Windows 7 64 bit - confirmed WORKING USB Interface

[mikedavid00]

Hi,

It's so unfortunate that I even have to make a post like this seeing as we're talking about the #1 currently sold operating system and computer music.

But anyhow, I finally found a device that I can confirm WORKS 100% with Windows 7 64 bit.

That is the M-Audio Fast Track Pro 4X4 USB Interface.

And not only this, this is with an older Athalon 64 Laptop, 2 gigs of RAM, and 6 devices all sharing USB. It does NOT crackle or pop on playback!

This compared to the Tascam US-144MKII nightmare which basically does not work with 64 bit systems. Tech support will lie to customers about it not working and then tell you to install XP. Wow what a garbage product. I'm never buying a Tascam product again as they purposely sell something and mislead consumers into buying something does not work as they claim and they know it and everyone else does.

 

[Zotamedu]

I bought one this weekend and it crackles on playback. Seems like a common problem that's not related to Windows 7 but a conflict of USB devices. I'm currently working on fixing it. Seems like many people get it to work by simply moving around the USB ports untill they find a combination that works.

 

[jlewis]

I've got a Tascam US-144 and Windows 7 64bit and aside from the occasional hiccup, they work together pretty well.

 

[humjaba]

I have a Lexicon Alpha working perfectly with Windows 7 64bit. If I put the computer to sleep, the device needs to be unplugged and plugged back in for the computer to pick it up, but that's not a big deal. Other than that, it works flawlessly with Asio4All drivers.

 

[mikedavid00]

I bought one this weekend and it crackles on playback. Seems like a common problem that's not related to Windows 7 but a conflict of USB devices. I'm currently working on fixing it. Seems like many people get it to work by simply moving around the USB ports untill they find a combination that works.

Man I have a laptop that's like 3 years old (those Compaq AMD 17"'s that were popular a few years back and came with Vista) and it has 6 midi devices simutaneously total in it (including the keyboard and mouse) and amazingly there is not one crackle on playback. The Tascam was a whole other problem. Crackling, pops, and then you couldn't play it for more than 5 min without having to reset it. If you get the Tascam, then good luck to you on that one hehe.. join the group of all the unhappy customers.

To fix your problem, you just need to get a USB PCI card. Also, I know a lot of people won't agree with what I'm going to say, but I've had nothing but issues with USB over the years when dealing with 'home built' pc's. The quality of these mainboards these days are *NOT* what they used to be 6-7 years ago. The major manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc have to make sure the USB works or they will get product returns. Especially with laptops. When the consumer plugs in a camera, the OS can't notify them that they are not getting the full speed or people will return the laptop. The Asus mainboards these days are LOADED with bugs and improperly working USB. Get your USB source as a PCI card and you should be golden. Also stay away from MSI, Acer, etc. Stick with Dell, HP, Compaq. Actually, I just bought a Laptop yesterday for $300 with Windows 7 64 at Best Buy. This is standard pricing now.

Also the fans in a Dell or Compaq are very quiet for your studio as compared to a homebuilt PC that usually has a loud fan.

Actually, my expensive homebuilt Asus board with quad core CPU (my good 'main' system) had so many issues with the USB that basically it couldn't even power my Edirol PCR-50 with any other device plugged in except a mouse. Turns out it's just modern crappy engineering of modern mother boards.

Yet the 3 year old Compaq can power 6 USB devices, 4 midi, and all with NO additional power. A laptop. Even if you unplug the power and it's running off battery, it STILL powers the devices.

The Tascam though wasn't a computer problem, it was a product problem. There must be some sort of voodoo or magic that the very, VERY few people have who manage to get it to work with Windows 7 64 bit.

Any USB streaming problem is fixable through a PCMCIA or PCI card with USB ports. Make sure it's compatible with Windows 7 though. You'd be suprised that they are NOT. Trust me. I have a USB/Firewire card collecting dust. The box must say that it's Windows 7 compatible.

 

[Zotamedu]

Man I have a laptop that's like 3 years old (those Compaq AMD 17"'s that were popular a few years back and came with Vista) and it has 6 midi devices simutaneously total in it (including the keyboard and mouse) and amazingly there is not one crackle on playback. The Tascam was a whole other problem. Crackling, pops, and then you couldn't play it for more than 5 min without having to reset it. If you get the Tascam, then good luck to you on that one hehe.. join the group of all the unhappy customers.

