PreSonus AudioBox USB Reviews

William B. Doll
from Tequesta, FL
April 23, 2013Music Background:
AWD Recordings, Inc. - Owner

AudioBox USB

We used this unit to set up a small recording area for streaming music and live vocal. Setup is easy and it works great! Sweeteater is the place to buy, great customer service and tech support if you ever need it.

Bobby Pierce
from Los Angeles Ca.
January 24, 2013Music Background:
Recording Artist Piano and organ

Five star tool

I love the simple process of setting up the Presonus Audio Box usb and its functionality

Timothy King
from Hattiesburg, Ms USA
December 3, 2012Music Background:
Worship Leader, Musician

Fantastic!

The day I bought it, I plugged right in to my church PA system and immediately began recording our services directly onto my computer, and what great quality!

Big Red Love Machine
from Seattle Wa.
October 2, 2012Music Background:
guitar monster

Why Not !!!!

Quality through and through, at an insanely affordable price. Not to mention the FREE Studio One Artist DAW!!!!

Geoffrey Keane
from Stratford, CT, USA
April 19, 2012Music Background:
semi-pro musician/ composer/ recording artist

a musician's dream, an amazing value!

I can't believe that for $140 dollars I could get all this capability and flexibility for composing and charting music on my new sequencer software/ midi interface box setup. I used to use Voyetra which is quite outdated I know, but it was somewhat effective for sequencing; but this new software is amazing- There is so much you can do with it; adding and deleting measures; highlighting notes on a track and quantizing in triplets or any other note value, separately for any measure(s) you select, changing time signatures within the piece, copying selected groups of measures and pasting them over the same notes for added volume in certain measures on any track, creating a new song file and copying accidentally screwed up measures from one song file and pasting them into the new file and they are automatically quantized perfectly, creating a rhythm such as triplets by playing a single note over and over again in time for a few measures, and then copying this and pasting it several times like to create a long track of triplets, and then using the mouse to move each note to create melodies or harmonies as you can hear the pitch of each note as you go (what an easy way to create the fastest passages and produce intricate compositions without even knowing how to play a keyboard); I could go on and n, but I think I've made my point- anyone with half a brain could use this software, have agreat time and produce very satisfactory results.

Lilian Marro
from United States
January 7, 2012Music Background:
Guitar player

Pre Sonus and AV 40 M audio speakers

The two products I ordered are awesome. Presonus Audio interface and The AV 40 audio monitors are easy to use and a great starter system for recording on the Ipad and computer. I am very pleased. But more importantly, Sweetwater is an amazing company with outstanding customer service. I will definitely be doing business with them for all my pro audio needs and gear. John Ptak is wonderful. His follow up and technical support is is superb and a cut above. Keep up the great work. Also want to mention, the products arrived on schedule and with a call from John to insure everything was just right. You guys know how important customer service is and I appreciate that and will send all of my friends to Sweetwater.com.without hesitation.

JET
from USA
January 5, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician

Best Bang for your buck!

Simple, powerful with near zero latency. Heavy duty housing is made to withstand hard use. Many complain about the inputs being hot. However, with proper adjustment this thing works just great! Tweak it, you'll dig it. I have had several interfaces in this price range and the AudioBox is the hit. The others were completely irritating to load and run, with plenty of bugs. This one was headache free for me. I am running it in Presonus Studio One Pro but it comes with artist which is a nice DAW.

Rick Mendyka Sr
from Gillette, Wyoming
November 14, 2011Music Background:
Former full-time Pro Musician, Live Sound and Recording Engineer

Mac and OSX Lion READY!

