PreSonus Studio 1824c USB-C Audio Interface Reviews

This piece of equipment was my first dive into modern recording. My sales rep Mett Barding helped me in choosing this route and I'm certainly glad I did. This particular Presonus interface has been a quality product and really cleans up the signals you put in to it and comes with a very good DAW. Not only that after the sale was complete, Matt helped numerour times with product quesions.

This PreSonus 1824c has been rock solid. Very low noise and connects flawlessly to my Mac Mini.

Items is awesome add to my studio

Hello how to connect 2 1824c's together. using Universal Control 4.1

Connect optical cable on main unit in to second unit out
Connect optical cable on second unit in to man unit out
I don't think you need both for just recording, but I use both

Start computer with both 1824c's connected but turned off.

with UC (Universal Control) running.

Start your main 1824c. (note serial number in bottom right-hand corner) mine ends in (8). let light flash red, blue, red, blue. you can wait till the light settles on purple, but I never do.
Set main 1824c to ADAT.

Start your second 1824c. (note serial number in bottom right-hand corner) this one ends in (4). Both lights should flash for a second then turn blue.
Set second 1824c to Internal

{I use the serial numbers to keep track of which ones which. in UC}

Before you can use both you must set the mixer in UC.

From UC click the second 1824c (S#4 for me) {the one set to Internal}
the mixer will come up.
Set all faders from 1 to 8 to 0db or as close as you can get it, for me it's 0.01 db. [very tedious and a pain in the ass].
And set balances as so: 1,3,5,7. to left and 2,4,6,8. to right.
Then in the mix section
ADAT 1/2 set fader 1 to 0db. balance left.
ADAT 1/2 set fader 2 to 0db. balance right.
ADAT 3/4 set fader 3 to 0db. balance left.
ADAT 3/4 set fader 4 to 0db. balance right.
ADAT 5/6 set fader 5 to 0db. balance left.
ADAT 5/6 set fader 6 to 0db. balance right.
ADAT 7/8 set fader 7 to 0db. balance left.
ADAT 7/8 set fader 8 to 0db. balance right.

You should be good to go.
Just remember every time you start.
Start computer, the main 1824c and let light blink red, blue, a couple times then start the second one.

Just a few days before Sweetwaters special 48 month financing was to end, my several year old PreSonus Studio 1810c started giving me some problems, one of my output channels wasn't working and somethings it would ask to update the firmware when the firmware was already up to date.I did some trouble shooting but no luck. Where I already had a rack-mount patch-bay in a U2 desktop mount, I decided to purchase the rack-mount Studio 1824c,"a little overkill for what I needed" but I'm glad I did. When I set it all up everything worked just fine. I also like having the headphone inputs and all your input channels with separate gain controls in the front.
I also would like to mention shipping dept. and my sales rep Brad both "5 Stars".

Grate equipment to work with it, love it.

Liked this unit so much I got another, and connected via adat.
PreSonus is serious hardware and software.
I recommend for beginner to advanced users.
Shout out to Dan Robinson!

First I like to Thank Sweetwater's tech support and although we were both at our wits end I finally stumbled across the problem first the system had to update and second I needed to set the daw's output to the main 1/2 not S/PDIF it's kinda weird how it works for the Daw 1 loops back in from the interface 1/2 and out S/PDIF wow that's amazing I highly recommend this interface and I just got it upgrading from the Tascam US 20x20 I don't record in the daw I only mix and send it out 2track to my master link the Tascam CD3000 recorder with my Burl B2 Bomber as the external A/DC and master clock just note this interface may seem hard at first but trust me tech support can and will help Believe! That!

I've been using my unit going on three years and its easily one of my favorite investment. I really needed 8 inputs at all times (had to upgrade from an older TASCAM M-164UF USB 2.0 Recording Interface Mixer) and its easily expandable too (also using the Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre...16 inputs total with my current set up). The sound is very clear and reliable. Its compatible with all of the DAWs I use (FL Studio, Sonar, & ProTools)... I cant complain at all. Using the on screen mixer is pretty easy too...Definitely would recommend for anyone who needs the extra channels but also needs desk space.

