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Old 12-13-2007, 09:13 PM   #1
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Default serious problems with TASCAM US-1641 (not necessarily a REAPER issue)

Greetings,

Ended up trying a TASCAM US-1641 sound card tonight, but it ended up having some major issues. The most serious of these problems:

1. An intermittent loss of output signal that varied between instantaneous clicks and several seconds of total silence.

2. Any attempt at lowering the latency (from its default setting) resulted in the TASCAM control application locking up and requiring a cold boot of the PC.

Am running on a Dell Dimension E310, in which all of the (6) USB ports are supposed to be USB 2.0, but I'm wondering if there's a chance that I've hit some issue with maintaining USB 2.0 speed/functionality. Interestingly enough, based on what I saw on the VU meters, the input signal seemed to stay present when the output fell silent. (Even a reboot of the PC caused the Windows power-up sound to play out with a significant amount of clicking/noise.) Or perhaps I just have a defective unit?

REAPER worked flawlessly with my old E-mu 0404, by the way.

Any guidance or insight on this problem would be greatly appreciated. If I can't work things out, though, I suppose I'll just have to send the unit back. (This would be a shame, though, as I could really use something with that many inputs.)

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
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Old 12-14-2007, 02:00 PM   #2
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Default follow-up/assistance with USB 2.0 performance

Hi again,

Just a quick update to my problem:

After doing a bit of research to ensure that my Dell Dimension E310 is properly equipped with USB 2.0 ports (which it was), I decided to buy a new cable that was "certified" as being USB 2.0-compliant. Interestingly enough, this improved things a bit, but some similar problems still existed.

At default latency (which is something like 4/17ms per REAPER, although I could be off by a few), I only heard a few clicks that pretty much went away when I pulled out my USB-based wireless (LAN) NIC. However, when I tried lowering the latency by one step (from the middle of five to the next lower setting), REAPER only played for a second or two and then locked up. The strange thing is that, with the new cable, I was actually able to get the US-1641 control panel application to close (unlike before).

Called TASCAM and they didn't really have any conclusive feedback for me. Suggested that I try hooking up the US-1641 to another machine to see if it responded the same way. Hooked it up to my laptop and found that the performance was definitely a lot better, although I still experienced some audible problems at both of the aforementioned speeds--although I was always able to open/close the control panel application, unlike on my desktop. Put in a shorter cable (to the laptop) and the performance also seemed to improve a little at that point as well.

Had the laptop performed exactly like my desktop, the TASCAM tech would have been convinced that I had a defective US-1641. However, since the results were definitely different (although not perfect), I'm beginning to think that the problem may lie with the USB 2.0 performance on my Dell.

So I've been racking my brain with trying to figure out if there's something wrong with the USB 2.0 setup on my Dell, but it's really been hard to find anything conclusive online. If possible, I'm wondering if anyone:

a. Knows if the USB 2.0 ports Dimension E310 are hubbed together in any way. (It seemed as though plugging in a front port on the PC rendered slightly better performance than the rear.)

b. Can help point me to any methods for testing and/or ensuring that something isn't wrong with the way my PC is set up (drivers, BIOS, etc.).

c. Has any additional suggestions.

If I can't get things resolved (fairly quickly), I'll probably have to return the unit for a refund. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
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Old 12-14-2007, 10:21 PM   #3
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Default more news (some of it bad)

Hi again,

Feel a little odd about being the only one to post on my own thread, but thought I'd share the following:

TASCAM directed me to http://www.musicxp.net/ and instructed me to follow all the tuning tips there. Following that, if I still experience any problems, the next recommended step was to uninstall the driver and put it back in from scratch.

Ironically, by the time I got back downstairs to see if they'd sent the email along, REAPER froze after hitting the play button (while still optioned for the US-1641 at default latency). If I don't start seeing much better results, I'm afraid the US-1641 is going to end up being returned. Again, any additional insights/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 12-16-2007, 10:36 AM   #4
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Default Tascam US-1641

I have a Dell 1505. A few weeks ago I purchased an M-Audio 410 firewire card. I had the same problems you are experiencing. The short version of my story is I couldn't use the internal Dell firewire port and bought a PCI-express external card, which solved the stability problems. However, I do continue to have a problem with an intermittent noise that I haven't been able to resolve. Research appears that most of the audio hardware manufacturers don’t seem to want to support Dell and their products. I don’t know why, since Dell is the largest computer manufacturer in the world.

I have purchased the US-1641 and expect it next week. I hope I don’t run into the same problems I had before.
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Old 12-16-2007, 01:47 PM   #5
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Default still no luck/probably going to send it back

Hi again,

JG: Thanks a lot for your input. I hope you have better results that I did (with your US-1641). Please keep us posted.

Another update: Went through all the XP "tuning" as requested (by TASCAM support) and the improvement was marginal at best. As this didn't really fix the problem, I decided to try experimenting with all the ASIO-related options in REAPER and found that raising the "ASIO thread priority" was the only way to keep the US-1641 control-panel application from freezing on any latency setting lower than default. Still experienced a lot of crackling at the setting below default (4/7ms per REAPER)--and went back to the default setting (4/17ms) to see if I could at least keep the audio stable (while on the highest "ASIO thread priority" settings). Although it went at least a few minutes without any noticeable glitches, some crackles eventually appeared, eventually followed by another 2-3 second dropout.

