PreSonus Studio One 5.3 Adds Major New Features

Baton Rouge, Louisiana—June 2021… PreSonus® has released Studio One® 5.3, the latest version of its award-winning recording and production software (DAW). The second update in less than three months, version 5.3 adds major new features for scoring, creative production, live performance, and general workflow, many in response to feedback from Studio One users and PreSonus Sphere members.

With the addition of musical symbols playback in Studio One 5.3 Professional, composers working in Score View or Piano View can now connect musical symbols and dynamic markings to Sound Variations, which were introduced in version 5.2. Musical symbols playback works with any orchestral library that features corresponding articulations. A new tab in the Sound Variations mapping editor enables mapping symbols to Sound Variations using simple, intuitive drag-and-drop or by auto-mapping based on the Sound Variation names of the currently-selected instrument. A new Musical Symbols lane for the Note Editor lets you view symbols and Sound Variation events side-by-side. Apply musical symbols in either the Note Editor or the Score View, and they will render accurately in both. Output mapping of Sound Variations has been extended to include MIDI channel information as part of the activation sequence, enabling virtual instruments such as Native Instruments’ Kontakt to address specific articulations.

Version 5.3 also adds several new save, export, and archive options, including the ability to upload Zip archives directly from Studio One 5 Professional to a PreSonus Sphere workspace—great for backing up Songs, Projects, and Shows and sharing them with other Studio One 5 users. A consolidated “Convert To” option in Studio One Professional’s File menu enables exporting and archiving documents for easy transfer and backup, including all referenced media files and alternative versions, with optional lossless audio file compression. Save Songs as AAF, Capture Session, MIDI File, or Open TL from the same menu.


Fulfilling a major user request, the Chord Track, introduced in Studio One 4 Professional, has been significantly enhanced, adding the ability to convert Chord events into Note events by simply dragging the Chord events to an Instrument Track. You also can extract Chord notes from an Audio event, then apply them to a MIDI Instrument–all via drag and drop.

Studio One 5.3 adds a long list of other new features and enhancements. The Show Page in Studio One Professional adds drag-and-drop support for FX Chains and seamless patch changes between sounds, so sustained notes are not cut off during patch changes. MPE support for VST3 instruments has been implemented using Note Controllers in Studio One Artist and Professional, and shortcuts have been added to quickly open the External Device editor from a PreSonus ATOM or ATOM SQ pad controller.

Studio One 5.3 is a free update for registered Studio One 5 users and is included in PreSonus Sphere membership. For more information visit www.presonus.com/products/Studio-One.

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