We use it for a podcast studio setup and it fits every need and sounds fantastic.

I am really enjoying the heck out this unit.
Built solid, quality craftsmanship, plugs are tight, knobs smooth as silk.
Tied all my guitars, preamps, microphone ect together for easy recording.
In general I do no get any clicks or pops, that cannot be traced to line levels, sample rates, block sizes, or other equipment. I also use the PreSonus monitors and subwoofer and get very high quality sounding music/playback.

Love this unit!

I bought this as an upgrade from an older Edirol interface. At the moment, there's a lot of misinformation about the connectivity of the different types of USB protocols. Running a USB 2 interface of a USB 3 port, visa versa, especially with a module that is a few years old and hasn't bothered to update the ASIO drivers.

So far this a very good choice using USBc and it comes with a USB 2 to USBc cable, but I haven't used that yet. We use this module for show playback and it hasn't let us down yet. Great price point!

I prefer this over the popular Focusrite 18i8 (which I owned before getting the Presonus) for a number of reasons: 1) It will go in my rack, which means I can patch in all my audio gear (mic preamps, ect) right into it. I have my pres going into a Lucid 8-channel converter, then I go into the Presonus via the ADAT (light pipe) input. This is much better than having a unit sitting on a desk with cables running in and out, getting in the way. 2) It simply sounds great, with plenty of headroom! The extra line outs that go into my headphone amps give them lots of clean volume as well. 3) It is just a very solid, professional looking and sounding piece of gear, period, and there's no fuss!
- John Mock

I've been using PreSonus interfaces since 2013 along with Studio One DAW. The build quality on the 1824c is solid and being a 1RU space leaves me plenty of space in my rack. The preamps are crystal clear and the VU meter is a big plus. This unit is by far the best bang for the buck when it comes to 8 input units. For new users to Studio One; Your in for a pleasant surprise by getting the software license along with the unit. All first class quality and professional combinations by PreSonus!

I've been using this interface for a year or so, its durable, reliable, value packed, no latency, easy to use, esthetically pleasing, great sound quality, versatile and is easy to set up! I will be buying this a second time so I can have twice as many ins.

No problems at all, intergrates well with studio one, can't complain.

I bought this as a replacement for my Focusrite interface. To be able to add reverb to vocals and still have zero latency was an issue for me. I use Studio One and with the "Blue Z activated" you can truly have zero latency with the 1824. Other features all seem solid and sound quality and performance is outstanding.

Upgraded from my old Presonus firewire rig to this.
I had my eye on a couple other inerfaces plus this one.
I'm glad I bought this.
Sounds extremely good , and is very clear for recording and playback.
I have an older Presonus Audiobox USB and already had Presonus Universal Control.
But it didn't recognize the Stuio 1824c.
So I uninstalled it and re-installed the latest Universal Control.
Was up and running in Reaper in 5 minutes.
Recorded my first song (with this) in an hour.
All I can say is....WoW.
Plus it is expandable via ADAT.

I've only had this for a little over 2 weeks but its been great so far. Literally plug-n-play, no drivers to download and no software needed to run with Logic Pro X. The unit feels solid and I'm confident I'll be able to use it for at least the next 5 years. I use this for recording drums at home and the sound is great.

Awesome gear

What an awesome product. This completes my set up in my studio at home and offsite recording. You have 5 channels for drums and can still put a Scratch Vocal, Bass and rhythm guitar down all at once. It was just what I needed for me next project. The service at Sweetwater is second to none. Having your won sales engineer on hand to answer questions, take care of orders and follow up is something no one else offers. The prices can't be beat. I am sold not only on Presonus/Studio One series recording packages, but also on Sweetwater. You guys are the best.

