Presonus Faderport DAW controller review

22

Hey what’s good fam! If you’re in the US, hope you had a safe holiday yesterday.

Now it’s back to business…or play, whatever you wish to call it!

Today I’m reviewing my Presonus Faderport controller.

Many have asked me about it or asked what it is, so I figured I’d share my thoughts on it.

Let’s check it

So what is the Presonus Faderport?

The Faderport is a dedicated control surface for your DAW

It allows you to get hands on control over transport and other functions directly from the surface of the controller.

It has a single motorized fader, in addition to multiple transport buttons as well as a single pan knob.

It can be usb powered, however if you wish to have the fader motorized you need to plug in the power adapter.

It’s very compact so it doesn’t take up a ton of space but the design is good quality so it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna break on you.

The fader will also write automation data as well as the pan knob so you can record your movements as automation directly into your host application.

Quick Specs

  • power: USB and 9V DC (required for motorized fader operation)
  • price: $129.95

How does it work?

Man…I love this thing

Setup is a breeze, especially in Studio One, it just works. But don’t forget, the Faderport was out on the market even before Studio One existed

So it was designed to work with most major DAWs

There are some specific setup instructions for programs like Cubase, Ableton, Pro Tools, etc, but all were pretty easy to setup.

The fader is sexy…I love the way it moves….yes…I LOVE the way it moves man! I said it!

Really though, having it automatically update with the level of whatever track you’re on is BOSS…really allows you to move and adjust quickly and by feel.

So what’s the bottom line?

Bottom line is I love my Faderport. I was glad I picked it up. Trying to map various controllers to your DAW can definitely be cool, but having a dedicated transport/fader control just feels more natural.

It doesn’t take a lot of space and is well constructed.

I give the Faderport 4.5 out of 5 subs, it’s definitely improved my workflow in Studio One or any DAW I use it in as I can use it based on muscle memory so I don’t have to think about it much.

I don’t like the pan knob…period. I just think it needs to be a smoother encoder for pan adjustments.

Other than that, I really have no faults with it, it just works, and feels solid, I’m sure the top is metal while the bottom part of the unit seems like plastic.

If you use Studio One it’s a no brainer, if you have other DAWs and you don’t want a huge control surface, this is definitely one to look at.

Check it out:ย http://www.presonus.com/products/FaderPort

let me know what you think, leave a comment below.

22 Comments

  1. SJ: Thanks for covering this daw controller. This seems to be a nice addition to any studio. Another great video review from S&G.com

    Reply
  2. What a great and universal device Saint…. Oh and have you’ve seen or heard of soniccouture’s new crowdchoir ? It has 1,000 voices and 4,000 notes 500 mb Library plus yes you can use it on kontakt 4+5 .

    Reply
  3. May have to cop one of these. However, I’m wondering if when I really start using my daw (instead of relying on Maschine for everything), will I long for a larger DAW control or would something with one fader work? But with my keyboard, my axiom, my maschine and my Wacom board, this may be the best option considering my limited space. Cool.

    Reply
    • yeah that’s a tough decision, really depends on you and what you do. For me, while I wouldn’t mind a larger controller, the truth is I probably wouldn’t use more than one fader at a time, maybe 2. I wish they did one with 4 faders, I’d be good with that but I don’t find the single fader limiting as I can quickly switch tracks.

      Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.