Trouble with Presonus firebox please HELP!!
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Posted on May 29, 2007 12:24 pm
Flamkat909
Member Since: May 29, 2007
I recently purchased a presonus firebox, and installed the cubase le that was bundled along with it in my computer. The problem I am having is the following: Everytime I go into cubase to start recording, I get about a min. to 5 min for interuption free recording time and then all of the sudden the audio starts to drop in and out and starts popping and clicking. When this happens keep having to restart my computer inorder to get another few min of recording time. This is starting to get very annoying and I have no idea what is going on. Some have said that its a driver problem I am having, I have uninstalled and reinstalled all the drivers and updated them and still it is doing the same thing.
I also have Reason 3.0 installed and the same thing happens in that program as well. Could it be my actual computer? the software?/ Someone help!! please.
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pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 29, 2007 01:03 pm Sounds like a PC problem.
Do you have all unnecessary programs turned off.
All services not needed turned off.
Drivers updated, and current.
What size of RAM.
Those are some good starting points, if you haven't already cleared them out of the way.
List the specs of the hardware, and the software you're using. that'll get us started.
May 30, 2007 01:07 pm Yeah, I was thinking it might be a PC problem but hopefully this list will help....
The computer I am using is a Sony vaio laptop PCG-K33 its a Pentium (R) CPU 3.06 GHz 2.63 GHz, 448MB of RAM. Hardware and things I have hooked up are a M-Audio trigger finger, and O2 USB comtoller. These two units I use mostly when recording in Reason 3.0 which is also installed in the computer. I also have the Presonus firebox hooked up with drivers installed in the comp for that as well. Hopfully this helps. thank you.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 30, 2007 01:32 pm 448m of ram is certainly small, and could be causing your problems.
To verify, i'll assume a few things:
1. You're using windows.
2. You're using XP of some sort.
In XP, you can open the performance monitor (type perfmon at start->run prompt), and watch 2 things: memory: pages / sec, and memory: page faults / sec. Click the plus sign button to add an instance of watching, the select memory, pages/sec, or page faults/sec.
Leave that running the the background, and start doing your thing. I'm gonna guess that after a few minutes, the PC runs out of memory, and starts sending memory pages out of RAM and down to the hard drive. This is where you will get hiccups.
My PC here at work is 2.8 w/ 512m ram, and it page faults all the time.
Increase the memory will alleviate some of this.
Having a second hard drive to send audio data will help too. This will keep windows writing/reading to it's own drive, while audio data gets read/written onto it's own drive as well.
Both memory, and second hard drive will do a ton, and probably remove the problem altogether.
as always: ymmv
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 30, 2007 09:52 pm And I will jump in with one thing here as well. You need to make sure your buffer is set to at least 128. If it is there now and your getting drop outs then moving it up to 256 or 512 will help until you can get more ram.
May 30, 2007 10:16 pm more ram definately...also check your audio buffers and try steppin' them up some...that might buy ya some more time.
May 31, 2007 02:20 pm K... I tried all of the above and still I am having alot of audio cut outs and pops and clicks. I Even went to run Reason 3.0 and when I recorded with a click track in there the thing sped up like double the tempo I set the click for and I have to keep restarting it over and over. I know its not the programs I am running cause its doing it in all of them.
Do you think it could be because I also have a creative sound card plug into the lap top as well?? Should I just run the Firebox alone?? Could it be a virus??
May 31, 2007 02:52 pm check your control panel under sounds and audio devices and check the driver you're computer is using....it could be that it's set to another default WDM driver...which doesn't play nice with ASIO at the same time...make sure both are set to the same ones.
May 31, 2007 04:13 pm I checked it and it is still doing it. I really do not know what is happening.
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 31, 2007 04:36 pm Man, I put in a big post, and our server puked, taking inet connections with it =(.
Did you install more memory? If so, to what?
Did you increase the buffers? if so, to what?
Did you monitor the memory with perfmon? checking for increasing page faults, and correlation to audio hiccups?
Having the SB card on the system can affect things too. Take that off, and remove the drivers, and try again.
Do you use this PC for internet? Do you use Internet Explorer as your browser? If so, then download AdAware, Spybot, and Firefox. Get the newest definitions for adaware and spybot, and clean your PC. Install firefox as your new browser, and don't use IE anymore. IE attracts bad programs.
What's running in the background? virus software? printer software? bonzo? etc,. All unnecessary things should be shutdown, or removed.
Are your services clean, and down to almost nothing?
You said you tried all the above, but you don't say what to did, or what you have changed, specifically. Be more specific, and we can help better.
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
May 31, 2007 05:43 pm I agree that its probably a PC resource issue like low memory.
But does anybody else get the impression that these Presonous Firebox/FirePod devices are generally a total pain in the butt? I've seen more complaints about bad behavior from them than any other interface.
I'm not sure if its just because of their popularity, or if they're more prone to stability issues than other devices. But dang I see a lot of posters come here with problems with the PreSonus firewire interfaces!
pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
May 31, 2007 06:12 pm i agree, it kinda died down there for a few months, but a while ago it seemed every week or so there was some issue.
They sure seem like the bees knees though, lookin at them.
I was thinking it was quiet because all the troubles people were having got resolved. That seemed a feasible eventuality.
May 31, 2007 11:16 pm Well I am having the problem in Reason 3.0 as well, Like when I am running Reason by itself so that got me thinking that it may not be the presonus firebox after all, I dunno part of me wants to just re boot the whole system and start from scratch.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 01, 2007 10:42 pm You could honestly try that and see if it helps, but I am thinking along the lines of the Presonus gear sucking wind as well. That or sucking the life out of whatever system resources you have.
You might also want to check your settings for the bit rate and frequancy your recording at.
I suggest if it is set way to high back it down to 16 bit 44.100khz and try that. You may have it set higher then your system is capable of running.
Jun 02, 2007 10:03 am Cool thatks I will try that out and see if it helps at all.
