Hi Gang...

Just me again tweaking the new mobile machine...

I'm using a Presonus 1818VSL with an additional 8 I/o by running one of my old Soundscape A/D//D/A coverters through it via ADAT...

Things are pretty good except for continual audio dropouts no matter the size of the ASIO buffer...

Then I started thinking...

I already know from the past that most of the Presonus gear has trouble on USB 3 so I'm thinking I can get around this (for the moment) by adjusting the value of the dropout buffer settings in aud.ini? From what I've read the dropouts happen because the engine gets starved... So I'm thinking that there might be a value for this setting that changes the performance to deal with the faster bus feed? Maybe making the buffer smaller might create a faster feed? ...or making it larger keeps it full longer?

I just thought of this a little while ago and I will try tomorrow at the rehearsal room...

Of course, if I can't find a way to handle this I will buy a USB 2 PCI card and that should resolve the issue, but cheap as they are, I'm really broke so I'm trying this before giving in to spend...

Any thoughts or knowledge about this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Keni

Try tweaking the DropoutMsec in Preferences > Audio > Configuration File (aka AUD.ini). I had to set mine to 750.

Hi Keni, I am not sure if this will help, but is something to try. I have one of the first boards to "support" USB3, but never saw anything close to USB3 on it, so haven't used them. I had several BSODs from "storport.sys" which was my "Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller" so I went into the Device Manager and disabled these. As soon as I did this, Win7 replaced them with "Generic USB Hub"s (2.0).
 
I have seen posts with some USB 2 devices not playing well in the sandbox with USB 3 ports, and you can try the above. Do not uninstall them, simply try disabling them (right click on the 3.0 Host controllers in the Device Manager->USB controllers section). You can Enable them again the same way later (if desired), and Windows should immediately replace them with generic 2.0 drivers upon disabling them.

scook
Try tweaking the DropoutMsec in Preferences > Audio > Configuration File (aka AUD.ini). I had to set mine to 750.

Thanks scook... I'll give it a try tomorrow... Curious...? What ASIO buffer size are you set at?

Keni

mettelus
Hi Keni, I am not sure if this will help, but is something to try. I have one of the first boards to "support" USB3, but never saw anything close to USB3 on it, so haven't used them. I had several BSODs from "storport.sys" which was my "Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller" so I went into the Device Manager and disabled these. As soon as I did this, Win7 replaced them with "Generic USB Hub"s (2.0).
 
I have seen posts with some USB 2 devices not playing well in the sandbox with USB 3 ports, and you can try the above. Do not uninstall them, simply try disabling them (right click on the 3.0 Host controllers in the Device Manager->USB controllers section). You can Enable them again the same way later (if desired), and Windows should immediately replace them with generic 2.0 drivers upon disabling them.

That's a very cool discovery!

Thanks mettelus!

If changing the dropout value doesn't work I will try this at once! I'm sure the keyboard and mouse wouldn't care!

Until we're far enough away from the heritage gear made for USB 2, this could be a very handy bit of knowledge!

Keni

Mostly 128 for tracking but I rarely record more than one track at a time. Mixing could be anywhere from 128 to 1024. I have a Presonus 44VSL. Oddly enough, on my PC the device prefers a USB3 port. While the device is similar to the 1818VSL they are not the same and the driver change logs bear this out.

scook
Mostly 128 for tracking but I rarely record more than one track at a time. Mixing could be anywhere from 128 to 1024. I have a Presonus 44VSL. Oddly enough, on my PC the device prefers a USB3 port. While the device is similar to the 1818VSL they are not the same and the driver change logs bear this out.

I have a 22VSL on my laptop, but it's connected via USB 2 and my external mouse is on the USB 3 port...

I also notice some subtle differences between the 1818 driver and the Studiolive 24x4x2 driver I use on my main DAW...

The issue is not usually with Sonar per se but with the driver for the device. Some audio hardware does not play well with USB 3, even though the specification says that USb3 should be backward compatible with USb2. A possible workaround is to physically attach a USB 2 device to a USB 2 hub before plugging the USB 2 hub into the USB 3 socket. The best advice is to not attach a malfunctioning USB device to a USB 3 socket in the first place. If possible try the device in a dedicated USB 2 socket and test to be sure it works there.

Not that it helps but I've been using a 1818vsl for around 3 years now and I'm really not a fan, the drivers suck on it.  You have to treat it with kids gloves.  As per the Presonus website I found that uninstalling it and reinstalling it on a USB2 port and only using the USB lead that came with the device helped but it still isn't great and runs out of steam pretty quickly when it comes to latency.  I've just tried editing the aud.ini file as per the suggestion see if that makes a big difference but I'm seriously considering swapping it for a focusrite when I get chance

I have had a Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL for several years now, as well, and never have issues with it - Windows 8.1 patch current, with firmware and drivers up to date.
 
Perhaps there is maintenance to yours that needs to be applied? (I also run mine in a USB 2 port)
 
Bob Bone