I tried to save a few bucks and tried a Tascam 16x08 and didn’t like it at all. I sent it back to Sweetwater and picked this unit up and WOW what a difference. The entire unit feels like it is built very well, even down to the smooth scrolling knobs and bright meter display. I hooked everything up, turned on my PC and everything worked EXACTLY how I wanted it to. No driver downloads, no configuring settings... it was 100% plug and play. It sounds great recording into Studio One 4 (the DAW can even change settings on the interface straight from its UI) and immediately shows all its inputs and outputs without any configuration.

If I had to find one thing I would change with this unit, it would be the USB cables. Both options they give you are pretty short. Luckily, I had a USB extension cable in my desk and was able to plug everything in.

Latency and drumming do not mix. Not only do we expect our playing to be recorded with accuracy but we also need to hear the tracks that we play to with as little delay as possible so that our time keeping enhances a song in lieu of making it's quality questionable. After many attempts to correct an obvious latency issue with an audio interface that was released a few years ago, the search began for an interface to replace what we were using. PreSonus has a reputation of producing quality hardware at a terrific price point but after the issues that I was experiencing, I was considering to make a move to jump ship and hopefully be rescued from my dilemma by landing in a different camp. When the news was release about the new 1824c USB-C interface being introduced this year, I decided to wait be jumping and give this new interface a try and I couldn't be happier with my decision. The previous unit, which had a lot more bells and whistles, (digital gain controls, etc...) had an input latency of in excess of 3ms and an output latency in excess of 4ms which gave us a round trip of on or above 8ms. It doesn't sound like much but is was enough to cause timing issues. The 1824c has had some of that fat trimmed off of it and lacks some of the frills like digital gain controls but for the excellent price point and performance of the unit, those frills are barely missed, especially when we are now experiencing an input latency of 1.86ms and an output latency of 2.49 ms! The provided USB-C to USB-A cable allowed me to continue using my current HP Pavillion computer with an Intel i5 processor at 1.9GHz with 6gb of RAM and using Studio One DAW software.

Thank you PreSonus for continuing to produce quality hardware at a price point that allows us to produce professional quality sound from our home studios. Keep up the good work and I look forward to whatever you have in store for the future!

This is a great sounding interface with great features and super easy to use. The only interface it was made to connect to for additional inputs was the Presonus DP88 which they discontinued. If you need more that 8 inputs, or think you might need them in the future, make sure you get one that has word clock IN and OUT.

Great overall interface, granted a learning curve for an beginner. Once I've became familiar with it's setup features, and it's operations. I've been able to do "radio class" recordings....

I would have great if PreSonus had included some additional plug-ins to go with it...

I've had a FireStudio Project for the last several years without any issues. It always performed as I expected it to, but when I wanted to upgrade my iMac from Mojave to Catalina, it would no longer be supported there. So I found an unused 1818VSL a friend had and bought it from him. This too worked perfectly within Catalina, but then PreSonus came out with their Legacy program with really great deals on interfaces to replace those no longer supported in Catalina. Of course they had to do this just a couple days after I bought the 1818VSL, but fortunately I was able to sell it and instead got the 1824c at the screaming good price from PreSonus through Sweetwater and my goto tech Jonathan Casarow. I REALLY love this unit. The 1824c was immediately recognized by my iMac and my Studio One Professional DAW. Maybe the simplest Interface I've ever hooked up. It works flawlessly, gives excellent visual feedback with LED Ladder lights for each channel. I love its nice clean lines and being able to plug all that I need to plug in, in the back... leaving the top uncluttered for me. Its performance is quiet and clean, with everything sounding great.

I opted to get the 1824c to use outboard gear for inserts within my DAW. It's been pretty trouble free outside of setting up the software (that is required) when initially routing everything together. The mixer channels were routing my playback through all of my inputs and outputs simultaneously. Completely mangled my output to my speakers no matter what I changed, outside of the preamp outputs.

