Tascam interface Last Straw (bye bye Tascam - hello MOTU)

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
Well, I've about had it with my Tascam US-2x2 (non-HD) interface. This morning, I had just finished recording 4 tracks and began unplugging my cables when, as I began to remove the last one (1/4 TS) from the Tascam Input 1, the USB light flickered for a half-second, Reaper disappeared from my screen and all that was left was my Win 10's blue desktop. When I reopened Reaper, the driver was gone and "audio device closed" appeared. Repairing the driver and opening Reaper, everything I recorded was gone. I hadn't had a chance to Save any of it, I was going to do that after unplugging the last cable.

My choices for a replacement interface are the Focusrite 2i2 Gen3 and MOTU M2. Right now, I'm leaning toward the M2.
 
That sounds weird. Has that happened before? I don't know why unplugging an input would affect the USB unless it somehow moved the cord. They use the old style USB connectors, which I find to be more robust than the micro-usb and usb-C connectors.

I haven't had any issues with my Tascam 16x08 is ages. Once the driver issues got sorted, it's been solid.
 
This is the first time anything this drastic has happened. After I got everything up and running again, I jiggled the USB cord on the interface to see if that would duplicate the problem but nothing happened.
 
That would be a smidge frustrating...DANG!

I have not used reaper in a year or so..Hell I haven't recorded anything but a few audio files using my little 1202 Behringer USB mixer ( 2 channels of digital audio) into my iphone this year..I hope to go multi track diving this year...I have the Behri xr18 but have no need for that many tracks all at once with just me laying down tracks....it just sits there waiting patiently for me to use it. ;)

Lot of options under $200

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Did you press the stop button in Reaper? If so, if you check your default recording directory you will probably find that all your audio files are still there. If you didn't hit the stop button I think Reaper still stores the audio in temporary files which may be readable.
 
Yes. I had pressed the Stop button on the last track and saved it (the wav). Going back in, I see Reaper did capture the individual wav files (thank you, Auto Save), but there was no Project created before or after, so Reaper saved them to REAPER Media as individual files, below a stack of Project Folders. Not all settings were recoverable, but the individual wav files are intact.
 
It's all over now. This morning, all of a sudden when I began listening to some mp3 files, everything was in MONO. Crap! So I repaired the interface driver and it got worse! Now it's not only in MONO, it's cutting out and crackling, or not putting out audio at all.

At first I thought it might be my headphones. I had been moving them around to different devices with different jacks, but they work perfectly, in stereo, with all other devices except the Tascam US-2x2 interface.

I had hoped the interface would hold out until next month at least, but now I'll have to buy a new one earlier than expected. Gonna give that MOTU M2 a spin - see how I like it.
 
The MOTU M2 came this morning and has been installed - quite easily. The only thing I find unusual about this unit are the input selections. The combo 1/4-XLRs are labeled Mic/Line/Guitar but there's no switch to select between them. Superfluous, eh? I'm assuming it's automatic and will work as expected.

Only problem was after everything was up and running, I tested the audio from several sources (not Reaper) and everything seemed fine. Then I had to go out for a bit so I decided to turn the interface off via it's OFF/ON on the rear (my Tascam didn't have that feature and I wanted to test it). When I returned, I turned it back on and opened Reaper. Though I had set it up in Reaper, it showed no audio device and no inputs/outputs this time. When I checked, all other audio sources would not play back either. CRAP!

I had to reboot my PC to get the interface to reconnect and it's working again, so I guess I have to leave it on all the time, same as I did with my Tascam.

More than you want to know about MOTU M2 [needs translation]
 
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Your computer should recognize the interface when you turn it's power on. Make sure you have your computer settings correct for this.
 
I gave it another try this morning. I switched the MOTU off, but only for about 20 seconds, then switched it on and Windows recognized it - works fine. On Saturday, I had it switched off for about an hour. That was the only difference.

It was all set up and working perfectly Saturday - MOTU set as Playback and Recording default.
 