BTW, the first TASCAM tech thought my unit might be defective, so I'm considering trying one more just to see if that happens to be the case. (My gut feeling, however, is that it's probably an issue between the US-1641 hardware/connection, its driver, and possibly the USB 2.0 performance of my Dell.) The other oddity with my US-1641 is that the direct input monitoring is way softer than when the same signal is monitored through REAPER (at unity gain)--something I'd say is off my an audible magnitude in the region of 5-10 times, which really makes the direct input monitoring virtually unusable IMO. Plus the S/PDIF input cannot be direct-input monitored at all (verified by TASCAM). By the way, the volume of my E-mu 0404 is consistent whether I monitor directly through Patchmix or via REAPER (with any relevant inputs muted in Patchmix). (This is very handy as I can choose to record without any monitoring latency by going directly through Patchmix or via REAPER with associated ASIO latency.)

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 12-18-2007, 05:52 PM   #6
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Default defective unit?/anyone else using US-1641 with REAPER?

Greetings,

Another quick update:

TASCAM tech suggested that my hardware could be defective and encouraged me to exchange it for a new unit. Started the process today, but it will probably take at least a week or two before the new one arrives (as this was an online purchase). Unfortunately, they have no knowledge of REAPER--and, therefore, are hinting that it might be the source of the problem. (My other tests seem to indicate otherwise, but things have been so flaky and inconsistent that it's hard to know for sure.)

With this in mind, is anyone here using a US-1641 with REAPER successfully? If so, I'm wondering if:

1. you're using TASCAM's driver/firmware--and, if so, which versions.

2. you are able to get it working consistently on the "normal" latency setting--or, even better, with one of the lower-latency settings (assuming you're using TASCAM's driver).

3. you notice a significantly lower output level when monitoring an analog input directly (by turning the "MIX" control all the way to "INPUT"), as opposed to monitoring it through REAPER (or any other DAW) with the "MIX" control set all the way to "COMPUTER"?

4. you have any other insight/experience to offer.

As always, any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
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Old 01-18-2008, 02:20 PM   #7
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Default DPC Latency Checker results (ay caramba!)

Hi again,

Had the opportunity to run DPC Latency Checker on the PC and found some very interesting results:

Started with my USB-based WLAN card in, as I needed it to download the application anyway. When I first launched the tool, it seemed to indicate average USB latency of nearly 40 μs, with an initial peak at 746 μs. Let it run for about 5-10 minutes and then caught a big spike up to 4350 μs. Figured it was time to pull the WLAN card out and start fresh.

As I suspected, things got a lot better right away. The average latency was around 10-15 μs, with the maximum captured at 44 μs. Let it run for about 15 minutes and eventually caught a spike all the way up to 88 μs. Based on this set of results, I thought things might actually be OK.

So I figured it might be a good idea to plug in the US-1641 at this point and see how that affected the readings--and this is where things started to disintegrate:

Initially caught some spikes up to 2438 μs (which led the program to prompt that digital audio/video would probably experience dropouts). Let it sit for a while and the spikes actually increased all the way up to 3199 μs. Started REAPER at this point and the maximum latency jumped up a little to 3255 μs right away. After playing a bit of my test recording, however, that raised all the way up to 4495 μs and eventually peaked at 5168 μs. At this point I shut REAPER down, which caused an even bigger spike--up to 7525 μs--but that, in itself, didn't really surprise me, as I figured there might be some bindings to release.

I restarted REAPER and decided to try adjusting the latency setting within the US-1641 driver. Meant to start by increasing the latency to maximum ("highest"), but accidentally went to the other extreme ("lowest")--and all hell broke loose. DPC Latency Checker showed a lot of spikes, with the highest reaching 17421 μs, right before REAPER hung (at which point the US-1641 driver-setting application would not open). Rebooted and set the US-1641 for maximum latency and still saw reasonably bad performance, with averages in the 30 μs range and a significant peak at 2631 μs.

Based on these results, am I correct in assuming that the US-1641 and/or its driver is really the most likely source for these performance problems? Is there any reason to expect that the USB ports/drivers/BIOS on the Dell is still at least a significant part of the problem?

By the way, I attached four of the screen shots to this message, just in case anyone wants to check out the details. Here's a brief legend (in chronological order):

- final_sample_no_WLAN.JPG (taken with WLAN out, before attaching the US-1641)
- 2nd_sample_after_playing_audio.JPG (taken after the US-1641 was inserted and audio played in REAPER)*
- 1st_sample_after_stopping_REAPER.JPG (taken after REAPER was stopped).
- with_lowest_latency setting.JPG (captured right before REAPER crashed, after accidentally setting the US-1641 for lowest latency)

*Uploaded this one last, so it's out of order in the attachment list (but in the proper order of the items as listed above).

Assessments/additional insights extremely welcome.

