New Music Gear Monday: Updated PreSonus FaderPort Production Controller

There once was a time when an engineer didn’t feel comfortable unless there were faders in front of him or her. Those days have largely passed since now even hardened “classic” engineers are okay with a wide range of controllers. Still, there are those times when having even one fader can be useful, and the PreSonus FaderPort was the controller of choice for many in the past. Now FaderPort has been revamped and updated with elements from the company’s popular FaderPort 8 to provide a number of new features.

First and foremost, FaderPort provides a 100 mm touch-sensitive, motorized fader for writing fades and automation in real-time, but it also features 24 buttons that cover 40 different functions, allowing users to zoom in on audio files for editing, control track levels at a button press and more. To make it that much more useful, the unit now also includes a footswitch input for hands-free start/stop.

FaderPort has what it calls Session Navigator to provide easy access to the most used functions during a session with the help of the large 360 degree encoder control. These include track scrolling, timeline scrolling, zoom in and out, make tracks larger or smaller, and drop markers. Other controls include:

• Drop Marker, Next/Prev Marker, Next/Prev Event
• General session controls: Undo/Redo, Arm All, Solo/Mute Clear, Click On/Off
• Track Scrolling, Timeline Scrolling
• Channel Controls: Level, Pan, Solo, Mute, Rec Arm
• Automation Controls: Touch, Latch, Trim, Write, Read, Off

The FaderPort features an optimized HUI mode so it plays well with Pro Tools as well as custom MCU operation modes for Logic Pro X, Cubase, Ableton Live on Mac or PC. As a result, no driver installation is necessary as the unit is plug-and-play via USB, allowing users to apply it to other systems when needed. Unsurprisingly, the FaderPort is also compatible with PreSonus’ own DAW, PreSonus Studio One, and Studio One Artist is included with the unit.

The PreSonus FaderPort carries a street price of $199. You can find out more on its dedicated page or the video below.