PreSonus StudioLive RM16AI Rackmount Digital Mixer

PreSonus StudioLive RM16AI 16-Channel Rackmount Digital PA Mixer

Like all StudioLive Active Integration mixers, the RM series delivers unrivaled sound quality, XMAX Class A solid-state preamps, amazing DSP performance, direct Wi-Fi and wired LAN communication, fast and intuitive workflow, an onboard FireWire S800 interface, and a tightly integrated software suite for Mac, Windows, and iOS, creating a streamlined working environment for both live and studio use.

When you're mixing a live show, and the heat is on, you don't have time to search for controls and meters, as you must do with most digital mixers. You never have that problem with a StudioLive RM-series mixer because every control you need to mix a show is under your fingers in PreSonus UC Surface remote-control software for Mac, Windows, and iPad. PreSonus calls UC Surface "battle-ready" because some live gigs seem like a war zone, with danger at every turn. UC Surface has your back, enabling you to accomplish your mission quickly and confidently. UC Surface is extremely reliable, and its layout provides quick, intuitive access to everything you need during a show or studio session.

Active Integration products combine powerful 32-bit floating-point DSP, wireless and wired networking, and proprietary software to solve real-world problems. PreSonus leads the industry in hardware/software integration, and Active Integration takes this concept to a new level, offering capabilities that have never been available before. In PreSonus StudioLive RM-series digital mixers, Active Integration technology bridges the gap between the stage and studio. A powerful suite of integrated software makes it easy to mix and record a live performance and then take that mix to the studio, complete with levels, pans, and Fat Channel plug-ins. From there, you can use PreSonus' Nimbit distribution and promotion service to share and sell your recordings. The combination of StudioLive RM digital mixers, UC Surface control software, Capture recording application, Studio One DAW, and Nimbit publishing provides an end-to-end solution.

If you connect a wireless router to your StudioLive RM mixer with an Ethernet cable, the system assumes (just like Mac OS X and Windows) that you have permission to be on that network, and your mixer automatically connects to it. If you want to go wireless, you can scan for available wireless networks and scroll through them by name. If you name your wireless network "StudioLive," your mixer will even connect automatically. You never have to create an IP address or enter a subnet mask, or even know what those are. Bottom line: If you've ever connected your computer, iPad, or iPhone to a wireless network, you already know how to connect your StudioLive RM mixer to the network.

If a StudioLive RM mixer were an analog console, it would have 4-foot-long channel strips packed with knobs and buttons or it would require a massive outboard rack of expensive signal processors! Instead, all that processing fits in three rack spaces under software control. Each StudioLive RM mixer channel and bus has its own studio-grade compressor, limiter, gate/expander, and 4-band parametric equalizer. Each input channel, aux and FX bus also has a highpass filter, and input channels have polarity invert. It all is part of a remarkable processing and routing section known as the Fat Channel. Unlike most competing digital mixers, there are no limitations or compromises, no shared resources, no figuring out what processing is available where. You have all of the processing available at all times. Because StudioLive RM mixers have so much processing power and blazing-fast RAM, you can create two complete sets of EQ and dynamics-processor settings for every channel and bus and then make quick A/B comparisons at the touch of a button in UC Surface. Does the guitar player use a Strat for some songs and Les Paul for others? Don't use up two channels; create two completely different Fat Channel settings for each guitar and access them with the touch of a button before he has the next guitar strapped on.

With a StudioLive RM-series mixer, every channel has an individual analog XLR mic input on the front panel. Every aux mix has a dedicated XLR Mix Output on the front panel, mirrored in DB25 connectors (Mix Outputs 1-8 and, with the RM32AI, 9-16) on the rear. You never have to guess which input feeds which channel or which aux mix goes to an output because they're always the same. Aux Mix 1 goes to Mix Output 1, Aux 2 to Mix Out 2, and so on. It's all part of a design that enables you to work quickly and without confusion.

Of course, getting a great-sounding mix depends partly on your skill, assisted by StudioLive RM-series mixer's ease of use, features, and integrated software. But you also need great microphone preamps and converters, a clean signal path, and well-written algorithms that perform at a high level. StudioLive's XMAX Class A preamplifiers deliver more headroom, deeper lows, smoother highs, and a richer overall sound than the preamps found in competing mixers. High-headroom, 32-bit floating-point processing is used for all digital mixing. The Burr-Brown digital converters on every input and output are state-of-the art, with 118 dB dynamic range.

• 16 locking XLR inputs with recallable XMAX Class A mic preamps and +48V phantom power
• Stereo tape input (RCA jacks)
• 8 XLR line-level Mix outputs
• 1 DB25 jacks mirror 16 line-level Mix outputs
• 3 XLR main outputs with analog trim pots
• Headphone output with volume knob and selectable source
• 1x1 MIDI I/O (for future implementation)
• 32 internal channels
• 25 mix buses
• Fully integrated, continuously bidirectional, 52-in/34-out, FireWire 800 direct recording interface
• Multiplatform support for Mac, Windows and iPad
• Contextual-based navigation for quick, intuitive access to all mixing functions
• 8 Mute Groups with All On and All Off
• Scene Store and Recall
• Individual channel-strip setting storage
• Security features to monitor and restric access to the mixer's controls
• Dual Fat Channel signal processing on all channels and buses
• 15 graphic EQs
• 4 32-bit floating point effects processors on dedicated buses
• 32 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