Time for a new Audio Interface
 

I've been using a Tascam US800 for about 8 years now. More inputs than I needed, but got a great 'barely used' deal from someone who just got it for demo purposes. I never used more than 3 inputs simultaneously for recording, but it was convenient to have rear line inputs to keep my keyboard plugged in, two headphone jacks. The non-balanced RCA outputs were never an issue, despite adapters to go to balanced inputs on my monitors.

However, one of the output jacks stopped working, and can't be remedied as the jacks are part of an assembly directly mounted to the PC board. I'm using an adapter to split one of the headphone outputs to my monitors, but there is a buzz/hum doing that.

So I've got to replace it. I'm looking at the Tascam 4x4, as it has the features I need, only thing I am concerned about is driver problems (reading reviews, it seems some users did have them). It looks like Tascam may have discontinued this AI, so I need to hop on it if I want to get one as their new line of AIs are much more expensive, and I fear may not be compatible with my old Win 7 OS on my studio PC. The 4x4 is on Amazon for $165, I can't see any other options with at least 4 inputs in that price range except the Behringer 404, and I am not partial to Behr products. Of course if there are problems getting the Tascam working due to the drivers, Amazon returns are easy.

Comments/suggestions welcome.

I've done a lot of multitracking and I've never used more than one input on my Scarlett 2i2. :D I could see dual mic'ing a guitar (but I've only got one mic :rolleyes:), but I'm having trouble seeing how you really need 3 inputs simultaneously....

The reviews for that Tascam look middling. In your price range, the Behringer is really the only new option that has 4 inputs.

Something used probably isn't a huge gamble if there's a good return policy and you check it out thoroughly, and get something recent. I see GC has a bunch of Focusrite Scarlett 6i6s and I saw some 18i8s - didn't get through everything. (You want 2nd gen in the Scarlett line.) They have 4 mic pres and dual headphone outputs - both features I've found useful on my Saffire Pro 26 (earlier FW version of the 18i8 I've assumed).

Even as a solo recording, many folks want to mic their guitar in stereo and add a LDC vocal mic. That would be a very common example of why someone would want 3 inputs.

Mike so what would say is your actual Budget range, are you talking $200 or less ? Can you go higher ?

Yes, I can go higher, if its worth it!

As to the inputs - I'd like to be able to keep my keyboard plugged in (2 line-ins, rather than preamp-ed inputs).
Can't remember the last time I used 2 mics + the pickup to record an acoustic.

Scarlett 8i6? Two combi inputs with preamps, 4 line inputs (plus 4 line outs and 2 headphone outputs). Can be had right now for $250.

That is one I've looked at.

Update: Ordered the Scarlett 8i6, $250 on sale at Amazon and couple of other places. Also looked at the 4i4, but I noticed it is only bus-powered, I prefer something that doesn't tax the USB power on my old recording computer, specially when phantom power is needed.
Arrives this week!

Mike, one thing to keep in mind ... if you have any trouble with the Scarlett, I have found their support to be accessible and very helpful.

I don't anticipate any issues once its set up. And easy return via Amazon if necessary.

Waiting on the new person us IO FADERPORT INTERFACE. I use studio one, so hopefully no issues with compatibility. Review to follow

I upgraded my trusty Yamaha Audiogram 6 to this Focusrite 8i6 recently. I really like it, though it was a bit of an adjustment for me and drivers/firmware had some bugs initially.

One thing I have discovered is that the routing program will sometimes stop doing what it's supposed to do. For instance, if you mute an input and it doesn't actually mute it. When things like this start happening, I exit the routing program and go back in and it's fine.

A big problem I found were problems trying to record from the SPDIF input. That has been fixed thankfully.

I only record from one input at a time, but it's nice to be able to leave things connected so when you do record, you just use the appropriate input without having to plug/unplug stuff.

I like that it has 2 headphone outputs so I can monitor when I'm recording somebody else. One disappointment for me was I was hoping to connect my subwoofer to the second output. I can, but I can't combine both outputs together so they are both controlled by the volume knob.

I'd love to hear how you get on with it after you've had time to play with it.

It arrived the other day, hope to get it set up over the weekend.
Confused over your 'muting an input' comment - maybe you mean with a mic plugged in (that is not being tracked) it still feeds into the headphone monitoring? I always turn my input volume controls down when not in use. The rear line-ins will only be used for my keyboard most of the time, so either not in use (silent) or being used. Won't be using the SPDIF (or MIDI).

I was just using muting an input as an example. When using the routing program, I was getting confused when settings I made weren't having an impact. At first I thought I was misunderstanding how it all worked. Muting an input is an obvious operation and when I realized that wasn't working, I exited the program and restarted it and found it to work as it should again.

I like to mute inputs I'm not using to minimize any noise. On this device, it may not matter as much since the inputs are routed directly rather than be mixed into a 2 channel output like my Yamaha Audiogram 6 did.

