Problems with Presonus Inspire / Cubase LE

[unadrummer]

I just got all my gear, installed all the software, and went to lay down my first guitar lick...ouch. During monitoring and playback, the track sounds like it's being fed through a crybaby wah pedal combined with a nasty spike in volume at the beginning of each "wah" as well as a click which I'm assuming is a latency problem. I see the option to change the latency settings on the Inspire control panel, but when I do, it disconnects the unit and comes up with error messages. I haven't found the F1 help feature to be of much help here...ideas?

[brandondrury]

Okay, I have to ask the obvious question.

Does whatever you are recording sound like a guitar with a wha pedal with a spike?

How are you recording the guitar?

Have you tried the other preamp in the Inspire to help ensure it is not a bad preamp?

While I hate recording guitars direct, for this test, I would plug my guitar straight into the Presonus and record that. It should sound like a fake, plastic, but clean electric guitar.

I'd try 2 different guitars, 2 different guitar cables, 2 different preamps on the Presonus and see if the results change at all.

From there, we move onto the computer. I've got a feeling that if Cubase is playing back the tracks with no problem, the issue is not in the way Cubase is recording them. It seams that the problem is probably before Cubase.

I'd make sure I had the latest driver from Presonus.

For testing purposes, I'd crank up the latency to something pretty high...maybe 20 or 30ms. This will suck for playing, but it will see how your system reacts. If this fixes it, your computer may be too slow or have way too much junk on it.

You didn't describe your computer at all.

Also, I'd make sure that the Presonus is compatible with that particular firewire card.

Brandon

[lilcbcoach]

Also, don't adjust latency settings when you have a project open in Cubase or you will get the error messages you described. I have to close Cubase, make the latency changes, then re-open Cubase.

Hope this helps some. Terry

[unadrummer]

I'll try and address all your questions, Brandon...this is driving me nuts, but thanks for the response. It's nice to know somebody actually reads the posts!

Q)"Does whatever you are recording sound like a guitar with a wha pedal with a spike?"
A)If you mean "do you want the end product to sound like a wah pedal?" then no. I just want straight, clean acoustic guitar sound. I don't have any plug-ins or effects enabled.

Q)"How are you recording the guitar?"
A)Ibanez Electric/Acoustic straight through the pickup into Presonus Inspire GT Input 1 or 2. All levels on the guitar EQ are mid and/or Zero'd. Open up new audio track in Cubase LE, record enable it, turn on monitoring feature, set gain on Inspire control panel to mid-level and play.

Q)"Have you tried the other preamp in the Inspire to help ensure it is not a bad preamp?"
A)If the other preamp is the alternate input, then yes. Switched the input in Cubase LE to IN2 and tried again. Same results. Also, for fun, tried both mic inputs with identical results

Q)"While I hate recording guitars direct, for this test, I would plug my guitar straight into the Presonus and record that. It should sound like a fake, plastic, but clean electric guitar."
A)I wasn't aware there were other ways to do it. I was under the impression that you always plugged in your guitar/mic directly to the unit itself and recorded straight into Cubase LE.

Q)"I'd try 2 different guitars, 2 different guitar cables, 2 different preamps on the Presonus and see if the results change at all."
A)If I had 2 different guitars or cables, I certainly would. However, given that both mics I own on both mic cables in both mic inputs act the same, I don't think another guitar or 1/4" cord would change it through the instrument input.

Q)"From there, we move onto the computer. I've got a feeling that if Cubase is playing back the tracks with no problem, the issue is not in the way Cubase is recording them. It seams that the problem is probably before Cubase."
A)Cubase is, in fact, not playing the tracks back fine. It's playing them back exactly as it sounds during the monitoring/recording process. That it, complete with the clicks and pops and changes in volume.

Q)"I'd make sure I had the latest driver from Presonus."
A)Did that...the driver version on the website is 2.14.0 while the cd included with the Inspire has 2.0. Also, if it makes any difference, I'm working with the new Inspire GT. It's black with flames engraved and the control panel icon is labeled "Inspire GT Control" as opposed to "Inspire 1394 Control" which I downloaded.

Q)"For testing purposes, I'd crank up the latency to something pretty high...maybe 20 or 30ms. This will suck for playing, but it will see how your system reacts. If this fixes it, your computer may be too slow or have way too much junk on it."
A)I've turned the latency on the Inspire Control Panel all the way to 25ms (as high as it goes) and every setting in between with no change in results except for the appropriate delay.