The solution? Bypassing the mixer within the settings of Universal Control. As soon as I did this, audio playback became normal, and all of the connections worked without any further trouble.

The biggest downside would be the mixer that you have to download when setting up the 1824c. If you aren't using any additional connections to your I/O's, you likely will have no issues with this interface.

Overall playback is crisp and clear, A/D converts sound nice and transparent. No other issues with the unit!

I normally don't write reviews, but I thought this may be helpful:

First, great service from Ben Stokes in sales helping me choose this item. I love all the features/sound/look/feel of the unit. I was a little disappointed that I had some popping noises right out of the box despite all my efforts to eliminate them. Here's the amazing part: Dominic and Aaron in Sweetwater PC tech support were RELENTLESS in helping me resolve the issue. We even ended up having a Zoom meeting to help me fix my BIOS issue!

Windows 10 users: if you have a similar issue with this item that can't be solved by any of the usual solutions (buffer, drivers, updates, etc.), try disabling "C-States, Turbo Boost, and Speed Steps" in BIOS. This fixed it for me. I had an open ticket with Presonus Support for over a week to no avail. Sweetwater took care of the issue in two days—could have been one day if I didn't have leave for work.

Sweetwater is the best customer service experience in the music gear industry, period.

Getting this hardware working on my Lenovo Desktop PC was brutal, and frankly still unsatisfactory, but I blame the mixed bag of price-driven hardware that all off-the-shelf PCs have become, even from brands that I trust like Lenovo. My personal PC experience with this device is loaded with pops, cracks, as well as fan, and drive static. In order to recover my investment I was forced to pull my old MBP out of retirement. That said, it makes my old MBP feel like new hardware itself. When connected to a well-built computer, the 1824c is a dream to behold. This is the first audio interface with more than two inputs that I've used since the late 90s, so I'm likely easily impressed, but the build quality is almost excessive, and the clarity and punch of all the preamps is outstanding. I love it. I was hoping to migrate to PC in my studio, but shlepping my MBP back and forth is a small price to pay to be connected to this beautiful piece of kit. It's a thing of beauty in all factors, form, function, construction, performance, layout of surface controls, and cost. Aside from my Win PC migration dreams being dashed, my only other wish would be to have control over which channels get phantom power, but I knew I wouldn't have that kind of control when I purchased the device, so there was no disappointment on that, but I felt it was fair to mention.

After giving up the ghost on PC DAW's a couple of years back I decided to revisit to see where the technology has advanced and man, has it advanced in a short period of time. I did plenty of research and decided on PreSonus Studio One as the primary DAW for a new PC build for my Home Studio. I then sought out audio interfaces and landed on the Studio USB 1824C as the centralized hub in my set up.

The 1824C pound for pound in comparisons to other AI's (audio interfaces, not artificial intelligence) is an excellent buy for features, quality and price. I wanted a rack mounted interface for overall workflow efficiency as well saving studio desk real estate. I also wanted USB since this build is PC based (I will revisit Thunderbolt on PC in my next PC build). I also wanted more than two inputs in order to record multiple inputs simultaneously, whether instrument/mic or line. Although I'm a solo musician I record/track all guitars with multiple amps simultaneously. I'll have an SM57 on a cab, e609 on another cab plus a mix of line outputs from various amps. I like having 2 mic inputs on the front of the unit, the other inputs/outputs are all on the back of the unit that I have wired with a snakes for flexibility with other devices in my setup. I have 6 different real tube guitar amps. I know its overkill but I like having everything available to me to use or toss out later but at least I have the tracks down and can mix/layer for some unique tones. With 8 high quality XMAX mic pre inputs the 1824C covers my needs really well. You 8 input level controls on the face of the unit. You can add ADAT optical if you want up to 18 inputs that I'm not currently using. One thing that I liked is the 1824C has LED meters on the face of the unit along with a decent sized volume control knob for the maser. I'm not a fan of cheap 2-3 LED meters on a lot of products. Granted there are other meters to use in the DAW or the UC but I like having that quick visual on a physical device. The Universal Control App lets you configure and fine tune your configurations along a couple difference zero to low latency options.