Based on this thread and MikeB's thoughts, I ordered an 8i6. Got it set up and recorded with it yesterday. I'm using my Mac and Garage Band so I went the quick setup, no accounts/minimal software install route. Fast, easy, none too painful an experience and it sounds amazing (when I do my part).

Thanks!

Scott

Good to hear! I got as far as taking mine out of the box.

Had no issues installing//downloading the Focusrite, could not register it on their site though as mine has a 14 character serial number, the site seems set up for older models with 12 or 13 characters! Even the help videos they link are old.

But.... my old Win 7 computer seems to have fallen on hard times - all of a sudden everything I record (and old recordings I listen to) have crackling/popping that adjusting the buffer to the max of 1024 (horrible latency) don't get rid of.

If you can find the correct Y cable arrangement you can double up your single stereo output so that you end up with 2 left and 2 right outputs from the stereo source. Plug one parallel pair to your powered monitors and the other parallel pair into your subwoofer(s).
That way when you adjust the volume both subwoofer and main speakers will track the volume correctly.

Interesting about the serial number...I don't recall having any issues like that.

Can you glean from Windows Task Manager what's causing the buffering? Is the CPU getting pegged? Is the hard disc getting bogged down? Maybe try a different USB port on your PC?

Thanks for the suggestion. That's actually how I'm set up. I'd rather not have the splitters, but I don't have a choice.

You might want to check an article like this one:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-40d3ef267a11

Sometimes when you identify what is causing the spikes you can do something to fix it.

It's one of those things that drove me away from Windows when I was looking for stable low latency audio and I ended up going the Apple way.

I checked, and nothing was running in the background that was using any CPU/RAM more than usual stuff. This computer has been my recording computer for 8+ years. No changes made prior to/on the day the crackling started. I had recorded a few quick single tracks last week with no issues. I didn't notice the crackling gin the tracks I was recording on Saturday because I wasn't monitoring carefully, had the head[hones set low while I laid down track after track. Turning up the volume is when it can be heard.
Listening to old tracks, there is still crackling, but on tracks recorded over the weekend, the crackling is recorded - I can see the blips on the waveforms. This is true even when there are no VSTis or plug-ins running in Reaper.
The cracking seems to follow the peaks of the sound - after a quick ending, there will be a few crackles within a second or so of the end.

Got an email back from Focusrite regarding the registration/serial number - they got it registered for me. Haven't logged in yet to d/l other software because I'm trying to resolve my computer issues first.
Could be a hard disc problem or RAM going bad (?), I really don't know. CPU usage does not seem to be a factor.

They have made a few firmware upgrades since the product was released. Now that you have it registered you can try upgrading it to the latest firmware if you weren't able to do that before. I was having routing issues that a firmware update resolved.

It's a shame you are having these problems. I hope you get it sorted out.

It could be the case that Win 7 has updated some of it's drivers since it last worked without pops and crackles.

I would recommend trying that Latencymon program if you can to try to see which driver or class of drivers is causing DPC delays.

You could just try disabling wi-fi since that is a common source of these problems on Windows.

Drivers would be my first thought. Is there crackling if you play back good sound files through the normal windows driver (computer speakers or headphones into the computer's headphone jack), and not through the interface?

If not, then the Focusrite drivers may be the culprit.

The Focusrite 8i6 looks like it would be a good choice for me then, since all I need is to connect my converter outs to the spdif ins on the Focusrite, then connect to my Macbook Pro using the USB-C cable. I use a similar connection scheme with my older Macbook Pro with the M-Audio Profire 610 interface, works great! Also, the price is very reasonable! I don't need an interface with nice pre's, because I already have nice pre's and don't plan on ever using it as a standalone interface for recording, just as a throughput, unless anyone has any input concerning this that I haven't thought about. The only other thing I can even think about is, is there an advantage to using an interface with ADAT and/or AES inputs?

I was surprised to see Motu doesn't offer a a more affordable USB-C interface with spdif input.

Also, what about Presonus products? The PreSonus Quantum 2626 26x26 Thunderbolt 3 Audio Interface has L/R returns, which I thought would come in handy for patching in an outboard effects processor (send/return). Am I right about this? Plus, it has spdif ins/outs, as well as ADAT ins/outs, not just spdif ins. Lots of connectivity options.

Rick

Wifi is not normally connected with this computer - I use a USB dongle, and only plug it in to d/l. I will look at the Latencymon thing to see if it finds anything that Task Manager didn't spy out.


I downloaded the Focusrite drivers the day after the problem started. Yesterday I listened to video/audio thoruhg headphones and the built-in soundcard, no crackling.

I was able to d/l the updated drivers before registering, so that's not the issue.

I appreciate all the suggestions, keep 'em coming. I am tempted to just order another computer (Amazon or Walmart refurbished with SSD) because returning it (if the problem persists) would be easy.

It seems like the PC you've been using has served you well and updating to a new PC is certainly not unreasonable. Sometimes you just need an excuse to push you over the edge to upgrade :).

I was on a Windows 8 machine until recently. It served me well for 6 years but it's time had come. My new PC is much snappier.