Mick,
I found this in my archives.
Hope it's helpful for other users.
This was posted buy another forum member here.
Tascam FW-1884 and FEs
Setup Procedure
For Sonar
I had similar probs with my FE-8 on install. A lot of problems stem from the order in which you install the various drivers. Below is a great procedure for a complete uninstall/reinstall of the 1884 with Sonar. I can take no credit for this. It came from a helpful chap on the sadly deceased tascam forums. It was reposted here a few months back but I can't seem to find it. I've added in some text for the additional FE-8 steps at the bottom. It worked a treat for me when I had problems getting the 1884 and FE-8 to work together.
To be honest I don't recall if it worked better installing the 1884 then the FE-8 or doing them all at once. But I'm figuring the former is a little safer approach.
Anyhoo, it's detailed but very useful at getting a clean install and solving lots of driver problems.
Let us know how you get on.
1. First turn off your FW. Reboot.
2. Then do a complete uninstall of the FW per the Tascam instructions here:
http://www.tascam.com/details;9,14,46,19.html 3. Reboot. Then install the Sonar control surface driver here:
http://www.tascam.com/details;9,14,46,19.html 4. Reboot. Install the FW driver you want to use.
5. Turn off your computer.
6. Turn on the FW.
7. Turn on your computer and let Windows find the drivers and install the FW. Reboot.
8. Then open Sonar and run the Wave Profiler from Options/Audio/General
9. Enable FW1884 Control and FW1884 Port 1 for inputs and outputs under Options/ Midi Devices.
10. Select the FW control surface and assign FW1884 Control as input and output under Options/ Control Surfaces.
11. Close Sonar.
12. Reopen Sonar and make sure everything stayed the same.
13. Power off the computer. Plug in and switch on the FE-8's. Tascam recommend that you power up the devices 'furthest away' from the pc first. i.e. the FE-8 at the end of the chain, then the one next to the 1884, then the 1884. Very important to do it in this order every time BEFORE you power on the PC.
14. Once you’ve powered up and let windows plug-and-play the FE-8s
15. Reboot.
15. Go to the 1884 Control Panel and the ‘FE-8’ tab. Both FE-8s should be showing up. Rewrite the name assignment to make sense to your set-up: “FE-8 Left/Right†or “1, 2…†depending on how you order them. Apply the changes and close the control panel.
16. Launch Sonar. Go to Options – Midi Devices. See that the FE-8 name assignment you just made is showing up. Make sure each FE-8 is selected (in addition to 1884 Control and 1884 Port1) as Inputs and Outputs.
16. Go to Options – Control Surfaces. Make sure the 1884 and the FE-8’s are shown as Input and Outputs. i.e. “FE-8 Left†has “FE-8 Left†selected as it’s input and output. You might need to add the FE-8s yourself. Click the ‘New Control Surface’ button and add them from there.
17. Close Sonar.
18. Reopen Sonar and make sure everything stayed the same.
More info:
You will need to install the Fw1884 and FE8 Sonar control surface files (.dll files) into the Cakewalk/Shared Surfaces folder. I believe they are on the installer CD, or you can download the latest version from the TASCAM website.
The the FW1884 and FE8's should show up as controller options in the Control Surface setup panel. They will be assigned tracks in the order that you place them in the controller list.
Are the FE-8s showing up in the FW1884 control panel applet? I've found with the FW1884 that the way I've solved most of my problems with it was to read the manuals very carefully and make sure you are running the most recent software, and firmware, including the Sonar control surface software.
Hopes this helps,
Guy