I ordered the Tascam 2x2.  I hope the inst/line switch does the trick!
 
bob

Got the Tascam. Love it. Plenty of input and output gain, quiet, no hassle install. Sounds great!!
 
thx
 
bob

What should I set the buffer size too?  I have an i7 6700 and 32 gb DDR4 Ram.
 
Default is 256.
 
thx
 
bob

There is no rule. 256 would be the upper limit for most trying to monitor through the DAW. I believe most run 128 or lower to keep the monitor delay while tracking as low as possible. Your ears will let you know if the setting is low enough. If you are not monitoring the track being recorded through the DAW, a low buffer setting is not critical. It might be necessary to run higher than 256 when mixing depending on the PC and the plug-ins used.

scook
There is no rule. 256 would be the upper limit for most trying to monitor through the DAW. I believe most run 128 or lower to keep the monitor delay while tracking as low as possible. Your ears will let you know if the setting is low enough. If you are not monitoring the track being recorded through the DAW, a low buffer setting is not critical. It might be necessary to run higher than 256 when mixing depending on the PC and the plug-ins used.

So, higher is better if your system can handle it?
 
bob

No, lower is better.  The lower your buffer, the lower your latency (the delay between playing a note and hearing it.)

dwardzala
No, lower is better.  The lower your buffer, the lower your latency (the delay between playing a note and hearing it.)

How low should I go?  I7 6700  32 Ram?
 
thx
 
bob

At 44.1 kHz 256 usually results in somewhere around a 20ms delay. 128 is near 10ms and so on. A higher sample rate reduces the delay by filling the buffers faster at the cost of higher CPU and disk usage. It really comes down to what you can live with and how the PC performs. Ideally there would be no delay when monitoring though the DAW but physics gets in the way. My guess is the low limit (the smallest buffer setting) will be obvious, you will experience dropouts and distortion. The upper limit may not matter but extreme settings either way often do not perform well.

scook
At 44.1 kHz 256 usually results in somewhere around a 20ms delay. 128 is near 10ms and so on. A higher sample rate reduces the delay by filling the buffers faster at the cost of higher CPU and disk usage. It really comes down to what you can live with and how the PC performs. Ideally there would be no delay when monitoring though the DAW but physics gets in the way. My guess is the low limit (the smallest buffer setting) will be obvious, you will experience dropouts and distortion. The upper limit may not matter but extreme settings either way often do not perform well.

I just changed from 256 to 128 and it's much better. I'm testing by putting the Tascam monitor balance in the middle and turning on "input echo" on the track that I'm recording on. At 256, I was hearing the delay.
 
Should I change the sample rate from 44 to 48 in the Tascam settings panel and in Sonar?
 
thx
 
bob

Do what sounds right. Aside from just playing around with different sample rates, I have stayed on 44.1, others use 48. I am sure they have their reasons. While you are at it try 96. You might like it up there, it will cut the latency in half.