Take care and thanks again for all the help,


Alan
Attached Images
File Type: jpg final_sample_no_WLAN.JPG (43.9 KB, 754 views)
File Type: jpg 1st_sample_after_stopping_REAPER.JPG (53.0 KB, 703 views)
File Type: jpg with_lowest_latency setting.JPG (58.1 KB, 731 views)
File Type: jpg 2nd_sample_after_playing_audio.JPG (53.9 KB, 772 views)
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Old 01-19-2008, 04:28 AM   #8
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Have you sent these results to Tascam and asked for an improved driver? I think that would be a good idea.
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Old 01-19-2008, 04:52 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moss View Post
Have you sent these results to Tascam and asked for an improved driver? I think that would be a good idea.
Hey Moss,

Before taking action, I really want to verify that I'm interpreting the test results (and their implications) properly. Additionally, I have been far less than impressed with both the knowledge and responsiveness of TASCAM's "Operational Support" team thus far--however that won't stop me from trying to escalate this issue if I can move forward with at least reasonable assurance that these test results prove their driver to be faulty.

With this in mind:

1. I'd really appreciate any meaningful feedback in regard to assessing the test results (as posted above).

2. Would welcome similar test results from others who are using different USB 2.0 audio interfaces--particularly if theirs work well (especially when deployed with low latency settings). I would think having a reasonable point of comparison could prove to be very helpful.

Once I have enough data, I definitely plan to move forward in one way or another. (Am also running out of time to simply return the unit and start fresh, at the cost of return shipment and needing to start all over from scratch.)

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
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Old 01-19-2008, 07:02 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuukka View Post
The 1641 manual says that you should not have any kind of mass storage connected. It will eat the same bandwidth..
Hi again Tuukka,

I had to revisit some guitar parts for my second band today--and, as I've just received the multitrack recording from a festival show we did in 2006, I decided to use that recording as my basis for relearning some of the sections that I had forgotten over time. As all those tracks are on my external USB 2.0 drive, I figured it might be a good opportunity to see how connecting/using "mass storage" might affect the DPC latency.

First of all, I noticed a few dropouts with the US-1641 on its default latency setting (something that really hasn't happened when I've tested off the system drive). Opened up the DPC Latency Checker tool and caught some big spikes around the 4 ms (4000 μs) range, with both the US-1641 and external hard drive running. Raising the US-1641's latency setting by one notch seemed to help, but that would definitely create too much latency for overdubbing purposes (7 ms in/29 ms out, per REAPER).

While I was at it, I disconnected the US-1641 and tried running the 24-track recording through my E-mu 0404 (PCI) card instead. Interestingly, the external drive access (with the US-1641 detached) caused intermittent DPC latency peaks that almost reached 1 ms, so I can see why TASCAM makes the recommendation to avoid external mass storage--as the additive load really seems like it could impact low-latency audio performance.

Now this makes my situation even tricker because, if I keep the US-1641, I'll either have to record on the system drive or figure out if/how to add a second internal drive to optimize performance. I seem to recall the PC only having one PCI slot as well, although the specs claim there are two. (Maybe there's a factory-installed modem in the other one. I have to check.) So, if I decide to send back the US-1641, it will be a challenge to figure out whether to buy a FireWire card/interface or maybe just stick with PCI (and possibly rip out my E-mu 0404). Actually, since Musician's Fiend (sic) took so long to send my replacement unit, I may have to make up my mind fairly quickly. Argh!

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 01-20-2008, 02:44 PM   #11
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Default another brief update

Hi again,

Just a quick update to report that I resumed working on my little test piece again today. Decided to try setting the ASIO thread priority to "time critical" before starting the session and left it that way throughout. Kept the driver latency at "normal" as well.

Added sitar guitar through my S/PDIF-connected J-Station, organ via MIDI (which also tested the MIDI I/O on the US-1644), and 5-string bass. Did not hear or experience any noticeable glitches this time around. Additionally, the MIDI timing seemed perfect. Am also using the system drive for this particular test recording, by the way.

If this level of performance/stability lasts, I may just go ahead and keep the interface. At least now, with all the tweaking and experimentation, the performance level is now at least bordering on what I would consider to be acceptable. Additionally, it seems as though I can adjust to the ~21 ms threshold of usable PC-monitoring latency (between adjusting the "MIX" knob and the right amount of bleed-through).

Still want to add a few more instruments to the test piece, if possible--and then make another test recording, using as many microphones as possible all recording at the same time (just to see what happens when most/all the inputs are definitely sending audio data). After that, I'll probably have to make my final decision.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me get a better grip on all these issues.

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 01-21-2008, 12:24 PM   #12
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Default looks like I'm keeping it

Hi again,

I finished up my test piece last night, adding violin and then recording the MIDI-triggered organ to audio as well. As far as a short multitrack test recording is concerned, I think this pretty much took care of everything I'd need to do (with the exception of eventually recording drums, but I think that will probably be OK too) on the US-1641.

As what will probably be my final pair of performance tests, prior to making a final decision regarding keeping/returning the US-1641, I successfully recorded the following two scenarios this morning:

1. Simultaneously record/monitor 14 inputs (including both S/PDIF channels) at 44.1kHz.

2. Simultaneously record/monitor 12 tracks at 96kHz/24-bit resolution (no S/PDIF).

NOTE: Inadvertently performed the first test at the driver's "high" latency (~7/29 ms in/out) setting, but restored it to "normal" (~4/17 ms in/out) for the second.

