Presonus Firestudio Project won't sync

[ChadLee32]

Hello, everyone. I'm having some serious trouble syncing my presonus firestudio project to a laptop. Here are the laptop specs:

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6905
OS Vista Home Premium 32 bit and XP SP2 32 bit
3 GB RAM
Intel Core2 Duo 2.0 Ghz
Firewire chipset(integrated): RICOH
Firewire chipset(expansion card; added recently): Texas Instruments
Cubase LE 4

I have been emailing a presonus tech support agent with my problems. He and I have gone through all the necessary steps in attempt to remedy the problem. Before I contacted presonus, I was using the integrated firewire connection on the laptop, which is a RICOH chipset and 4-pin. I had very moderate success with it being able to record only one track at a time. Never once have I been able to record more than one track at a time without the audio dropping out at random times. Here’s what I’ve done that does not work:

--Changing to a different buffer level (Tried all)
--Updating Cubase LE 4
--Using other software(Nuendo 2 and Adobe Audition)
--Installing the latest drivers for the presonus
--Running the necessary update for firewire for xp along with Microsoft’s recommended registry tweaks (KB Article)
--Disabling all unnecessary services, start up items, themes and hardware on the laptop (my optimized xp had only 13 processes running, 86 mb of ram being used and booted in about 15 seconds!)
--Purchased a firewire card that was recommended by the agent himself (Texas Instruments Chipset)
--A fresh install of both windows vista and xp (full reformat)

The strange thing is that the recommended firewire card causes more problems than the integrated. The presonus will not even playback music projects I’ve saved in Cubase, which are projects that I recorded with the integrated firewire. I also disabled the integrated firewire but no luck. The computer recognizes the firewire card perfectly, the card works fine with other firewire devices (external hdd) and windows has the Firestudio project as the primary sound device.

This behavior is exactly the same in both windows xp and vista. I’ve tried to wait patiently for the Presonus tech agent to email me. He told me that the system needed to be “restabilized” due to the introduction of a new firewire device and that he would email me how to do that. He hasn’t emailed me yet, which was six days ago. I’ve tried to contact him via email and phone, but he simply will not respond. I figured that if I reformatted the system that would help with the mysterious "restabilization." It didn’t. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks in advance for the help.

Chad

[Electriclight]

Seems like you have covered all the bases. Here's a long shot in the dark...What sample rate are you using to record? Is there a chance there is a mismatch.

Also, although it seems intuitively right and there is such advice out there, I'm not sure you actually want your Firestudio as your primary sound device in Windows. At the very least, turn off all sound schemes in Windows.

Has anybody considered you may have a lemon Firestudio? Has it ever worked?

[ChadLee32]

Electriclight, thanks for the reply. My sample rate is 44.1 which matches Cubase. Also, I had more success recording (via integrated firewire) and playing back audio in Cubase with the audio (Realtek integrated) on the laptop was disabled. I've also disabled all the windows sounds, themes, etc. I even put the colors on 16-bit to open up even more resources. Unfortunately, nothing has worked. Thanks for the help, Electriclight. Could it be that the Presonus Firestuido project is simply buggy?

[ChadLee32]

I'm bumping this b/c presonus tech support is not much help

[ChadLee32]

Another bump?

[whomper]

Originally Posted by ChadLee32

Hello, everyone. I'm having some serious trouble syncing my presonus firestudio project to a laptop. Here are the laptop specs:

Toshiba Satellite A305-S6905
OS Vista Home Premium 32 bit and XP SP2 32 bit
3 GB RAM
Intel Core2 Duo 2.0 Ghz
Firewire chipset(integrated): RICOH
Firewire chipset(expansion card; added recently): Texas Instruments
Cubase LE 4

I have been emailing a presonus tech support agent with my problems. He and I have gone through all the necessary steps in attempt to remedy the problem. Before I contacted presonus, I was using the integrated firewire connection on the laptop, which is a RICOH chipset and 4-pin. I had very moderate success with it being able to record only one track at a time. Never once have I been able to record more than one track at a time without the audio dropping out at random times. Here’s what I’ve done that does not work:

