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- 2 award-winning XMAX Class-A mic pres
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- Completely portable professional recording solution
- Midi input/output
- Studio One Artist included
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Brand New Review for Nov 2010:I recommend this only if: 1) you are not recording a guitar with high output pickups through the instrument-in, because it will clip even with the gain turned all the way down on the AudioBox, 2) you are not using an SM57 or some other dynamic mic that requires more than 35dB of gain, otherwise it will be too quiet, and 3) your headphones have an impedance above 100 ohms, otherwise the USB-powered Audiobox can't keep up with the current draw and will have no bass in the headphone monitoring out.
If you meet those conditions, then this is a great, affordable, stable recording interface. On my Mac it's plug-n-play, both on my older G4 powerbook with Tiger and newer 2010 Mac Mini with Snow Leopard. On the Mac, no separate software or drivers are needed. The construction of the AudioBox is very good. All metal box, and metal knobs. The blue metal looks great.
The mic preamps sound pretty darn good, crystal clear if you're using a condenser mic. For recording vocals on condensers, this interface is great. If you're on an old system, however, recording direct guitar and running it through a virtual amp simulation will give you latency problems. Not as much on Core 2 Duo systems and above. Be advised that the zero-latency monitoring is for a clean signal going in, not the processed sound from your software plugin, thus you can't do zero-latency distorted guitar recording that way unless you listen to yourself play clean while recording.
Now officially this does not have line-level recording ability. So you can't take the headphone output from a walkman, guitar amp, or mp3 player into this. But actually that does work as long as you carefully keep the line signal volume low and plug it into the instrument jack on the AudioBox. I've done this and it records just fine. But if the line volume gets turned up too high, you risk burning out the chip inside the AudioBox, since it wasn't engineered with safety mechanisms for that, thus Presonus says it doesn't do line-in.
It gets 4 stars for what it does well, and minus 1 star because of the caveats / exceptions listed at the beginning. As with all gear buying, my honest recommendation is to save up and get something 1.5X the cost of what you thought you could afford. If I could do it all over again, I would get an Echo Audiofire 4, Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, or Apogee Duet and call it a day. But, my Audiobox has served me well for over two years now, made some great clear recordings, right up until I got new headphones with too low impedance and the bass dropped out.
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I tried the PreSonus AudioBox recently and was extremely disappointed with it. I didn't try it with a microphone since I'm usually recording guitars direct, but the preamps are designed to ALWAYS have 20 db of gain being applied even with the input turned all the way down. I looked this up on their official forums, and it is intentional. Because of this, I was never able to get a signal that wouldn't clip when palm muting (even with passive pickups). They don't have any kind of software mixer either, so you have to buy an attenuator pad or find some other workaround.There's also a knob that you use to blend the mix between the hardware direct monitoring signal and the regular output. Even with the knob turned all the way to the regular output side, you still get some "leak" from the direct signal coming through the monitors. This can cause feedback problems, give you inaccurate monitoring (in my situation, because I'm hearing dry/clean guitar signal at the same time as amp sim VSTs), and is just a general pain in the ass.
And just to add icing on the cake...I also discovered that the output starts digitally clipping with the output knob at only 9 O'CLOCK! Ridiculous.
I think PreSonus had a great product on their hands, and intentionally screwed up the design, as to stray people towards their higher end stuff when they become inevitably disappointed with the AudioBox. Their official forum moderators used the excuse "well, you can't expect those kind of features from an entry-level interface" when people complain about its shortcomings. Really?! I didn't realize the ability to record a USABLE SIGNAL was apparently something that only the big dogs get. What a joke.
I returned it and bought an E-MU 0404 USB for only 20 bucks more, and I am much happier.
Read Best Reviews of PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 USB Recording Interface Here
This is the best external sound card I have ever used to record. I have used quite a few over the years and presonus has all the competition beat hands down. This unit is extremely quite, it reproduces exactly what it captures without adding any color as some cheaper units tend to taint your sound. The are no latency issues and I had no problem installing it on my Windows XP OS. I use this unit with Sonar 7 PE and have not experienced a single issue since I've used it. I highly recomend this equipment to any home studio operator. I will be purchasing preson equipment from now on.***UPDATE*** July 15, 2010
I updated my computer to Windows 7 64 bit. I did not have one issue. The Audiobox works like a champ.
