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|  | |  | | | PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 USB Recording Interface | | | | | | | |
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| $179.99 | |
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| $149.00 | |
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| | Features | 2 award-winning XMAX Class-A mic presRugged steel chassisCubase LE4 48-track recording softwareCompletely portable professional recording solutionMidi input/output
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| | Description | Capture your ideas wherever you are with the PreSonus AudioBox USB 2x2 USB recording system. The AudioBox USB is a USB bus-powered audio recording interface featuring 2 microphone/instrument inputs with 48V phantom power, 2 balanced TRS outputs, and MIDI in/out. The AudioBox USB is bundled with PreSonus Studio One Artist, with groundbreaking music creation program, and over 4 GB of virtual instruments, plug-ins, loops, and samples to get you started making music immediately. | |
| | Product Details | | Product Length: | 15.0 inches | | Product Width: | 10.0 inches | | Product Height: | 7.0 inches | | Product Weight: | 2.7 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.8 inches | | Package Width: | 6.9 inches | | Package Height: | 3.8 inches | | Package Weight: | 2.7 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 31 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 31 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Works great on a Mac Aug 16, 2009
By T. Cox
Brand New Review for Nov 2010:
I recommend this only if: 1) you are not recording a guitar with high output pickups through the instrument-in, because it will clip even with the gain turned all the way down on the AudioBox, 2) you are not using an SM57 or some other dynamic mic that requires more than 35dB of gain, otherwise it will be too quiet, and 3) your headphones have an impedance above 100 ohms, otherwise the USB-powered Audiobox can't keep up with the current draw and will have no bass in the headphone monitoring out.
If you meet those conditions, then this is a great, affordable, stable recording interface. On my Mac it's plug-n-play, both on my older G4 powerbook with Tiger and newer 2010 Mac Mini with Snow Leopard. On the Mac, no separate software or drivers are needed. The construction of the AudioBox is very good. All metal box, and metal knobs. The blue metal looks great.
The mic preamps sound pretty darn good, crystal clear if you're using a condenser mic. For recording vocals on condensers, this interface is great. If you're on an old system, however, recording direct guitar and running it through a virtual amp simulation will give you latency problems. Not as much on Core 2 Duo systems and above. Be advised that the zero-latency monitoring is for a clean signal going in, not the processed sound from your software plugin, thus you can't do zero-latency distorted guitar recording that way unless you listen to yourself play clean while recording.
Now officially this does not have line-level recording ability. So you can't take the headphone output from a walkman, guitar amp, or mp3 player into this. But actually that does work as long as you carefully keep the line signal volume low and plug it into the instrument jack on the AudioBox. I've done this and it records just fine. But if the line volume gets turned up too high, you risk burning out the chip inside the AudioBox, since it wasn't engineered with safety mechanisms for that, thus Presonus says it doesn't do line-in.
It gets 4 stars for what it does well, and minus 1 star because of the caveats / exceptions listed at the beginning. As with all gear buying, my honest recommendation is to save up and get something 1.5X the cost of what you thought you could afford. If I could do it all over again, I would get an Echo Audiofire 4, Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, or Apogee Duet and call it a day. But, my Audiobox has served me well for over two years now, made some great clear recordings, right up until I got new headphones with too low impedance and the bass dropped out.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Dumbing Down the Market Jun 19, 2010
By Mark Brown
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.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Best USB external sound card Mar 04, 2010
By Rexomus
"59 Fender"
This is the best external sound card I have ever used to record. I have used quite a few over the years and presonus has all the competition beat hands down. This unit is extremely quite, it reproduces exactly what it captures without adding any color as some cheaper units tend to taint your sound. The are no latency issues and I had no problem installing it on my Windows XP OS. I use this unit with Sonar 7 PE and have not experienced a single issue since I've used it. I highly recomend this equipment to any home studio operator. I will be purchasing preson equipment from now on.
***UPDATE*** July 15, 2010
I updated my computer to Windows 7 64 bit. I did not have one issue. The Audiobox works like a champ.
11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Drivers incompatible with Windows 7 -- terrible purchase May 14, 2011
By Disappointed Customer
I just bought the Audiobox USB and after wrestling with installation for five hours, I'm done with it and plan on returning it first thing tomorrow.
After repeatedly installing, reinstalling, uninstalling, etc., I've determined that this equipment just isn't compatible with a 64-bit Windows 7 system. At least for me, it manages to only install the driver for playback and not the one for recording. Upon attempting the latter, the system hits me with an error message and doesn't seem to know what to do with itself.
The manufacturer, PreSonus, will claim that the updated and compatible 64-bit drivers are available on its website, but this is a load of hogwash as those don't work either. Not even the audio editing software that came in the box, StudioOne, managed to install correctly. That and the DRM associated with it made me want to vomit (mandatory account creation and online registration on the PreSonus website before using the software you just bought?? Gimme a break...)
So in all, this wasn't compatible with my system, and judging from the troubleshooting and forums available on the PreSonus website, I'm not the only person who has had this problem. If you have run Windows 7 on 64 bit or have a decently up-to-date computer, I'd be wary of this Audiobox USB interface. I just hope this review can save someone down the road some headaches. Peace.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Works great in 32bit Windows, no 64bit support Nov 09, 2009
By Justin VanHalbert
I have used this for a year now with great success in 32bit Windows XP and now with 32bit Windows 7. Very stable, very reliable. However, there are two issues.
1) lack of 64bit support for XP/Vista/7
2) it is real easy to overload the pre-amps. Plugging in my electric guitar into the instument in, I have to turn the volume knob on the guitar down 3/4 of the way and turn the level on the input on the audiobox down all the way just to prevent it from clipping. Obviously, this is a major design flaw. These are not active pickups or anything. So if you plan on doing a lot of direct-in guitar work, you might look elsewhere. Otherwise, if you are going to be using an SM-57 or the like (with 32bit Windows), then by all means, this might be just what you are looking for.
See all 31 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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