I loved that I only needed to plug the PreSonus AudioBox USB into my Mac running OSX Lion and it was instantly fully usable! This unit replaced a Tascam unit that Tascam refuses to support any longer and am very pleased with the PreSonus unit. I hear comments that the inputs are "Hot", but if you read the instructions and balance your input with the Mixer knob, as well as adjust the mic/instrument input signal, the result is awesome. I use Apple Logic and get crystal clear recording results and much improved overall sound quality over the Tascam interface. This is a great product for it's pricing and I have no negative issues whatsoever with the PreSonus AudioBox USB unit. Does what it says, no install other than plugging the unit into the Mac, a few quick adjustments... what more could you possibly ask for in a unit whether it cost $150 or $1,500? The PreSonus unit is like my Mac... it just works!

Bud sivillo
from Wickliff Ohio USA
October 11, 2011Music Background:
Pro musician, for 30 years,now it's a hobby,& for teaching my grandchildren

Great

I really appreciate the follow up and the personal contact from sweet water and I'll be shopping for products in the near future

Hal
from Virginia
September 16, 2011Music Background:
Ex pro musician

PreSonus AudioBox USB

Great gear. I have tried a few different setups but this is the easiest to use of all of then and Studio One integrates seamlessly with PSABUSB. I can finally create basic home recordings of original ideas. And the folks at Sweetwater are always very supportive.

EMMANUEL CASTRO
from PUERTO RICO
April 25, 2011Music Background:
RECORDING ENGINEER, ACTIVE MUSICIAN, STUDENT AND TEACHER

Great Great Great LOV IT!!!!

ITS THE BEST MACHINE I HAVE EVER TRIED FOR BEGINNERS. EASY TO INSTALL GREAT QUALITY, AND SUPER NICE TOOLS.

G.S.Mario
from Corsicana, TX
March 29, 2011Music Background:
Recording Artist, Indpendent Producer

Absolutely A Must-Take-Home Piece of Gear!!

I think I already gave this product some excellent review not too long ago. However, I can't help but coming back to Stillwater to recommend this excellent piece of gear by Presonus once again to anyone who has yet to buy this gear. With Studio One Artist thrown in for free, perhaps the best DAW ever to hit the market since Cubase and Nuendo, and even better, you can't ask for a better deal!! AudoBox will absolutely blow you away!! Once installed with the Studio One DAW, be a witness to the perfect marriage ever!! The two work together flawlessly because they were designed that way under the same company. In case you don't know, Studio One was the brainchild of the same software deigners/engineers who created Cubase and Nuendo. Please give this gear a try!! I promise you, you will fall over-hill in love with this amazing gear!!

Victoria
from Arizona
January 20, 2011Music Background:
Songwriter & Audio Engineer

WOW

I love my audio box USB.
I dont care what anyone says!
This is the best portable interface you can get.
Its never let me down.
DEF one of the best purchases ive done & presonus technical service is fast to get back to you! The company rocks.
Buy it!

Ryan
from Houma, LA
January 7, 2011Music Background:
Sound Guy

I only use it for output

I don't need mic in, But wanted a good quality balanced output for 2 media pc's at our church. Presonus is great. Quality is amazing. 1000 x better than pc sound card. I don't care how good the card is.

JHofferle
from
November 11, 2010

Working great on Windows 7 x64

I needed an audio interface for recording some voice-overs on some training videos. After reading many reviews on several sites, the two main complaints about the audiobox were problems with 64 bit drivers and preamps that were too hot, causing clipping at the lowest gain settings.

I decided to give the audiobox a shot because the complaints about the driver issues were several months old, and I wasn't concerned about the hot preamps because the mic I was planning to use, the Studio Projects B1, has a built-in pad.

I'm happy to report I had zero problems on my Win7 x64 system with the latest drivers from the Presonus website. I also did not experience any problems with hot preamps and did not have to use the pad on my mic.

I was planning to use Audacity for recording, but since the Studio One software is included for free, I gave it a try and it's very nice. I was concerned it would be too complex for a simple voice-over track, but so far it's been very easy to edit and manipulate the audio, even for someone with zero sound production experience.

I'm very happy with my purchase and recommend this to anyone that needs something simple, but wants a step-up from a USB microphone.

