[unadrummer]

I'll try and address all your questions, Brandon...this is driving me nuts, but thanks for the response. It's nice to know somebody actually reads the posts!

Q)"Does whatever you are recording sound like a guitar with a wha pedal with a spike?"
A)If you mean "do you want the end product to sound like a wah pedal?" then no. I just want straight, clean acoustic guitar sound. I don't have any plug-ins or effects enabled.

Q)"How are you recording the guitar?"
A)Ibanez Electric/Acoustic straight through the pickup into Presonus Inspire GT Input 1 or 2. All levels on the guitar EQ are mid and/or Zero'd. Open up new audio track in Cubase LE, record enable it, turn on monitoring feature, set gain on Inspire control panel to mid-level and play.

Q)"Have you tried the other preamp in the Inspire to help ensure it is not a bad preamp?"
A)If the other preamp is the alternate input, then yes. Switched the input in Cubase LE to IN2 and tried again. Same results. Also, for fun, tried both mic inputs with identical results

Q)"While I hate recording guitars direct, for this test, I would plug my guitar straight into the Presonus and record that. It should sound like a fake, plastic, but clean electric guitar."
A)I wasn't aware there were other ways to do it. I was under the impression that you always plugged in your guitar/mic directly to the unit itself and recorded straight into Cubase LE.

Q)"I'd try 2 different guitars, 2 different guitar cables, 2 different preamps on the Presonus and see if the results change at all."
A)If I had 2 different guitars or cables, I certainly would. However, given that both mics I own on both mic cables in both mic inputs act the same, I don't think another guitar or 1/4" cord would change it through the instrument input.

Q)"From there, we move onto the computer. I've got a feeling that if Cubase is playing back the tracks with no problem, the issue is not in the way Cubase is recording them. It seams that the problem is probably before Cubase."
A)Cubase is, in fact, not playing the tracks back fine. It's playing them back exactly as it sounds during the monitoring/recording process. That it, complete with the clicks and pops and changes in volume.

Q)"I'd make sure I had the latest driver from Presonus."
A)Did that...the driver version on the website is 2.14.0 while the cd included with the Inspire has 2.0. Also, if it makes any difference, I'm working with the new Inspire GT. It's black with flames engraved and the control panel icon is labeled "Inspire GT Control" as opposed to "Inspire 1394 Control" which I downloaded.

Q)"For testing purposes, I'd crank up the latency to something pretty high...maybe 20 or 30ms. This will suck for playing, but it will see how your system reacts. If this fixes it, your computer may be too slow or have way too much junk on it."
A)I've turned the latency on the Inspire Control Panel all the way to 25ms (as high as it goes) and every setting in between with no change in results except for the appropriate delay.

Q)"You didn't describe your computer at all. "
A)Fujitsu laptop. Pentium 4 2.66GHz, 512 MB RAM. Windows XP

Q)"Also, I'd make sure that the Presonus is compatible with that particular firewire card."
A)This is the only item I'm unsure about. My laptop only has a 4-pin female firewire input. I purchased a 6-pin female/4-pin male adapter to get the unit to work with the included 6-pin/6-pin firewire cable. Also, as far as the compatibility issue goes...I'm not sure how to determine that.

I went through the recommended steps from Presonus's website to smooth out latency to no avail. Hope this helps move the problem on down the kill chain.