Tascam 1641 - no play back recorded track/record signal unless power cycled..ideas?

T

TexMex Mustache

New member
Hey people, first thread over here!


I have a weird problem and I wasn't sure to post it in here, or in the Tascam forum, so I'll try here first...

Yesterday was my first time using my (used) Tascam 1641 on a windows PC married to Cubase 5. As my friend and I are setting everything up and going to try and record a scratch track we get a signal, we can see the meters moving up and down with the signal and we can hear the sound of it. After recording the single track (no more than 60 seconds) we try and play it back and there is no sound at all. Monitor button is off, the track shows sound waves and headphone is turned up, sounds card disabled and still nothing. We try and record a new track to see if we can play that back and it does not record a signal at all. A quick power cycle of the unit fixes all of this, after 3 seconds of having it off it records new tracks just fine and plays back all audio..

I'm stumped, any ideas on what I can do? It may get pretty annoying having to power cycle the unit every time I want to record or play back a track.

TIA!
 
Have you gone to Tascam site HERE, and downloaded/installed correct driver for your system, as well as the firmware update for the 1641?
 
Also, the 1641 does not play well if using an external audio drive on the same USB controller. I use the 1641 on a USB 3.0 port, and everything else on USB 2.0.
 
TexMex Mustache said:
I have not but that is a good place to start! thank you for the reply. Where can I source the firmware update? Tascams site?
Click to expand...


So with the FW update, do I need to have the unit plugged in and turned on? Or can I just run the update?

Also, I assume to run the most recent update that there was? Most recent update I see is back in 08, so just curious.

My apologies for the probably pretty obvious questions, hence the forum I'm in :)
 
Yeah, the firmware update was way back, but when I purchased mine in 2010, it wouldn't work right without it.

I don't remember exactly, but I think the firmware update will instruct you when to unplug the interface.
 
No question is obvious around here man. Yer good. And that is why we are here, to help each other. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Yeah, the firmware update was way back, but when I purchased mine in 2010, it wouldn't work right without it.

I don't remember exactly, but I think the firmware update will instruct you when to unplug the interface.
Click to expand...


Awesome, new driver installed and now onto the FW!

Thank you again for the support, I totally appreciate it :thumbs up:
 
jimmys69 said:
All good bro. Well, as long as this works. lol

Be sure to let us know k? :)
Click to expand...

It did work!

But only for a little while. Now its doing something a bit different than before..


The signal that is being recorded is fine, there is nothing causing it to pop/crackle that I can tell. A 100% clean signal is coming in. I turn the metronome on and it will sound just fine as I'm playing along with it and recording, then after about 60 seconds the metronome click starts to sound fizzy and distorted, along with the guitar tone that is coming in, it gets worse and worse then completely cuts out, but still records the signal, I just cant hear it after a minute or two. I keep playing, its still recording (with no monitoring sound playing back) and I hit stop. I go to play it back, and it sounds fine, even on the parts where it started to sound distorted and cut out it still sounds fine (because it was still recording). Then after about 2 or so minutes of playback (that sounds fine) it just cuts out and there is no sound.

I power cycled the interface, re started the PC (win 7), updated drivers and firmware, disabled a bunch of programs along with the sound card, internet is off, tried multiple usb ports and inputs and on the interface, different mics/cables, and still this headache. After I updated FW/drivers it worked flawlessly when I was dinging around on a few tracks for like 3 hours. I come to the computer the next day and then I get this :(

Any and all advice is again much appreciated!


-Alex
 
Hmmm. A few things here; first, are you recording to a separate drive, and if so, is it using the same USB controller?

Second, did you leave Cubase running til the next day? I have had weird things happen if I leave a project open overnight. Not sure why.

Make sure you have your buffer (latency) settings a high as you can, with tolerable latency. The performance of your computer will determine what you can get away with. Watch the meter on the far left of the Transport. If it ever hits red, you are taxing your processor, and inevitable doom is about to occur. 'F12' will give you a more accurate ASIO meter.

Also, have you optimized your W7 for audio performance yet? HERE is where I found the easiest to follow instructions. There is more you can do, but the answers here typically cure most issues.

I have a very powerful i7 that just recently gave me huge issues as far as ASIO spikes. No software was causing it directly. It ended up being a faulty KVM switch. So, many things can cause this type of weirdness to happen. 99% of the time, it is some setup, or system issue that causes these things. Not the interface itself.

Let's keep working on it. :)
 
Brilliant!

jimmy69 thank you for chiming in again!

I will double check the drive, I'm sure I'm using another one for just recording purposes. I don't think I ever left the whole thing open all night, I am pretty good at shutting that bad boy down to give it a break.

I optimized the PC using a sweetwater KB article, and I made sure the latency was set at the highest it could be, with little lag. I even tried to switch the latency to see if it did anything but still made no difference. I'll follow the focusrite article and see where that gets me, then try again!

Stay tuned, I will report back later.
 
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