To fix your problem, you just need to get a USB PCI card. Also, I know a lot of people won't agree with what I'm going to say, but I've had nothing but issues with USB over the years when dealing with 'home built' pc's. The quality of these mainboards these days are *NOT* what they used to be 6-7 years ago. The major manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc have to make sure the USB works or they will get product returns. Especially with laptops. When the consumer plugs in a camera, the OS can't notify them that they are not getting the full speed or people will return the laptop. The Asus mainboards these days are LOADED with bugs and improperly working USB. Get your USB source as a PCI card and you should be golden. Also stay away from MSI, Acer, etc. Stick with Dell, HP, Compaq. Actually, I just bought a Laptop yesterday for $300 with Windows 7 64 at Best Buy. This is standard pricing now.

Also the fans in a Dell or Compaq are very quiet for your studio as compared to a homebuilt PC that usually has a loud fan.

Actually, my expensive homebuilt Asus board with quad core CPU (my good 'main' system) had so many issues with the USB that basically it couldn't even power my Edirol PCR-50 with any other device plugged in except a mouse. Turns out it's just modern crappy engineering of modern mother boards.

Yet the 3 year old Compaq can power 6 USB devices, 4 midi, and all with NO additional power. A laptop. Even if you unplug the power and it's running off battery, it STILL powers the devices.

The Tascam though wasn't a computer problem, it was a product problem. There must be some sort of voodoo or magic that the very, VERY few people have who manage to get it to work with Windows 7 64 bit.

Any USB streaming problem is fixable through a PCMCIA or PCI card with USB ports. Make sure it's compatible with Windows 7 though. You'd be suprised that they are NOT. Trust me. I have a USB/Firewire card collecting dust. The box must say that it's Windows 7 compatible.

After some work it seems like it's fixed. Seems like it was the IRQ problem a lot of USB cards have. I disabeled some stuff I don't need, pulled out the WiFi card and tried a couple of different USB ports and it seems like it's working fine now.

As long as it's IRQ a PCI card might not solve the problem since it would mean even more stuff that battles for the CPU's attention.

I have a homebuilt computer based on a Gigabyte motherboard. Asus tends to get great review too.

I have bad experiences from Acer and I would never touch a Compaq. Building your own desktop is the best way to go. The pre made are all pretty much overpriced crap if you don't go for the expensive business models.

How on earth can you say that homebuilt computers have loud fans? They are as loud as you want them to be. That's the beauty of building your own. I threw away the fan on the CPU and the fan on the GPU as well as the two fans I got included with my computer case. Instead I installer some big heatsinks and a couple of silent fans that runs on 5 V instead of the standard 12 V. The thing that makes a noise now is the HDDs and one of my monitors. Upgrading a prefab computer is also a real pain since they tend to ship with crap PSUs. As long as you know a little bit about computers or are able to use google a homebuilt computer will always be cheaper and better than anything Dell can make. Only reason to get a Dell is their good support.

 

[Telosbe]

Do you think that M-audio interface is value for money ?

 

[mikedavid00]

Do you think that M-audio interface is value for money ?

Do you think that M-audio interface is value for money ?

Yes. I got mine for $200 in Canada. It has 2 inputs, and many outputs.

Here's the kicker too.. I don't want to RAVE about the product.. but wow.

The product is doing everything people said it wouldn't be able to do. It is looping back to the headphones with NO LAG. This is *WITH* vst's.

Basically, I have FL Studio. When I set an empty channel to the mic input of the M-Audio. I can hear my vocals through my headpones with NO LAG. This is WITH compressions and VST being used. Everyone told me there would be a lag time so I couldn't use my headphones. This is not true. I should take a video of my setup just to prove it.

And this is with a 3 year old AMD 17" Laptop, WINDOWS 7 64-bit, and powering 6 USB devices with NO plug ins to help. Just right into the laptop. No problems.

I wish I could say the same about my expensive main computer. USB issues like crazy regardless of OS, firwmware, etc. Since day 1 it's been like that.

The M-Audio provides drivers. That is most important to me and I think I'm going to keep my business with them from now on. My old Jamlab that I bought like 5 years ago unbelievably has Windows 7 64 bit drivers. I remember they even had Vista BETA drivers! The drivers are too important and what Tascam does is unconscionable. These small companies who don't specialize in computer music do not understand the need for software updates and drivers.

 

[mikedavid00]

After some work it seems like it's fixed. Seems like it was the IRQ problem a lot of USB cards have. I disabeled some stuff I don't need, pulled out the WiFi card and tried a couple of different USB ports and it seems like it's working fine now.

As long as it's IRQ a PCI card might not solve the problem since it would mean even more stuff that battles for the CPU's attention.

I have a homebuilt computer based on a Gigabyte motherboard. Asus tends to get great review too.

I have bad experiences from Acer and I would never touch a Compaq. Building your own desktop is the best way to go. The pre made are all pretty much overpriced crap if you don't go for the expensive business models.

