Awesome device! 
by Sofs from Singapore, September 2008
Music Background:  Musician

I've been using this interface for 1 year now. At first there is a little bit of difficulty in the soundcard setup, but once steady, I realize its effectiveness. I have not upgraded my cubase LE but instead I use Magix music maker and works out very well. I usually set the beatbox or drums plugins when I record, plug a dynamic mic for vocals and acoustic guitar, and yes! it sounds great. I add some more piano/strings on line in and some electric guitar feels, then its done, a masterpiece! The IEEE connection is very good and I love it as well as the price. The body is solid, rugged and cool texture!

  The Perfect Small Interface for a Solo Musician/Singer 
by Randy from Arkansas, August 2008
Music Background:  Musician, Technician

I have been leery of ANY firewire interfaces under $500.00 after previous experiences with some models in the past. However, I can easily recommend the Inspire for anyone who only needs a couple of inputs to record simultaneously.

I took a chance on this for small recoding projects and have been quite amazed. I rate this one 5 stars because it works incredibly well for a firewire interface under $150.00 (and I hate to give anything 5 stars unles it really blows me away). Don't even look at the USB interfaces in this price range - they can't keep up. Latency doesn't exist no matter what I've tried to do.

I have used the Cubase LE4 software that came with it, but it Cubase LE4 no longer has Rewire support. I am currently using it with Reaper (another surprise find in recording software) Rewired with Reason. The fact that it works with Reaper means it will probably work with any recording software you match it up with except ProTools (which is specifically incompatible according to Presonus).

My computer is a lowly P4, and I have yet to make it skip or act up while running guitar or bass through Amplitube or any other combination of plugins. It is self powered through the six prong firewire connection (Apple style), but Presonus includes a power supply just in case you need it. It comes with a cable that features six prong connections on each end so make sure you order a six prong to four prong cable if your computer doesn't have a six prong connection. The nice thing about the six prong connection is that the extra two prongs supply the power saving power outlet space and possible interference. It can also be used as your full time audio interface on your PC if you have a wimpy or hard to access soundcard. It also features a metal frame with a plastic surround. It feels like it could stand up to a lot of abuse.

My previous USB interfaces were iffy at best, and could only run if everything else on the PC was stopped. My only problem was that the supplied driver failed shortly after startup and stopped recognizing the unit, but a quick trip to Presonus.com yielded a driver that worked fabulously.

The Presonus control panel software is minimalist and easy to use with great results. You cannot make any adjustments to your input sound from the hardware (which also means there is nothing to break), but the software is quick and easy to get used to.

The mic preamps are very good, but I still favor my ART Tube MP for my condensors. The built-in preamps won't beat the ones on an interface running several hundred dollars more, but they are in the same ballpark. Some of the plugins included will only work with Cubase, but I was able to get new versions that work in Reaper from the various plugin developers websites as well. I am so impressed with this item that I am now looking to add a Presonus Faderport for mouseless control of my Reaper inputs, and may add additional Inspires as well since up to four can be chained together.

This is a great model to get if you typically only record one or two tracks at a time. My setup is for vocals, guitar and bass through the Inspire (although I may add some field recording as well). I mainly use Reason and a keyboard controller for other tracks. To me this is the best interface to consider if you need a simple yet great sounding input for a very low price.

  Works for me 
by Wilbur from VT, May 2008
Music Background:  Music Teacher

For the price I'm very happy with the inspire. Worked with my DAW (logic 7) right away. Sounds good with my guitar plugged straight in. You can play with the gain and boost to make any mic sound good. Very portable. For an entry level home recorder/broke college student, this really fits the bill.

Excellent Value 
by Todd Zimmerman from Kalamazoo, March 2006

I am a fan of most of the PreSonus line, although I shy away from
some of the lowest priced units they make. They are fine,
but just not for me. This unit is an exception. I use the Inspire
for remote recording with my laptop. I am very pleased with the
audio quality of the mic / line inputs. Since I do not mix or
monitor through the unit I don't know how it would fair as the
primary audio interface, but it does a great job getting a good,
clean, strong signal into the computer. I use the unit with Digital
Performer and have found it very stable. I would not reccomend
the unit as your only audio interface, but it is a great secondary unit.

Smokin!! 
by Bobby K. from Dallas, TX, December 2005

This box is tiny and is really a pleasant surprise as far as the quality and sound. The preamps are quiet and I'm loving the fact that you can daisy chain more if you need more inputs (I'm only using two but might need more one day). I was using USB interfaces and went through hell trying to find one that didn't crap out on bandwidth - needless to say, I never found one and took a chance with the Inspire since it is about the same price as most decent USB boxes (about half as much as an mbox). Firewire is great - no clicks and pops and is great on the Mac since its core audio compatible. Just plug it in and my powerbook sees it. Thanks for a great box.

Eh 
by Billy V from Wisconsin, November 2005

It sounds good and it functions well; I haven't run into any errors or mishaps thus far. The preamps sound well enough for the price - the highs remain acceptably intact, but either that or the AD conversion is a bit noisy. At levels comfortable for singing I gather around a -77.73 noise floor. Full gain + boost is about -49.55 dB, but I can't imagine any time you'd really need that much gain. The DI's sound pretty good. The control panel makes sense and the knobs and faders function like any plugin does. The limiter is certainly workable if you don't put the gain up to absurd levels. The unbalanced monitor outs are a :(, but the thing that bugs me most is how quiet the headphone out is. It's fine if you're DI'ing or micing an acoustic, but it's too quiet if you need to do vocals over loud music (or in the same room as a live band.) Cubase LE is pretty crummy for mixing, but it has good monitoring options for tracking. And there's no MIDI or SPDIF or AES or any of those digital goodies, so I say take a look at the Firebox first. But this is still quite usable if you're on a pretty strict budget.

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