--Changing to a different buffer level (Tried all)
--Updating Cubase LE 4
--Using other software(Nuendo 2 and Adobe Audition)
--Installing the latest drivers for the presonus
--Running the necessary update for firewire for xp along with Microsoft’s recommended registry tweaks (KB Article)
--Disabling all unnecessary services, start up items, themes and hardware on the laptop (my optimized xp had only 13 processes running, 86 mb of ram being used and booted in about 15 seconds!)
--Purchased a firewire card that was recommended by the agent himself (Texas Instruments Chipset)
--A fresh install of both windows vista and xp (full reformat)

The strange thing is that the recommended firewire card causes more problems than the integrated. The presonus will not even playback music projects I’ve saved in Cubase, which are projects that I recorded with the integrated firewire. I also disabled the integrated firewire but no luck. The computer recognizes the firewire card perfectly, the card works fine with other firewire devices (external hdd) and windows has the Firestudio project as the primary sound device.

This behavior is exactly the same in both windows xp and vista. I’ve tried to wait patiently for the Presonus tech agent to email me. He told me that the system needed to be “restabilized” due to the introduction of a new firewire device and that he would email me how to do that. He hasn’t emailed me yet, which was six days ago. I’ve tried to contact him via email and phone, but he simply will not respond. I figured that if I reformatted the system that would help with the mysterious "restabilization." It didn’t. Does anyone have any idea? Thanks in advance for the help.

Chad

i am betting that good old microslop downloaded some patch you didnt want and caused all these problems

apparently , from the "pro" pc newsletters, they even download stuff and install even if you turned that feature off.

on the other hand
vista is total crap
but if xp is giving you problems then do a restore from before the problems started and see if it wasnt uncle billybob acting like he knows what is best for you and messing with your pc

[ChadLee32]

Originally Posted by whomper

i am betting that good old microslop downloaded some patch you didnt want and caused all these problems

apparently , from the "pro" pc newsletters, they even download stuff and install even if you turned that feature off.

on the other hand
vista is total crap
but if xp is giving you problems then do a restore from before the problems started and see if it wasnt uncle billybob acting like he knows what is best for you and messing with your pc

Well, even before the update from "microslop", it was acting the same. The problems are happening from a fresh install of xp and/or vista, and this is a brand new laptop. Furthermore, I did not use windows automatic update to install the firewire update; thus, there aren't any other features that have been installed.

After doing a lot of research on the matter, I've found that the presonus firestudio project gives even the Macs trouble. So for the most part, I think it's really a gamble with these units, and you're lucky if you get one of them to work.

As for an update, I did an RMA on the firewire card and still no luck getting the presonus to sync properly. However, it will work the the laptop's integrated firewire, but it won't record more than two tracks at once without dropping out.

[Electriclight]

Originally Posted by ChadLee32

However, it will work the the laptop's integrated firewire, but it won't record more than two tracks at once without dropping out.

Is your hard drive 5400 rpm? It is pretty well documented they frequently are not quite up to the task of audio recording.

[ChadLee32]

Originally Posted by Electriclight

Is your hard drive 5400 rpm? It is pretty well documented they frequently are not quite up to the task of audio recording.

Yeah, it's a 5400 rpm. I've tried recording to a 7200 rpm external hdd via usb 2.0 (western digital MyBook). Sorry, but I didn't post saying that was one of the first things that I tried since I knew that the rpms of the hdd were on the low performance end. It just seems strange that the recommended card won't even work. Also, I've done an RMA and the new firewire card won't work. I haven't tested the firewire card on an external hdd yet, but I will. Furthermore, I'd like to test recording to an eSATA to see if the dropouts continue.

Thanks for your help, Electriclight. I really appreciate it.

[brandondrury]

Did you ever get this one figured out?

I've had a few hangups with my Firestudio from time to time, and they have almost entirely been caused by weirdness in my PCI slot. Moving to a different slot has fixed it. On a laptop that isn't possible, obviously.

I've tried recording to a 7200 rpm external hdd via usb 2.0 (western digital MyBook)

The hard drive isn't a factor in the initial syncing. It will effect performance, but the Firestudio should at least sync up.

I have also had luck trying different ports in the Firestudio and different individual Firewire ports on the firewire card.

Also, it's easy to get in a hurry when you switch drivers and not follow the specific instructions. For example, the new Universal Control drivers will show up 3 different "install me" windows for the drivers. If you didn't get that, something is wrong (at least that's for XP.)

Give us an update.

Brandon