The Recorded sound quality is extremely high in my tests from 44.1 to 96 kHz. I haven't used 192 kHz yet but I'll make the assumption that it will be of equal quality. The onboard XMAX pre's really sound great to my ear whether tracking pristine clean or overdriven guitars.

I've become a bit of a PreSonus fanboy during this process. The one thing that affected my decision was the ease of integration of the hardware and software. Keeping it in house with PreSonus made is smooth and easy. The 1824C came bundled with Studio One Artist. This didn't really affect my decision as I already made my mind up in Studio One Professional but saved me a little coin in upgrading from Artist to Professional. Plus I use the Artist version on my secondary DAW host. This integrations keeps things somewhat simple to use regardless of the complexities involved. In my case it is PreSonus 1824C, Faderport 8 and Studio One Pro 4.5 An example here is creating a new song based on your interface of choice, choose Studio 1824 template and it will have all you I/O's ready to rock from the get go. This saves a lot of time for me vs. starting from scratch although I do that as well.

Overall the 1824C is a great value and has features that usually cost your a couple hundred more on other AI's. A couple pluses I neglected to mention are the 2 headphones jacks on the front, MIDI I/O's, SPDIF I/O's, the 8 TRS outputs, and the dual function 1/4 in / XLR inputs.

The only downside here is the misleading indication of the "C" in the 1824C model Number. This makes the majority of people thinking this is a USB 3.0 device when it really is not. The only thing C is the small form USB connector on the device itself but it interfaces at USB 2.0 speeds with you host machine. Due to this, whether intentional or not I give this a solid 4 star rating.

I am new to home recording and Presonus makes it easy and accessible for anyone to get amazing results. I have had this unit for about a week and I am already recording using the plug-ins that come with the Studio One Artist recording software that comes with this unit. The two USB cables that come in the box help you get started as soon as you plug your unit in ( of course it is highly recommended to download the Studio One Artist software) even with your own DAW. I just had the one that came with my mac. So I tried it and it worked beautifully. I am still learning the power of this unit but, so far I am impressed and blown away. OH BTW I love the AMPIRE with STOMPS, the MAI TAI plug-ins are awesome too. Oh! almost forgot...The latency issue..... none so far... running OS HSierra 10.13.6 16gb ram Intel 5i 2.3 Ghz

I love it ,connected seamlessly to my studio platform ,so far so good honestly to early for a full review . Thank you Sweetwater

Don't ever attempt to slave this device with a different branded unit. If you go to MyPresonus.com in the community section, it is straight up stated that Presonus doesn't make it easy to slave to another unit. The Universal Control drivers are about worthless when it comes to assisting with this. If you have all Presonus stuff it will work fine.

as a drummer im using a variety of mics , some of which require phantom power and others that can be damaged by Phantom power i.e Ribbon mics. this interface only allows for ALL ON or ALL OFF. the work around is having external 48v power units to the mics that require power... which is annoying. they should have at least split the power into two phantom power groups like in their prior models.

the mic pres are clean and build of this unit is solid otherwise. I love the USB C feature to plug straight into my mac. At the price point its a good buy, but if you need to split your phantom power up due to ribbon mics in your set up, then be aware you'll be spending 60-200 additional on external phantom power per mic. or risk damaging expensive mics by turning ALL ON for 48v.

The right channel TRS main output jack is faulty. I tried several TRS cables to no avail.. when I looked into the jack with a flashlight I can see the connector isn't positioned right compared to the other jacks. I am not getting a solid connection on the right channel causing small pops n clicks when adjusting the main volume.

Created a ticket to PreSonus and the first thing they asked is if I used different cables? "I used different cables to no avail" was the last sentence in my ticket. After some back in forth they determined the unit needs repair but taking their sweet time to send me an RMA number.