Christian
from Lafayette, LA
May 11, 2010Music Background:
starving musician

Worth Every Penny

I absolutely love it. It has great sound quality, it's tough, and it's simple. The Software that it comes with is simple to use and still extremely versatile. The software has never crashed on me, lost any of my files, or any other bad experiences. I wish it had more inputs, but that comes with price. Other than that, absolutely no downfalls.

Also, once you get the hang of it, you can go from having an idea to recording in about 20 seconds.

I would HIGHLY recommend this to anyone.

Warren
from Orlando Florida
May 1, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

Easy to set up and get started

I obtained the PreSonus to be able to do home recording. It set up very easily and I was able to get started right away. For an inexpensive way to start your own recording I would highly recommend this product. The software Studio One for a novice takes a little while to figure out but I'm very impressed with its capabilities.

Tony
from Long Island NY
December 21, 2011Music Background:
Church Musician and Home Recording

Really Nice Unit

I bought this because I was shopping for a new recording program (DAW)
I found this unit to work flawlessly. No latency whatsoever. The controls are everything you need. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star is because the inputs are too hot but that is remedied by using a mixer and not plugging in direct (which is the way to go anyway)
All in all an interface well worth the money.

irapotato
from New Jersey
June 1, 2011Music Background:
Recording Engineer

Amazing First Interface

Though it may be small and relatively inexpensive, the Audiobox USB packs an enormous punch. The blue box, weighing about a pound or two, is made of sturdy metal, which should be able to survive everything it's put through with flying colors. The knobs are all stepped, which makes recreating settings much easier than freely-turning knobs, and the metal knobs are easily grabbed under any condition. As for I/O, the AB sports two Neutrik TRS/XLR jacks, which can be used to record microphones, guitars, basses, keyboards, and anything else with those connectors. It also sports phantom power via an illuminated button on the front of the unit, making switching between mics a breeze.

As for sound? Well, the AB gives the kind of sound you would expect from a good interface - it doesn't color the sound too much and the sound quality is good. Just be sure to check your levels - 1/4 inch instruments (guitars, basses, keyboards) clip very easily, even at the lowest volume settings. However, an external preamp or -10db pad will fix this.

As is, the Audiobox USB is a great starter interface - it sounds good, it's affordable, and, because of its MIDI IO, sturdy metal construction, headphone amp, and high quality neutrik jacks, it will last you for years to come. I would (and have) recommend it to friends.

Trey Sansom
from Knoxville, TN
April 23, 2009Music Background:
Pro Musician, Teacher, Recording Engineer

Best Portable Box For the Money!

This is definitely the best box for the money! I am a big fan of the Presonus preamps and an even bigger fan of their customer service. I had a warranty issue with another piece of Presonus gear earlier this year and it only took 9 days from the time I shipped it to them to the time that I got it back fixed. Customer service is a huge issue for me and that is also why I always deal with Jason Koons ext. 1389 here at Sweetwater. He is the best music dealer that I have ever worked with! Call Jason if you want a great sales experience.

W. Etheridge
from Houma, LA
December 17, 2008Music Background:
Pro Musician

Great little box, very surprising

I've used both the Digi and M Audio interfaces and this is BY FAR a much better sounding box with much better construction. It's built like a tank and doesn't feel all cheap like the other ones in this price range. Cubase LE4 is ok. I'm using Garageband and Logic with it and so far it's been great.

Chrys Fernandez
from Singapore
December 16, 2008Music Background:
Hobbyist, Advertising Producer

Good, solid product

Very solid build. Worked 'out of the box' on my old Dell running XP. Installing Cubase was a little more laborious than I would like but after the installation, it has worked without a hitch.

Very good clean sound when I recorded acoustic guitar with 2 condensers running straight into the inputs. I like the idea of being able to power my mics without separate preamps. I still have mine, which I used to use with my older audio i/o but i'm not seeing a huge trade off just using the very good ones that come with the box.

