Tascam 16x08: The worst drivers I've ever seen

[Jean.f]

This is a thread made out after days of research, in every language that I could get some understanding: This driver is the worst.

I've been looking at threads and people complain about Very similar problems. I have: Audio glitches and audio latency. The glitches are insanely annoying, It is like an old super Nintendo game explosion sound. Has anyone been able to work on a solution for this? I've been seriously thinking about selling this s*** and get a presonus 18i18.

Sorry about my rude words, but Im exausted because of this.

 

[RichInLou]

Can you give a bit more information about your system? What driver are you using? 4.0 is the most recent version and it seems to be very stable for me. What settings are you using for sample rate and buffer? Those will affect latency and if not set appropriately for your system, can cause glitching on any system

What are your computer specs for memory and processor? Have you run Latency Monitor to determine if there are processes that are interfering with the recording process. Since recording audio is a continuous process, anything that interferes with the USB polling process will cause a disruption in flow.

 

[Jean.f]

Hey. Sorry It took me so long to write a reply. Im running ar 44100, 24 bits and around the 256 ir 512.

I have a i5 2nd generation and 16gb ram, so my specs shouldnt be a problem. I've Just unninstaled the drivers and using the windows version of it, running ok, but I dont think I'll vê able to Record stuff. /:

 

[RichInLou]

I'm running 88k/24 bits on a 4th gen I5 with 12GB. Buffers are set at 64 and I don't have any problem. Recently did a quick recording with 3 channels for about 20 mins and everything was perfect.

I highly suggest you look at Latency Monitor to see what is going on. Your system should be able to handle that.

 

[Jean.f]

After unninstaling the drivers, the sound on YouTube and players is working like Magic... It is indeed related to the driver. I dont know what ir is though

 

[RichInLou]

You can get Latency Monitor here : https://www.resplendence.com/main

Its an excellent tool. It will show you what functions are causing faults that interrupt the audio processes.

 

[Eti Lau]

Did you tried disabling the onboard sound card in the BIOS? It can conflict with the 16x08.

What DAW do you use? If Reaper be sure to check Allow feedback routing.
in menu/project settings/advanced

For me it solved latency drift issue.

 

[Oliver.T]

Hey, Eti Lau, I've been struggling with the drift issue for years. I have just stumbled upon your feedback routing tweak. I tried it, along with disabling the onboard audio card. However, does not work for me, unfortunately... As soon as I overload the asio, latency gets introduced. Can you please give more info, maybe there's something else involved in solving the issue. Thanks!

 

[Eti Lau]

Try disabling "Use audio driver reported latency. "

It seem that there's a problem with the driver reported latency.

I'm in communication with TASCAM/TEAC, (throug Tascam Canada support) regarding latency drift.
Communication is not very good because
me = french writing in english
Tascam/TEAC = japanese writing in english


Here is the last reply from Tascam/TEAC (at the bottom in italic). So far so good they don't think that the driver is problematic. Take a look at the last sentence,

*When Buffer Size of US-16x08 would be changed by software using ASIO driver, please set by opening the Settings Panel from the software you use.

Here is an issue, changing ASIO buffer size (request block size) throug Reaper doesn't work. Only possible throug Tascam setting panel.

Tascam/TAC:
US-16x08 will work by generating the sample rate specified from PC with clock of internal of US-16x08.


Even though the symptom you pointed out does not occur by high CPU load caused by software you use, in case of the cause that the buffer size of US-16x08 will be changed,


We think it will occur not depending on the software.

Please reboot the PC, and the input sound is able to monitor from <Computer Out 1> <Computer Out 2> by entering the check to "Listen to this device" in <Listen> tab of property of [US-16x08] from <Recording> tab of (Sound control panel) in Windows sound setting.

If the symptom does not occur at the above check, please check the software setting you use.

To check whether the load by the software is high, please try whether the problem would occur by inserting only one VSTi to empty project.

And please try also with another application.

* When Buffer Size of US-16x08 would be changed by software using ASIO driver, please set by opening the Settings Panel from the software you use.

 

[Oliver.T]

Hey Eti Lau,
Thanks for your quick reply!
I will try disabling "use hardware reported latency" as soon as I am able to, hopefully tomorrow, and report back. I have done that though before, with no success, but maybe in combination with the other tweaks it there is a chance this actually would work.
I see what you say about the language barrier, the reply they gave you is not exactly clear...
However, here are my thoughts and experiences so far:

The buffer size can't be changed through Reaper ( block size), only through Tascam Settings panel. However, I don't see this as a problem, only minor inconvenience. I could always change it in the both places, and that would be set and working properly.

