts to using the SSD. This is called swap memory, or just swap. A drawback of swap is that access speeds are slower than RAM, but Apple has a lot of confidence in its swap implementation. During this task, I ended up with 2.58GB in swap (which isn’t uncommon), but I never noticed a performance hit. Swap use brings up a concern about how swap affects an SSD’s lifespan. An SSD has a limited lifespan, and writing to an SSD causes wear and tear. However, research has found that most people will never write enough data to an SSD to adversely affect its lifespan. As for the MacBook Neo specifically, it’s very possible that an owner of the laptop would upgrade to a new one before any effect on SSD lifespan can be noticed. Editing 4K video in Adobe Premiere Pro My next attempt to stress out the MacBook Neo was to edit 4K video in Adobe Premiere Pro. I shot the video using an iPhone 17 Pro Max at 4K and 60 frames per second. I had 20 minutes of footage where I did some basic edits, titles, transitions, and color adjustments. The only other app that was open during editing was Safari. I kept expecting the MacBook Neo to stutter and lag, but it never did. Another experience without any issues. I wasn’t doing anything complicated, but I was working with a large file and doing the kind of stuff someone learning Premiere would do. I could’ve used iMovie, but as I said, I’m learning the software, and I feel like the tasks I did were more easily done in Premiere Pro. Plus, using an Apple app is basically cheating. Foundry When I finished that project, the MacBook Neo used 1.75GB in swap. Not a lot, and it would have been more had the project been more complicated and longer. What I learned from this experience is that as I continue to use Adobe Premiere Pro and develop my skills as an editor, I should be fine with the MacBook Neo for a while. I may never need to create a cinematic video, but I can progress towards that goal on the Neo. I think there are a lot of users who are in a similar situation. Even a pro who already knows what they can do and knows what Macs they want can use a Neo if the situation calls for it. Safari browser tabs This is the task that stressed me more than the MacBook Neo. I have a habit of closing any browser tabs I am not using. I’d rather not risk a hidden tab running in the background, affecting performance, even if that’s not supposed to happen. But I went against my nature and spent an afternoon working in Safari without closing a browser tab. During a four-hour session, I used Macworld’s web-based content tools, visited websites to research articles, and after I was done with work, I did some personal browsing. By the end, I had 41 tabs open in Safari (and just a little freaked out by it). Foundry A lot of users instinctively open new tabs when they start a new search, and many don’t close unused tabs. In case you didn’t know, browsers are RAM-hungry apps, which is why I developed a habit of closing unused tabs. In my experience, the MacBook Neo used over 4GB of swap, which will vary depending on how many Safari tabs you have open. The MacBook Neo handled it all without any issues I could notice. But if you’re using any Mac with 8GB of RAM and it’s starting to feel a littlle sliggish, close a few or those tabs. Google Chrome browser tabs I did the same thing with Google Chrome: a four-hour session without closing any tabs. After a couple of hours, I had 41 tabs open (though not the same sites as in the Safari test). I set Chrome’s Memory Saver to Maximum and did my best to fight the urge to close any tabs until the session was done. As I said, browsers are RAM hungry, and Google Chrome has a reputation as a particularly resource-hungry app. At the end of four hours, the MacBook Neo had a swap that was over 5GB. Again, I didn’t notice any performance hiccups. Foundry But once again, the MacBook Neo didn’t flinch. I could switch between tabs easily, and even when I used an app and kep Chrome open in the background, there was no noticeable performance hit. I wasn’t done, however. I pushed my browser until I had 59 tabs open, stopping only when it became way too difficult to navigate. The swap grew to nearly 8GB–the swap and the installed RAM were the same size. But still, the Neo powered through. Foundry Your milage may very This is all anecdotal. Your video editing project could be much more complex, and the websites you visit could be more or less demanding on your resources. If you’re the type of person who knows 8GB of RAM isn’t enough, then the MacBook Neo isn’t for you, but making a blanket statement that it’s not good for anyone isn’t correct. My experience with the MacBook Neo remains the same as it was during the review. It’s a great Mac for everyday tasks, and will even handle the occasional pro app. I’m sure there’s a ceiling to what you can do with it, but with so much headroom, there’s a good chance you’ll never get anywhere near it. Apple MacBook Neo Read our review Price When Reviewed: $599 Best Prices Today: $595 at Amazon | $597 at Walmart | $599 at Apple

