Presonus Firestudio Project and Cubase LE4

[cloroxmartini]

I've been having issues with this setup the past week and posted them on the misspelled Cubase LE thread. I hope this thread helps someone else make a decision in the future.

i've been all through the instructions. watched the Cubase LE4 dvd. so...

two issues that i think i've narrowed down.

1: software.

Cubase LE4 just did not want to talk to the firestudio sound card.

2: signal drop out

any audio input or output signal drops out using the firestudio project unit.


the set up

brand new firestudio project interface, purchase July 28, 2008, that came bundled with Cubase LE4. the PC is a 2 year old AMD 3800+, 1 gig DDR, and 2 firewire ports. the pc meets the required specifications listed on the side of the presonus package.

Regarding 1:

since i have not been able to get Cubase LE4 to work properly since July 28th, i downloaded a trial version of Ableton Live 7. i got Ableton set up on 4 mic channels from the firestudio and it worked. took about 5 minutes to get it all set up with discreet mic signals for all 4 mic inputs. from there i recorded voice on all 4 mics. all discreet pickups recorded; no overlap. i then shut it all down and started over with Ableton again. i set up a ribbon mic on a guitar cab. set up one mic on the firestudio. set up one audio channel on Ableton, and it worked just fine. seamless.

now to item 2: signal drop out.

the presonus manual says that signal drop out is due to the CPU not keeping up; so the instructions say to set the buffer higher. i set the buffer on the firestudio as high as it could go and still had signal drop out at the exact same intervals as the lowest buffer setting on firestudio. signal drop out occurs during recording, recording playback, and cd playback, when using the firestudio.

i sent the Ableton test tracks out to a WAV file. i disabled the firestudio as the soundcard and used the PC's onboard sound card. playback of WAV file had no drop outs, although the recording drop outs were noticable as a click. then, with the presonus still disabled, i played the exact CD that played through the presonus (with audio drop out). The CD played flawlessly. Based on this, laying drop out at the foot of the CPU does not make sense, especially when Protools M-Powered 7.4 coupled with an M-Audio device has been used on this PC and signal drop out was not even on the radar.

the Protools mix can be heard here: MySpace.com - Blyss - TUCSON, Arizona - Rock / Progressive - www.myspace.com/blyssband

so, as you can see, no issues with getting a decent mix out of Protools and M-Audio.

based upon my experience, i conclude that the Presonus Firestudio Project interface, maybe this particular one, is not the correct solution for me. i also conclude that Cubase LE4, while loading up in the PC, does not interface properly with this particular Firestudio Project on this particular PC. You can see i use "particular" here, that's due to someone else being able to work with these products right out of the box without the issues that i've been having.

thanks for the folks who tried to help me figure this out.

[cloroxmartini]

UPDATE:

Since I've returned the Presonus, I've been looking around for an 8 XLR input AD interface. I found a new (the online manual published July 30, 2008) M-Audio USB 2.0 device called Fast Track Ultra 8R, which is similar to the M-Audio Profire 2626 (firewire), both of which I did not know existed prior to purchasing the Presonus interface.

I wrote the Proaudio place selling the Ultra 8R (same price as the Firestudio Project) and explained what happened with the Presonus. His response was that Presonus makes good equipment and that I probably had a defective unit.

Thought I would throw that out there for what it's worth.

[the Oracle]

dude i dont know if you had any responses from the guys here , and i think im a bit too late , but here's the thing: i just recently got a presonus firebox and had trouble connecting it to my Hp laptop which is 3yrs old now, using a 6-to-4 firewire cable, i tried connecting it to my laptop with no luck, been two days till i just gave it a shot and bought a new firewire 6-to-4 pin cable and VOULA ! IT WORKED !! the cable was defective. so my advice to all newbs is, dont roll out the system just yet, it could be something so simple like a defective cable.

