US 16x08 Playback Distortion

[Damian]

Hi all,
I have had a search and reads through other posts but couldn't find anything relevant to my issue or a solution.

I have a US16x08 USB interface, running on Windows 10, Pro Tools 12, running on a very powerful computer, see specs at bottom of post.

I am getting distorted playback sounds like it is not handling the buffer size or something although Pro Tools plays through perfectly smoothly and all other operations are fine. No matter where I adjust the buffer size to it will distort. It almost sounds like it is overloading an input. But this is on the master stereo output. And within pro tools it is not even close to clipping on the master bus.
I know my computer can handle it which makes me think it must be something within the Tascam unit but I never had this issue on my clunky 7 year old mac laptop with 8gb memory so something doesn't make sense.

I have adjusted power saving options in windows.

I turn it off and on, restart my computer, turn it off and on close and open pro tools etc etc and eventually it will end up running smoothly without me having actually changed any settings at all???? After about 2 hours of wasted time.

Tascam seem to have no online support, it just directs me to my local retailer who will not be able to help whatsoever.

Any help would be appreciated.

My computer specs:

• AMD Ryzen™ 7 2700 (3.2 GHz base frequency, up to 4 GHz burst frequency, 16 MB cache, 8 cores)

• Windows 10 Home 64

• AMD Radeon™ RX 550 Graphics (2 GB GDDR5 dedicated)

• 16 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)

• 2 TB 7200 rpm SATA + 128 GB PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSD

 

[JustinDube]

I've also experienced this. It was also crossing over the left and right signals leaving that end of the hall sound. Mine fixed itself when I tugged a little on the headphone plug (the part that goes into the headphone jack). Have you tried jiggling the cord a little in the jack?

 

[Damian]

Unfortunately I don't think it is a cable/connection issue as when it happens, it happens to both the headphone output and the stereo output that goes to my speakers. It sound like a buffering issue, as though my computer isn't handling it. But my computer should be more than powerful enough to handle it. As it will also happen with a brand new session with basically nothing in it.
And then it will eventually go away if I turn it off and on enough times.
Thanks

 

[Sacco_Belmonte]

Hi everyone.

I discovered it only happens in the main out. After hooking the PA to some other outs in the 16x08 the distortion is gone.

I also discovered the main out has panning issues, one output is quieter (in my case the left out) the panning issue is mitigated if you set the main out knob all the way to the top. But that also means you need to lower the main out from the mixer a lot.

Bottom line, the main out must have a design issue, probably related to the fact that main out has an extra volume knob. It seems to me something in the circuitry from that side is not working properly. The causes could vary, from defective caps or a bad pot.

Anyway. Since I regulate my studio volume via a PreSonus Monitor Station 2 I don't mind about losing the volume knob from the interface.

So...give that a shot.

I would still recommend it, is working like a charm alongside a TASCAM HR2x2 (for PC sound)

The 16x08 replaced two FireStudio Project interfaces which had good converters but were old and were close to die, the 16x08 totally trumps them by a long shot while using very little power.