Very happy with this inexpensive yet high performing product.

Skip Zehnder
from Walnut Creek, Ca
April 27, 2013Music Background:
Voice Over Actor

PreSonus AudioBox USB is good choice for voice recording

I paired up the AudioBox USB with a Rode NT1-A mic to record with Audacity on my laptop. It was easy to install the drivers and is easy to use. Once I got it set up I don't have to worry about it. It just does it job.

Wtr
from Louisville, KY
October 17, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

works well - sounds good

Simple, cost effective - no surprises. Using this with Cakewalk Sonar X1 Essentials and it works flawlessly. For a complete neophyte to digital recording, a product like this is a great tool for getting started; and it sounds good. Thanks to Wes at Sweetwater for helping me make a great choice.

Carmine Forte
from United States
June 26, 2012Music Background:
Hobbyist

PreSonous Audio Box USB

The PreSonous Audio Box USB works great The software that comes with it is Studio One Artist is great. My only problem with the system is that the directions with the software Studio One Artist are really for Studio One Pro, and at times can be confusing. The Good news is that the tech support at Sweetwater will help you over every bump in the road. Keep up the good work.

Larry Gralnik
from Sacramento, CA
May 13, 2012Music Background:
Musician

Audiobox gets it done

I was looking for a I/O interface that had a preamp for my condenser Mic and this little box got it done! Software was an added bonus. I recorded with it and was very impressed by all the features. I would reccomend this interface to anyone who only neesds one or two mics!

Daniel Fay
from West Lafayette IN.
April 24, 2012Music Background:
Local band, Local singer song writer,

Great stuff

I was looking for somthing simple and to the point for recording my own projects and demos for our band. This unit was the ticket. My Sweetwater rep, Nick S. told me he felt this was the unit I needed and he was right on the money. I loaded the Studio one software and the drivers one evening and had a 5 track song completed on my first try. Its a great tool for those of us who don't need complicated, "read a whole manual before recording" software. The only reason I didnt give it 5 stars is because it didnt load at all like the printed directions said it would. If a person had little or no PC knowledge they would have been completly lost. Second, some of the simple features like editing out a part and dropping in a new one require more research than I think they should. But dont let that stop you. Great product!! Going to be going up to the next level of studio one in a couple weeks.

Dave Erving
from United States
February 11, 2012Music Background:
Have played just about every instrument(except horns). Dad was a Jazz musician, so I played music before I could walk

PreSonus AudioBox Usb

Just got back into music after 15 yrs., when I quit everything was analog, now with digi., the possibilities are limitless. Really love the Audiobox and Studio One is def. a plus!!!

Ken Soper
from Nashville, TN
January 22, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician

A great sounding, affordable, well-built box.

I needed a robust, but inexpensive audio interface to use on occasional live gigs with a laptop running a vst host and several plug-ins. You can read further if you care to, but short review: huge bang for the buck. This box is built like a tank and I wouldn't be afraid of it being accidentally knocked on the floor by an exuberant bar patron. The small footprint means that it can sit comfortably on top of my controller keyboard where I have easy access to the knobs. The software cd included the most current drivers and the website was easily negotiated when I had a issues.

Installation was a little troublesome, but it is not the fault of the PreSonus hardware or drivers. The laptop I use is an AMD quad-core/Windows 7 machine and has the audio built into the chip. As a result the native drivers are a little more reluctant to allow installation of an additional sound card. There is an installation sequence, though, that permits a successful boot.

I've tried other usb interfaces in this price point from Tascam and Lexicon, but the PreSonus AudioBox stands head and shoulders above them in build quality, stability (once installed), and over all sound.

Adam
from Erie, PA USA
June 7, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist Electronic Musician / Recording Engineer

Plug and Play with Linux, hooray!

After lots of struggles with getting other USB interfaces to play nicely with my Linux setup, this one works seamlessly right out of the box and is fully recognized by JACK for both audio and MIDI.

