X2 Trial Audiobox1818 Compatibility

Hi, I'm trying to get Presonus Audiobox VSL to work in Sonar. I have Sonar 8.5 and can only record 16 bit. It was recently discovered (after I purchased the Audiobox!) that it takes X1d or higher to make the 1818VSL work with Sonar. I DL the X2 Trial but it still won't record above 16bit. My machine is Win7, Intel i7 2600k cpu, 16GB 1600 RAM and Intel DP67BG mobo. I updated all drivers (USB, Video card, Mgmt Engine, and Chipset Device Software) and updated the BIOS to the latest version. I also optimized it from the Blackviper web site. A tech at Sweatwater spent a great deal of time with me checking my W7 and BIOS settings. Latency Monitor says I have no problems. I only have 4 USB devices connected on this machine. -- Mouse and Keyboard (USB 3.0) -- Audiobox and midiman 2x2 (USB 2). I need all 4. I've tried various USB 2.0 ports but same results. X2 Trial: Audiobox (Asio) drivers 1.21 beta Sonar X2 Preferences-Audio menu shows 32 bit depth, 44100 Sampling rate. W7 reports a recorded and saved file -> Bit rate = 1411kbps Sonar (Import Audio) reports the same files attributes -> 44100Hz, 16 Bits PCM ASIO4All wrapper on same Audiobox 1.21 beta drivers Sonar X2 Preferences-Audio menu shows 24 bit depth, 44100 Sampling rate. Newly recorded file shows all same attributes as above. I have yet to record anything at above 16 bit with the Audiobox. The Presonus forums couldn't help me so I was hoping a Sonar expert might have a solution. Thanks

It could be that you have the on board audio selected along with the 1818. Deselect the on board audio device and that should let you go to 24 bits.

I use a 44VSL, which uses the same driver and architecture as the bigger 1818VSL and I can record at 24/96 in X1d.

Regards,
Dan

Or formatting.

Sorry joakes, I wasn't clear. I meant I can't format or preview my replies on this forum. That's why my entries are a big pile of unformatted words.

Reloading Default settings for Aud.ini: BitsPerSample=32 FileBitDepth=16 RenderBitDepth=32 I manually change it to: BitsPerSample=24 FileBitDepth=24 RenderBitDepth=32 Opening and closing X2 Trial leaves me with BitsPerSample=32 FileBitDepth=24 RenderBitDepth=32 Clicking on the 'Asio Panel' button does nothing?!

I have a feeling one of your installs went wrong and, after that, without removing all of the Sonar remnants from old folders and the registry, the situation has just gotten worse.  (Bottom line, the standard Windows uninstall wasn't enough to fix your problem).
 
Before trying yet another reinstall, do a clean uninstall of Sonar - including all remaining CW folders and registry entries).  If you need help, there are a few old forum threads that explain in detail how to do this.
 
Also, as a precaution, you should temporarily disable the antivirus (and disconnect your internet connection before you do this).
 

I too have had inconsistent results trying to open an ASIO control panel from inside SONAR and not just with Presonus; not a big deal.

joakes


Formatting ? Wow, thats really last resort !!!

You've probably done this, but, you'll need to disable the on-board sound in the BIOS as well as deleting all its drivers and associated software.

Also, uninstall the Presonus drivers, run Ccleaner (the Registry tab)  to get rid of any orphanned registry strings.

Re-boot and then fresh install your Presonus drivers.

Cheers and good luck,
Jerry

Most of that is not required. There would appear to be something wrong with either the driver install or version, and/or Sonar, because multiple people have posted that it works on their system.

