mikerotten, post: 298825 wrote: Hey im currently running a HP Pavilion dv7 laptop with the AMD vision processor 4 GB ram and windows 7- 64 bit ... i have a Tascam US-1641 and Cubase 4 LE (that came with the tascam) and i have Cubase 5.... with both cubase 5 and 4 my audio going in is cracky and poppy.... and then when i got to record something it only last for 7 or so mesures and then stops recording and ( usually) cubase crashes and closes..... some body please help me i just spent $300 on this tascam thing,... i cant let it go to waste!! lol thanks guys!

Have you downloaded the latest drivers and firmware from Tascam?
You probably need to increase your ASIO driver sample buffer. Start at 1024 and see if it works without pops or clicks...if it works fine then move the buffer number down and check again. There will be a point where the pops come back.
Also I've noticed with Win7 the performance is slow with all of the GUI fluff it has now and it will run faster and smoother if you set the performance to "adjust for best performance" in the Control Panel - System - Advanced tab - Performance - check the box "Adjust for best performance".
Because the Tascam is a USB device, you should also go into the Control Panel - System - Device Manager and right click on any USB Root Hubs you have listed there, select Propeties and then go to the Power Management tab and uncheck "Allow computer to turn off device to save power". This will make sure Win7 doesn't ever shut down your USB link inadvertently...
One other thing to check is to use a tool called "DPC checker" It's a free latency check tool to see if your Win7 can keep up with the audio stream.
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.thesycon…"]DPC Latency Checker[/]="http://www.thesycon…"]DPC Latency Checker[/]
Hope that helps!

Make sure that you are NOT recording to the internal laptop drive. Get an external drive and in your case it better be firewire since you have the interface on the USB bus. You will need to set the permissions on the external drive to allow all access. Also, disable all the items in the network adaptors section of the Device Manager. If you are using any other USB devices-unplug them. With a DV7 you should not have an issue with a few tracks even with the AMD processor (not ideal).

Just Bought that equipment myself,

I finally got mine working flawlessly, now to learn how to properly record, with all the filters and what not in use.

I found that a laptop is not optimal, Jack told me that as well.

I set up the desktop that I have with win xp, two hdd both on separate cables, all other hardware removed, ethernet card, video card, sound card, all other usb cards, and disabled anything that was not needed to run the desktop. My win xp boots up in 45 seconds.

Not sure about tweaks in win7, but make sure to set for best performance, and allow for better performance of background services.

Hey guys.... thanks for all of your input first of all!!! You helped alot!! well i updated my firmware and drivers for 64 bit.... and i reinstalled cubase and im using cubase 5 now instead.... All of the clicks and pops have seemed to go away..... BUUUTTTT after i get to like the ninth bar cubase stops recording.... freezes for about ehhh... 20-25 seconds pops back up and says i have to many tracks recording... and doesnt save what ive recorded... i am only recording with 1 mono channel.. so therefore i dunno why its saying that... i have set my cpu to best performance as well...

What is the destination drive for your audio? If it is a USB drive there is your problem. If it is the internal laptop drive then that is the problem. Double check your buffer latency setting in the ASIO control panel. Bump it up to at least 1024.

Yeah that sounds like Cubase has somehow run out of drive space or the CPU can't keep up with writing the streaming data off Cubase onto the HDD.
Are you using a separate HDD to record your audio projects onto?
If your audio file path is set on the C: drive with the OS and Cubase you're going to run into collisions...and things like that will happen....it will just stop! Then some standard error message....too much sxxt! to process can't handle it anymore! End of transmission!
If you're using a USB external HDD you might be running into a bandwidth problem with you're other USB devices....you obviously need the Cubase dongle and a mouse??, (you could use the pad)....unplug everything you can and see if it fixes the problem....if it doesn't then you're back to the HDD or CPU!
A friend was using an external USB HDD and laptop with a Lexicon Omega/Cubase Studio and seemed to work fine, not great, but usable until he bought Guitar Rig4!
As soon as he loaded his new Guitar Rig 4 and plugged into a guitar track bammm...started having dropouts....(that GR4 really sucks the juice out of your computer fast).
He has since gotten a new Dell Win7 desktop and after a little tweaking of the OS it seems to work better and he's still using the same external USB HDD. Of course that is with Cubase Studio running in 32bit mode on a 64bit machine (Program Files x86).
Are you running you're Cubase 5 as 64bit or 32bit?
There might be something there that's messed up!