It's a simple, solid box with all the features I need for my little one-man-and-a-netbook operation. Line level inputs would be nice, but I've managed to run line level sources to the instrument inputs at low levels with no clipping. The MIDI in & outs are a nice feature to have, and one that seems to be missing on a lot of interfaces at this price point.

Definitely recommended, and specifically for any other Linux folks out there...

Daniel
from USA
September 27, 2010Music Background:
musician

I dig this!

It took me a little while to work out all the bugs, but for the most part it's user friendly. I've never used recording software so I certainly had a learning curve to overcome. The audiobox works great, the most difficult part was finding all the tweaks in the software to make what I wanted to happen actually happen. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase, I've had it for about nine months now, and I am upgrading my laptop but I am going to continue to use studio one because I think it is amazing and now that I am very familiar with it, I can make my music sound like I envision it.

Andrew
from Lynchburg, VA
October 24, 2009Music Background:
Home Recording Hobbyist

Great w/Mac! Bad w/PC!

I can't give this product 5 stars because it just doesn't work on my PC which is an older computer. But on my MacBook it works GREAT! It's built like a little tank and the knobs and inputs are well thought out! The preamps are a little HOT, but they sound great! Guess I'm going to sell my PC and go all mac now, Logic is so much better than Sonar anyway!

CTB
from Woodbridge, VA
June 13, 2008Music Background:
Rapper, Hobbyist, Music Enthusiast

Good for the price!

Works great for what I wanted! Simple interface with good sound quality! Just need an inexpensive interface to bring out my mic more (AT 3035). You may need a tube preamp to warm the sound a little, other that that the signal is clear and clean. A very good buy for the "simple" artists out there, like me!

uebermetal
from East Coast USA
May 8, 2008Music Background:
hobbyist and songwriter

Solid USB Interface

This works well with a Mac, just plug it in, select the Audiobox in the sound preferences, and then you are ready to record and monitor in full stereo.

Two downsides: 1) it does not have a line-level input, so you can only do instrument / midi / mic, and 2) USB + CPU under 1.5Ghz = noticeable latency. The faster your computer, the less problems you'll have with latency.

To get around latency, you would have to monitor your input from the Audiobox rather than from the program you are recording with. For instance, if you plug in a guitar to distort with a software plug-in, you'll be monitoring the guitar's clean signal via the Audiobox before it reaches the plugin running on the computer. That is the only way to get zero latency monitoring, right at the source. Of course what gets recorded and played back is the guitar with full effects.

Construction and looks are fantastic, though. No cheap plastic cases or dials. All metal and a nice blue brushed aluminum faceplate. For the price, I recommend it. It works as advertised on a Mac (haven't tried it on a PC yet) and the mic preamps are pretty darn good. Meaning, good sound ... better than cheap mixers and way better than your stock computer sound card.

Because it is bus-powered, the mic preamp gain is mediocre. Condensers are best for vocals with this, while for louder signals like a guitar amp you can get away with dynamic mics.

If you are on a budget but need a good sounding interface and have a decent computer, I recommend this Audiobox. Otherwise I recommend the next step up, the Presonus Firebox at double the price.

Joshua Lawrence
from Boston, MA
January 6, 2013Music Background:
Producer, DJ, Recording Engineer

Love It For Playback, Hate for Live Recording

So I needed something small and simple + I wanted to try out the Studio One DAW.

PROS
The sound quality comes out great in my mixes. Very easy to hook up. I'm on a Mac so it was just plug and play. Get compliments all the time even though this has the 48kHz limitation. It's very strong/ sturdy. Can't say I dropped it but if I did it would break the floor rather then break itself. I've used it for 5 months now and I use it to play normal audio that doesn't include studio sessions.

