Temporary solutions for clicks, pops and other AudioBox issues

Until we get a new driver or firmware that will take care of all problems, I though we all could post our tips for temporary solutions for the issues with the AudioBox products.

After a few months of every day use of the 1818VSL with various driver versions:
(Tested on all OS from Leopard to Mountain Lion and on all kinds of mac computers)

Pros:
*Gotta love the iPad controller and the VSL software concept, lovely preamps, nice design. Works perfectly on windows machines (as far as I know.)

Cons:
*The known click and pop problem occurs randomly, mostly all the time, no matter what mac computer ,OS X or DAW (no wifi, bluetooth or any software running besides pro tools and VSL)

*Every time I get an DAE error in pro tools (cpu overload or disk overload), the 1818VSL virtually disconnects and I have to restart it and go in to pro tools playback engine settings and re-select it and then reload the entire session.

*Sudden drop outs when ever connected. Restart required to get the audio back.
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My temporary fix for the clicks and pops, pro tools hardware disconnetions and sudden dropouts :

* Try record without the VSL software and record in highest buffer size possible even though the latency will kill you, you might get away with no clicks if you're lucky.

*Temporary fix for the pro tools hardware disconnections:
Do NOT run the VSL software along with pro tools.

* As far as I can tell, the AudioBox VSL software seems to work best with Snow Leopard when it comes to stability. It still crashes and requires restarts every now and then but it happens much more often if you're running Lion or Mountain lion. So my suggestion is to go back to snow leopard.

Best
J

I have to

on all recommendations up there, the same when using Logic or S1.

There is no way I can record anything clean at samples below 2048 @ 44kHz or 4096 @ 96kHz.

Using the "Z" zero latency monitoring for basic tracks is fine.
Not working when using VSTs or plug-ins. For that, I have to switch computers to one that doesn't have any Presonus drivers.

Works perfectly on windows machines (as far as I know.)

Not on all of 'em.....plenty of Windows users having problems too.

There are far fewer on Windows systems but it is true that some windows folks are having issues.

I'm working with the rest of the Mod Squad to come up with some stuff to hopefully create a checklist to alleviate as many of the problems as possible for both platforms.

Monolithent wrote:There are far fewer on Windows systems but it is true that some windows folks are having issues.

I'm working with the rest of the Mod Squad to come up with some stuff to hopefully create a checklist to alleviate as many of the problems as possible for both platforms.

You're absolutely right Mono....there are many more happy Windows users....myself included. We know you guys are working hard to
iron out the wrinkles and it's greatly appreciated. While I really LIKE my 1818.....I hope, (someday soon!), to be able to honestly say I
really LOVE it!!

JTH Productions wrote:
* As far as I can tell, the AudioBox VSL software seems to work best with Snow Leopard when it comes to stability. It still crashes and requires restarts every now and then but it happens much more often if you're running Lion or Mountain lion. So my suggestion is to go back to snow leopard.

As Long as I "keep a watchful eye" on the VSL Driver activity...no latency issues, no noise and no crashes running Snow Leopard.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 31/12/2012 08:17:39

Hi! I'm a new Presonus user (22VSL) and I use it with a Yamaha DTXpress edrums and a Windows 7 laptop with just Superior Drummer and the 22VSL drivers installed.

I'm hearing the clicks too. They occur randomly and their occurrence seems to disappear as the minutes (around 1.5 - 2 hours) pass by.

I've been using AudioBox in rehearsals for now, but I plan to use it to record some drum tracks in demos with a local artist... so I hope the guys at Presonus find a solution soon

Happy New Year!!!

Depends on your definition and understanding of the word "soon".
For some, "soon" is very vague and can take a very long time....

Happy New Year!

perceval wrote:Depends on your definition and understanding of the word "soon".
For some, "soon" is very vague and can take a very long time....

Happy New Year!

mmm... just in case "soon" takes too long, I will borrow a friend's US-200 then...

Make sure you download the latest drivers. The new public beta drivers are available now and it seems to fix most (and I use "most" lightly) people's problems using VSL. BUT for me. even after I downloaded the new drivers I still experienced the pops and clicks using ADAT.

I run a MacBook with a 500GB (7200rpm) hard drive, 4GB of ram running Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3. I fixed the problem by switching the clock source to ADAT instead of Internal in the Audio MIDI Setup. Took away the pops and clicks right away. I'm not sure if most people have tried experimenting with this but it's worth a shot. The problem is too widespread not to give it a try. Such a simple fix.

What's the latest status on the permanent fix of random pops and clicks? I have a brand new MBP with 16GB memory and 256SSD. OS update to the latest, drive is the latest 1.2.2 beta (1.41.0.5461).. but the random pop/click hasn't gone away.

Recording is not clean even when VSL is not running, as suggested by some workaround above.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 03/08/2013 15:45:18

tongsitat wrote:What's the latest status on the permanent fix of random pops and clicks? I have a brand new MBP with 16GB memory and 256SSD. OS update to the latest, drive is the latest 1.2.2 beta (1.41.0.5461).. but the random pop/click hasn't gone away.

Recording is not clean even when VSL is not running, as suggested by some workaround above.

1.2.2 not working for you? Resolved a lot of issues for a lot of people.

If nothing works, uninstall the VSL drivers and use Mac's own Core Audio drivers without the VSL added to them. It will work fine (granted, you will loose the VSL part of it, but it seems you already didn't need it since you turned it off...)

http://support.presonus.com/entries/20353062-AudioBox-VSL-Series-How-do-I-uninstall-AudioBox-VSL-on-my-Mac-

Very sad for me, but good news for this issue. Found the problem, it's the Apple Thunderbolt Display, I plug 44VSL directly into my new MBP, issue is gone immediately. This Thunderbolt display is really full of problems... thanks for responding.