I need to record a vocal quartet and currently I have an audio interface for 2 channels (Audiobox USB).  (The workstation is a big Studiocat PC.)  So I have been looking at upgrade options.  I have mostly settled on the Presonus 1818VSL unless somebody has some good reasons not to use this box.  I would welcome that input, but that isn't the main reason for my post.
 
I recently purchased a Microsoft Surface 3.  Before buying that machine I watched a video where the reviewer has use the Surface 3 and the Surface 3 Pro in a variety of DAW environments and they both worked surprisingly well.  So it occurs to me that the Surface 3 plus the Audiobox1818VSL might actually be a pretty nice and extremely portable solution for recording 8 live tracks.  Unlike the iPad and the earlier Surface generations, the Surface 3 and 3 Pro can run basically all regular Windows apps, not just the stripped down "pad apps".  I expect I could run Sonar on the Surface, but I probably would run the mini version of StudioOne that comes with the Audiobox because I would only be tracking.  I would plan to take those WAV files into Sonar at home to do the heavier stuff.
 
That brings up 2 questions:
 
1) Has anybody done anything similar?  Does it seem like this will be viable, no dropouts, etc?
 
2) What are the chances that I could use TWO of the 1010VSL units, attached to the Surface with a USB hub to track up to 16 channels live?
 
On that second point, I'm worried about pushing USB too far.  The Surface and the 1818VSL are both USB2, not USB3.  The theoretical bitrate of USB 2 is 480 Mbit/sec.  If I recorded 16 channels at 41.1 and 24 bits, this adds up to about 17 Mbit/sec, so it might work.  I am concerned that a USB hub might delay things enough to cause problems.  I could drop to 16 bit recording, considering these would be live shows and medium-quality microphones.
 
Any experiences or educated guesses about this?
 

if It would help any... I know It is not a direct comparison, but
 
I have An SP3 pro i7 I user as My main system. I recently trucked 10 channels w.o. any trouble or hiccups.
 
USB 2 doesnt realy seam a problem. If the interface supports It it wil work, unless you find something on the USB port on the device.
 
I know of other interfaces supporting more then 8  channels over An USB 2 interface. sso the protocol shouldn Be the problem.
 
I font think It is realy relevant to your question but to préempt, I used An Audient ID22 interface hooked up to a Tascam FW1884 thru ADAT, SPLAT & Win10.
 
If the SP3 has a core processor you could user Sonar Pretty smooth depending on tour needs.
 
The only thing I Am NOT shure about if the HD the SP3 uses could write fast enough for 8 tracks @ your desired frequency.
 

I use an 1818vsl with an additional 8 I/o via ADAT... It works great...

Between its iPad app which controls almost all of it and neyrink to put sonar on my iPad, I have very comfortable wireless control...

I don't know the surface devices you mention so I can't help there...

As I've run two different Studiolive boards to very old hulk machines and recording the audio to external USB 2 drives... Streaming 16-24 tracks for 8 hours... Yes, they are FireWire, but 16 on my usb2 1818 does the same. I would guess that two 1818's would work fine... Just be careful as they can be finicky such as not working with USB 3...

rezab
The only thing I Am NOT sure about if the HD the SP3 uses could write fast enough for 8 tracks @ your desired frequency.

The Surface 3 has no hard drive, but you can use a MicroSD card.  with 16 tracks at 24 bit 44.1, this would be just a little over 2 MB/sec, so I don't expect that would be a problem with the microSD card.
 

Keni
Yes, they are FireWire, but 16 on my usb2 1818 does the same. I would guess that two 1818's would work fine...

Thanks.  I was planning to buy the 1818VSL anyway to use with the home studio.  Connecting it (or 2 of them) to the Surface was an afterthought. 
 
We really have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to field recording.  I have avoided field recording to a DAW because of dropout issues, but this might be a simple enough solution to work reliably.
 
