Valerie Mih plays jazz influenced ambient-classical music. Or perhaps it is classically influenced jazz-ambient music. Go listen to it and figure it out for yourself. Mih graciously talked about some of the first gear she bought when she began playing live. One of these pieces was the Presonus Inspire 1394.

"After getting the keyboard (Yamaha P-90), I needed an audio interface to connect the P-90 to my computer for audio recording. The Inspire 1394 did the trick. It's basically the entry-level (cheapest) PreSonus audio interface. It's only about $150 for a professional Firewire recording system with 24-bit / 96 kHz analog to digital conversion and four inputs," says Mih. "I use the line inputs for the P-90 and the two XLR inputs for mics to record vocals or other instruments. It came with a light version of Cubase, which I found to be rather un-user-friendly."

She stuck it out with the Cubase for awhile but them switched to Ableton Live which she found to be a better DAW (also with more capabilities).

"The Inspire 1394 works seamlessly with Ableton Live through Firewire, once the input / output preferences are setup properly." she says.

The Presonus is not all wine and roses however. It has a dark side.>/p>

"The downside of the Presonus is that it uses a software UI, instead of physical knobs, which I know bothers a lot of people, but I've gotten used to it. Since my style is acoustic jazz, my recording needs are pretty straightforward -- basically I set the levels and go, so I'm not adjusting the knobs very often," she says. "Also, since it is an entry-level audio interface, it doesn't have the best preamps that money can buy, of course. So far, I've made it work for me, but I will probably need to upgrade soon. I've used it for a couple years, and lately I've noticed some occasional glitches with the Firewire connection, which is usually resolved by restarting the computer -- not a good thing but it doesn't happen very often (once every couple of weeks). "

Overall, however, she says the PreSonus is an good entry level audio interface that works quite well.

To support of her new CD Mih will be using her live loop set up at a show at Anna’s Jazz Island in Berkeley California on December 28. There will be more shows to come including a solo piano concert at Ico Gallery in New York on March 27. Mih is also recording a new album inspired by the stages of yoga practice.