Bob Bone
 


Bob Bone

I'm bitter about this.
I bought the Presonus AudioboxVSL for use with Windows 7/64 and Sonar 8.5. I had and presently have no intentions of upgrading to X1 or X2. Cakewalk makes it harder and harder for me to work with MIDI (especially notation) with every newer version. An apparent upgrade would, in actuality for me, be a major downgrade. Is that why I'm bitter? Of coarse not. Cakewalk has provided a fully functional trial download of a product they are selling and I appreciate as well as respect the fact that they did so. They made their decisions, I made mine; end of story.
Presonus is a different matter. They marketed a new product that was, at the beginning, unusable for many people. (I know that fellow long time Sonar users are laughing as they read this) :) I bought it from Sweetwater even before it was released so I was disappointed but not shocked when I discovered the pops & crackles that it's drivers rendered. But it WAS compatible with my DAW (Sonar 8.5). If not I would have immediately returned it. Sweetwater and the Presonus forum both assured me that a new 'popless' driver was in the works. Hang in there, they said. I hung in there way past the 30 day return period. I should have returned it immediately instead of listening to "trust me" dialogue. My bad. Now I'm screwed.
Now I realize that my Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL will NEVER work with Sonar 8.5! Please try to follow me on this as I'm not sure how logically I can explain this to you.
Presonus CHANGED the minimum requirement specifications for their (defective) product MANY MONTHS AFTER they shipped it to customers.
Suppose you bought a new state-of-the-art game. The minimum requirements are posted on the box.  OS is not mentioned but it's a new game and you have W7. Also the 'professional' game reviewers all give it high marks without mention of OS. You install it, it doesn't work so you go to the games forum and find out that lots of other people are experiencing the same bugs. The company recognizes that fact and promises to come out with an update patch that will fix the problems. (So far, normal stuff!)  The rub is that it takes 6-9 months to provide this patch fix and when it finally comes out, many customers still can't play the game. After this additional grief, frustration, and wasted time you discover (not from the game publisher but from other customers!) that the new game 'fix' now requires W8!
BTW I'm not buying anything else from Sweetwater. I didn't ask for or even mention a possible return to them (after a whole year, lol). I did describe to them the Presonus business ethic that I am describing on this thread and their attitude was very defensive of Presonus. I was told "This kind of thing is not unusual". OK, goodbye.
Now...
Would anyone like to buy a used 1818VSL? It's a year old but like new. (it was only used to record 20-30 10 sec. test runs)!

@chitwilbur - I may or may not have sent you a PM - I got a server error message, but I had the keep a copy in the sent folder and it thinks it got sent.

Please post here if you did not receive the PM, and I will go with plan B.

Bob Bone

robert_e_bone


Do you have the Presonus plugged into a USB 2.0 or a USB 3.0 port?

I had lots of early trouble when I had mine plugged into a USB 2.0 port.

Hi Bob - did you mean USB 3 port here?
I am using USB 2 and my own 1818 is working well here on an older quad. Presonus had early difficulties with USB 3 from what I read but I think they worked on that with the newer drivers - considering my options for a system upgrade and the option to use USB 3 is a big consideration.

I have setup other Audiobox systems for clients and I have it working on XP/Vista/Win7 with Sonar 8.5.3/X1dExpanded and X2a...

There must be some other problem going on as it's working everywhere I've installed it...

Keni

I had a phone conversation with Bob Bone.
Great guy. Very helpful and knowledgeable.
He did realize, however that a previous post of his in this thread contained an error.
He actually didn't get his 1818VSL up and running with anything above the 1.0 drivers.

Sorry, I don't know of a 1.57 driver and I know nothing about the 22VSL.
Again, I'm claiming 2 separate problems.
1.) 1818VSL pops and crackles on SOME systems. The 1.2 and 1.21 drivers seems to have fixed this popping problem for most users, but not all. This is documented on the Presonus forum and admitted to by the company. One of the responses made to me on my thread over there was to "hang in there" because yet another new driver is coming out to fix this.
2.)These newer drivers have killed Sonar 8.5.3 compatibility (and probably other older versions of Sonar).
So, I will never find out if the newer drivers would have fixed the popping on my machine because the newer drivers are no longer compatible with my version of Sonar.
So far I haven't been able to verify with anyone on either forum that they can make 1818VSL work with 1.2 or 1.21 drivers with Sonar 8.5.3, but several people do share my experience that it won't work. C'mon, this should be very easy to prove one way or another. If someone will just prove me wrong with their firsthand experience with this EXACT same situation (1.57, 22VSL??), I will be very happy because I can stop beating my head against the wall like I am doing right now.