CONS
Down the line it was time to start recording voice and instruments. The box was giving a clip signal on every input. You don't even have to turn the inputs up from 0...the signal is WAY to hot and it does clip very badly. We had a mic setup with shock mount and it took every footstep or movement into the recording. Of course we have ways of getting around it, but we really shouldn't need to. There is also a bit of latency issues. I have to change the sampling rate at times in different DAWS just to get the sound right. It's not to consistent.

I do like this box but I would suggest this for those folks who are just starting out with production. If your looking to record check out something more high end. Even on a low budget this AI just isn't good for that purpose. If your going to do PreSonus I would suggest the FireStudio.

Lance
from Ebina, Japan
June 12, 2012Music Background:
Home Studio Guy

Good box for the price, but with caveats

The PreSonus is rugged, easy to use, has good sounding pre-amps and is really great for beginners, which is the target market for this price range. If, however, you feel there's any chance some day you may want to expand a bit (i.e., you're thinking, "I'll get the cheap model first and if I like recording, then I'll buy something better"), then I recommend you just go ahead and jump to a higher level right now. You ARE going to like recording, friend, and you will likely get frustrated with this box if you start getting serious.

If you take that advice, you'll want to check out something in FireWire most likely, and it will be a Focusrite Saffire model, or maybe the TC Electronics Impact Twin or whatever.

The reason I say you will want to eventually upgrade if you get more serious is that the AudioBox, being USB and limited to 48Khz, has some latency issues regardless of the power of your machine, and it also has (as some other reviewers have mentioned) a SMOKING HOT SIGNAL coming out the back end. This will add noise to your recordings if there is any noise in your signal path (e.g. room noise in your mic, hum in your guitar line, etc.) and will lead to early clipping of just about anything you plug into it. Think of it like turning up the pre-gain on a guitar amp really high. Now no matter what you do to your post-volume knob, you're still going to have some buzz in there and you have less room to turn things up before the signal distorts. That's what my experience was with the Audiobox. The pre-amps didn't sound bad on their own, but the signal coming out of the Audiobox and into my DAW (even with the gain on 0) was so hot that I had to really struggle to use any standalone pre-amp in front of the Audiobox at all -- the signal would just clip too fast and too often.

I owned this unit for about a year, though, before I finally called it quits and upgraded to something in the $300-500 range. Knowing what I do now, I would have started up in that range and saved the initial outlay of cash for the Audiobox. But if you are REALLY sure you're never going to upgrade, then you could do a whole lot worse than this box as your interface. It also comes with a free version of Studio One Artist (though you can, as I write this, download a free version of Studio One from the PreSonus website). The free version is pretty limited, but it convinced me to make Studio One Pro my permanent DAW and that has not changed to this day.

Daniel Berlin
from Morrisville, NC
November 2, 2011Music Background:
Advanced Hobbyist

Excellent interface, but HOT inputs!

I have used this interface successfully on both Mac OS X and Windows 7 in a number of DAW software products. (Logic, Garageband, Sonar) The latency is low for software monitoring (7ms or less on mac, ~9-10ms on Windows) and it is a very sturdy and reliable interface. Plug and play, it works without too much hassle. Mixer controls to manage monitoring of live inputs is extremely helpful and separate headphone and main volume controls come in handy when using both studio monitors and headphones. Sound quality is good, with low, but noticeable noise that is competitive with products in this price range. The inputs are way too hot for most practical applications. Even with a passive, unpowered electric guitar turned at half volume plugged into one of the inputs, it must be kept at the lowest setting to avoid clipping. For microphone recording with a quality preamp, I need to use the padding feature on the mic AND on the preamp to keep the output low enough to avoid clipping, and I can barely drive my tube preamp to get the warmth I would prefer. There is a little bit more noise in my recordings because I need to keep the inputs so low before they go into the AudioBox. For pros or advanced hobbyists, the hot inputs may be too frustrating to work with, but for beginners, turning them down to the lowest setting will generally work OK, especially if you are directly connecting your instrument or mic to the device.