How on earth can you say that homebuilt computers have loud fans? They are as loud as you want them to be. That's the beauty of building your own. I threw away the fan on the CPU and the fan on the GPU as well as the two fans I got included with my computer case. Instead I installer some big heatsinks and a couple of silent fans that runs on 5 V instead of the standard 12 V. The thing that makes a noise now is the HDDs and one of my monitors. Upgrading a prefab computer is also a real pain since they tend to ship with crap PSUs. As long as you know a little bit about computers or are able to use google a homebuilt computer will always be cheaper and better than anything Dell can make. Only reason to get a Dell is their good support.

Yeah man actually my current main computer has a Gigabyte mainboard and quadcore CPU with 4 gigs of RAM. My mainboard is the one with the green box. Basically it has issues powering devices and getting USB 2.0. The Asus had that problem too and the one before that. Never get Acer anything. I find them to be the worst. I've always built my own PC's since a teen. But the next computer I think I'm going to get a Dell due toe quietness and low power consumptions of the power supply. But most of all, the USB. I can't take anymore USB issues. I have a camcorder and a bunch of other devices and phones that need the USB to work in 2.0. We use Dell and HP here at work. The PC's are silent. The USB always works in 2.0. I have an Akai keyboard and drum pad here and ********** and they all work no problem on the Dell. At home it's a crap shoot. It shouldn't be considering how 'good' my computer is.

And I can't believe the 3 year old 17" Laptop is running 6 USB devices fine in the basement on Windows 7 64 bit. Not even any lag to my headphones. Unreal. Everyone said that wasn't possible.

And not even any clicks or pops. Not even the occasional one. I'm dead serious. I was on it for hours last night and not one click at all.

Here's what you should get:

ViewSonic VA2702w 27 Widescreen HD LCD Monitor - 1080p, 1920x1080, 16:9, 60000:1 Dynamic, 3ms, DVI, VGA at TigerDirect.com

 

[tonesponge]

It is looping back to the headphones with NO LAG. This is *WITH* vst's.

Basically, I have FL Studio. When I set an empty channel to the mic input of the M-Audio. I can hear my vocals through my headpones with NO LAG. This is WITH compressions and VST being used. Everyone told me there would be a lag time so I couldn't use my headphones. This is not true. I should take a video of my setup just to prove it.

And this is with a 3 year old AMD 17" Laptop, WINDOWS 7 64-bit, and powering 6 USB devices with NO plug ins to help. Just right into the laptop. No problems.

I'm glad to hear the near-zero latency hardware monitoring is working on that unit in combination with the low latency software monitoring. I wish I didn't have to mute my recording enabled tracks in protools to use my headphones. Maybe I'll upgrade to pro tools 9 one day and get this interface.

 

[Zotamedu]

Yeah man actually my current main computer has a Gigabyte mainboard and quadcore CPU with 4 gigs of RAM. My mainboard is the one with the green box. Basically it has issues powering devices and getting USB 2.0. The Asus had that problem too and the one before that. Never get Acer anything. I find them to be the worst. I've always built my own PC's since a teen. But the next computer I think I'm going to get a Dell due toe quietness and low power consumptions of the power supply. But most of all, the USB. I can't take anymore USB issues. I have a camcorder and a bunch of other devices and phones that need the USB to work in 2.0. We use Dell and HP here at work. The PC's are silent. The USB always works in 2.0. I have an Akai keyboard and drum pad here and ********** and they all work no problem on the Dell. At home it's a crap shoot. It shouldn't be considering how 'good' my computer is.

And I can't believe the 3 year old 17" Laptop is running 6 USB devices fine in the basement on Windows 7 64 bit. Not even any lag to my headphones. Unreal. Everyone said that wasn't possible.

And not even any clicks or pops. Not even the occasional one. I'm dead serious. I was on it for hours last night and not one click at all.

Here's what you should get:

ViewSonic VA2702w 27 Widescreen HD LCD Monitor - 1080p, 1920x1080, 16:9, 60000:1 Dynamic, 3ms, DVI, VGA at TigerDirect.com

I'm sorry but I can't take anything you say seriously after you recommending that piece of crap monitor. Seriosuly, 27" TN panel and only 1920x1080 resolution? I wouldn't take that even if they gave it to me. That resolution is ok for a 24" but you really should stay away from 1920x1080 for anything but TV. 1920x1200 is where it's at and that's for 24" monitors. A 27" should have 2560 x 1440. Anything lower is a complete rip off.

Dell having low powerconsumption in their PSU? Now there's a laugh. They buy cheap bulk crap. If you want silent and efficiency, build your own and get a 80+ gold or platinum certified PSU, a well dampened case, throw away the stock cooler for the CPU and get a passively cooled graphics card or even a newer CPU with integrated graphics.