Fender To Acquire PreSonus Electronics

[CrystalWizard]

Quite often Vulture Capitalist buy up companies, strip their assets, fire the employees, sell off the Intellectual Property, write themselves (c suite upper level) great big bonus’, then toss the carcass. Sometimes they actually try to make the business work. I have seen this over and over in the tech world (and even outside it).

My recollection is when the current controlling owners took a large stake some years ago that it was that type of VC that they bought it from (I seem to recall the previous owners doing things like taking out huge loans and paying themselves a good portion of the borrowed money).

I believe it's basically a successful family owned now VC company based in Hawaii with a background in car dealerships, but that also owned music stores dating back to the 1950's or something and that first got involved with Fender when it was bought from CBS back in the 1980's.

So it may be a VC firm that is interested in making a profit, but don't assume it's just another bunch of vultures.

Fair enough, i wasn’t talking in absolutes, i did say quite often, not always. Perhaps these VC aren’t vultures and Presonus (as long as they are profitable) are fine or perhaps better off. Unlike a few other companies we’ve already seen slurped up. I do hope so.
And i hope somehow NI and Izotope revert back to the customer friendly, innovative companies they were before they got slurped, and Cakewalk is back…

[v1o]

Let me enlighten everyone about corporate acquisitions. My company was acquired by a huge corporation in 2009. Do you know what changed? Payroll, HR dept, chain of command, and benefits

Our corporation was able to fund tremendous product growth and development. Corporations really only care about incoming revenue, they dont care how you get it. Dont think that Fender is going to change the landscape of S1. They will likely let them continue to do whatever they want to do as long as the revenue keeps coming

^^ THIS ^^

This post right here is the most important post in the entire 8 pages of this thread, IMHO. As long as PreSonus continues to be profitable (not just Studio One, but also their hardware) - no one has anything to worry about.

That said, maybe they should change their name to "Studio One Studios".

Each scenario is different. There are more bad cases than good. Reason Studios went downhill (R12 is the buggiest release in their history) and prices were increased 50% after being bought by capitalists and the founder resigned as CEO. Recently Izotope has been focused on subscriptions and leaving old customers in the dirt with products that are not being updated. NI had a very delayed and sketchy release of Massive X.

[flori89]

thats just tunnel vision, I envy you if that's the biggest of your worries. You are literally fearing what the daw might not do for you. Have you looked around at daws, they are all pretty much jack of all trades...maybe instead of worrying what you might lose you should focus on what you can do with it as is the way with most people...

edit:

If you are new and don't own a daw yet, if you buy Studio One you will get Ampire with it. Can be bought standalone, too, if you want: https://www.presonus.com/produkte/de/Ampire

viewtopic.php?p=8253818#p8253818

I'm not fearing anything. I'm calculating how much further time and potential money investment I might put further into Studio One going on from here. To answer that question: I'll wait until it becomes apparent what course S1 is taking from here and if it's not to my liking I'm going to switch DAWs and not look back. That point will probably be at the point of the next paid update.

The other guy is specifically searching for amp sims. His best bet right now is probably S1 as I'm sure we can agree.

[chk071]

Capitalists, comrades. All capitalists.

[chk071]

Reason Studios went downhill (R12 is the buggiest release in their history) and prices were increased 50%

There is exactly one scenario when you raise prices: When something is selling well, and you feel like you can take more, and people will still buy. Your arguments don't make any sense. Learn a bit how all this stuff works, or do something you're better at.

Why do you think graphics cards are so expensive at the moment?

[EnochLight]

Each scenario is different. There are more bad cases than good. Reason Studios went downhill (R12 is the buggiest release in their history) and prices were increased 50% after being bought by capitalists and the founder resigned as CEO. Recently Izotope has been focused on subscriptions and leaving old customers in the dirt with products that are not being updated. NI had a very delayed and sketchy release of Massive X.

Just some clarity - Reason 12 may be their buggiest launch in history (I absolutely totally agree with this), but it is also - arguably - the best version of Reason feature-wise to exist in its history. Also, the CEO didn't completely resign - he's on the Board of Directors. Price increase sucks, though no one should be surprised - its price has been the same for almost 20 years, and frankly - that's just not a sustainable business model. Also, pretty sure it's a venture capital group that bought them out. Let's not get politics involved again.

But I digress - I guess we'll have to wait and see how Studio One (and PreSonus hardware) shakes out over the next 2-3 years as we get a better idea of their direction. One thing is for certain - subscription (Sphere) already existed long before the merger came to light.

[chk071]

Let's not get politics involved again.

It's been all about politics from the get go of this topic. Unfortunately.

And unfounded speculations, of course.

[CrystalWizard]

No because they will shift development resources to fit into their bigger picture.

