Here is the consensus at Vguitar Forums.
« on: April 04, 2013, 09:05:20 AM »
Just a heads up, earlier in the Fishman TriplePlay thread I recommended a Presonus AudioBox 1818VSL.
These
work well for low latency MIDI Softsynth playback, but bulk of owners
have contacted presonus regarding a solution to occasional random
"popping" during recording.
Presonus issued a statement, and are
seeking a solution - but this interface is a turkey and NOT recommended
for serious audio recording.
http://forums.presonus.com/posts/list/32657.pageHere is a statement by the Presonus Management on this issue.
To AudioBox VSL Customers,
We
have been made aware of several issues regarding noise and pops and
clicks when using the AudioBox VSL with Mac and PC systems. We are
actively investigating these reports to confirm the reported failures
and look for possible solutions. As we are investigating this, we do not
have an estimated time for solutions, we ask that you be patient
knowing that we have made this a top priority with our development team.
As more information becomes available we will post responses here.
Thanks,
PAE Management
Its one of those interfaces that looks great on paper, but really sucks
for live real time Guitar Plugins (Guitar Rig, Amplitube), or recording.
I get a "pop", crackling" sound at random - sounds just like a bad guitar cord, or static discharge.
This
is with the latest drivers on a iMac 27" I7 3.4GHz, 32GB RAM, OSX
10.7.5 - any DAW app, N.I. GuitarRig 5, or IK Multimedia Amplitube CS
I purchased the 1818VSL assuming Presonus had their act together, but this is a repeat of the old Presonus FirePOD days.
Just google "1818VSL pops" :
http://forums.acoustica.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=39292http://www.gearslutz.com/board/newbie-audio-engineering-production-question-zone-trial-beta-forum/746701-cracks-pops-presonus-1818vsl.htmlhttp://forums.presonus.com/posts/list/32260.pageLast time I had an interface this bad was my Echo Audio Layla24 Firewire that refused to work with an HP ZD7000 laptop.
Presonus apparently subcontracts the USB driver creation to a third party, and the Presonus tech support is no help at all.
Just issuing a warning so others do not fall into the same trap I have with this $500 doorstop.
_________________________________________________________________________
I had the original Layla. Worked great for many years.
I have the
presonus firepod/fp10.
It sucks. Has issues locking to spdif, and also
alot of crackle and pops when recording, even at extremely high latency
values.I have a tascam fw1082. Ok converters. No snap crackles
or pops. Have had issues in win 7 64 bit with losing sync. Love the
automated control surface and flying faders integrated with sonar.
I
mainly use a delta 1010, which has very good converters, but its a bit
old in the tooth and I think some of the connectors are getting spotty.
Its PCI. No problems with snaps or pops.
I also have a Tascam
us1800 for tracking my whole band live (16 inputs). Its cheap. No weird
noises, but the converters are mediocre. This replaced my firepod.
Im
seriously considering buying the Focusrite Forte to get something with
better quality converters/preamps. Also considering the Focusrite with
the Liquid pre's.
_________________________________________________________________________
I had a Presonus AudioBox 44VSL. The key word in that sentence is "had".
As
a standalone unit, it is an incredible piece of equipment. There
wasn't a single problem in that capacity and would recommend it to
anyone who would use it without connecting to the internet.
But,
connecting it to the PC was a nightmare. I fought with that thing from
day one of plugging it into the PC. The drivers are horrible
and the software is very intrusive. I couldn't get that thing down to a
usable latency without popping all over the place.
The drivers are
crap. The first thing customer service asked was what kind of system I
had, which was a complete monster machine. But they tried to blame it
on the machine, even though it beat the minimum specs by 2 or 3
generations of chips and beat the requirements by over 24 gigs of ram.
That was the last straw, I disconnected it and packed it up. It was
going back asap.
It also did some crazy stuff to my regular sound
system. Even after uninstalling everything, it took me a couple of
days to get my regular sound back to his previous state.
I wouldn't (or couldn't) recommend this unit to anyone who plans to use it as a means of connecting to the computer.
__________________________________________________________________________
I tried using the Audiobox VSL "Beta" driver USB 2.0 port and USB 3.0 on my Lenovo W520 with Win7 64 pro - no luck
http://www.presonus.com/support/downloads/AudioBox-1818VSLSame with the latest AudioBox 1818VSL v1.2.1 - PC USB driver = random pops and clicks every few seconds
Same with my 2011 iMac 27" OSX 10.8.5 with a USB 2.0 port
AudioBox 1818VSL v1.2.2 - Mac USB driver = random pops and clicks every few seconds
When
I contact Presonus support they say "Sorry we do not develop the USB
drivers for our products - review the forums for latest updates"
More stories of pain here:http://forums.presonus.com/forums/show/46.pageOne problem may be all my computers use Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge Intel CPU's
http://forums.presonus.com/posts/list/39513.pageI do like StudioOne DAW app - but their
hardware support is sub par. http://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one