Used the following inputs for testing:

- 8 microphones, connected to mic inputs 1-8
- 2 unbalanced mics, connected to instrument inputs (9-10)
- a stereo organ patch, fed through a Mackie mixer, with balanced outputs connected to inputs 11-12
- an electric guitar plugged into a Johnson J-station, connected to the US-1641 via S/PDIF (stereo)

After monitoring in headphones, made the brief test recordings by singing out loud while playing an organ chord with my right hand (and tapping on the guitar with my left hand in the first instance). Am extremely happy to report that the entire pair of tests went perfectly--with no dropouts whatsoever. So, based on all the tweaking I've done, it looks like I'll end up keeping the US-1641 and simply adapting to its shortcomings.

Thanks, once again, to all those who helped along the way.

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 02-05-2008, 01:04 AM   #13
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Hi, folks. I'm entirely new here. Here's my experience with the US-1641, although my problems may be unrelated to what you're experiencing. This is actually a unit that an acquaintance of mine bought. He speaks little english and needed my help.

Here's how it went. We bought the unit online from a registered dealer, ScitScat. When it arrived, we right away noticed that the input levels were unusually low. Even with the trim pot almost all the way up, the decibels showing up in his Samplitude hardly approached -15 to -10dbs, which is considerably short of the desirable -6db for recording. And to get the -6, he had to turn the trim ALL the way up, and the singer had to pretty much touch the mic whilst singing. This was odd, as the little LED showed that the card itself was receiving strong signals, but the daw never received them. We reinstalled the drivers and tried again, but it was the same. Besides, with the trim jacked up, (LED showed reds) the sound was already distorted and unusable. I suggested we try a condenser, as their sensitivity is usually better. The improvement was negligible, as the trim still had to be nearly maxed out to get an average of -6.

So I call Tascam, and after about 10 minutes of wasting my life on listening to their crappy background music, I finally got to talk to a "tech rep", who sounded like he just quit his job at McDonalds and took this one. He took my name, address and the rest, and made a "profile" account in their system. Then he asked about my problem. I thoroughly explained our input level problem, and that we tried different types of mics, cables, and reinstalls. Well, guess what? His one and only advice was to try and reinstall the drivers. Again. And then if that doesn't work to call back. (What a way to rub someone off so you can go take your smoke break, huh?) Fine, said I. I went and reinstalled the drivers. No improvement. In fact I did them one better, and took the card to my own music PC, and istalled the drives fresh. Then tried it through my Sonar, and Samplitude. Still the same. I then tried a different USB cable. No improvement. Long by now I knew that the problem was in the card iteself, but I had to do every possible thing, just so I could prevent them from rubbing me off again next time I call. Which I did. With shipping and our experiments, 30 days have expired and no return could be made to the dealer, only and exchange/repair through manufacturer.

Again I called, sacrificing my lunch break for fifteen minutes of their 8-bit telephone symphony, then when I finally get to talk to someone, they tell me that the guys from the "tech support" are currently on lunch, and that I should call back later in 40 minutes or so. (My steam level rising...) OK, said i.

An hour later, interupting my work, I called again, for yet another 10 minutes of goofy music, and then some teen-age brat sounding kid finally took my call, sounding kinda like he was doing ME, THE CUSTOMER a favor!!! I patiently gave him my name and address again, and he pulled up my account, and by golly what joy - nothing from my previous call was there, as he started asking me the same elementary questions all over again! I explained to him EVERYTHING that I did try and remedy the situation, trying a variety of dynamic and phantom mics, different cables, different PC's, native hosts, etc. He goes on to ask things like "Well, did you have the phantom power button ON?" (They must be reading this crap off a list of "stuff to ask"). I said politely, "of course we had it on, how else would we use condenser mics at all"? To this he snapped at me and raised his voice, yelling "I don't know, I'm just asking you a question!!!"
I realized this was going nowhere, so I asked simply to tell me how to exchange the item. He said they don't do exchanges, but only repairs, either by sending in to them, or taking it to one of their approved repair contractors in town.

We sent it in to them, with a letter of thorough explanation of the problems. After two months, the card hadn't arrived. I call them, and imagine my shock when I find out that they already shipped it back out a month ago, but to the other side of United States - to Florida (we're in Washington). Yes, instead of using our return address, which was both on the package and the required copy of the receipt, they took the address of the store that originally sold to us, as it was on the receipt as well. This was a new low in records of customer support in my book. They truly must be the dejected lot of the fast food industry.

Anyways, I called ScitScat, and sure enough they had received an unanticipated package with refurbed goods - something they never sell anyways. We had to again pay 17$ of shipping at our own expense to get it back to us. Fine.

