Tascam FW-1884 -- Issues, Issues, Issues

Hello all:

I have tried to reinstall my drivers and control surface, and cleaned out my registry, following the helpful post by Riojazz (props). I nonetheless continue to have stuttering problems, as well dropping of the audio drivers at random points. Recording is fine. Pops, clicks, etc. happen during playback. I have a dedicated FW card with the TI chipset. I have increased and decreased latency. I have adjusted playback buffers (and increasing them just creates an unacceptable delay in the playback, such that I can't do fine edits to waveforms.

Despite my sig (which I will update), I am running Control Surface 1.5 and drivers version 1.21.

This is really driving me nuts. Much as I dig the CONCEPT of the 1884, it is all but useless to me at this point.

Can anyone recommend specific latency/buffer settings? Should I be using WDM instead of ASIO?

ARGGGHHH.

(My next post might be "FW-1884 FOR SALE."

Thanks in advance...

Hey,
I fought the same issues for almost 3 years, refused to believe it was a problem with the FW1884. After searching everywhere, changing and rechanging pc components,(firewire cards,video cards, motherboard, cpu, etc), I finally gave up and got a MOTU 896HD and a MixedLogic 24 channel control surface, and the problems dissapeared. No problems whatsoever with the new setup. Sorry to say, but it probably is the 1884,IMO

i'm running vista (32) with a fw1884 v1.6 (in WDM). everything worked/s "fine" in sonar 7PE, but now that i'm running 8PE, the tascam rarely works! (works fine outside of sonar tho)

it tends to have no audio output, nor does any of the control surface functionality (i.e. stop, start) work most of the time. shutting down sonar, turning the tascam on/off, restarting sonar doesn't seem to work most of the time either--again with version 8, not 7.

so, i agree that there's definitely a problem with the tascam (and drivers), it's a great idea/ tool--if it works ;p but working in sonar 7 and then not in 8, well...hopefully there's a patch here in the very, very short term (crosses fingers and hopes for 8.1).

i'm quite "geeked" by the vs700, but for the price, i'm not sure i can justify the flagship for my home studio...maybe roland will release the "distant cousins" sooner rather than later (tho not holding my breath).

thanx for posting the tip don4777!

i actually just did that and was going to follow up to this post (using beta 1.22--i actually don't think i was using the beta before, maybe just 1.2), now all is MUCH better! --hopefully it stays that way! ;)

ORIGINAL: GraphMaN

I almost bought some TASCAM FW products, until I read of all the problems with their drivers.
Then they dropped Gigastudio 4 days after it shipped.
I am beginning to think they are really in trouble in their programming department.
Their products work fine for some PC configurations, but there sure are a lot of users with complaints.

Have to disagree with your last statement.

By my count on this forum 2-3 have either abondoned or feel near to abandoning the FW-1884 (or it's derivitives). About 20 or so users are moderatly to quite happy with the (albeit slightly limited in a few CS areas) performance.

Just my $2.00 ($0.02 adjusted for inflation).

I'm one of the other 19 but I haven't installed 8PE yet.

ORIGINAL: D K

Sorry to hear about your troubles Steve- I know you don't want to hear this but I am seeing none of the issues you are describing here - As a matter of fact with S8 I am running at consistently lower latencies then ever before with a bunch of UAD, Voxengo, Sonitus and various other plugs engaged

I use ASIO but I never had a problem with WDM - Just thought Asio was a little tighter - Driver 1.22 and 1.60

My latency settings change depending on what i am doing but currently i am mixing 35 tracks at 256 samples (like I mentioned above this is with a fairly healthy amount plugs ) - Normally when I am tracking I get all the way down to 64 samples - I think 512 is the absolute sweet spot.

What are your system specs? - Dual,quad, ram etc?

Probably not what you want to hear but I would go back and start the process over again because you should not be having those kinds of issues - Pay close attention to the set up process - You can find it at the Tascam forums

DK:

I'm running S7.02 on a Dell Dual. 3.2 GHz with 2 MB Ram. I'm also having continuous problems with dropouts when the piece isn't really that intensive. Just seems like somethings totally wrong.