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Today in Apple history: Apple TV makes its big-screen debut
On March 21, 2007, Apple launched the Apple TV, a set-top box for bringing iTunes media to the living room. Unfortunately, it flopped. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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iPhone 18 Pro camera hardware may come with pro software, Apple considered buying studio behind Halide
Two months ago, Halide cofounder and designer Sebastiaan de With made a surprise announcement that he was joining Apple’s design team. It turns out the move came after Apple initially expressed interest in buying Lux Optics, the app development studio behind the pro camera app. Apple reportedly wants to bring more pro camera features to its software as the iPhone 18 Pro camera hardware goes higher end this year. more…

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These are my favorite budget-friendly iPhone 17e accessories
Apple finally gave the iPhone 17e the meaningful updates it originally deserved. The 17e offers better performance with the A19 chip, stronger connectivity with the new C1X chip, and MagSafe (which also supports faster 15W wireless charging)! At just $599, it feels like an entry-level iPhone that isn’t full of compromises, and I think it will be the new default iPhone for most people. The most exciting addition has to be MagSafe, which unlocks thousands of new accessories for the 17e. Here are some of my favorites (most of these will work with any iPhone). more…

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Everything new in iOS 26.4: Emoji, Apple Music features and more
iOS 26.4 brings a bunch of great new features to your iPhone: new emoji, Apple Music Concerts, Playlist Playground, video podcasts and more. (via Cult of Mac - Your source for the latest Apple news, rumors, analysis, reviews, how-tos and deals.)

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Apple @ Work: From rogue Dropbox folders to the File Provider framework
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple. When we talk about the accelerated growth of the Mac in the enterprise, we usually bring up how Apple Business Manager enabled easy zero-touch deployment or the sheer power of Apple Silicon, creating an incredible user experience, but I firmly believe that one of the key trends paved the way for Apple to take over the corporate world was with with Dropbox shoehorning itself into macOS back in the late 2000s. more…

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Fender Studio Pro review: Powerful digital audio workstation
Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Powerful, full-featured DAW Affordable with either perpetual and subscription licenses Clip launcher, live performance, and project mastering modules Excellent virtual instruments and effects Interfaces with Splice and other music-related services Cons Can be pricey over time Some minor bugs in this release. Our Verdict Presonus’s powerful Studio One DAW has been rebranded and significantly upgraded to Fender Studio Pro 8. Guitarists will be especially intrigued by the new amp sims, while program remains a more-than-worthy competitor to Logic Pro X and Mainstage for all musicians. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Price When Reviewed$200 perpetual license Best Prices Today: Fender Studio Pro Retailer Price Fender $199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket We assumed that with the release of Fender Studio, a free basic audio recording app, somewhere down the line a pro version would appear and that it would also be based on Presonus’s flagship Studio One digital audio workstation. Presonus being the Louisiana company that Fender acquired for its highly-regarded software and audio interfaces. Well, said pro DAW is here and it’s monikered as Fender Studio Pro. While it’s rebranded, it remains true to the power of its forebearer, and has evolved significantly as of the just-released version 8. There’s also been a rebranding of Presonus’s other software as well as the Quantum LT/HD and AudioBox interfaces and controllers. Yup, basically it’s goodbye to the Presonus name, though the brand transition is not complete. What are Fender Pro Studio’s features? Studio Pro’s features are vast, varied, and in a couple of cases, unique. Primarily, it’s a DAW that lets you record and play back MIDI info and audio, then edit, process, assemble, and output both in myriad ways. These are saved as “sessions” (formerly “songs”). Why the change? Don’t know. But Studio Pro is also unusual in integrating a module which