PreSonus Forums

Hello fellow 1818 Users!

Ive used an 1818 VSL for about 6 years now using it to record and monitor via the VSL software in my Homestudio. I also added an 8 Channel ADAT Preamp to get more Channels. Everything was fine and working great. Until the 1818 VSL startet acting up last week. It is still recognised, but I only get noise on all channels (internal, not ADAT) and Phatom Power does not work (no indicator LED activity). I suspect it has something to do with the power supply inside the device - I opened it up and couldnt find any visible damage, but the transformer gets supsiciously hot. Without any deeper knowledge of reverse-engineering or a schematic, i myself am pretty lost and could only try to recap the power section on the board.

Anyways. I found a used unit for sale and am now conscidering just swapping the device.
BUT: The seller says the device is on the latest Firmware Version. And I need the AudioBox VSL Software to work. Is it possible to downgrade the firmware of the device to get it to work with VSL?

Do I even need to downgrade the FW on the device, or ist it just a case of running the right Application/Driver on the Host-PC? (Windows 10 by the way, never had any issues there).

I read the FW comes with the executables of the Host-Software (AudioBox 1.3 - or later UC...)?

So can i just use AudioBox VSL 1.3. And tell the device to downgrade or is there no way back?

If i can get no VSL to work, i might aswell just leave it behind and completely change the whole Setup - move to a Digital Mixer/interface combo... but Cost-Wise that would mean almost 10 times the price of a replacement 1818VSL...

Thanks for any advice!

Hi, I think the same.. I have worked for years very well with my audiobox 18/18 vsl and still working with this fantastic mixer, monitoring all I needed. This driver 1.3 I am using, too. Now I bought this Presonus Studio 1810 c, with universal driver, but is it not the same monitoring. Even using the "z" blue and green, the zero latency, buffer in 128 our 64..I am not happy for a lot of reasons. Using Zero Monitoring, the playback of your just recorded channel is mute or only appears the send fx, if you want to repair a part. If you try to use the tapemachine style, you resolve this problem, but you can't hear your own live voice of the microfone before the punch-in point. If you add send to a bus to hear better, appears a sum of the Audio with the latency, even small, but sounds like a "chorus" these two audios (Direct and the delayed). If you try using even the 32 buffer, without using the " zero" latency, it is better, you have all inserts and Fx, but for the singer still feels delay, this difference to the old good VSL Monitoring of the audiobox 18/18 VSL. Tell me, I'am on the wrong way, because till now, I couldn't understand to use it correcly, and if so, tell me how to make Monitoring perfectly like in the old VSLmixer, to make any musician happy. Thanks o lot for any help.

I forget to tell you, that I sucessfully made I downgrad of the firmware and so returned to use my VSL mixer. Only install this old legancy driver 1.3..

Thnx for the info, Stephan. I have a 44VSL that I’d like to use on my Win 10 (x64, 1809) laptop for recording vocals, specifically. What version of Windows 10 do you have installed? I’ve read that people couldn’t install the 1.3 driver on Windows 10 if it’s version 1703 or newer.

Another thing - the old driver ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES a dedicated USB 2.0 port, correct? The 1.3 driver causes all sorts of crackling and distortion over USB 3.x, yes?

stephanhitzelberger wroteI forget to tell you, that I sucessfully made I downgrad of the firmware and so returned to use my VSL mixer. Only install this old legancy driver 1.3..

Glad to hear this issue has been sorted.

test