Tascam US-1641/Cubase LE4 - fundamental problem!

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I bought a Tascam US-1641 interface about a year ago and used it with the CD it came with, Cubase LE4. I got a couple of decent recordings out of it on my laptop (a Dell inspiron 1525, in case that's important) but only had time to use it sparingly.

Now that I have the time and inclination to use it again there's a problem - effectively Cubase doesn't seem to pick up the signal from the microphone. I change the Device Setup and VST settings accordingly, and 'US-1641' comes up next to the input and output channels. The lights on the interface flash when I speak into the microphone attached to it, yet nothing records. Instead, when I click record, I get just a thin blank line where the waves should appear and, furthermore, when I click to stop recording that part of the track disappears completely (I'm not left with just a silent or blank track - it looks as if I never tried to record anything).

It seems that Cubase doesn't pick up any signal from the mic, whether I'm trying to record or not.

HOWEVER... On rare occasions, normally when I first enter Cubase, it does recognise the mic, and I'm able to make a recording, complete with wave lines, and, for a short while, can listen to it back. The next time I try to record any sound, though, it reverts to the disappearing blank line mentioned above. It's as if the connection cuts off half way through (but not because the USB comes loose - I've checked!).

Clearly the potential is there, but there's a fault somewhere. Anyone come across this before? Help would be much appreciated, I don't know what to try. Thanks.

P.S My laptop crashed a few months ago and I had to reinstall Windows, Cubase et al. Something must be different now from the pre-crash days, but the laptop works fine otherwise, so I don't know what it could be.
 
Sounds like an interference with your connection to the 1641. I have had these problems in the past. All due to setup issues, or sharing of USB controller with another streaming device. Is your 1641 selected as the default audio device in Windows?
 
Thanks for the speedy reply. Infuriatingly, the 'manage audio devices' part of Control Panel won't open when I click on it. I have no idea if that's related to the problem but I suspect that's where I'm meant to go. I can get into Device Manger though, and under 'Sound, video and game controllers' I see the following:
-High Definition Audio Device
-High Definition Audio Device
-TASCAM US-1641
-TASCAM US-1641 MIDI

...all of which seem to be enabled. Do you think this could have anything to do with it?
 
Have you gone to the Tascam website, and downloaded the optimum driver for your OS, as well as the firmware update for the 1641?

Speaking of which, what OS are you running?
 
OK I'm currently in the process of installing the new driver. I'll download the firmware afterwards and see what happens.

I'm on Windows Vista 32-bit.
 
Good man, that is the first step. The firmware update is also necessary. I got mine new, just before the unit was discontinued, and the firmware update was necessary for proper function.

Keep me posted. We will get you up and running smoothly. :)
 
Thanks a lot! You continue to be a reassuring presence. The installation has been stuck on 'removing earlier drivers' for about 10 minutes now, but hopefully progress is going to be made. It's gone midnight here in the UK so if it takes too long I'll have to continue this tomorrow, but I'll keep you posted either way.
 
You may need to go to Device Manager in Windows, and remove the driver manually. Then do the new driver installation. I kinda remember some kind of crap like that. It has been a while tho....

I am pretty much always around this site, lingering.....lol! Inside joke. :D
 
Been a bit busy today so only just had a brief go with this again. I downloaded the driver and firmware like you recommended and hey presto - infinite improvement! Things record, things don't delete themselves, and I can listen back.

Hopefully I can now progress to actually recording some music tomorrow, but there are still a few niggles... There seems to be a bit of lag between recording and processing (the waves don't appear on screen for a second or so after making the noises) but also, more surprisingly, there's some definite lag in the playback - the line on the screen could be halfway through a clip before any sound starts coming out of the headphones.

There's also some discrepancy between what I record and what comes up on screen or plays through the headphones. Sometimes it looks like more waves should definitely be appearing on screen, and sometimes the audio cuts out in the output - though not always in the same place. Clearly this could prove a nuisance, but I hope it's just that - I hope everything has actually been recorded all the same. Guess I'll have to do some more investigating tomorrow.