Hey im using an iomega 80GB external USB hardrive... and m not sure if im running cubase 32 or 64 bit.... how do you change it?? and also when i go into device setup into cubase... i click my tascam driver (cuz thats what i have to use to get sound into cubase) and click control panel and then it brings up a menu that just says highest, high, normal, low, and Lowest latency menu... on normal latency i dont get newar the clicks and pops that i used to but i put it on lowest i get clicks and pop(i expect that) but cubase still freezes at bar 7-9 and asks either if i want to keep audio files at their sample portions or something and then freezes and erases the track... i got everything unplugged from my cpu that isnt necessary ( power cord) and USB hard drive... and my system performance is set to best (it looks like windows 98 now lol) and my wireless internet is off and all other applications or programs are closed.... i dunno.... this really sucks lol

hm..... i put the control panel on the highest latency setting and cubase seems not to be crashing before 20 bars now..... buuuutttt it is a little delayed.... hmmm... just though ide inform you guys,.,.. thx

hey.... although it deoesnt crash anymore... a little windows keeps popping up asking if i want to keep audio events at their sample portions.... i click no... should i ? or no?? it wont leave me alone lol

The easiest way to check if Cubase 5 is loaded as 32bit is to look for a folder called "Program Files x86" on your C drive and see if the Steinberg folder is in there with your Cubase program.
You will also see a folder called just "Program Files" no x86 on the end which are all of your 64bit applications installed in Win7. If Cubase is installed as 64bit it would be in that folder under Steinberg.
You should leave the latency at "normal" to start at least you know you won't get dropouts using that setting.
This bar 7-9 thing could be a problem with Cubase being 64bit and the Tascam driver being 32bit or vice versa. That would make some sense...
They both need to be on the same page! If your going to run Cubase as 64bit the TAscam drivers need to be compatible with 64bit.
When you installed Cubase it should have asked you if you wanted to install as a 32but or 64bit application.
If you have to change it you would need to reinstall Cubase.

Here is your issue. You are trying to bring into the computer the audio stream from the Tascam unit while simultaneously trying to output the recorded audio data from your DAW into the iOmega drive. The USB bus can NOT work bidirectionally-the two directions of data streaming won't happen at the same time. The computer must then hold that data in a buffer until the USB lane is open. The reason you can avoid this on a desktop computer is that a secondary hard drive is not on a USB port but on its own IDE or SATA port avoiding the problem altogether. By setting the buffer to its highest setting you are giving the computer enough leeway to direct the traffic.

This is the main reason why I always recommend a firewire audio interface as firewire is bidirectional. USB 3.0 is supposed to address some of this but of course it ain't here yet.

Oh, and left click on the speaker icon in the lower right hand corner. Click on mixer. Mute the system sounds altogether.

I forgot the Tascam was USB....I think Jack has nailed it!

okay.... well there is no steinburg folder even in my regular prgram files.... only in x86 folder..... so i uninstalled cubase 5.... i then tried to reinstall it and it never gave the choice to choose 32 or 64 bit.... so im going with the disk that came with the tascam.... which is cubase 4 LE and still there is nothing in the regular program files.... hm..... it never gave me a choice either.... i went to the steinburg website and got the hotfix and update for it and when i record audio it stops and crashes now at like...... 30-45 bars... and when it asked where to save the file to or w.e. it does when u open a new project.... i clicked on my D drive which is labeled Recovery.... i think its just a partition of my c drive but i dunno.....

Ok So if it's in the x86 folder that means Cubase was installed 32bit which should be fine. Then you just need to make sure your Tascam ASIO drivers are the correct 32bit Win7 (or Vista) and for the time being make your audio project destination go to tyou C drive somewhere and try that

Your version (LE 4) is not 64 bit. It is supported on 64 bit systems but the program itself is still a 32bit program.

hey i unistalled both my tascam drivers and cubase 4 LE..... when i put the disk in that came with the tascam it says that this version is for 32 bit computers only..... so i cant install the tascam 32 bit and i cant install cubase 64 bit.... HA OMG this is crazy lol.... everything seems to be going alright and then cubase either asks me if i want to keep audio sample sizes and then it will crash or it will just crash... ugh,,, i dunno

The hell? You HAD to have a 64bit driver in at some point. You can't install 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit system.

You don't need 64bit Cubase. Especially since a 64bit host would need 64bit plugins (plugs -> DLLs -> can't load 32bit DLLs into a 64bit process). I may be wrong there. *edit: I may very well be wrong.*

mikerotten, post: 299147 wrote: hey i unistalled both my tascam drivers and cubase 4 LE..... when i put the disk in that came with the tascam it says that this version is for 32 bit computers only..... so i cant install the tascam 32 bit and i cant install cubase 64 bit.... HA OMG this is crazy lol.... everything seems to be going alright and then cubase either asks me if i want to keep audio sample sizes and then it will crash or it will just crash... ugh,,, i dunno

mike:
Install all of your audio stuff as 32bit not 64bit. Leave the Win7 the way it is (64bit)
Win7 even when it is setup as a 64bit system will run everything for you in a 32 bit environment! This is why it creates the "Program Files x86" folder!

