New Music Gear Monday: PreSonus Quantum 4848 Computer Interface

There are a lot of great audio interfaces available for your computer but most of them are limited in the number of inputs and outputs. If you have a home studio that’s usually not a problem, but if you plan on doing some serious tracking or using a real console for mixing then a normal 8 or even 16 channel interface can be a serious limitation. The new PreSonus Quantum 4848 takes care of that problem nicely with a boatload of I/O plus some nice extras as well.

The Quantum 4848 features 32 inputs and outputs with resolution up to 192kHz on a Thunderbolt connection, plus adds another 16 channels via ADAT optical I/O for a total of 48 ins and outs. Not only that, you can connect up to 4 units together if you really need a massive setup. The inputs and outputs of the 4848 (aside from the ADAT I/O) are on standard DB-25 connectors.

The package includes PreSonus popular Studio One Professional DAW software that includes the Pipeline XT feature that allows you to use your outboard analog hardware as plug-ins inside the workstation. The software package also includes the StudioMagic plugin suite featuring popular plugins from Arturia, Plugin Alliance, Lexicon, SPL, Maag, and others. You can also remotely control all of Quantum’s features from your iPad or computer via the PreSonus UC Surface control software.

The Quantum 4848 can connect to most modern Macs or PCs running relatively recent operating systems (check here for more details) and a Thunderbolt connection (Thunderbolt 3 requires an adaptor). In order to operate the included software, an Internet connection is required for authorization along with a 7200RPM drive with 30Gigs of storage space available.

The PreSonus Quantum 4848 is a real bargain at $1,499. It’s difficult to get that much bang for the buck in any other interface, let alone the included software as well. More details can be found here, or watch the video below.