You've been a great help so far, but if you happen to still be lingering and can suggest anything to solve the above problems I'd be even more grateful... :)
 
Good to hear you got it working. :)

Your new problems are directly related to your computers performance, and how it is set up to run. Optimize your system for recording.

Try THIS.

Disabling Aero and setting the processor scheduling to 'Background Services' alone, will greatly improve performance.

And I don't actually linger. I live here. lol! :D
 
Cheers. Again. Will try some of those tweaks tomorrow. Never done a defrag before...
 
Defrag should be done on a weekly basis IMO, when using computer regularly. It just organizes files on your hard drive. I myself find 'MyDefrag' to work more efficiently than the ones that come with Windows

Another thing that can help immensely, is getting an external drive to stream your audio from. Your internal drive is likely only 5200RPM. A 7200 RPM external drive for audio, will help eliminate dropouts and enable your OS/Software drive to keep up. Using the same drive to do both tasks is just asking for trouble.

Keep in mind tho, A USB 2.0 device such as the Tascam, will not perform well with another streaming audio device on the same USB controller. You would need to either use a USB3.0 port, or add another controller to your laptop via express card (if your laptop has the port).
 
Right... Defrag is done, took a couple of days to do all the drives but that's finished. Also made a couple of other tweaks (turning off aero and changing the background settings etc). Everything looked like it was going just fine for a while. There's still loads of dropout in the headphones (it's at the point now where there'll be one second of sound then 3 seconds of nothing), but again I hoped there was no problem with the actual recording. Apparently not! I exported a track I'd recorded, listened to it back through a media player, and found that there were skips all over the place - whole bars had just disappeared and it's completely unusable.

Presumably there are things I can do to help (get an external drive for one, like you said), but I'm not sure it should be this bad at present. After all, I didn't have these problems in the Summer when I last used the Tascam (before the windows re-installation) and that was with aero on, no defrag and probably a good deal more junk clogging up my laptop.

Very frustrating! I can't make any progress in actually recording songs. Thanks for all your help though, I wouldn't have got even this far without it.

EDIT: I tried downloading Audacity and had the same thing happen, which I guess means that Cubase isn't the problem here.
 
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Wait, lets check one thing. Have you gone to 'Control Panel' in Windows, select 'Sound' or Sound Devices, I think in XP, and select your 1641 as the default audio device?
 
Oh yeah forgot about that one. Just done it now though, and unfortunately there's no change - some notes just aren't recording.
 
Something is interrupting your audio connection. It scares me to tell a non PC geek, to turn off the built in soundcard via BIOS. Is there anything else on your lappy that may be interrupting audio? Internet/updates, 'Skype', turn off system sounds.... There has to be something running that is getting in the way. Or, your driveprocessor is just not up to par with streaming audio while running programs.
 
Turning off sounds doesn't work. I've got the internet on at the moment obviously but not when I was recording. I don't have Skype... I'm not sure what else to check really. Would it be something that shows up on task manager? I've had no problems listening to music/watching videos with sound whilst simultaneously using other programs before, but I guess this isn't quite what my problem is.

Again, a matter of months ago I could record things without this problem, so if it is to do with my laptop's capabilities then either something in the driveprocesser etc has been damaged or some update hasn't installed yet. I like to believe that the potential is still there though, in which case some setting or other is switched off, or some foreign process is interrupting, like you suggested. :confused:
 
I am more familiar with W7, but Vista has a lot of the same stuff.

In search window, type 'services.msc' Scroll down to 'Superfetch'. Double click and disable it from startup. This gave me issues in the past. Hell, while you are in there, take snapshots of everything in there. Maybe I can find something that doesn't belong.
 
And do one more check of the 'Computer>right click>Properties>Advanced. Just make sure your 'Performance' is checked to 'Background Services'. It just doesn't sound like it is set right to me.....
 
I disabled superfetch, I haven't restarted the computer yet though if that's what I need to do. You meant you wanted pictures of services, right?

An unrelated note: Sound Recorder (the really basic recording program that comes with Windows and uses the laptop's built-in mic) hasn't worked since the reinstall. It just doesn't pick up any signal. May not be related, but if it is then it could help pinpoint the problem.

Superfetch.webp
 
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