Presonus FireBox dropouts/pops/clicks?

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cochise
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Presonus FireBox dropouts/pops/clicks?

Post by cochise »

Well, I installed my new FireBox and it syncs fine and looks all good until I record. It drops out, pops, clicks, all the bad signs. I've tried everything listed on the Presonus site. Anyone else had similar?

My setup:

P4 3.2Ghz HT
1.5 GB ram
XP Home
Cubase LE, Goldwave

Drops out on all latencies, all sampling rates. I even turned off my wireless connection. I'm only trying to do one, count em, one, channel of audio. My MobilePre was flawless, this so far is a royal hassle....

Thanks in advance,

Cochise
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blue
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Post by blue »

it is sober punchin' time!

you're recording in cubase, right? and you have an ASIO driver set up?

it'd be a lot easier to debug something like this in IRC if you are handy in that fashion. also Sober hangs out in IRC so you can at least feel like you're getting closer to your punch.
jeffgowins3
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Post by jeffgowins3 »

Haha! Blue, that made my morning!

"It's Sober punchin' time!"
cochise
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Post by cochise »

Yeah, I have the ASIO set up in Cubase and elsewhere. It records, just skips no matter what latency or sample rate. Really frustrating and Presonus is a no show on useful advice.
starfinger
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Post by starfinger »

what did they tell you on the presonus site?

do you have a lot of crap running in the background?
are other devices sharing an IRQ with your usb port?

have you done the computer tweaking steps at musicxp.net ?

-craig
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ken
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Post by ken »

Have you contacted this guy? He is really helpful.

Rick Naqvi
http://www.presonus.com
800.750.0323

Oh, and I am finally getting some use out of my MobilePre and am rather impressed.

Ken
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cochise
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Post by cochise »

My machine is tweaked to the prescribed things, yes, but why should I have to tweak for one lousy audio stream. I can stream in mini DV to my p3 1Ghz laptop no problem and this one will run Half Life 2 at nearly 30fps a sec. Just seems ridiculous. They assumed it was my Firewire chipset, but I have a TI, just like they want so they're out of answers. My tech guy hasn't responded yet. Those extra 8 bits are a huge hassle, let me tell you.
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Post by Sober »

Presonus customer service is stellar. I'm confident you'll come to find this.
🤠
cochise
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Post by cochise »

I think I'm going to call in this eve or tomorrow, waiting for email just isn't working out. Thankfully I don't need this to work immediately, but I tried again last night. At even a 10ms latency, I get a regular skipping on playback. Almost like a scratched cd. Real weird. Hopefully the tech folk will come through for me. thanks
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Post by HeuristicsInc »

Yeah, I've found that even the good companies take longer to handle email support questions. I think you're better off calling, that way you're hard to ignore.
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blue
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Post by blue »

is your hard drive defragged? i'm sure they asked that already..

also, you don't have ASIO4ALL running, do you?
cochise
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Post by cochise »

Total fragmentation is at 9%, not enough to matter. Still haven't heard back so I'll call tomorrow and we'll work it out. I'm excited to hear if it's really any different than my MobilePre in terms of quality. I'll have to do a blind ear test and let you know.

Side question: I need a short (2ft) xlr patch cable, recommended brands?

Thanks
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Post by Kamakura »

Probably a stupid question, but is the hard drive you're recording on a media drive (7,200 revs minimum)? , and also not the C drive?
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blue
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Post by blue »

are your sample rates matched between cubase and the firepod? and which direction are you synching?
cochise
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Post by cochise »

Yeah, the sample rates are the same. The program doesn't usually let you record if they aren't. I've tried it in multiple programs too.

I called Presonus, they told me that even though my internal was TI, that was the problem and to buy another card. I just bought a PCMCIA card I was told was TI and it's not. I got it home, tried it out with the same results. It's an ADS TechGear card, same exact problem. I get a skip every 30 seconds or so. It's cost me more in time and extra hardware than it's worth, that's for sure. Can't wait to hear what Presonus says...
catch
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Post by catch »

Did anyone find a solution to this problem? 'Cuz it's happening to me, now, and I'm this close to losing my mind.
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blue
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Post by blue »

weird - Chad got a firebox this week and we got a cheapo ($30) firewire pcmcia card and it worked 100% right out of the box.

what sample rate are you guys using? i noticed it defaults to 96k.
catch
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Post by catch »

Yeah, when I first got it I set the sample rate to 96k and the latency to 1.5ms and it worked like a charm. I think I may have just messed something up in-software. After downloading the latest drivers and installing to the defaults, it works fine again. :?
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