incompatibility presonus 1818

I requested information about incompatibility reported presonus driver usb 1818 VSL and Sonar X1 and possible solutions  . (Windows 7 32bit)
Thank you
araujo1811@gmail.com

ps, best remove your email address from your original post ;-)
 

Hi The Maartian.  I too have the Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL audio interface, and it was rock-solid steady in Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
 
I run at 128 samples for my ASIO Buffer Size, at 48 K, and zero problems whatsoever.  I even use the 8-port expansion unit for it, with the ADAT Light Pipes, to give me 16 wonderful mic/instrument inputs.
 
I would suggest making sure that Windows and Sonar are both completely up to date on maintenance, and look for things like interference from other applications (ASIO4ALL being installed, antivirus software, WiFi adapters, etc.), and make sure you don't have Windows also set to access the audio interface while running Sonar with Sonar trying to have control over the audio interface at the same time - I suggest NOT having multiple things point to the audio interface in ASIO driver mode).
 
Lastly, is the firmware for your AudioBox 1818VSL up to date?
 
Bob Bone
 

I truly feel for anybody that is having issues.
 
I had a very different set of experiences with the AudioBox 1818VSL, and with Presonus technical support.
 
I had an issue early into using the interface with Windows 8.1 - but the Presonus folks were able to get it squared away - cannot recall the details.
 
About six months ago, my Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL did finally fail, where it would not properly sync up to the computer, and it was at that point unusable.  Soooooo, since it was out of warranty, (it had worked well for about 5 years), I used the Presonus support option to refurbish the unit for a charge of around $150, and sent it off to them.  I got it back a couple weeks later, and found it still had the same issues, and I sent it BACK to them - they were quite surprised about it still not working, but they took it back again, replacing the rest of the internal circuitry, and returned it to me.  AGAIN, it failed.  Sooooooo, back one more time - but THIS time, they were kind enough to supply a completely brand new interface, for no charge.
 
Additionally, I understood they were dropping support for the AudioBox User Interface with the mixer software, not dropping the AudioBox products themselves.  I may be completely wrong on this - I had done only a quick read through whatever that bulletin had in it, but I DO recall thinking it not much of a problem if the support for that little UI panel.
 
At the end of the day, I ended up with a brand new interface, which is working flawlessly again, and if this one is as rugged as the one the replaced, then this one will likely still be working 5 years from now.
 
Bob Bone
 

I just visited the Presonus downloads page for the AudioBox 1818VSL audio interface.
 
There is a Universal Control drivers release that looks like it was made available on 08/01/2016, and it SPECIFICALLY indicates support for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 10.
 
It was and remains my understanding that they dropped the VSL UI software, but they were to continue to offer and continue development of, the actual Windows drivers for the interface.  I believe that is confirmed, to MY satisfaction, by the presence of this 08/01/2016 Universal Control download.
 
The OLD drivers are also still available, as a 'Legacy' download, and that is indeed version 1.3, and those drivers worked well for me up to Windows 8.1 with no problems.
 
I suggest that if you are having driver issues with the 1.3 legacy version, that you look at downloading and trying the current production version download of their Universal Control drivers.
 
Bob Bone
 

The UC download for the AudioBox VSL interfaces is new to me (since the last time I checked, maybe a couple of months ago).
 
I don't intend to try it, since I'm quite happy with my Tascam US-16x08, but I would like to know whether or not the UC driver is ASIO, and not just core-compliant. Thanks in advance.

I was wrong - the 1818 is a paperweight - run quickly in the opposite direction...
 
my naive initial response:
[I recently got a Presonus 1818vsl and fat channels was the big selling point, and yeah just upgraded the firmware and they were gone. I was annoyed at first but I've found the setup now to be better overall - especially with routing. Headphones are no longer paired up with two rear panel outputs so the headphone jack can have things routed to it without taking up two extra outs. I can make four totally separate headphones mixes if I want (that probably isn't new but I just figgered it out.)
Nothing in the fat channels that can't be done with Sonar so really at the end of the day it actually simplified the interface flow.
What bums me out is my Aardvark q10 no longer being supporting for any OS past XP (as they are defunct - changed to Antelope)]