As to WDM vs/ ASIO, with my install, I don't even have the option to use WDM.

OK. So, I fired up S without the 1884 on and it let me switch to WDM. What buffer should I use? I have the latency at 11 and it was working OK on a relatively dense project. The stuttering went away (I think).

Another question -- When I hit play, the now marker starts to move, but there's a delay before I hear the audio. This is a new phenomenon -- it's making it impossible to precisely edit audio. I'm not sure what I could've done to cause this . . .

Like I have said many times before - I have always been happy with the way the machine performs - Centrace test (there are some here on this site if you search ) will show you very good latency performance - solid i/o and expansion capabilities, good A/D - From a hardware perspective what's not to like? The thing has been around since 2003 - obviously it must be doing pretty well.

The only (and it's a big one) issue for me is support - They just do not support the product and while we are "getting way" with it now that will run out eventually as the application grows - If you are a committed Sonar user it's like dodging bullets and I don't like that feeling.


@SteveS - something you said about not being able to switch to WDM makes me thing there is definitely an install problem - also make sure the settings in Sonar are optimal for your machine - for me they are at 128 record buffers and 256 or 512 playback buffers - These are not the Tascam buffers but Sonar's . I think when you first set it up it defaults to 256 - cant remember it's been so long. I started using the Tascam with a Dell P4 so I don't think that is the problem.

Just play around with all the settings and you will eventually find a sweet spot - I have had this thing on 2 different computers and 3 DAW software packages and it worked fine on all 3 so you will get there and it should perform solidly for you

Mididreamer,
when you say it works with Reason, are you just talking about just as a soundcard, or can you use the 1884 with
Reason as a mixer also?
I used both Reason and FW-1884 also, but never have thought to try it as a mixer.
Thanks

Wow, thanks, cannot wait to try it!

Have you installed the FW hotfix from Microsoft? There was an issue with FW and SP2 that was covered by the fix- I'm sure somebody has the link to it.

ew

svenseel

ORIGINAL: D K

@SteveS - something you said about not being able to switch to WDM makes me thing there is definitely an install problem - also make sure the settings in Sonar are optimal for your machine - for me they are at 128 record buffers and 256 or 512 playback buffers - These are not the Tascam buffers but Sonar's . I think when you first set it up it defaults to 256 - cant remember it's been so long. I started using the Tascam with a Dell P4 so I don't think that is the problem.

Just play around with all the settings and you will eventually find a sweet spot - I have had this thing on 2 different computers and 3 DAW software packages and it worked fine on all 3 so you will get there and it should perform solidly for you

So I switched to WDM, played with latency, etc. Seemed to help the crackling. Now I find, having recorded 8 simultaneous tracks for the first time with the unit (generally, I've just been overdubbing and mixing tracks recorded in other studios), that the system is just randomly dropping out throughout the recording -- no DROPOUT; it's as if there was a bad edit in the audio. It doesn't click or pop. There's just a hunk of audio that goes missing. Very odd.

I am having the exact same problem.  We had this board in our church (till it died in the middle of a conference!) and have since upgraded to a PreSonus Studio Live.  I have the Tascam at home now.  I have had this exact same problem on our system at church and at home, in XP and W7-32.  It will simply drop a piece of audio as if it is completely missing or was never recorded.  I have yet to resolve it and came to this forum looking for answers.

hi guys,

i'm using my tascam FW1884 on a Vista 64bit PC, 6GB with Sonar 7.  I've been having a huge problem with the audio playback on my pc to the tascam FW1884.  The automation and inputs work fine.  I ran my condensor mic into the console n got full audio.  But my Sonar7 Daw simply refuses to playback through the tascam.  I'm not quite sure how to activate the master bus to play through the tascam.  i've installed the 1.7 drivers and updated the firmware.  Am i doing anything wrong? did i miss something? Can anyone help me with this issue i'm in dying need to get this system up and running. Thanks for your help

I had  random, out of nowhere problems that arose with my FW-1884 within Sonar 8. The issues resolved after un and re-installing Sonar 8. Try that.

F@KER