Ok, buddy. If you say so, then it's gotta be true.

Time to switch DAW's, peeps. flori89 from KVR Audio says that Studio One will be limited to use by bass and guitar players very soon. Like all the hundreds of other DAW's which are only usable for guitar and bass.

Great way of oversimplifying what was stated.. provided Fender doesn’t gut them there OF COURSE many ways that could play out. Sure, Fender could toss a whole lot of that borrowed money at Presonus-all is well, Presonus may flourish, they could use the Presonus IP in Fender stuff and still maintain Presonus (it is somewhat in their interest to because as stated it’s a way for them to stay relevant with younger people. They could use the IP and then gut Presonus. There’s many outcomes. A poster seems to have taken the time to look into the investors and they seem somewhat benevelent.

None of this is black/white,cut and dry. My comments are from observations. I’ve had plenty of friends, aquaintences, and associates lose their jobs from corporate buyouts. To the naysays do a little research on past buyouts like…cakewalk (outside of kvr there’s plenty of example). Occasionally they thrive and often they a stripped of assetts and most of the workers go by by.

[CrystalWizard]

Let's not get politics involved again.

It's been all about politics from the get go of this topic. Unfortunately.

And unfounded speculations, of course.

Economics not politics.

[Hink]

thats just tunnel vision, I envy you if that's the biggest of your worries. You are literally fearing what the daw might not do for you. Have you looked around at daws, they are all pretty much jack of all trades...maybe instead of worrying what you might lose you should focus on what you can do with it as is the way with most people...

edit:

If you are new and don't own a daw yet, if you buy Studio One you will get Ampire with it. Can be bought standalone, too, if you want: https://www.presonus.com/produkte/de/Ampire

viewtopic.php?p=8253818#p8253818

I'm not fearing anything. I'm calculating how much further time and potential money investment I might put further into Studio One going on from here. To answer that question: I'll wait until it becomes apparent what course S1 is taking from here and if it's not to my liking I'm going to switch DAWs and not look back. That point will probably be at the point of the next paid update.

The other guy is specifically searching for amp sims. His best bet right now is probably S1 as I'm sure we can agree.

go ahead, cut off your nose to spite your face...I'm guessing like most people you use so little of your DAW's features you likely have zero clue to as what you are talking about...read my words again but I'll put it different...just make music and when your DAW no longer works for you in this day and age, trust me, it has absolutely nothing to do with the DAW and perhaps it's time to take up watching paint dry.

I cant imagine you think a business would cripple a working DAW to further promote guitars in a world where guitars need absolutely no promotion

[cryophonik]

I cant imagine you think a business would cripple a working DAW to further promote guitars in a world where guitars need absolutely no promotion

You haven't heard, Hink? The rumor mill says that the next version of Studio One will only accept inputs from Fender guitars and basses (Presonus Artist Edition will accept Squiers), MIDI will be dropped altogether, and it will be subscription only. Oh, and the promotional artwork will feature Jimi Hendrix smashing Tiesto over the head with his Strat.

[Hink]

[CrystalWizard]

Reason Studios went downhill (R12 is the buggiest release in their history) and prices were increased 50%

There is exactly one scenario when you raise prices: When something is selling well, and you feel like you can take more, and people will still buy. Your arguments don't make any sense. Learn a bit how all this stuff works, or do something you're better at.

Why do you think graphics cards are so expensive at the moment?

Lem me think-graphics cards are so expensive at the moment because people are using them to mine bitcoin? Yeah? And exactly how does that fit this discussion. It’s not because of anything the graphic card manufacturers did, it’s because some realized the could be repurposed, so no, nothing related at all.In a healthy market with healthy competition it doesn’t follow that a leading co is going to double its price. That’s more of a semi desparate way to raise cash. Where did you get you multiple degrees in economics?

[flori89]

I cant imagine you think a business would cripple a working DAW to further promote guitars in a world where guitars need absolutely no promotion

You don't have much to do with the business side of anything, do you? Again, they aren't crippling anything, they are focusing their resources on their core market. (Also the whole "guitars need no promotion" part gave it away, that talk of people who don't have to do much with the business side. In this day and age, nothing can survive without promotion, especially nothing that is consumer oriented)

And Fender is really good at that. They sell guitars and related things and so far everything else they have in the company portfolio follows that logic.

You guys all seem to think that this will happen overnight, that's not how stuff works. You shift resources away from things that don't fit your strategy towards development of things that do. Nobody is going to remove features from S1, but it also seems highly unlikely they will invest in anything that is not geared towards people that don't fit their target group.

[Tronam]

I'm sure it'll be fine. These acquisitions always have the end user's best interests in mind.