For field recordings, I do most of them with a Zoom H6.  This will do an in-board stereo pair, plus 4 outboard mics.  I could buy an adapter that would do 6 outboard mics, but haven't done that.  This is quick, easy, compact, high quality, reliable and can do most shows running on batteries.
 
I also have a Zoom R24 that can do 8 external mics simultaneously.  And that is also very compact and reliable.
 
For more tracks, I have a Presonus StudioLive mixer and I can connect an Allen/Heath ICE16 recorder by plugging two db25 connectors into the mixer.  That will record 16 channels at 44.1 x 24bit.  Again, 100% reliable.  But this is a lot more bulk.  It is perfect if I am already running house sound through that mixer.  But if I can track directly to a DAW reliably with two of these 1818VSL units. that is a lot more flexible and compact.  And I think it is the same preamps that are in the big mixer anyway.   None of these options were available 5 years ago.
 
 

You have a lot of options...

Dropouts? I haven't had any such problems. I've none many 16/24 track sessions live while using the Presonus to do the live PA as well. A decent number of these gigs were for little festivals or gigs that are battle of the bands size, but no battles... 8 bands in an afternoon/evening...

I had no difficulty of any kind and I was using an old Frankenstein of a low powered PC (Pentium 4!) with all audio going to an external USB 2 drive!

Ran 5 discrete monitor mixes as well and had walk-around wireless control via iPad...

I highly recommend the Studiolive as it makes the tasks easy... Very intuitive...

Yes, the 1818 uses the same pre-amps... The only thing I wish was a little different is that the 1818 has the same compressor as the 16.0.2 which doesn't have soft-knee while the 16.4.2 and larger do have it...

But it's a flexible, good sounding comp as are the eq...

Typically live l record to their Capture program which is a bare bones simple recording app.. No editing... But it makes chopping up and exporting individual songs to load into aSonar quick and easy...

I find these very compact solutions... One small footprint board... No racks... Just a snake and good to go!

You cannot hook up 2 1818VSL interfaces, or 2 of any other audio interfaces, to the same PC. You would need to add additional i/o via Keni's method.
 
I would purchase the 1818VSL from a vendor that will let you return it if it doesn't work in your system. Keni looks like he's still running Win7. The Surface 3 will come with Win10. I have a 44VSL that I now use as a class-compliant interface to an Android tablet running the Audio Evolution Mobile DAW. Works great.
 
Even through PreSonus claim Win10 compatibility for their VSL drivers, it crashes the SONAR audio engine, yet fails to show up as an ASIO device. Uninstalled. The 1818VSL, in particular, has been troublesome for many users. Hang out on the PreSonus user forum for a bit, search on the 1818VSL. Lots of peeps love it. Lots of other peeps want their money back. Great hardware. Tone-deaf developers w.r.t. responding to DOCUMENTED bugs. They just ignore them. I feel sorry sometimes for the mods on their user forum. They get hung out to dry.
 
I love the fact that Mr. Anderton and the Bakers make MEANINGFUL appearances here. Props!

Interesting...

Yes, I've had trouble with installing the 1818 on one or two machines but I wrote that off to the particular system's issues... It's worked fine most places...

As to running two of them on one machine... I know ASIO will not allow mixed interfaces but I thought it could run two of the same...? No?

Since the OP already has a Studiolive, I wonder why not simply run this? Transportation issues?

TheMaartian
You cannot hook up 2 1818VSL interfaces, or 2 of any other audio interfaces, to the same PC. You would need to add additional i/o via Keni's method.
 

Limiting the discussion to ASIO for the moment, it is possible to connect multiple audio interfaces to the same PC. It depends on the driver. Some manufacturers supply drivers which have this capability. I do not believe Presonus is one of them. The ASIO restriction is one driver may be recognized by the host at a time not one interface.

Thanks scook...

Yes, that's what I understood as well...

With how much effort Presonus put into that issue for the Studiolive/FireWire setup, I would think they would do this for the VSL device as well as USB will allow it...

Keni