allows you to create live performance “shows” with sets of songs including backing/canned tracks. You can assign tracks to various players as well. It’s similar to Apple’s Mainstage, a $30 standalone application. Studio Pro’s live performance module. Completely unique to Studio Pro is a mastering module that lets you create “projects” where you apply the same effects and processing to multiple mixdowns so that all they have the same timbre, volume, etc. There are a host of features such as advanced metering, and output to various types of media, including online services. Fender Studio Pro’s project mastering section. Note the advanced metering options. Fender Studio Pro presents tracks in the traditional way, stacked vertically. Along with MIDI and audio tracks, there are time signature, lyric, marker, tempo, etc. tracks. There’s also an arranger track that allows you to divide sessions into regions and move/copy those regions about about the arranger timeline. Don’t like that bridge after the second chorus? Move to after the third. Additionally, there’s a clip/scene-based launcher of the kind that made Ableton Live famous. Basically you create independent clips (from arranger track material), play them independently or stack them in scenes so they can also be played in groups. It’s a boon for on-the-fly music creation, DJ’ing, and live performance. All DAWs these days support virtual instruments, i.e. software simulations of just about any instrument you can think of, and some you haven’t. A few that Fender includes with Studio Pro are a drum sampler (Impact), monophonic and polyphonic samplers (SampleOne and Presence), synthesizers (Mojito, Mai Tai), plus some cinematic soundscapes and a lot more. Studio Pro’s Mai Tai synthesizer. If you want even more loops, sounds, etc., Studio Pro interfaces with Splice.com, the online sound and loop service ($4.99 a month to start) as well as Fender’s own curated Studio Pro + collection (see the pricing section below). Fender also provides a license for the brand-new Tonalics, a guitar-focused loops and performance instrument that integrates into Studio Pro via ARA or as a standalone instrument–think of it as EZ Drummer on steroids for strummers. Tonalic, the guitar-oriented loop/performance instrument/service shown deeply integrated into Studio Pro via ARA. Personally, I have no need for someone to play guitar for me. However, I did have fun bouncing some of the Tonalic clips to audio, then extracting the MIDI and playing various games with the results, such as creating grooves from them. There are also numerous audio processing plug-ins (over 45 of them in Studio Pro) that simulate real life audio effects such as compressors, reverbs, delays, etc. They can even simulate various types of amplifiers and guitar FX. Just a few of Fender Studio Pro’s FX. Which brings us to the somewhat unique, and (by my ear) extremely authentic replications of Fender (and other popular) amplifiers, courtesy of plugin versions of the Fender’s Mustang (Guitar) and Rumble (Bass) modeling amps. Note that the majority of the virtual instruments and plug-ins found in Fender Pro Studio are proprietary and can’t be used in other DAWs. Same with grooves, etc. Bummer. The Fender Mustang modeling amp plug-in that ships with Fender Studio Pro. In case you’re reading this, but know nothing of the musical instrument industry, Fender was started way back in the 1950s by Leo Fender, who created both iconic guitars and guitar amplifiers. It’s no longer privately owned, but what is these days? Iconic? Look at any ancient Buddy Holly video and you’re likely to see him strumming a Fender classic, and mainstay of countless guit-fiddlers, the Stratocaster. Same with any recent Eric Clapton video. I have three. Most guitar players own at least one. Most country players also own another classic, the Telecaster. Other features include AI stem separation (pulling individual vocal and instrument tracks out of recorded songs.), inline notation (per track), and ARA integration for inline advanced audio editing (pitch and phoneme adjustment) using third-party programs such as Celemony Melodyne. A license for the essential version of the latter is included with Fender Studio Pro. The Fender Studio Pro Stem separation dialog. Other means pianos, guitars, etc. I’ve only scratched the feature surface here. Long-time users could list (and no doubt ask for…) a lot more, but I’ll just say that nearly everything I went looking for, I found. Below is the audio menu demonstrating just how many features you’ll find, as well as just how large and cumbersome Studio Pro’s menus have become. The audio menu demonstrating just how many features you’ll find in Studio Pro, and just how labyrinthine the programs menus have become. What’s new in Fender Studio Pro? Fender Studio Pro adds two new overviews