FS
from Chicago, IL
September 9, 2009Music Background:
Progressive Rock, Vocalist, Guitarist, Producer

Undecided

While the mobile vocal recordings I get with the AudioBox USB are decent and clean. It comes with no software or plugins. I use a Rode S1 mic (previously through a Line 6 Toneport UX2) and I loved that. It's "Gearbox" presets like "Studio Vocal" *instantly* improved my recordings while they were happening. With this Presonus, I think the preamps are good, but good luck getting the right balance between your monitoring and recording levels. The monitoring/headphone levels/mix are absolutely poor. It's all guesswork. You will always be monkeying around with balancing playback with what you want to hear of your recording. I never feel like I'm "singing with the mix" with this box. I'm unimpressed by the AudioBox and a few people recommended it to me. What it needs is better monitoring features and perhaps some go-between software/plugins.

from
December 9, 2011

Great as MIDI i/f, so-so as audio i/f

I bought it mainly as a MIDI interface, and it works great for that. Installation on Win7 was simple.

As an audio interface, it is not great. With dynamic mics, there is not enough gain, and it seems to be a little noisy I got the noise down to an acceptable level by using a condenser mic. OK for quick amateur recordings. It integrated cleanly with Audacity with both channels supported.

Not bad for the price.

Jess (nPHYN1T3 - SHED)
from Canada
February 11, 2010Music Background:
19 years live sound, 12 engeineering & production, vocalist, drummer, guitar player

Fast but too hot

Sadly this is tough to put a number to for quality. Really this is a bad ass little box. Triggering my drums it's outperformed the other units I tried but while I'd typically have to say it was the most stable external unit I've seen the mic pres were a deal breaker. Everything else worked great despite Windows trying to replace the drivers with no warning.

I actually chose Presonus in the end because of so many engineers I know having said over the years they loved Presonus pre's but what I found was the Audiobox pre's are so hot I can redline my inputs with my input on the unit @ 0. I would expect with volume or input levels at zero that there would be ZERO input or volume. However with this guy 0 means a lot and +1 to +30 means BLAZING to NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST! (Mushroom cloud)

Presonus confirmed this is the hottest unit they make. I never tried line level stuff like keyboards or direct in guitar but both dynamic and condenser mics were uncontrollable for me forcing my test vocals to be done across the room just to see if I could get a take that wasn't all red.

If you sing like a breathy choir boy/girl, i.e. have no clue what diaphragm is this box has gobs of boost to make your inaudible vocal pop. If you know what a diaphragm is, If you have sung for a southern gospel choir or do serious power vocals for blues, rock or death metal, step away from the Audiobox.

On the upswing though as I said triggering was very suprising and after working out some dumb issues that were OS level not drive or unit related the box is fast for USB 1.1 and holds it S@#t together where I've seen Mboxes just randomly "disconnect" in the middle of a take.

Build quality is pretty good, hell anything that isn't 100% plastic these days has to tell you something. Bottom line is it's a good unit, just not for serious vocals. Of course you might argue the fact this unit doesn't do above 48khz is an obvious or glaring indication it's not going to be used to mega star vocals but with most anything being pressed to 44.1 CD or even worse, an mp3 48khz is more than enough to do a killer album, and when you're as big as Sting you can give a shit about everything being the highest human technology can deliver.

Thomas Hughes
from Knoxville, TN
July 8, 2012Music Background:
Producer and Musician.

Good Hardware, Poor Drivers

Pros: Compact, lightweight, durable, and versatile.

