New nerve center of my studio 
by Michael Pierson from Jackson MI, January 2008
Music Background:  Long time drummer, Hobbyist/Intermediate Recording Engineer

Received my new CS today and was very pleased. Hook up was beyond simple and quick, almost to the point that you just stare at the unit for an hour, press buttons and turn knobs just to make it seem like it was a big deal to install! Love being able to switch speakers without swapping cables and the new routing options I now have when i start tracking again. Its not the most needed thing in your studio, BUT you quickly realize how much simpler it makes your life(and mixing/mixdown).

  Very Practicle!! 
by Arvid Gunardi from Jakarta, Indonesia, July 2006
Music Background:  Recording Engineer, Bassist.

Got mine today, installed it in 5 min. I'm selling my Mackie 1604VLZ right away. The best thing is it left so much space on my desk after replacing the mixer with it. Its convinient, practicle and simple, but at the same time meets everything you need in a master section.

  SHOULD HAVE PURCHASED SOONER 
by recudsnart from Los Angeles, CA, July 2006
Music Background:  Producer, Sound Engineer, Musician,Technician

I'm disappointed that for so long I had been hearing how great these units are but I was reluctant to believe that I could benefit from a Presonus product in my studio. I have an HD3 Accelle system with a 192 I/O and a command 8..... let's say the command 8 isn't living up to its Digidesign reputation... the volume pot is off by about .75 db from left to right and there is only one speaker output, BUMMER..so I bought the central station and I can't believe how user friendly and how versatile and more importantly it is more accurate than other volume knobs out there and sounds good too.
No coloration, the remote control makes it very easy and comfortable to use.
I am amazed that I have integrated this into a 16 track analogue/32 channel DAW studio with ease and I have eliminated 4 other pieces of rack gear in the process...

the only improvement I feel they could have made would be to change the manufactures name.

I'm not a fan of presonus products however this stands strong on its own... if they stopped making everything else that would be fine with me. I AM PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.

If you are contemplating the purchase, don't hesitate. BUY IT NOW. You won't be disappointed. Whether a Professional in the biz or an audiofile rookie. The Central Station is a well designed and well thought out piece of equipment.
GREAT WORK GUYS. I only wish I would have bought it sooner.. like 2 years ago sooner..

Central Station 
by Anonymous from STL USA, February 2005

Not able to trim input levels.
Not able to monitor multiple input sorces simultaneously. (play live instrument with a 2-track source)
No mono source input.
Noticable crosstalk across output selectors.
Mackie Big Knob does the first three without the crosstalk,
The remote seems cool but I'm still waiting for it.
Big Knob is $300+ cheaper and offers more. just wish it offered a small remote.

Very satisfied 
by Alexander Jenkins from Indiana, November 2004

Having recently added a Central Station to my studio, I was specifically interested to see if it would replace the need for the master section of my Mackie 24/8 console.



The short answer is yes - I am actually selling my console now!



What I found is not only did it allow for easy access to (2) independent headphone mixes, inputs for (5) stereo external devices, talkback (push button or footswitchable), dim, mono, mute, nice master volume control (the image doesn't shift when I change the volume!) and even individual speaker calibration pots (to adjust for the powered speakers that have those detents on the volume adjust on the back of the speaker that are never quite exact) but when using the Central Station's Digital to Analog converter instead of the DAC of my Mbox, the upgrade in sound quality was immediately noticeable. I was surprised how dramatic the difference was.

I am adding a Digi002R to my arsenal in a few weeks at which point I will be curious to see what difference there is between the CentralStation and Digi002R's DAC's. Until then, what I am hearing now sounds like someone lifted a heavy blanket off my speakers. The result is that mixes are translating better from studio to other playback systems elsewhere (car, home stereo etc) because what I am hearing in through the Central Station is much closer to what is really in the recording that what the Mbox was allowing me to hear. This is quite an upgrade in sound for me.



Aside from the difference in sound, it is nice to finally have some good metering again. I have been using the digital metering on my DAT recorder which although is better than nothing, is quite a pain sometime because where the DAT deck is located in the rack. The Central Station offers a few ways of metering the signal coming in and even let me easily calibrate the meters to coincide with the levels of various digital devices that differ slightly on what they consider "zero" to be (all you have to do is send the Central Station what you want Zero to be and you hold a calibrate button for 3 seconds and you're done).



This being the first official review I have ever written on a piece of equipment. I find it tough to describe sound using words. Because of the quality of the build, sound and feature set of the Central Station I felt compelled to at least indicate that I am a very satisfied owner. Even though I have it placed only 3 feet from me, I am very anxious now to pick up the remote (which includes talkback!).

Central Stsation 
by Kurt Howell from Vallay Villafge, October 2004

faboulus sound quality, no coloration, easy setup, calibration was testy but achievable and a must to do. no more consoles !!!!!!!!!yea!!!!!!! I wish it had more digi inputs, but very happy with unit A, Sounds better than the Mackie Big Knob!!!

Click here to Read the inSync Review for the Central Station

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