Q)"You didn't describe your computer at all. "
A)Fujitsu laptop. Pentium 4 2.66GHz, 512 MB RAM. Windows XP

Q)"Also, I'd make sure that the Presonus is compatible with that particular firewire card."
A)This is the only item I'm unsure about. My laptop only has a 4-pin female firewire input. I purchased a 6-pin female/4-pin male adapter to get the unit to work with the included 6-pin/6-pin firewire cable. Also, as far as the compatibility issue goes...I'm not sure how to determine that.

I went through the recommended steps from Presonus's website to smooth out latency to no avail. Hope this helps move the problem on down the kill chain.

[brandondrury]

Q)"I'd try 2 different guitars, 2 different guitar cables, 2 different preamps on the Presonus and see if the results change at all."
A)If I had 2 different guitars or cables, I certainly would. However, given that both mics I own on both mic cables in both mic inputs act the same, I don't think another guitar or 1/4" cord would change it through the instrument input.

Wait a minute. I thought you were recording direct guitars? Let's take mics out of the equation and plug the acoustic guitar straight into the sound card's preamp with a single 1/4" cable if possible.

Since both mics, cables, inputs sound the same, it stands to reason that this is not the problem either, but I have to recommend that you try it.

Q)"From there, we move onto the computer. I've got a feeling that if Cubase is playing back the tracks with no problem, the issue is not in the way Cubase is recording them. It seams that the problem is probably before Cubase."
A)Cubase is, in fact, not playing the tracks back fine. It's playing them back exactly as it sounds during the monitoring/recording process. That it, complete with the clicks and pops and changes in volume.

I should have written this more clearly. When I said that Cubase is playing back the tracks fine, I meant that Cubase is slapping on the hard drive the exact signal that is going into it. So if the monitored signal is the same as the recorded signal, the problem is before the monitor section of Cubase.

Q)"Also, I'd make sure that the Presonus is compatible with that particular firewire card."
A)This is the only item I'm unsure about. My laptop only has a 4-pin female firewire input. I purchased a 6-pin female/4-pin male adapter to get the unit to work with the included 6-pin/6-pin firewire cable. Also, as far as the compatibility issue goes...I'm not sure how to determine that.

It is my understanding that the 6 pin Firewire cable is indentical to a 4-pin, but the 2 extra pins provide power to units like sound cards or whatever. I've read that plugging a sound card into the wall outlet reduces the need for the 6 pin down to zero. So, if you aren't plugging the Presonus directly into electricity, I would try that.

Man, other than that, I don't know. My next step would be calling Presonus, I guess and see if there are specifics for this particular unit.

Brandon

[unadrummer]

Well, I swapped out the whole Inspire for another, and...same problem. That pretty much narrows it down to a setting/glitch in the cubase software or my actual computer hardware. I've heard Windows XP with SP2 has some issues with the 1394 drivers...anybody have experience with that? For now I'm doing a clean reinstall of windows and seeing if that helps. I needed a good excuse to backup all my stuff anyway.

[brandondrury]

I meant to ask you what happens when you play back audio with Windows Media Player.

You may have went through this already, but you may want to see if we've forgotten any other obvious step. This article is very basic, but it may help.
Soundcard Troubleshooting 101

For now I'm doing a clean reinstall of windows and seeing if that helps. I needed a good excuse to backup all my stuff anyway.

Formatting Windows and backing up stuff are both good things to do regularly in my experience.

You may want to try downloading Reaper (free to try) to see if that fixes the audio problem. I don't think it's Cubase, but I've been wrong before. This will test it for sure.

Brandon

[unadrummer]

I disabled WMP as my first act upon installation of Windows...constant bad experience, so no luck there. However, audio playback through winamp, real mp and itunes are perfect. I also downloaded reaper and tried playback of their sample project...same clicking, without even taking any inputs into consideration.
Tomorrow, when my clean install is done, I'll get presonus on the phone and play for them what I'm hearing...hopefully they'll be able to help me. (even though I've all but eliminated their product as the issue.)
I just REALLY don't want to buy a new computer.

[unadrummer]

So, after a clean reinstall of windows and all software, problem solved!! I'm now getting a nice clean, crisp sound out of both guitars and mics.

[brandondrury]

Awesome! I had a feeling that this was going to work out for you.

The old 'Format Windows' trick works almost every time...unless you have BIOS issues or some hardware that is screwed up.

I'm glad you got it working.

Brandon