PreSonus Audiobox USB

Barebones USb interface with two xlr/1-4inch inputs. I'm sure you know the specs, not too much to talk about.

Simple USB, had no trouble getting it to work as many seem to, BUT, I had problems with it cutting out about every minute during recording. Solved the problem by turning off my wireless card (??!!). My pc is a 2.0ghz DUALcore processor, 2gbs of ram, 7200rpm internal drive, etc; I shouldn't have latency issues recording one audio track. Mostly smooth after turning off that card, but why?

The preamps on this unit sound nice. Adequate I'd say. The problem comes when you want to record anything that's decently loud. Using an AKG Perception 200, I had to back the mic over a foot from the speaker of a custom Fender Princeton reverb, amp volume At THREE. The amp was barely breaking up, and a close-mic setup yielded a hot clipping signal thanks to the weirdly hot preamps on the Audiobox; and this was with the gain on channel one of the audiobox turned ALL THE WAY down (they don't turn off or mute, great). Of course one way to solve the issue is use an sm57 or similarly less sensitive mic, but then I'm compromising the tone.

One other note, the second channel on the audiobox stopped working, but this was probably because a buddy and I experimented with a weird signal flow network that must have fried it; I don't even remember what it was, but it was probably my fault. Just a note.

Bus-powered, no problems. Probably one of the best features actually. Phantom powered, very nice, however, the phantom power button (yes, a fun little light-up button) decided to fall into the interface, sort of still works, but not great quality on that (I didn't abuse it, just happened over time). Bus-power is a thing of beauty, and I didn't have any troubles with it, so decent rating on this.

I didn't really have any ASIO problems like some. Although when I was trying to figure out my latency issue, I tried ASIO4all, which is worthless, at least in this application. Once I worked out my weird wireless card issue, the presonus ASIO was fine.

Monitoring...here's a bizarre issue. The audiobox has a knob that allows you to control the amount of inputs and playback you hear via the headphone out. Nifty little feature for such a barebones interface, but there are issues. For some electric guitars, I need to DI and use VST virtual amps (cringe!), and so when I'm tracking, I need to hear the sound of the amp. Easy, I monitor the track in Cubase, works with no problems when sent to the audiobox. However, something is sucking virtually all bass frequencies from the main and headphone outs of the Audiobox. It would seem that the input/playback mix knob is creating a phase-cancellation within the unit, rendering it useless for mixdowns. I don't totally understand this issue and hope that I'm wrong, but haven't resolved it (besides resorting to mixing off of my sound card *double-cringe*).

Comes with Cubase LE 4, great version of Cubase, but that's personal preference.

Not recommended, but not the end of the world. I got it to work for what I needed, but am upgrading to something much more functional and powerful as soon as I'm able.

Still can't get it to work with Vista, after 4 months of customer support, and endless frustration. All they say is "uninstall and re-install the drivers, and call me back" and it hasn't worked once.
This was my intro to computer based recording, and it was a total disaster. I've since learned that I am not alone, in not being able to get this unit to work at all. I mean, how hard can this be, it's an entry level interface? I strongly suggest going with another Mfg.
When their own customer support can't get it to work, that's a huge red light.

I'll let you know if I can ever get it to work. So far, it's a $150.00 paper weight.

Again, inputs/outputs don't matter, when it simply doesn't communicate with your computer.

I was able to power up the unit, that's about it.

Drivers completely failed to communicate with my new Dell with Vista.

The Cubase LE looks great, if I could ever get a signal to it.

Major dissapointment on all levels. I've never been so frustrated with a piece of gear in my whole life. I think about how many songs I could have written, instead of staring at a computer screen with PreSonus customer support on the phone with no solution in sight.
Right now, I seriously consider this a $150.00 paper weight, because it wont record a note of music.

POrtable, USB 2.2 audio/midi interface, Asio. Nice looks, nice features. Nice price tag for the supposed quality backed up by the name. But that's where the beauty stops.

Couldn't check ... it doesn't work.

Drivers: I was advised by the factory to use Asio4all... that speaks for itself.

Factory Help: That's the great side of it: I manage to make a contact with someone at the factory, and I will return it to them, and they will fix it at no charge. He believes my unit is defective. So, that is a very good side of it: There's a problem, and they made themselves available to solve. Even out of warranty. By the consumer point of view, that's the minimun they were supoposed to do, aside the facts of time lost, the fact that I will need to buy another inexpensive Behringer UCA 202 to keep working until I get Audiobox back and all the hassle it has caused me.

It doesn't work, simply put. I couldn't have it running satisfactory neither in a pc nor a mac. Believe me, I tried IT ALL. Drivers, OS tweaking for audio performance, but it keeps crashing my computers and giving me a hard time to make it work. Work? Not quite: it starts then it may or may not keep running. Basic stuff, like DJing. But with Sonar and Cubase, too many drops, clicks and stuff.

Cheap, easy to use, although no support for vista 64 bit. I got a new computer and had to sell mine, and decided to upgrade to the firepod. Nice sturdy metal case, and extremely portable. The preamps sounded far better than the mic jack on my laptop but weren't as clear or as quiet as the ones on the firepods/fireboxes. I'd buy this product if you lack firewire or have a limited budget otherwise the firebox is a lot more versatile (with separate line inputs) and produces a lot clearer and less noisy sound at higher gain levels, but this thing is a great deal for the cost.

USB 2.0

2 mic/instrument inputs with preamps
1 Main out (that I think can be switched to a line input with a knob)
1 Midi in and out
1 Headphone out

Bus Powered!
Phantom power on both ins

The drivers that came with it had glitches, but the updated ones online worked fine.

I have spent the last 6 weeks trying to get the Presonus Audiobox to work, with no success at all. The drivers wont talk to the Cubase software, despite repeated help from their customer service.
I would recommend another manufacturer if you want to do computer based recording.

Will not talk to the computer, no matter what I try.

Doesn't work at all

You know a product is bad, when even 3 calls to tech support can't get it to record ONE NOTE of music. I can't tell you how frustrating and dissapointing this was. I could have been writing songs for the last 6 weeks instead of installing and uninstalling drivers, with no results.
Dont buy this.