Now that it's here, we realize, that Tascam had actually replaced the entire unit, as this one was assembled in china, while the former was made in mexico. And the new one was more blueish, istead of black. Well, we go to try it, and guess what? STILL the same low levels!!! Except one difference is that it doesn't distort the sound anymore even with the trim all the way up. So I thought to myself, hmmm two brand new cards in a row can't be screwed up this way. Is it actually designed to be like this? So i opened the manual and looked up input impedance on the 8 xlr input channels - it's 2.2 kOhms. Compare that to Presonus 1.3k ohms. Yes, I know that every circuit design is different, and that there are other ones with even higher values out there, like Mackie's usb series with 2.4k ohms mic inputs. But whether they use more powerful preamps, or whatever, their products rock, and they leave you plenty of overhead on your trimpots. Plus I've never seen a software control hub so poor, small, featureless and useless as the one on us-1641. Ages behind the rock-solid, all-inclusive PatchMix of my e-mu1820m.

Basically we got a crappy product, giving us no input overhead (kinda like having to drive your car floored all the way, just to get your 60 miles per hour). And I get the lousiest service imaginable - here, in the states! I might as well be talking to someone in Mumbai about cancelling a credit card. At least they don't yell at you for paying them your hard earned money.

Personally, I swore to myself never again to buy anything from them, long as I live. They seem to be more concerned with their TEAC consumer junk anyways. At this point we gave up.
He's gonna finish his album (using it "pedal-to-the-metal" on inputs, or using another mixer to preamplify the sound further, before feeding to the tascam). And then we'll sell/trade this piece of crap for a firepod. A motu 8pre would be ideal, but price forbids. But then again, like mama always taught, you get what you pay for...

Sorry for rambling. Had to share... Comments?
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Old 02-05-2008, 06:49 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maestro View Post
Comments?
Hey Maestro,

Sounds like you really had a difficult time there. Have only used my US-1641 for a small test recording thus far, but did not seem to have any trouble with getting enough signal out of the trims/mic preamps. In fact, my second acoustic guitar track, recorded with an Oktava MC-012, actually hit 0 dB by accident--and the trim pot was not even close to being all the way up (probably around 1 or maybe 2 o'clock, if I remember correctly).

Also, while there were definitely many issues with the interface, I have to say that the analog inputs record extremely cleanly. In fact, a good friend was having trouble with noisy preamps in his audio interface and asked if I would send a WAV recorded with the US-1641 for comparison. Sent along a (looped) three-pass lead vocal take and it was so quiet that my friend challenged as to whether I had actually taken steps to actively remove any noise.

Looking forward to putting the US-1641 through a lot more use in the future, but figured it was only fair to share its virtues as well--particularly in relation to what you've experienced. Agree about the low quality of TASCAM's support line, though (although my experience wasn't quite as bad as yours). Best of luck!

Take care,


Alan
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Old 02-21-2008, 08:21 AM   #15
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Default more dropout resurfaced/question about what appeared to fix

Greetings,

Well, I thought I had everything settled with the US-1641, but have started to experience intermittent dropouts again--even though the configuration has remained constant (default/medium latency setting on driver, "time critical" thread priority, "Pre-zero output buffers, useful on some hardware," and "Ignore ASIO reset messages" all checked/selected).

During last night's session, the dropouts became so frequent that I decided to see what other options might help and, in a fit of desperation, tried unchecking:

"Allow projects to override device sample rate"

And, to my surprise, not only did that eliminate the dropouts, but it seemed to have improved my (through-REAPER) monitoring latency as well.

This seems more than a bit odd to me, but was hoping that someone who knows more about this option can shed more light on the subject--and why this option, in particular, seems to have improved things so dramatically.

Thanks a lot and take care,


Alan
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Old 03-19-2008, 03:17 PM   #16
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Default I'm interested in this product but I need to be able to overdub.

As I understand it, Axeman, If you are playing audio out the same interface you are playing in, it should be in sync for an overdub. But you monitor it through a separate sound card because of the headphone jack live audio thing.

I see in the manual that there are audio outputs to the 1641 (pic attached). Have you tried monitoring from there during overdub?

Hope you get this soon and thanks for the inside tip in advance
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Old 03-19-2008, 04:52 PM   #17
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Default US-1641 Well see

Hi,

I have read all your posts out there. I am currently using my US-1641 with Sonar 7. I am having issues with latency during overdubs. The machine I am running is plenty powerful, it is an HP.
Anyways it has been suggested to me by a friend that uses the US-1641 to get a seperate USB 2.0 expantion card. I just purchased it today. I will let you all know how that works out. I really want it to work.
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Old 03-19-2008, 05:30 PM   #18
axeman
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mbranch777 View Post
Hi,

I have read all your posts out there. I am currently using my US-1641 with Sonar 7. I am having issues with latency during overdubs. The machine I am running is plenty powerful, it is an HP.
Anyways it has been suggested to me by a friend that uses the US-1641 to get a seperate USB 2.0 expantion card. I just purchased it today. I will let you all know how that works out. I really want it to work.
Greetings,

Best of luck with it. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if you still need to tune your PC for optimal performance (assuming you haven't already done so). Hopefully TASCAM will also publish an update driver in the near future that will make things a lot better.