So load you're Tascam drivers (32bit)
Load you're Cubase 5 (32bit)

Everything will be located in that Program Files (x86) folder and you should be good to go.

The only thing that might still happen is this....if you use the USB external drive and the Tascam interface together it may still crash. So disconnect the USB External drive.
When you setup Cubase 5 .....set your default audio project files to your C: drive and see if the problem goes away.
If it does.....then you need to get a different type of external drive like FW or eSATA.

Does that make sense?
I hope this helps

right i understand all that.... its just that the tascam wont let me install it 32 bit!! the disk that comes with it contains 32 bit install and it wont lemme install it at all.... i have to go to the tascam website in order to get the win. 7 drivers which have to be 64 bit.... but then u guys said not to mix 32 (Cubase) and 64 bit (tascam) and vice versa lol..... what the hell mon!!!! lol this is sooo0o0o0oo confusing!! lol

OK sorry for the confusion....you should download and use the Win7 32 bit driver from the Tascam website.
Cubase 5 load as 32bit.
I think your problem will still be your USB external drive, don't have that hooked up and then try using C: drive for the audio files.
Your main problem is still going to be the laptop and the USB.

The interface driver (Tascam) has to match the OS (Win7 64 bit) so you will have to use the 64 bit driver.

For the DAW, first off djmukilteo is askew. You have Cubase 4LE which does NOT come in a 64 bit version. It will always install in the Program x86 folder. What is pertinent is that the plugins must match the DAW. If the DAW is 64 bit the plugs need to be 64 bit (not yours). If the DAW is 32 bit then the plugs need to be 32 bit.

The interface driver is independent of this and again is tied to the operating system. Your freezing issues have to do with the USB port being pulled in opposite directions as again it is not a bidirectional protocol. Either get a firewire interface to use with a USB external hard drive or get a firewire external drive to go with your USB interface.

I agree with what your saying John but I went and looked at the Tascam website for Mikes unit and there was a Windows7/Vista/XP 32 bit driver.
And there was a 64bit driver for Vista/XP? but it didn't say Win7....so I'm wondering if it's partly the wrong driver causing some of Mikes headaches?
The USB issue is the problem and a FW external drive would defintely be the fix...and I just figured using the C drive as the target drive for audio files would eliminate the USB until he could get a better FW drive!
I still question if that laptop is really that capable of providing enough horsepower....
I think a desktop with two internal drives would make a better setup

99% of the time Vista 64 bit drivers work satisfactorily and in fact that's what most companies recommend.

Now I should point out for the OP that updating the firmware is completely separate from updating the driver. Firmware updater is [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.tascam.c…"]here[/]="http://www.tascam.c…"]here[/].

Using the internal hard drive may or may not work depending on lots of things not in evidence. It certainly won't work without artifacts very well. +1 on the desktop comment. You've certainly been more active on this than I've been!

Yeah, and I don't know why?
I guess I just want Mikerotten to get to recording and stop fussin around with the hardware!
I recently worked on a friends Win7 (64bit) desktop with Cubase and it worked fine with Cubase 32bit
He was using a Lexicon USB Omega with audio going to a USB external drive.
So that is part of why I think it should be working and that it could be something else or more than likely multiple things going wrong here!

Laptop motherboards exhibit different routing and port connection to the ICH controller. That's why any turnkey system is based on a desktop system. It's pretty difficult to find the one or two tweaks on unseen computers that "fix" things. Heck some laptops can never be tweaked enough to work with more than two tracks reliably.

okay guys....well ive tried everything you guys have said to do..... i currently dont have either installed and uninstalled them both.... but the windows 7 32 bit drivers from the tascam website still wont let me install.... so i HAVE to get 64 bit for the tascam.... and i dont use the external harddirive anymore.... the only problem that currently lies is the cubase crashing.... it spazzes out and then stops the recording..... not sure... i have a emachines desktop (win xp) at my house ( i currently have my laptop and my tascam setup at my girlfriends house) but i really wanted to use my laptop that way i can go from my basement recording drums.. to my girlfriends house recording guitar and vocals and so fourth..... i dunno

Then you are back to getting an Express Card firewire adapter and a firewire interface. Or at least a firewire external hard drive. If you can borrow one from a friend for trial purposes that would of course be best. You're asking the gear to do something it's not designed to do.