PreSonus AudioBox USB Reviews

[brandondrury]

PreSonus AudioBox USB @ Musiciansfriend



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PreSonus AudioBox USB Description
The PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 USB recording system is an excellent solution for achieving high-quality, professional sounding recordings no matter where you are. The AudioBox USB is a USB bus-powered audio recording interface loaded with 2 microphone/instrument inputs with 48V phantom power, 2 balanced TRS outputs, and MIDI I/O so you can stay portable without sacrificing your sound. The AudioBox USB also comes equipped with Steinberg's Cubase LE 4 48-track recording and production software so you can start recording right out of the box. PreSonus Audio has won numerous awards for designing quality microphone preamplifiers for all price levels. The AudioBox USB is loaded with preamps that deliver high headroom, low noise, and high gain to give you pure, full, and rich sound. Most USB recording devices operate at a 16-bit sample rate and use converters with dynamic range of less than 90dB which gives you a pinched and relatively small sound. The AudioBox USB, however, uses professional-grade analog to digital converters with a dynamic range of 102dB and 24-bit sample rate so that the digital conversion is big, quiet, and musical, making it one of the best sounding USB bus-powered interface on the market. The AudioBox USB is bus-powered giving you the flexibility you need with no wall warts, line lumps, or power cables. Just plug in to a powered USB port and you are ready to record. The AudioBox USB is housed in an all-metal chassis with metal knobs able to withstand the rigors of travel and your touring adventures. Just toss the AudioBox USB in your laptop bag and mobilize your music creation and production. Whether you're recording your shows, creating a mix on the plane, or writing songs in your hotel room, the AudioBox is ready to go.

[Iemand33]

I bought this device a couple months ago and I'm fairly happy with it, but I won't recommend to it anyone because of some obvious flaws.
First of all, when I switch on the phantom power for my mic, some kind of hissing noise appears from the speakers, together with another (faint, but present) high frequency. Although this hissing sound doesn't make its way into the recordings, it something that should have been dealt with.
Second of all, the pre-amp volume switches have a too low range. I have an acoustic guitar with a piezo element build into it, but without any controls on the guitar itself. Even with the knob dialed all the way down, clipping still occurs leaving me no way to record the guitar using the piezo element.
Third.. There seem to be some problems with the Presonus ASIO drivers, causing crashes etc, after mailing Presonus about this they replied that I should use the Asio4all drivers, which work but have higher latency then theirs...
Forth... After rebooting the device failes to initialize or something, producing no sound at all or very, very faint. After pulling the USB plug and reinserting, the audio comes back. But sometimes, a mismatch appears between the samplerate of the computer and the interface (or something I'm no geek). I'm then able to play music, but with higher pitch then normal, rendering it useless. I need to shut-down the computer and start again to fix this problem.

Other then that, the Presonus audiobox USB does it's job and I'm happy with the quality of the recordings

[twohawks964]

I just bought this device, and am in the process of installing it on my computer. I can't seem to get any of the tutorials to run, they all give me a "read only" error message. Granted, I haven't completed the on-line licensing bit yet, does that make a difference? Everything seems to have installed properly, do I have to complete the online license before I can view the tutorials? This is my first excursion into computer-based recording, I've been using a digital stand-alone unit for the last 5 years. Hope somebody here can clue me in!

[garageband]

This is a cool little box. Sounds ood enough going in and coming out. MIDI interface is a huge plus. On my Mac, it works great. I never could get it to play nice with the PC laptop I had. The Cubase LE licensing is a bother and essentially the same Mac/PC story - which is odd becasue Steinberg/Yamaha are very PC-centric.

[BillT]

Quality: 8
The unit looks and feel rugged. That said, it never leaves my desk. For the price it works well (after a tedious pc cleanup of sorts).

I really like the built in input/output mix. Great for monitoring the recording direct. Perfect for a single songwriter who layers tracks. The built-in preamps are great given the market price.

Reliability: 7
I'm giving reliability a meager score due to how much I had to learn on my own about interference issues.

Things I learned last week:
1. Remove wireless cards. (noise and stuttering on playback)
2. Check AC cords for additional noise. This unit is very picky about grounds and cheap extension cords.
3. Good power supply. I replaced my old 300watt with a new 500 watt unit. That removed some noise as well.
4. If you set it up in one usb jack only use that one.

With all this things fixed - I give it a 9 for reliability. YMMV

Overall Rating: 8
I would recommend it but... be prepared to do a little house keeping in the noise and interference department. Given the market it's sold in Prosonus should include more detail about things to dial in. I had to learn on my own. The pros may know all this stuff but hey - this unit is priced for the newbie.

Overall I picked it over the Tascam unit because of the good reviews of the preamps.

[beethoven]

anyway with a yes or a no should I buy this for working on vista?

[soniceye]

Vista + Cubase LE4 + Presonus Audiobox = NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I'm having this problem...
Cubase LE4, Vista, PreSonus Audiobox : errors on ASIO driver selection