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 03-21-2010, 06:44 PM   #19
jawshoeuh
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Default Area Tascam US-1641 To Receive a Righteous Beatdown

I've been using my US-1641 for nearly a year. I have been dealing with a drop out problem on and off since I've had it. I can handle it with playback, but having a hang-up or drop out during recording kills me. I can't focus and get a good take when I'm in constant fear of the computer hanging on me and throwing off the track.

Some info:
I'm running on a Dell Inspiron e1505 with 2gb ram and a 2.53 ghz dual core and a single USB2.0 hub system with 4 inputs

I usually have a USB wireless mouse and external hard drive hooked up

I've tried FL Studio, the Tascam included Cubase, and Reaper for multi-tracking; they all experience the same problem

I usually run the 'input/computer' mix volume about 1/4 - 1/2 way up from 'input' and adjust by ear depending on the track volume and instrumentation- I don't try and monitor from Reaper due to the latency issues I was experiencing

I Run the 'phones out' on the US-1641 into a separate headphone mixer for monitoring

I generally am tracking drums using 8 channels to a scratch guitar/vocal WAV track; tracks 5-8 using phantom power


...


I've spent a long time trying to track the problem down with little success. Sometimes I'm able to record 3-5 takes of drums on a full song 3-7 minutes long with no drop outs. Sometimes I can't get through one take without multiple drops. I've been following this thread and trying different things and I've had some inconsistent successes.

First: I switched to the ASIO4ALL driver from the US1641 driver. This made a huge difference. I tested recording 1-3 inputs at a time and overdubbing several takes... I adjusted latency and buffer settings in ASIO throughout the process and got differing results, mostly positive. Few if any dropouts on most settings.

Today I tried hooking up mics to 7 channels and tracking drums and my drop out problem was back in full force. I played with latency and buffer settings and experienced drop outs on all settings I tried. Could not fix.

I rolled my us1641 drivers back to the 1.00 version from the 1.02. Seemed to have more success, but still experiencing occasional dropouts during recording on all buffer/latency settings tested.

I rebooted the computer minus my USB mouse and USB external hard drive.

Loaded reaper and recorded 3-4 takes of drums with no drop outs. Plugged USB mouse back in and recorded another take with no drop outs. Plugged USB external hard drive back in and again recorded another take with no drop outs. Loaded a project file FROM my external hard drive and attempted to record a take and drop outs had returned. Closed project and loaded previous project from C: drive. Drop outs still occurring. Safely remove my external hard drive from system and unplug. Drop outs still occurring. Reboot my computer AGAIN with NO mouse, NO hard drive and proceed to record some 8 odd more takes of drums on various projects all located on my C: drive with absolutely no drop outs during recording. HOWEVER listening back to these takes and the drops out started to occur during playback ONLY. Recording seemed to be safe.

I'm going to drop my ASIO buffer settings down to 512 from 1024 as I have a feeling that the lower buffer will cure the playback issues, but will it then mess up the recording again?

So some possible solutions:

*Reboot your machine with no other USB devices plugged in
*Switch to the ASIO4ALL drivers in the 'Audio Device' menu in reaper's preferences
*Rollback or reinstall the US1641 v1.00 driver from the included CD from Tascam and don't use the v1.02 update from their website
*Try all different buffer/latency settings... as reported, sometimes higher latencies cause problems; sometimes lower latencies cause problems... has to be a happy medium somewhere I think.

If I can potentially get everything working optimally when no other USB devices are plugged in I plan on getting an extra USB2.0 card installed (if my laptop has room for it that is... hadn't thought about that yet) and seeing if I can then run the US-1641 on its own USB 2.0 card and plug my mouse and hard drives back in to the laptop's proprietary USB inputs... And hopefully record to my external hard drive and not to my C drive.

This has been a long, drawn out, pain in the arse process and it makes me long for the days of my 8 track cassette recorder. As much as I love editing and working from my computer, I think when it comes down to it I will get a stand alone unit for tracking next time around and then dump to the computer for editing/mixing/mastering.

On another note, I LOVE Reaper. It is easily the most user friendly, stable DAW environment I have used and I would take it over some of the much more expensive software I've used in different studios (ProTools, Nuendo, Cubase, Logic, etc). It really is that good.
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Old 03-19-2008, 06:20 PM   #20
quackmire
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mbranch777 View Post
Hi,

I have read all your posts out there. I am currently using my US-1641 with Sonar 7. I am having issues with latency during overdubs. The machine I am running is plenty powerful, it is an HP.
Anyways it has been suggested to me by a friend that uses the US-1641 to get a seperate USB 2.0 expantion card. I just purchased it today. I will let you all know how that works out. I really want it to work.
does your friend overdub successfully/easily?
what issues is he having if any?
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Old 03-20-2008, 01:23 AM   #21
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Hey Guys,

I've been using the 1641 and Reaper with success*. I love this unit and Reaper.

I've been working with my drummer for the last few weeks recording a stereo track and 4 mono tracks, running phantom power, he's playing to a click, it's all good. I'm running him a long headphone cable and he's using the headphone jack. I'm monitoring through the monitor outs. the trims are all at like 9 o'clock and they are pounding. I even once left my back up USB drive turned on while tracking and no issues. It wasn't being used at all, just present in the windows environment.

