Retrofits of hydraulic and mechanical deep drawing presses often stop with the exchange of the electrical and the hydraulic parts. But that is only half the job. The use of high definition control electronics, faster CPUs and more dynamic hydraulic actuators, offers the opportunity of redesigning the already existing control concepts of the press. In this paper we present how the performance of the press, i.e. the control quality, can be increased for hydraulic ram and cushion axes. The improvement in control quality is achieved through the use of intelligent closed-loop and open-loopcontrol algorithms. Therefore, creasing and crack formation can be reduced, since enhancements in control quality have direct influence on the quality of the forming process. Results will be shown for hydraulic drawing cushion control, i.e. pressure control, as well as for hydraulic ram control, i.e. position, velocity and parallelism control. We present findings for hydraulic cushion control of a mechanical press type Arisa S-4-1600-470-230-LDE (link-drive press with 10 hydraulic cushions) and for ram- / cushion-control of hydraulic press type Müller-Weingarten ZE2100 (multi-curve press with 8-point cushion).