Cons: Drivers are poorly written. Presonus has dispatched two separate companies to write drivers for their product during my ownership of this interface. Neither of which perform correctly on windows 7 with a fresh installation and modern hardware. Issues ranging from audio dropouts, pops, clicks, DAW crashes, and disabling of the driver entirely which required a reinstallation and reboot. If you are a home user only it might be acceptable to use this interface but as a live performer this unit is simply embarassing.

from Indianapolis
February 15, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician, Engineer

A noisy interface

Respectfully, I am disappointed with the sound of this interface. Lots of noise in the 1/4" lines and headphone out.It works well for live monitoring It's just not suitable for recording or studio monitoring. Also, one of the pots is a little scratchy. I did hear that Presonus may have come out with an updated version. I like the USB power and the small but solid form factor. I'm generally a fan of Presonus gear and I love Studio One.

Rick Hansen
from Greenville, SC USA
October 27, 2010Music Background:
Semi-pro musician, live sound engineer, hobby recording engineer

So-So Product

My main purpose for this was to record rhythm tracks for practicing. In this role, it is sufficient. However, it has very annoying noise in both record and playback mode that would make it unusable for anything serious.

Maybe this is a problem with this specific unit?

Software (Studio-One) is great. It's easy to figure out and works really well even on my crappy old Dell D620 with 3GB of memory and a pathetic 80gig hard drive.

Mark Brown
from Austin, TX
June 19, 2010Music Background:
Musician, Amateur Recording Engineer

Dumbing Down the Market

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.

ds017
from Boston, MA USA
December 27, 2009Music Background:
Singer/Songwriter, Live Sound Engineer

noisy when 48 volt power on

The unit works to a degree, but turn on the 48 volt phantom power circuit to work with a nice condenser mic, and a whine is audible in your headphones, and does end up in your recordings too. Turn off the 48 volt button and you can hear the whine lower in pitch and drop out. Seems like a badly designed switching converter circuit.

Does not live up to the Presonus name.

Douglas O Smith
from United States
May 13, 2013Music Background:
musician

cannot recommend

volume knob went belly up just after three years so any warrantee is null and void. Sure I could send it in for repairs at $70 an hour but why in heavens name would I do that? The Imac keeps on refusing to recognize the drivers, This has been going on for years, should have sent it back long ago, therefore I have to unplug and unplug it ime and time again. I will now get a better unit. I am sorry but even at $150 bucks I expect something better this. I work really hard for my cash, I expect some decent product for more than 3 years here.

T.
from NJ
November 22, 2012Music Background:
Many years of playing and recording.

couldn't get it to work with Windows Vista

Now matter how hard they tried, (and to their credit, they did try) the tech support folks at PreSonus couldn't get this to work with my computer (Dell w/Windows Vista). I unloaded and re-loaded the drivers, checked my cables and did everything that was suggested, and it still wouldn't work.
I'm shortly going to try it with a Mac, and hope for better results.

Dave Zinn
from United States
November 14, 2011Music Background:
20 years Songwriting, recording, and performance

Device OK - Software installation NIGHTMARE

device is fine - what I was looking for a simple, portable interface - but I have been trying to get everything installed now for a couple of weeks off and on. I've been using a mac for 20 years tons of recording and graphics software and I have yet to deal with such an array of non-working plugins looping windows of frustration, authorization codes that don't exist. The worst experience ever!!!!

Alan Barnes
from Salisbury MD
May 5, 2010Music Background:
hobbyist

Beyond Bad - So Sad

As mentioned in other reviews -the minimum levels of the preamps are hot enough to fry an egg. I have one mic with a 10db pad I have to use just to get within 2 feet of the mic, and I'm no opera singer. My guitar signal goes through a Line 6 tone port first, and I have to use the pad on that too.
The hot I could live with. The 48v phantom power noise, which comes and goes, I can't.
Even worse, it has a much mentioned poor driver for Win7 64 bit. You get sheets of white noise so loud that you will never father a child when you power on the unit - i.e. start the pc up. You can unplug and plug back in the USB cable to stop the madness, but often this thing will just stop outputting audio. Another USB plug/unplug or 3 gets the audio working again.
I had a Presonus Inspire before this that worked fine. This is garbage. I'm starting to believe that no one makes a decent interface below the $300 price point.