Presonus AudioBox USB 96 Audio Interface
Amazon were offering this, on the day I bought it, for over £90, and wanted over £10 more for p&p. Bax charged me £76 + nothing for p&p. It arrived within a couple of days and was smaller and more solid than I had expected it would be. It is a robust and simple way of connecting two inputs (XLR or Jack) at studio quality into a computer.
Bax briefly mention a free download of Studio One Artist. I hadn't really taken in that this is a full DAW package (which alone PreSonus sell for "reduced to £59") which has all the features I'm ever likely to want. I had a copy of Cubase years ago and got lost in labyrinthine settings and struggled to route a signal how things have changed!
Yes, a piece of software with so many capabilities necessarily looks daunting at first, but there are loads of video tutorials available online many accessible from within the program that lead you through any process, and you quickly discover that the interface is well-designed and intuitive, with drag & drop used for many functions.
A bit of a technophobe who has previously failed to get to grips with both hardware and software, I found that I was quickly able to record guitar and vocals, and within an hour I was focused on the music-making rather than on learning the system.
If you need more than two simultaneous inputs you'll need a bigger box, but if, like me, two is enough for your needs, this box and the free DAW are pretty much a plug and play option for high quality multi-tracking. Decent headphones for monitoring are a must.
Cheap, robust, quick, simple to use and no compromise on quality. Excellent. Five stars, no doubt.
Bax briefly mention a free download of Studio One Artist. I hadn't really taken in that this is a full DAW package (which alone PreSonus sell for "reduced to £59") which has all the features I'm ever likely to want. I had a copy of Cubase years ago and got lost in labyrinthine settings and struggled to route a signal how things have changed!
Yes, a piece of software with so many capabilities necessarily looks daunting at first, but there are loads of video tutorials available online many accessible from within the program that lead you through any process, and you quickly discover that the interface is well-designed and intuitive, with drag & drop used for many functions.
A bit of a technophobe who has previously failed to get to grips with both hardware and software, I found that I was quickly able to record guitar and vocals, and within an hour I was focused on the music-making rather than on learning the system.
If you need more than two simultaneous inputs you'll need a bigger box, but if, like me, two is enough for your needs, this box and the free DAW are pretty much a plug and play option for high quality multi-tracking. Decent headphones for monitoring are a must.
Cheap, robust, quick, simple to use and no compromise on quality. Excellent. Five stars, no doubt.
June 26, 2020
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Stephe