I think the problem occurs exactly when CPU or ASIO usage is stressed, i.e. low buffer size, many CPU intensive plugins, loading new plugin or media etc.
When I load a plugin or instrument there would immediately be higher latency that gets introduced in the process. And I'm not talking about the expected latency from the plugin itself, but the base latency with no plugins activated i.e. the latency stays there with no plugins activated. And if I open the preferences window or change the buffer size to something else and than return it to the former setting, the latency goes back to the initial state. So it seems to me that the unit can't auto update the driver after being stressed by the DAW, therefore the driver is most deffinitely the culprit.
And yes, the issue occurs even with only one plugin, so now high load by the software, only momentary spike.

The biggest problem for me really is the latency drifts during recording, because I record a lot of guitars through amp sims, but also VSTi orchestral libraries and oftentimes I need the lowest latency possible. With guitar amp sims I stress the CPU farely quickly, and that often happens in the middle of recording: ASIO spike=latency drifts a bit more. Needless to say, the take gets ruined.

Also because of the drift there is no way to consistently compensate (manually adjust) for the latencies of a given buffer size setting, because they keep changing. I've made many latency loopback tests and every single one pass gives me a different number!


...check to "Listen to this device" in <Listen> tab of property of [US-16x08] from <Recording> tab of (Sound control panel) in Windows sound setting.

This is something I will try too. I have never even seen this setting, so just maybe
it would work...?

As far as other applications, I have tested with Cubase 8/9/10, Sequoia 15 and Reaper 6. No difference. Sequoia even reported lost ASIO buffers on recording, hell, even on playback!

So, you are still in contact with Tascam. By that I assume that you still didn't have the issue resolved?
Thanks and all the best

 

[Eti Lau]

I think the problem occurs exactly when CPU or ASIO usage is stressed, i.e. low buffer size, many CPU intensive plugins, loading new plugin or media etc.

In my experience, all kind of glitches induce latency issue. It looks like the driver is unable to resync with the software.

And if I open the preferences window or change the buffer size to something else and than return it to the former setting, the latency goes back to the initial state.

No need to change anything, just open and close the "preferences" resync the driver with Reaper.

The biggest problem for me really is the latency drifts during recording, because I record a lot of guitars through amp sims,

For me the biggest problem is while playing live keyboard (vsti).

...check to "Listen to this device" in <Listen> tab of property of [US-16x08] from <Recording> tab of (Sound control panel) in Windows sound setting.

This is something I will try too. I have never even seen this setting, so just maybe
it would work...?

I think he meant to say to test with a microphone without any DAW if there is a latency drift issue occure.
It looks like to me that he's blaming the DAW.

By that I assume that you still didn't have the issue resolved?

disabling "use hardware reported latency" don't resolved the issue but I experience lesser latency drift that way.

So, you are still in contact with Tascam.

On that matter, can I use parts of your post with Tascam?

 

[Oliver.T]

Yes, by all means, please be free to use anything.
So far, every detail of the issue you reported matches my experiences. And we are not the only ones, there are countless similar complaints on the web by US-series interface owners. Tascam need to really get their as**s on the matter. One of their selling points is the in-house developed driver, but maybe not jump too high before know what you're doing, Tascam!
However, I hope you manage to get some info, or at least hustle Tascam a bit more, so they decide to work on some driver updates.

Edit: I forgot to mention that using ASIO4All driver there is no latency drift, however,the overall performance diminishes considerably. This is confirmed by by least 5 users on different forums, myself included.
So, that would be another strong fact that tells the Tascam driver is most definitely the culprit.

 

[Eti Lau]

No report of latency drift with linux driver and 16x08 DSP mixer.

https://github.com/onkelDead

 

[Oliver.T]

The Linux driver is some version of class-compliant/universal driver, or a custom DIY build, right? Because I don't see official Linux driver anywhere... maybe they don't even exist? I know nothing about Linux. Ok, so at least we know that everything works better than the Tascam driver

 

[Eti Lau]

As I understand it the driver come as part of the distribution's Linux Kernel.

 

[Eti Lau]

Hi Oliver.T

Can you try these configurations and let me know about latency drift?

Edit: .... uninstall Asio4All and use Tascam driver 4, Reaper same setting as image 4 -24bits 48000Hz

 

[Oliver.T]

Hi Eti Lau,
I am currently moving house, so I won't be able to do the tests this week unfortunately. I will do it however, as soon as I settle and set up my system, and report back to you. Thanks a lot for your commitment!

 

[Oliver.T]

Hi Eti,
Sorry for the late response, I have finally set up my gear just this few days.
I have tried what you said and there is no improvement. As soon as there is an ASIO overload/glitch caused by loading a CPU intensive plugin or an instrument, there is latency afterwords that does not go away as long as I don't reset the buffer size. So, there's that... Maybe we shouldn't even bother, man. It would be a nice interface if they got it to at least work consistently... otherwise it's simply unreliable peace of gear, unfortunately... but Tascam doesn't seem to be bothered by that, so... next time (soon, I hope) I'm going straight to RME and no more troubleshooting
Anyway, thanks for the cooperation! Wish you well!