I'm with you, Chip. Apart from being a Tascam fan - I am not one of those any more. Like you I have a US-2x2, and while I respect the quality of the hardware, the software support on Windows makes the unit unusable for me.
My 2x2 exhibits issues that vary with the PC, USB port, and number of people logged in. But if I line the ducks up just right and try nothing more complex than watching youtube I can get a few minutes good use out of the Tascam before it goes silent.
Accompanying this is an error report in the Windows event log:
Faulting application name: usvmix.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5c7731b6
Faulting module name: vendoreq.dll, version: 1.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x5c6f6150
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00001ad8
Faulting process ID: 0x1f14
Faulting application start time: 0x01d55cb84f97924f
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\TASCAM\US-2x2 & US-4x4 Mixing Driver\usvmix.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\TASCAM\US-2x2 & US-4x4 Mixing Driver\vendoreq.dll
Report ID: 45e6c1f3-3cca-44a9-8c86-0801de7ccead
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
If I restart usvmix.exe the playback audio comes back for a few more minutes. You may try that: leave the task manager running and an explorer window open in C:\Program Files\TASCAM\US-2x2 & US-4x4 Mixing Driver and hit usvmix.exe every time your unit drops dead.
I am aware that this will not help you at all -- who wants to hand-hold their audio driver? -- but if you find that this is your problem I won't feel so alone. We could start our own little chapter of the Tascam sufferers' club.
Because grizzling can be therapeutic, here is a brief survey of other problems I have found:
- using the front USB ports on this (beefy Lenovo Thinkstation) workstation and starting a DAW causes the 2x2 to reset every few seconds: LEDs flash and the audio pops. Alleviated by moving to a USB port on the motherboard. This could be a hardware thing and I have a workaround so I am not looking for a solution.
- regular drop-outs, crackles, and pops in playback. About every 30s to a minute. It makes watching a TV show a bit tiring. I have a USB 3.0 PCI card on its way to rule out the PC's serial bus as the cause of this fault, and because if I eventually give up and flick off this damned thing I will replace it with a USB 3 interface from Focusrite or Presonus.
- no service at all when a second user is logged in to the PC. Possibly due to their being two copies of usvmix and usvmixsub running? Not investigated properly - killing the extras sometimes helps.
- not being able to change the volume on the interface without "mixing" in the name. I think it is "n US-2x2" (with the "n" increasing by two every time I change ports) but I am going from memory because the 2x2 is not appearing at all tonight. Not a problem because there is a good volume knob on the unit.
- terrible output latency on the mixing devices. Fixed by changing to the non-mixing interface (the one with the volume glued to 100%). Rocksmith is involved here so the 2x2 may not be entirely at fault.
Those are only playback issues because I have not managed to record through it yet.
My plan to address these issues is to keep an eye on this forum, wait for an update from Tascam, try a USB interface on its own PCI card, and (as a last resort) sell the 2x2 to a Mac user.
Very interested in hearing from anyone else with similar problems.
Windows 10 1903.