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I'm just going to expand on a few things already said here. I've been working with the Audiobox for several days now and have tested just about everything I have in my studio through it. I have a Dell Core-2 Quad desktop and a HP DV5-1010 laptop. I wanted a mobile setup so I got the Audiobox after returning a Focusrite Pro24--probably nothing wrong with it, but I couldn't get it to work with my laptop--but then, I can't get any firewire device to work properly with it. So what I'll have to say will be confined to how the Audiobox works with my laptop.I can confirm the reports that the preamps don't have enough gain to handle dynamic mics-I tested a Shure SM 57, a Beta 58 and and old Audiotechnica dynamic. You have to turn the gain all the way up on the Audiobox and get right up on the mic to get a useable signal. That leads to a problem with Channel 1 -when the input volume is cranked up all the way, it begins to emit a high-pitched whine which will go into the recording. You can get rid of most of it by unplugging the laptop, so it's a grounding problem with the laptop--other devices have caused that noise also. But it's a nuisance, since the pathetic battery in my HP won't last for more than an hour. Oddly, Channel 2 on the Audiobox doesn't have this noise problem.
My workaround for this is that I have an Art Dual MP preamp that will add more than enough gain so I don't have to crank the Audiobox's inputs up that high. That also diminishes mobility, but it is a good backup. If I want to use just the Box without the preamp, I use Channel 1 for my guitar input--I play both acoustic and electric through mostly a Boss GT-8 processor, and the output from that sounds beautiful recorded through the Audiobox. I plug my vocal mic into the quieter Channel 2 and can put down a good-enough quick and easy recording that way.
I've also recorded a stereo acoustic guitar track with a pair of Oktava MC-012 condenser mics. They provided plenty of gain for a good signal without having to crank the input on the Audiobox up to the noisy range, producing a very good recording. I can also plug my Martin acoustic with an active piezeo pickup directly into the Audiobox and get a good signal. I've also recorded the output of my Roland electronic drums directly into the Audiobox with good results.
The Studio One Artist software that comes with the box is really well-designed and probably worth what you pay for the Audiobox alone. I'm working with the full demo version of Studio One, and it is fantastic--I will probably upgrade to the full version when the demo period runs out. It has many great features, but I'll just mention its mastering presets--they save a lot of time and you can usually find one that gets you pretty close to the punch and presence you want. There are some good reverbs as well. I have several other DAWS on different computers, and in the past I've recorded with one computer and mixed and mastered with another. I think that with the Audiobox and Studio One, I'll be able to do respectable recordings from start to finish on my laptop. I can confirm that the Audiobox also works well with Adobe Audition, both the newest version and the old Version 1.5 that I have.
One final issue--latency. I found that working with the "Normal" setting in Studio One (the middle of 5 settings) my laptop was emitting occasional clicks and pops that got into the recordings. I found that to eliminate these pops, I had to move the setting to "Relaxed Normal" which causes greater latency. That is not a problem for me because I record and overdub using just the raw signals coming in from my instruments and voice, and so I don't need to monitor the input with the software's effects. This allows me to record with zero latency. It might be a problem for others who need to hear the software's effects on the input as they record. I might add here, that the "Mix" control on the Audiobox is very convenient for getting just the right blend of recording output and input as you're overdubbing-just crank it one way for more of the recording in your headphones, and the other way for more of the input. Studio One also makes punch-ins and editing of tracks, as well as mixdown ridiculously easy.
One other annoying thing--if I unplug the Audiobox from the computer while I have a session going, it causes the drivers to go haywire, and they have to be reinstalled. After the second time I did that, I learned my lesson.
Conclusion: this is a good cheap interface to get signal into a laptop computer. The software alone is probably worth the price of the box, and you will probably also be tempted to buy the upgrade later on. I give it about a 4-1/2 because I think the input gain could somehow be calibrated better. If you have any kind of preamp or processor around like the Art or the Boss, you won't have any problem getting enough gain. The box allows me to go mobile with my recording and the 48k, 24-bit sound is a noticeable improvement over 44.1k, 16-bit, at least to my ears.
After repeatedly installing, reinstalling, uninstalling, etc., I've determined that this equipment just isn't compatible with a 64-bit Windows 7 system. At least for me, it manages to only install the driver for playback and not the one for recording. Upon attempting the latter, the system hits me with an error message and doesn't seem to know what to do with itself.
The manufacturer, PreSonus, will claim that the updated and compatible 64-bit drivers are available on its website, but this is a load of hogwash as those don't work either. Not even the audio editing software that came in the box, StudioOne, managed to install correctly. That and the DRM associated with it made me want to vomit (mandatory account creation and online registration on the PreSonus website before using the software you just bought?? Gimme a break...)
So in all, this wasn't compatible with my system, and judging from the troubleshooting and forums available on the PreSonus website, I'm not the only person who has had this problem. If you have run Windows 7 on 64 bit or have a decently up-to-date computer, I'd be wary of this Audiobox USB interface. I just hope this review can save someone down the road some headaches. Peace.
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