Reality check for me. Redundant issue.
 
I got an old, ancient Dell quad core. Win XP 32. Hard wired M-Audio 1010LT.
 
Sails by with elegance as old and outdated as it is.
 
Got my laptop. Win 7 64 bit, i7 processor. Macho RAM. Computer specs don't compare.
 
Sound card for the laptop is a Presonus 22VSL or something like that. USB 2.
 
Installed the OhmTube vsti Juno 106 emulator. Workd great on the XP box. Sounds like a popcorn popper on the laptop unless I increase the buffer size to 1024 or greater. Then still crackling if I hit too many keys. Not the only device to fail on the faster system.
 
Are you guys sure that USB is great and that the fault is in the Presonus drivers unable to optimize the load. Highly suspect from here that USB 2 just totally sucks in comparison with a hard wired unit.
 
Any advice appreciated.
 
John
 
 

There may be a couple of things that you will need to check, but I can tell you the the AudioBox 22VSL driver (the same as for my 44VSL) sucks, and is no longer supported. The current version of the driver is v1.3. They have a "new" driver (Universal Control v1.81), but you lose the VSL functionality, and I've heard plenty of moaning and groaning about the "new" driver, as well. Check the downloads page.
 
http://www.presonus.com/products/AudioBox-22VSL/downloads
 
As far as USB2 goes for audio...I have a Tascam US-16x08 that I'm able to run easily at a buffer size of 128 when tracking. Plenty of bandwidth available, especially for a 2x2.
 
The 22VSL is USB buss powered, and that can be part of the problem on a laptop if you use phantom power. There can be other issues. On Win7, you should be able to get it to work. Forget Win10. My 44VSL is in a closet, and only gets used for mobile recording to an Android tablet.

If your laptop has both USB2 and USB3 ports, make sure you use the USB2 port. Otherwise, you may need to use a USB2 hub or disable USB3 support. There is no guarantee that the hub will resolve your issues, but it has been reported that it can. 
 
Regards,
Dan

Run the free DPC Latency Mon program.  That may help to sort out what is causing the problems.
 
Does regular PC sound work OK? or do you get popping/crackling etc with the regular PC sound too?  PC sound problems are were an often reported problem on the Win 7 forum, especially with laptops and the Wi-Fi enabled.
 
DPC Latency Mon download:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

Guys,
Thanks for these leads. Will follow up on them and see if I can squeeze a few pops and  crackles out of the audio. Not looking good for the Presonus box.
John

also, try running it with the default windows driver rather than the sucky presonus driver

fireberd
Run the free DPC Latency Mon program.  That may help to sort out what is causing the problems.

 
This. Do this before doing anything else. Changing the interface won't help in the slightest if the problem is e.g. the wifi driver (or some other driver or background application) grabbing big chunks of cpu and PCI bus time.
 

Is the problem only with the one plug-in? IF so, it would not point to the interface driver. If it is a general problem with SONAR on the laptop and the laptop has multiple USB ports try them all including USB3. Also try older drivers if possible. I did not update to the latest driver. My 44VSL runs fine on 64bit Win10 with an older driver and I use the VSL software. Running the interface on a different desktop and 64bit Win7, I had to use a USB3 port to get the interface to work properly.

This is nuts.
The box works better, not great but better with the generic direct sound driver than with the latest and greatest Presonus driver.
 
Have to follow through with all the advice given here, but it is looking like the Presonus drivers suck. Maybe USB 2 works well, just can't prove it to myself with this expensive paper weight.
 
John

I tried out one of the new Studio 192 USB 3.0 unit.  The auto buffer setup in the Presonus program set the buffer very high (don't remember exactly) and latency was in the 25ms range.  Manually I got it down but not as low as my current MOTU unit or the Roland Octa-Capture that the MOTU replaced.   The Studio 192 died the second day I had it and it was returned so I really didn't have a chance to fully check it out.