to help you visualize your song/session: the arrangement/timeline overview that helps you better navigate your session (in the image below at the top of the window), and the channel plugin overview shown in the next image. The session overview panel at the top lets you quickly navigate the contents of a session. Also shown is the Melodyne via ARA and the various lyric, tempo, marker, etc. tracks. The channel overview pane shows control-focused versions of the plugins and instruments present on a track. This lets you adjust major parameters without having to open their child windows (mostly). It also lets you map controls from third-party plug-ins if they don’t show up automatically. This plugin overview pane (just above the transport in the image below) is common in other DAWs, but the Studio developers likely didn’t feel the need because you can switch between the virtual instruments and FX within one child window via a list of them at the top of said window. Few other DAWs allow this. Fender Studio Pro 8 with the new channel/plug-in overview and browser shown. Two things I don’t care for in the channel overview is its fixed size (most are), and the navigation tabs at the bottom which take up a lot of screen real estate. It does detach and float which somewhat mitigates those criticisms. Next up is Audio to Notes (converting audio to MIDI messages), something the program is also a bit tardy to the table with. For example, with audio to MIDI you can take a guitar recording, extract the notes and fatten up the mix using said MIDI notes to play a virtual guitar instrument. That’s just one example. Extract notes and drums are audio to MIDI conversions. If you find metronome click tracks boring, there’s a new and unique-among-DAWs musical metronome that plays drum beats. You can select from a wide range of styles and grooves if you want to spice things up or just swing along. Think of it as Logic Pro X’s Drummers (sans fills) linked to the metronome. You can also stick with a plain click, but replace the sound with any number of other percussive audio samples. The Fender Studio Pro metronome set to play ’60s Rock rather than a plain click. A feature I particularly appreciate is the Record Now option in the new file dialog. Selecting this opens a new project with a single audio track armed and ready to rumble (record), reducing the configuration overhead that might spoil that ephemeral inspiration you’re experiencing. Even better would be an option to immediately start recording without further user intervention (it’s only a single keystroke, but…) and a MIDI track set to record as well. Maybe in the next version. Record Now gets you up and running before that ephemeral inspiration disappears. There’s of course direct import from the free Fender Studio app. For those seeking creative stimulation, there are also a chord plug-in and chord track that will help you create and flesh out progressions (series of chords). Note that the Fender amp simulations are also a new feature in Studio Pro 8, though they first appeared in the app. How easy is Fender Pro Studio to use? Visit any DAW forum, you’ll soon realize that ease-of-use is in the eye of the beholder. Opinions (and emotions) vary wildly, and much depends on your habits, needs, and experience. However… Given the extremely complex and feature rich nature of modern DAWs (vendors have been piling on features for a good three decades now), Fender Studio Pro is easy to use and offers a decently short learning curve given some previous DAW experience. It utilizes a paned/sectioned interface, though you can detach some of the panes as floating windows. For some reason you can’t do this with the toolbar or transport bar which would be best-served by this in my book. Fender Studio Pro’s clip launcher. Generally speaking, the updated look of the interface is a bit less angular and harsh (my take on the original). It’s a little rounder in spots, and sections in the toolbar and transport are easier for the eye to delineate than before. I also appreciate that you’re now able (this was added previously) to customize the Inspector (Track info pane), Transport (play, record, etc. buttons) bar, the toolbar, and the file browsing pane to reduce clutter quite a bit. New for this version is customization of the track header. You’ll notice in some of the screen caps that the number of icons in the transport and toolbar were greatly reduced by yours truly. There is still more small text and monochromatic icons than I’d like, as well as those decidedly long-winded menus pictured above in the features section. But on the whole the program is far, far easier to navigate, less visually confusing, and easier to use than it once was. I’d say it was vying for the top spot in that category. Studio Pro also allows multiple songs, sessions, and mastering projects