A little while back, I mentioned that I was putting together a secondary Windows laptop rig for quick capturing song ideas and doing some minor work while out and about. I mentioned that I was looking at the Behringer UMC204 or possibly one of the Audient offerings, but since it had been quite a number of years since the last time I purchased an audio interface, I was open to suggestions.

I got a few calls for Focusrite, MOTU, and some of the other usual suspects.

What no one recommended was the AudioBox USB 96.

But, after taking a look at my COVID-19 riddled 2020 budget and completely rethinking what I needed out of a secondary recording rig (mainly to be used as a sketch pad), and looking and re-looking at what was on the market, I kept coming back to the cheapest Presonus box, time and again.

So I pulled the trigger. I am now the proud owner of a Presonus AudioBox USB 96.

It had several things going for it: it had two mic pres, which is all the more I need, it has two instrument inputs (combo jack's with the mic pres, which in my case isn't a problem), it's bus powered, which was absolutely a must for my purposes, and to top it off, it was 20 bucks cheaper than the comparable Behringer box (the UMC202).

I added to this a small MIDI keyboard I got off Amazon for 30 bucks.

So after using this rig for the last two weeks or so, I can say that I am totally satisfied with my purchase. I mean, I kinda knew what I was getting into from the outset, so that certainly helps, but I also have to say that for what it is, I'm impressed with the little Presonus unit.

Sure. The mic pres are okay at best. The conversion is... Fine. It does what it says on the box. And sure, it only goes up to 96k, but I never, ever record above 48k to begin with, so it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me that it won't do 192. The instrument inputs peak a little quickly for my tastes (headroom is definitely an issue, there), but it's nothing I can't work with. Besides, I have several DI boxes I can use if it ever becomes a serious problem.

I will say this. It comes with Studio One Artist, which as it turns out is a definite plus. I had zero experience with Studio One beforehand, and I think it took me all of 20 minutes with it to get comfortable with it. The stock plugins seem completely usable. Presonus adds a little over 6 gigs of extras to the deal (more, if you consider all the promotional freebies from NI and IK and Arturia and the like).

Honestly, on the strength of Studio One alone, it's going to be hard for me to recommend anything other than Presonus interfaces to people who are just getting into recording. Studio One Artist is pretty comprehensive for free with purchase, I mean, unless you need to import video or sequence and author CD's.

And for a bit of controversy, after using just the interface, a couple of inexpensive mics (Samson CL 5's - their now discontinued Neumann hand-held knock off), only the plugins that come with the software package, and the free version of Steven Slate Drums for a couple of weeks, I see no reason why someone who is dedicated to learning the craft shouldn't be able to learn how to make perfectly fine recordings with this rig.

So the plan for the next little while is to limit myself to just the above mentioned gear, a pair of Shure 840's for tracking and mixing and my living room and car stereos for mix referencing and see just what I can get out of this set up. I'll post mixes from time to time if anyone is interested.

In the meantime, feel free to ask me anything about my experience as a new noob-rig owner.