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I adjusted my USB settings a few years ago when I went to leaving the PC on 24/7. Also switched the interface to a USB 3.0 from 2.0. They're fine. I just did another test - turned it off for 1 hour, then back on and the MOTU was detected and works fine. Dunno. . . we'll see.

It may just be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of wave than gravy about this.
 
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spantini said:
I adjusted my USB settings a few years ago when I went to leaving the PC on 24/7. Also switched the interface to a USB 3.0 from 2.0. They're fine. I just did another test - turned it off for 1 hour, then back on and the MOTU was detected and works fine. Dunno. . . we'll see.
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Good to hear!
 
spantini said:
I adjusted my USB settings a few years ago when I went to leaving the PC on 24/7. Also switched the interface to a USB 3.0 from 2.0. They're fine. I just did another test - turned it off for 1 hour, then back on and the MOTU was detected and works fine. Dunno. . . we'll see.

It may just be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of wave than gravy about this.
Click to expand...
Bah humbug
 
spantini said:
I adjusted my USB settings a few years ago when I went to leaving the PC on 24/7. Also switched the interface to a USB 3.0 from 2.0. They're fine. I just did another test - turned it off for 1 hour, then back on and the MOTU was detected and works fine. Dunno. . . we'll see.

It may just be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of wave than gravy about this.
Click to expand...
Ramped up the testing. Turned it off for a 6 hour stretch, then overnight 12 hours. It worked fine when turned on after both time-outs. Must have been some random Windows glitch.
 
The only remaining test is going to be Windows 10 monthly updates when it all shuts down and reboots. I've done that manually with no hiccups, so should be fine. But it is Windows, so ya never know - never bet on it.
 
Ok. This MOTU has passed the final two tests. A full system shutdown and one of Windows' monthly updates.

Two days ago, a terrible traffic accident occurred on the corner of my block, about 150 FT from my front door. Two vehicles collided and took out a utility pole, which cut the power to my place for 30 minutes or so. When power was restored my PC did not power on and reboot, so I had to do that manually. The MOTU was not powered ON when the power went out. When I turned it on after rebooting, it was detected and worked perfectly as if nothing had happened.

The next day, I get the Windows update which performed a system restart and, once again, the MOTU - not ON during the procedure - was not phazed and powered up to perform perfectly.

None of the things which screwed with the Tascam's driver appear to have affected the MOTU's. Much more stable. I'm really pleased with it's performance.

And then there's the one about the gopher who, when confronted by the potted petunia in mid-flight, made the decision not to wear . . .
 
spantini said:
Ok. This MOTU has passed the final two tests. A full system shutdown and one of Windows' monthly updates.

Two days ago, a terrible traffic accident occurred on the corner of my block, about 150 FT from my front door. Two vehicles collided and took out a utility pole, which cut the power to my place for 30 minutes or so. When power was restored my PC did not power on and reboot, so I had to do that manually. The MOTU was not powered ON when the power went out. When I turned it on after rebooting, it was detected and worked perfectly as if nothing had happened.

The next day, I get the Windows update which performed a system restart and, once again, the MOTU - not ON during the procedure - was not phazed and powered up to perform perfectly.

None of the things which screwed with the Tascam's driver appear to have affected the MOTU's. Much more stable. I'm really pleased with it's performance.

And then there's the one about the gopher who, when confronted by the potted petunia in mid-flight, made the decision not to wear . . .
Click to expand...
Both I and my son in France have the bigger M4 but all else is I think the same? The interface/drivers are indeed very stable* I have never used the power switch on mine but then I don't have it set up all the time and just plug the USB cable into my W10 laptop as needed. Yes, the control panel comes up and shows sample rate, sample size etc. Close that and good to go. I also have an old W7 lappy and the M4 does not behave quite the same way as on ten but still delivers perfect audio.

I 'think' the combo jacks are balanced line inputs when you insert a TRS but HZ guitar inputs for TS.

*The M4 superseded a Native Instruments KA6 Mk1 and that had equally stable drivers and low latency.

Dave.
 
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