to be open without devolving into a crash fest or completely bogging down your system. That’s kind of rare and can make large ventures a lot easier. How does Fender Studio Pro sound and perform? There’s a continual, nonsensical debate among some concerning the overall sound of a DAW, which is often more about shape consciousness than the actual audio engine–all of which are basically flawless sonically at this point. If there ever were DAWs that didn’t sound as good as others, they’re long gone. Fender Studio Pro’s audio setup page. What’s really in play is not the DAW, but the quality of the instruments and FX, which are almost uniformly fantastic these days. All the Fender Studio Pro instruments and FX I played with (all of them at some point) are aurally excellent, as were all my recordings: guitar, bass, and really bad vocals. I found the stem separation as good, or in some cases better than any other program I’ve tried. Most DAWs feature stem separation these days, and big hint: You’ll get much better results from audio to MIDI algorithms if you first separate mixdowns into stems. When using separated stems, said audio to MIDI (Extract commands) for drums was nearly perfect note-wise, though velocities tended to miss subtleties. Bass notes were close, though some attacks didn’t make it through. To be fair, I play bass with my fingers and sharper attacks would likely register better. The guitar track was… Well the ideas were there. As with all the other audio to MIDI I’ve tried, success depends on the quality of the audio you’re processing and sounds involved. Distinct transients help. A lot of editing can be required to match the MIDI results to the source audio, or not. Again, this is all par for the course with the current state of the technology. The blue bar is actually audio performance, the MIDI plug only shows input as MIDI has little to now effect on overall performance. I found Studio Pro’s playback and audio recording performance more than adequate, with decently low resource consumption. Full disclosure: I worked on a very, very fast M4 Max Studio and never exceeded 24 tracks. I did, unfortunately run into an issue with MIDI which seems to have been a conflict with already installed Studio One 7.2. The MIDI monitor showed that messages were arriving from my keyboards, MIDI guitar controller, etc. However, they were not passed on to the track or the virtual instruments they contained, i.e., I could not record MIDI or play virtual instruments. Uninstalling Studio One 7.2, then uninstalling and reinstalling Fender Studio Pro with an app cleaner fixed the issue (just reinstalling did not fix things), but they should be able to co-exist. Regardless, I like Studio Pro 8 so much that I won’t miss 7.2 in the least. How much does Fender Studio Pro cost? There’s some pretty good news in the cost-of-ownership department. Fender Studio Pro is available with a perpetual license for $200, the same as Apple’s own Logic Pro X, and a lot cheaper than alternatives such as Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, Bitwig Studio, etc. The current pricing for Fender Studio Pro. A perpetual license is the best bet if you have your own FX and instrument plug-ins or can make do with Studio Pro’s very competent bundled stuff, though your $200 only covers updates for the subsequent 12 months. To be honest, the updates from Presonus were hardly what were promised when they first started offering the subscription so you’re likely going to have to rebuy if that “must have” feature appears more than a year later. Or… There’s also a subscription plan for $180 a year that includes the perpetual license plus 12 months access to the Pro + content: samples, loops, the Notion notation software, etc. You may also pay $20 monthly for the program and Pro + if you only need music production for a little while. It’s also a good way to scope out the program to see if you like it, and or use once in a while for the mastering section. There’s no trial or demo version available, so that’s pretty much your only way to kick the tires. Upgrades from 7.2 are $99. Should you opt for Fender Studio Pro? There’s absolutely no musical task that Studio Pro doesn’t cover or excel at, and mastering project section is worth the price of admission on its own for multi-song projects and publishing. Additionally, I think the amp simulations are top-notch. I really enjoyed playing through them. But as I said earlier, a DAW must fit your needs and habits, aka workflow. There’s no trial or demo, but $20 and you can kick the tires for a full month. Current users with perpetual licenses and no subscription will likely want to upgrade, and I think there’s enough new stuff to warrant it. That said, 7.2 is still plenty capable. You’re on your own with that decision.

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