Fender buys PreSonus (StudioOne etc.)

[mhschmieder]

Announced on Sonic State today. I'm not bothering to link the article as it has almost zero content of any interest, other than naming the lawyers.

Doubtless more in-depth articles will appear soon. I can't remember if Gibson still owns a DAW company as they buy and sell holdings so quickly.

[James Steele]

Announced on Sonic State today. I'm not bothering to link the article as it has almost zero content of any interest, other than naming the lawyers.

Doubtless more in-depth articles will appear soon. I can't remember if Gibson still owns a DAW company as they buy and sell holdings so quickly.

Why does my gut say that this isn’t a good thing? Maybe Fender will have the good sense to leave them alone and let them do their thing? Although does upper management and/or ownership of these acquired companies make so much money on these deals that that cash out and don’t want to continue running the day-to-day operations?

[Michael Canavan]

Announced on Sonic State today. I'm not bothering to link the article as it has almost zero content of any interest, other than naming the lawyers.

Doubtless more in-depth articles will appear soon. I can't remember if Gibson still owns a DAW company as they buy and sell holdings so quickly.

Gibson sold Cakewalk (Sonar) to some company that gives it away for free. The CEO of Gibson stepped down so hopefully the company comes back from the dead.I don't know what Fender are like now, but it's always weird when one of the main owners quits and starts another company (G&L), so let's see what happens?

It's still better than what's happening to iZotope and Native Instruments, they're "teaming up" and handing reigns over to some CEO whose specialty is subscription services. I of course own both suites from both companies, and wonder if those will be the last I buy from them?

[James Steele]

Gibson also killed Opcode and Studio Vision.

[monkey man]

Yeah Jimbo, and as they say in the classics, "... so there's that...".

[nk_e]

Gibson also killed Opcode and Studio Vision.

And Oberheim.

[James Steele]

Gibson also killed Opcode and Studio Vision.

And Oberheim.

That’s was all Henry J silliness, wasn’t it? Gotta love that robo Les Paul! :eyeroll:

[nk_e]

As long as Fender doesn't pull a "Gibson" on Presonus, it could be interesting.

I think Fender is smarter; Presonus really does represent a strategic entry into markets that they have no real presence in.

Could be like Apple buying NEXT. NEXT and crew ate Apple from the inside out..

[bayswater]

Didn't we hear Fender was technically bankrupt 2 or 3 years ago? Lots of assets but not much cash flow?

[monkey man]

OTOH we have our beloved MOTU, owned by... MOTU... since the early '80s.

[James Steele]

OTOH we have our beloved MOTU, owned by... MOTU... since the early '80s.

Yep. And never taken public. Not sure if that's good or bad, but who knows.

[nk_e]

Mostly good IMHO.

Having worked for a couple of companies that went public, it's a fundamental change to the culture of the place...and in my (limited) experience, it wasn't a good change. The dynamics, outlook, and priorities change over time, even with the best intentions of the founder/owners. The incentives of the public marketplace are skewed towards short term gains, growth, quarterly reports, and industry "analysts".

It is a rare leader or leadership team that can navigate those pressures and maintain a focus and commitment to a unique vision/ethos.

That's true of any business I suppose, but going public introduces a whole other set of pressures and dynamics.

Hey, how did I get up here on this soapbox....?

[mhschmieder]

I don't have strong opinions about private vs. public as I've worked for both and haven't put the pluses and minuses on a scale, but for the past few years pre-pandemic, I had the best middle manager of my 21 years at that famous privately held pro audio company that I worked for. He had come over from Fender and said at the time that they seemed to be poised to follow all of Gibson's at-the-time-recent mistakes.

In the intervening time (this was maybe seven years ago), both companies in my view have improved a great deal in consistency, reliability, customer focus, and overall quality of workmanship regardless of source of materials or location of manufacturing.

Nevertheless, I don't recall Fender having previous experience managing software assets, unlike Gibson who seem to have a history of killing anything "soft" that comes under their umbrella. But then, Gibson has instead recently been making strategic purchases such as Mesa/Boogie. I bought my first Gibson-era Mesa product upon arrival at my new job in Virginia in August and can honestly state that quality is as good as ever.

[mhschmieder]

As for PreSonus itself, I sold my copy of StudioOne a year or two ago, as I never got on with it after following it for several versions, but the hardware side of the company was of more interest to me as they started coming up with some well-designed and innovative mixers and control surfaces. It's hard to say which side of the business led to Fender purchasing them (maybe both).

[James Steele]

As for PreSonus itself, I sold my copy of StudioOne a year or two ago, as I never got on with it after following it for several versions, but the hardware side of the company was of more interest to me as they started coming up with some well-designed and innovative mixers and control surfaces. It's hard to say which side of the business led to Fender purchasing them (maybe both).

I just can't learn that many DAWs... especially when I have no compelling NEED. I heard StudioOne was designed by some hotshot engineers who left Steinberg or something like that? It looks cool. I installed their free version to check it out and I probably did something wrong, but it jacked something and my plug ins didn't load right in DP after that and I got it sorted out and then just deleted it off my drive. It's bad enough I'm tryin to learn a little bit of ProTools since I scored a perpetual license for half price from a local ad by a guy who got it as a gift and already had it.