I've also been mixing some old tracks (mostly recorded in Sonar, some on a Roland 880ex, that's how I discovered Reaper) running up to 34 tracks/busses, 10 or so plug ins, all good.

Working on my own stuff using software samplers and midi for drums and key sounds, using the instrument ins for basses, guitars. Everything is fine.

remember that * ?
well here it is :
* One small flaw, that I seem to be able to fix, is with latency every once and a while. Occasionally the Tascam and Reaper seem to slip out of sync. I've noticed this both while over dubbing guitars / vocals etc, and while using midi with my drum machine. I would hit the drum pad and then hear the sound like it was an echo. Same with vocals, sing a bit and hear the "delay".
Anyway, to solve both problems what I do is go into the Options menu, Preferences, and then select either Audio Device, or Midi Device, depending on what the issue is, and then hit OK. All of a sudden things are back to normal. No latency what so ever (noticeable anyway). Another solution is to just save the project and restart Reaper.

I'm using a self built PC,
Antec Solo Tower Case
Antec Neo 500 watt quiet Power supply
2GB (2x1GB) Kingston DDR 2 Low latency 800Mhz RAM Memory
P5B-VM-SE Motherboard
Intel Core2Duo 2MB 1.8Ghz processor
two X Seagate Barricuda 250GB 16Mb 7200rpm hard drives
internal DVD Burner
Windows XP Home with all of musicXP's fine tunings, everything else I could think of deleting from Windows. No Internet. Just Music.

I run the Tascam at Lowest Latency (mixing/recording) and Reaper reports 3/4ms. I record at 48, 24bit. I don't think I made any adjustments to Reapers default settings other than just my own project settings and selecting the audio/midi device.

Using any higher latency settings doesn't jive with Reaper. I think Low Latency setting works too.

I had success with the provided Cubase but I just didn't like it.

If I want to play a 44/16 track in the Win Media player I have to switch the Tascam to High latency. Otherwise crackles and drop outs.

I tried using Sonar and had all of the problems described by you guys, drop outs, jam ups, tried all latency settings, no luck. I even kinda liked that program too. BUT REAPER BLOWS IT AWAY. I'm actually really happy that the 1641 didn't work with it and I tried Reaper, I love it.

I had nightmares with a M Audio Delta 1010LT, but that's a long story. I did a lot of recording with the 1010 and this 1641 sounds way better than that thing. So much warmer ( This isn't usually said about a digital unit,I know ? )

Anyway that's a lot for now...
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Old 03-19-2008, 05:27 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by quackmire View Post
As I understand it, Axeman, If you are playing audio out the same interface you are playing in, it should be in sync for an overdub. But you monitor it through a separate sound card because of the headphone jack live audio thing.

I see in the manual that there are audio outputs to the 1641 (pic attached). Have you tried monitoring from there during overdub?

Hope you get this soon and thanks for the inside tip in advance
Greetings,

Yes, I have successfully overdubbed with the US-1641, although it still tends to be a bit flaky every now and then, as I sometimes experience intermittent dropouts at the default ("normal") latency setting--and, for my purposes, anything higher is unusable for overdubbing. A few related points:

1. Unless you deploy ASIO4ALL (which I haven't), only one audio interface can be used at a time. Therefore, if I'm recording through the US-1641, that's my only option for monitoring as well.

2. I've monitored through the on-board headphone jack, as well as the monitor outputs, and everything has remained in sync.

3. The "MIX" knob also allows you to monitor the direct analog inputs (summed in mono), what you're getting back through REAPER (or any DAW), or any combination in between. The biggest problem, however, is that the volume of the direct input monitoring is incredibly low--which, in my assessment, constitutes a serious design flaw. You should be able to monitor an input signal, or the same signal routed through a DAW at unity gain, and the volume should be identical (when you've got the "MIX" knob at one end or the other), but that is simply not the case here.

4. You cannot direct-input monitor the S/PDIF input.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,


Alan
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Old 12-01-2008, 09:15 PM   #23
gamazz
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Default US 1641 interface

I have been trying to make this work. on my
HP Pavilion dv9700 Notebook PC
4 gig Memory
64 bit operating
Service pack 1
Vista Home Premium

It's doing the same thing. dropping out as well as locking up my browser when its plugged in (USB) . everythings fine when i unplug.
wrote to tascam. thought it my need an updated driver for my computer.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
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Old 12-04-2008, 05:01 PM   #24
gamazz
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Default Interesting!!

i started a new project to see if it was going to continue to pop and drop out and it was clean. Only pops and drop outs occur on past project recorded form a different device.(inspire gx1394) whats different????
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Old 09-03-2009, 01:41 AM   #25
ToadBoy
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Default Intermittent Popping and IE Browser Crashing

Quote:
Originally Posted by gamazz View Post
I have been trying to make this work. on my
HP Pavilion dv9700 Notebook PC
4 gig Memory
64 bit operating
Service pack 1
Vista Home Premium

It's doing the same thing. dropping out as well as locking up my browser when its plugged in (USB) . everythings fine when i unplug.
wrote to tascam. thought it my need an updated driver for my computer.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Did you ever find a solution to this? The same thing happens to me when I'm using the US-1641 as a sound card. I have the latest v1.02 drivers as I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium. 64-Bit on a Gateway AMD Athlon 64, 320 GB HDD, 4 GB Memory. Most importantly, it works fine when I'm running it through Cubase Studio 4. Probably due to the ASIO4ALL driver I'm using. But when I run Cubase in the background and try to pull up itunes or IE browser, it pops and crashes. I'm figuring its the driver for Windows Vista 64 (v1.02). I've also setup an account to optimize windows for recording and the same thing happens.