I didn't buy the unit from Sweetwater but do buy gear from here often - PreSonus needs to up their game in support - the person I was dealing with clearly didn't read my concise and to the point request that carefully.

The unit is ok. It is easy, simple audio interface. With that being said, my biggest disappointment came when I found out the "USB-C" is just a USB 2.0 with the type C connection. My disappointment didn't stop there. Phantom power is apply to all inputs and there is no option to select which input to apply it.

Coming from the Studiolive 16.0.2 which uses a FireWire connection, latency was really noticible compare to my 7 years old mixer. It's a shame, I really wanted to like it. This unit is the same old 1824 with a color change and usb port switch to a Type C.

I returned the unit and upgraded to the 192, which is a USB 3, and have more options...

It was a decent interface while it worked. But 6 months outside the warranty all the inputs died. Presonus support told me too bad so sad. Won't be buying another Presonus hardware device.

I have had this unit for a month now and I get static (white noise) from the output. I have been working with PreSonus support to no avail. I have changed cables, computers mac and PC, I even just got a new mac and the static is still there (thought maybe a software issue on my end). I have found a fix, though. If I unplug the unit from the computer and plug it back in the static goes away and does not return until I power down the unit, static returns after I power the unit back up. I have tried it on Ableton, studio one, GarageBand, logic, and adobe's daw and they all have the static. Sounds great when the static is not there. In the hope that I just received a bad unit I will be returning it and requesting a new one.

Worked flawlessly for 1.2 years.
After the last Universal Control update....NOW I just have a solid red light of death (power light).
Tried , uninstalling , re-installing , reverting....NO luck.
BRICKED.
Presonus support is no help.

Lost business because of this.

Gonna go with something else.
NOT happy , and will NOT buy Presonus AGAIN.

Horrendous product and an even worse company. The horror stories you may have heard about PreSonus since Fender bought them are true. Have tried to reach out to PreSonus directly about my issue with this product and simply can't get a reply.

Bottom line this thing is shot after less than three years of ownership (with VERY little use on my part for the record). If you do some research on this item the internet is flooded with complaints about this product and this company. Again, save your money.

Now, I'm in a position where the item isn't under warranty so Sweetwater can't replace it and I'm left with the option of sending it to a 3rd party repair shop with the hopes they can figure out what's wrong with it. More money out of my pocket. Just trying to decide if it's even worth the trouble at this point or if I should just cut my losses and buy a brand new interface.

If you're considering purchasing this device, be prepared to increase the input gain to at least 65 DB, otherwise you may not be able to hear anything. Despite being a fan of Presonus in the past, I had a negative experience with this product as it lacked output gain and I had to send it to a professional audio repair shop for assessment. This issue with poor gain is not uncommon and has been discussed in various online forums. To save yourself from disappointment, it may be best to avoid this device altogether. I am in the hole over $ since Presonus did not cover the $ shipping fee to the audio repair shop.

After a Year or More And The purchase of two Separately New Intel Pc's, always adjusting latency, and sampling rate, I still get Noise, Audio Drop outs, Lots of Problems switching Between Maschine Daw, or Reason Daw, Or Protools Daw, or Studio one Daw, or Ableton Daw, and the Opening of any browser. Either or both Shut off Killing your Work inside of the Daw by locking up the Program. at that point there must be a Manual power cycle of the 1824c. Sucks That It Does NOT auto power-on or Shut off With the power on your PC. Power Is Manual. This was the Biggest disappointment of any professional audio interface I've ever besides the Tascam US20x20 which was complete garbage.

I have tried everything to eliminate the snap, crackle and pop I get with this interface including turning the buffer size up to 1000 during recording. Even at that buffer setting it still can't handle a piano patch from Keyscape and a pad from Omnisphere without hearing unacceptable audio artifacts. I thought teaming a Presonus interface with the Presonus Studio One 5 DAW would yield the best results but that hasn't been the case.