Hi folks.  I'm new to the forum - at least it's been years.  I need advice about getting Sonar 8.5.3 x64 (running on Windows 7 Pro x64) to work with Presonus Audiobox 44VSL ASIO driver.  When I play or record, I get the message:
 
“Sonar 8.5 Producer unable to open audio playback device.  Device may not support the current project’s audio format or may be in use.”
 
I have tried everything recommended by Presonus tech support, including:
 
            Reinstalled latest driver with latest driver.
           
            Disabled Intel HyperThreading in BIOS.
 
            Disabled onboard sound in BIOS.
 
            Disabled FireWire in Device Mgr.
 
            Disconnected peripherals other than mouse, keyboard, and Audiobox.
 
            Turned off all the advanced power options in Windows 7.
 
            Set Windows audio AudioBox Playback device 1-2 and 3-4 to 24bit and AudioBox Record device 1-2 and 3-4 to 24bit.
 
            Windows Sound is configured to put the AudioBox into Exclusive Mode.
 
            Plugged 44VSL directly into computer, not thru a hub.
 
            Set Sonar Global/Audio to 24bit playback and 24bit record.
 
            Unchecked the shared mode option in Sonar Options/Audio.  
 
            Turned off read and write caching in Sonar.
 
 
All other Windows audio applications work fine - players etc.

The Presonus Audiobox 44VSL and ASIO driver works fine with Studio One, but not Sonar 8.5.3, so that seems to point the finger at Sonar rather than general audio problems.
 
Sonar 8.5.3 seems to work ok using the WDM driver.  Will using the WDM driver cause problems for me later as I try more ambitious projects?
 
Would this problem go away if I purchased a MOTU 4pre instead of the 44VSL?

Would this problem go away if I upgraded to Sonar X2?  Sonar X2 seems to have its own set of issues, though.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 
_______________________________________________________
 
Intel Quad Core i7 950 3.07 GHz
24 GB GSkill triple channel 1333 Mhz RAM
ASUS P6X58D-E Motherboard
ATI Radeon HD 5700 fanless video
Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
Sonar 8.5.3 x64 Producer
Presonus Audiobox 44VSL
Mackie HR-624 Mk2 monitors
1 - 200G OCZ Vertex2 SSD for OS and programs
1 – 2T Seagate SATA2 for Audio
1 – 2T Seagate SATA2 for VST
1 – 2T Seagate SATA2 for Data

Here is the common way things are set up in Audio Options. 

General Tab
Presonic is timing master
64 bit engine checked
Set your audio bit depth and sample rate in interface control panel. 
Advanced Tab 
ASIO Mode 
Share drivers checked   Driver tab 
Presonus is the one selected and is not grayed out. All ins and out should be checked. If there is another device listed -uncheck first. 



Now make sure the presonus 1/2 is your master output on the Master bus. Sometimes this defaults to the SPDIF or 3/4 if you have that too. 

Cactus Music


Here is the common way things are set up in Audio Options. 

General Tab
Presonic is timing master
64 bit engine checked
Set your audio bit depth and sample rate in interface control panel. 
Advanced Tab 
ASIO Mode 
Share drivers checked   Driver tab 
Presonus is the one selected and is not grayed out. All ins and out should be checked. If there is another device listed -uncheck first. 



Now make sure the presonus 1/2 is your master output on the Master bus. Sometimes this defaults to the SPDIF or 3/4 if you have that too. 

Thanks Johnny,


All settings are as you suggested.  And the Master output is pointing to line 1 of the Presonus.  Still get same old message when try to play.  

Sonar produced sound when I had a Tascam US-800 before buying the Presonus 44VSL.  And the Presonus works in WDM ok.

During installation of the Presonus driver, it updated the firmware.  Could this have made a difference?  I wouldn't think so.

By the way, nice tracks on your website.

Gary

Well it's highly possible the unit is somehow defective, do you have another computer you can test it on? 
I'm no expert on drivers but I have read threads where it all came down to some systems just don't work together. 
Things I've read are Video card conflict etc. 

Thanks for the positive feedback 
Hope you figure it out. 
You might try posting on Gear slutz too, as there is more people who might have the same unit as you. Or here in the X1 forum. 

This forum is a bit dead now everyone has moved on to greener grass. 

Just use it in WDM mode. It should be just as good as ASIO. 

The error does indicate that Sonar or Windows thinks you have multiple audio cards or multiple applications trying to use the Presonus. I don't think you need to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS. That could be causing a problem. 

I notice you have 4 disk drives on your computer. I hope you have a powerful power supply otherwise you could get strange errors if the power supply can't handle that many drives. 

daveny5


Just use it in WDM mode. It should be just as good as ASIO. 

The error does indicate that Sonar or Windows thinks you have multiple audio cards or multiple applications trying to use the Presonus. I don't think you need to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS. That could be causing a problem. 

I notice you have 4 disk drives on your computer. I hope you have a powerful power supply otherwise you could get strange errors if the power supply can't handle that many drives. 

Thanks, Dave.


I think it's an 1100W power supply - that's probably ok.  


It does seem to work ok in WDM.  I don't know for sure what the limitations are between WDM and ASIO -- my latency doesn't feel like too much difference.  I'm fine with WDM as long as I'm not inviting trouble down the road that I could head off now by returning the Presonus and getting a MOTU 4pre now.

Presonus tech supp said to disable the onboard sound in BIOS.  You say disabling it may cause a problem?  Can you elaborate?



Gary

Cactus Music


Well it's highly possible the unit is somehow defective, do you have another computer you can test it on? 
I'm no expert on drivers but I have read threads where it all came down to some systems just don't work together. 
Things I've read are Video card conflict etc. 

Thanks for the positive feedback 
Hope you figure it out. 
You might try posting on Gear slutz too, as there is more people who might have the same unit as you. Or here in the X1 forum. 

This forum is a bit dead now everyone has moved on to greener grass. 

Thanks, Johnny.  I'll post on those other forums too.  I appreciate the help.

Presonus tech supp said to disable the onboard sound in BIOS.  You say disabling it may cause a problem?  Can you elaborate?

I seem to recall in the past that I disabled my onboard soundcard in the BIOS and it caused problems. I don't remember the specifics, but I have a Realtek onboard now and its enabled, but not identified to Sonar and it doesn't cause me any problems. If you feel a need to disable it, I would disable it in the Device Manager instead of the BIOS. 

daveny5

Presonus tech supp said to disable the onboard sound in BIOS.  You say disabling it may cause a problem?  Can you elaborate?

I seem to recall in the past that I disabled my onboard soundcard in the BIOS and it caused problems. I don't remember the specifics, but I have a Realtek onboard now and its enabled, but not identified to Sonar and it doesn't cause me any problems. If you feel a need to disable it, I would disable it in the Device Manager instead of the BIOS. 

Good.  I'll do that and see what happens.  Thanks for the help.

This is from a way back for me but the only time I had to disable the sound card in the Bios is when installing a new PCI sound card. So I believe there is no point disabling it there for a USB interface. 
I have only disabled mine in the Device Manager like Dave said. 
With my laptop system I need to turn it back on sometimes when I use it for none DAW things. 
And I don't think it's as much an issue in WDM mode. WDM mode allows for more than one sound card to be used.