I know it works fine when I use Cubase, but I don't want it to crash when i use itunes or IE explorer and I don't want to have to switch speakers.

Please help...
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Old 05-15-2009, 06:47 AM   #26
TechMelon
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Default Try This

If you are running Windows XP these things should resolve your problem. If you are running Windows Vista you may not have the correct Vista drivers loaded because with all things Microsoft they want their software relationships to be Microsoft dominant.



1. Make sure that there are no network connections of any kind enabled. (especially the 1394 network connection which you can simply right click on in the network connections window on a PC.

2. Make sure that you are using the latest drivers and try setting the latency to 10ms and work you way down from there.

3. Check the ASIO settings and software. Make sure that the previous interface ASIO driver is not installed.

Most of the timing and pausing problems are also created when you have automatic updates turned on on any applications that run in the background i.e. Windows updates, Virus Protection/internet security programs, etc.

Last edited by TechMelon; 05-15-2009 at 06:52 AM. Reason: left something out.
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Old 08-04-2009, 02:55 PM   #27
kylevaughan
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Default dunno if this helps

but i was having a big problem with this tascam unit, and i dontt use reaper i use sony acid 6.0, but my problem was latency noise and jsut plain freezing. however i did alot of trial and error before presuming my unit was defective. and this is whati figured out ( for me anyway) even tho my tascam firmware is V1.02 if i use the 1.02 driver i get all the forementioned problems , however if i use driver V1.00 which came on the cd, the unit works flawlessly. if tried this on different computers and different setups, and i double checked my firmware version and its definately 1.02 so my conclusion is that the 1.02 driver for windows is crap. at least when working with acid. so try this to solve your problems. get rid of 1,02 and get 1,00 install that driver and see what happens. like i said it worked fine for me after i did this. so hopefully it will work for you too. btw my system is an acer aspire 5535 laptop 3G ram 2.0 GHz athlon 64 processor. and im running windows xp media center edition. and its all working smooth now. even tried it with my band and was able to record a popless performance that was over 1 and a half hours long with no problems. no noise hiss pop clicks or anything it jsut worked. so try that out hopefully it helps!
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Old 09-18-2009, 08:05 PM   #28
Brodephat
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Default Tascam US-1641 Good and Bad

I got the us1641 almost a year ago and it worked very well. I've even done several live band sessions with it. However lately, it's been really buggin out. I use Nuendo and now my cpu meter starts out at around 50%!!! I will say this ... you can't beat having a dedicated PCI audio card compared to USB and Firewire. I switched my session, I was so desperately trying to complete to no avail, to my trusty old M-audio 24/96 and was blown away by the fact the cpu meter barely got past 50%!!!! FOR THE SAME PROJECT IN THE SAME SOFTWARE!!!

It's truly a driver issue that I hope they get worked out. If not I'll be looking for a PCI card with breakout cables. So don't trash your systems just yet. More than likely it could be a driver issue with the us1641.

By the way, I use Reaper at work and have really come to enjoy working with it.
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Old 11-19-2009, 08:19 AM   #29
uppvideo
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Default Where is the TASCAM representative?

I'm also having these same problems, my brand new quad-core 8GB Ram DELL is completely devastated as long as the TASCAM 1641 is plugged in...

My other audio programs, VLC, Winamp, etc all crash at random times when the TAscam is plugged in.

My browsers all crash the second there is any hint of Flash for some reason.

Reaper crashes sporadically, albeit not TOO often, but I've certainly lost a few recordings due to completely random crashes...

The computer runs perfectly when the TASCAM isn't plugged in...

I assume the driver is the problem, but I looked everywhere to try and see if perhaps there was a conflict with my NVIDIA GT 220 Card, because the crashes are be the most frequent when I play any sort of video. If it's Flash on the web, it's a 100% fail rate, within 1 second of starting the video. IF I watch a video on my HDD using VLC or Windows Media Player, it will hiss and pop, but only crash 1/10 times.

Truly, the mixer has great sound, but I can't believe how weak the support has been... The best is their driver page, where I can download Release Notes for drivers v1.03, but the only driver available is v1.02.

I wonder if there will ever be a way to ever be able to watch Flash on my computer ever again.
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Old 11-24-2009, 07:48 PM   #30
murray-j
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Default Use ASIO4ALL Driver

After following this thread with much interest, I tried the latest ASIO4ALL driver with my Tascam US-1641. It's like night and day - the latest version of the Tascam driver didn't work well at all, but what a difference with ASIO4ALL! Down to 2.5 msec latency with no issues at all.

If you're struggling with the Tascam driver then please do yourself a favour...

Murray
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