[cloroxmartini]

Originally Posted by the Oracle

dude i dont know if you had any responses from the guys here , and i think im a bit too late , but here's the thing: i just recently got a presonus firebox and had trouble connecting it to my Hp laptop which is 3yrs old now, using a 6-to-4 firewire cable, i tried connecting it to my laptop with no luck, been two days till i just gave it a shot and bought a new firewire 6-to-4 pin cable and VOULA ! IT WORKED !! the cable was defective. so my advice to all newbs is, dont roll out the system just yet, it could be something so simple like a defective cable.

Thanks. the box did work, partially. We could record on Ableton, not the packaged Cubase. There were a couple times that Cubase recognized the box, but all audio signals were routed through one channel. We did all the same set up on Ableton and Ableton worked fine with separate channels, etc. However, the box had audio drop out on all audio sources from a CD to streaming audio from the web to the Ableton recorded audio. The audio drop out occurred going through the box straight into the monitors. So something was wrong with the sound card portion of the box (I assume and it was suggested by a dealer). We had two fire wire cables (including the one supplied with the Presonus) to use and the same thing happened with both cables. When the M-audio unit shows up, I'll post how my experiences are with it.

[the Oracle]

i think you should do just that, for what i know that these forums help people ALOT and save them alot of hassle and time, you'll be doing the nation a great favor my friend lol.

[brandondrury]

There are a number of potential factors.

1) Chipsets - You didn't mention of the chipset of your motherboard was compatible with the audio interface. This is a HUGE factor that few companies make a big deal about, unfortunately.

2) Was the operating system clean? You mentioned web streaming and this leads me to think that the operating system could be compromised. Recording Computer Troubleshooting: Is Your Windows Operating System Clean?

3) Was the latest drivers and firmware being used with the audio interface?

From there it could be a billion things. I'm glad you are happy with your current gear. In the end there are so many things that can be screwed up at initial setup and the things I've suggested reduce the possible issues but certainly don't take care of all of them.

It could have been a Firewire PCI card or something that ridiculous causing some little 0 to be a 1 somewhere in Windows that destroys the whole damn thing.

Brandon

[the Oracle]

well what do you know, you caught the supreme overlord commander's attention ! haha ! and as usuall handing out some useful tips, which for that matter, i think i did spot a 1 instead of a 0 somewhere in my system lol..better go fix that. other words..you're in good hands from now on.

[Barthenon]

My son had similar problems. Turned out to be a couple of things.

1. Wireless card. This was causing the drop outs. Shutdown the network adapter and it worked.

2. Antivirus software. Seems to contribute and give us an occasional bluescreen it seems. Disabled it and we seem to be good to go. I can't say the guys a PreSonus were a great deal of help. If I listened to them I would be proud owner of more than a few firewire cards.

Seems to be fine now. We had some VERY tense moments, at one point we couldn't get separate tracks, but a quick call to the Music Store where we bought it set us straight.

I've read that making a separate profile on your windows box for the recording setup is a good idea.

Anyway we are proceeding causiously into MIDI territory with a borrowed MM6.

[cloroxmartini]

Originally Posted by Barthenon

My son had similar problems. Turned out to be a couple of things.

1. Wireless card. This was causing the drop outs. Shutdown the network adapter and it worked.

2. Antivirus software. Seems to contribute and give us an occasional bluescreen it seems. Disabled it and we seem to be good to go. I can't say the guys a PreSonus were a great deal of help. If I listened to them I would be proud owner of more than a few firewire cards.

Seems to be fine now. We had some VERY tense moments, at one point we couldn't get separate tracks, but a quick call to the Music Store where we bought it set us straight.

I've read that making a separate profile on your windows box for the recording setup is a good idea.

Anyway we are proceeding causiously into MIDI territory with a borrowed MM6.

the m-audio 8R unit was working fine, then stopped. one month and two units later, i have a new one. not comforting to have 2 units go down, but they sent a third and it works fine. the interface with protools and reaper is great, no problems with the 8R talking to each program, and talking with the PC is good. i just hope this unit holds up.

[Barthenon]

Have I mentioned that this endevour is not for the faint of heart?