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Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Check in two places, Recording AND Playback.


OK Dan, here is the recording settings. These were default as I never changed them.
But keep in mind, the problem I'm having is with playback, not recording.
Nonetheless, it was good to verify everything is at 44.1 kHz as you said.

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For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
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My advice, if it holds steady, ignore everything else until IF it starts acting up again.

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Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
My advice, if it holds steady, ignore everything else until IF it starts acting up again.


Agreed.
I wonder if there is an easy to read reference manual for those of us new to the technical aspects of playback and recording of music on Windows PCs.

My approach to date is keep the default settings until they prove troublesome. Then make the minimum changes necessary to keep your system going. And if it ain't broke . . . don't fix it unless you really know what you're doing.

The funny thing here is that in my old i5 machine, I just plugged and played and for the most part it all worked.

If the "USB swapping" idea works longterm there must be a slight difference between the 2 ports despite the fact that Dell says they are identical. They're both USB 3.2 Gen 1

PS> Just heard a tiny glitch. If it doesn't get worse I can live with it.


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For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
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You got to get used to your machine.

"there must be a slight difference between the 2 ports"
There might be HUGE difference in how they are routed, different chips, etc.

"I wonder if there is an easy to read reference manual for those of us new to the technical aspects of playback and recording of music on Windows PCs."

There was a guide, if I remember correctly from Sweetwater, that had all kinds of tweaks for audio computers.
But I would not touch anything if it is working right smile Your computer seems to be a power horse, I don't think it needs any deep tweaking besides "High Performance" that you already have set.

About your audio "glitches", try to narrow it down to physical things. Original cable? Properly grounded AC outlet? Believe it or not, in college we lived in old house with crappy outlets, I would get all kind of noises in my recordings. Then I would move to USB settings that I mentioned in advanced power settings. Try maybe yet another port.

--------
Truth be told. I was a big fan of Tascam... with their US-122 about 20 years back. But when time came to upgrade, nothing was right. Crackle pop thing. So I gave up and switched to more reliable interface.

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Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
Then I would move to USB settings that I mentioned in advanced power settings. Try maybe yet another port.

--------
Truth be told. I was a big fan of Tascam... with their US-122 about 20 years back. But when time came to upgrade, nothing was right. Crackle pop thing. So I gave up and switched to more reliable interface.

OK, I finally found that setting. Wow, it's buried down pretty deep.

It was set to Enabled so I changed it to Disabled.

My audio is playing fine with this change but it will take some time to tell if it is a permenant fix.

Thanks, man, you are knowledgable in this area.

I wonder if Dell can remotely run a test on my USB ports. Not ever thinking about this before it seems to me that there are several attributes associated with every USB circuit.
What is the power level?
How clean is that power?
What is the data transfer rate?
How much jitter is on the data stream?
etc.

EDIT: There is crackle and stuttering. No worse than yesterday but it's still bad. frown
Of course we haven't ruled out the JBLs . . . but they are less than 2 years old.

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BiaB 2026 Windows
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#1 restart your machine, see if if issues go away.

stuttering is unlikely to do with speakers. You can try headphones to rule it out.

One simple thing to try is put your computer is "Airplane mode" (disable network adapter) and see if you get issues. WiFi and Bluetooth sometimes do not play well with audio recording / gear.


Also... There is a popular (and free) piece of software called latencymon (Latency monitor). While it has all kinds of parameters, it will give you a general idea of the most intruding processes. Two of the most common ones are Nvidea drivers and WIFI adapter (cant do much about these), but there might be some software crapware that came with your computer that is persistent enough to cause audio issues.


"I wonder if Dell can remotely run a test on my USB ports." - Don't waste your time. It's a very narrow issue. I doubt Dell people will be able to help with 3rd party hardware.

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Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
#1 restart your machine, see if if issues go away.

stuttering is unlikely to do with speakers. You can try headphones to rule it out.

One simple thing to try is put your computer is "Airplane mode" (disable network adapter) and see if you get issues. WiFi and Bluetooth sometimes do not play well with audio recording / gear.


Also... There is a popular (and free) piece of software called latencymon (Latency monitor). While it has all kinds of parameters, it will give you a general idea of the most intruding processes. Two of the most common ones are Nvidea drivers and WIFI adapter (cant do much about these), but there might be some software crapware that came with your computer that is persistent enough to cause audio issues.


"I wonder if Dell can remotely run a test on my USB ports." - Don't waste your time. It's a very narrow issue. I doubt Dell people will be able to help with 3rd party hardware.

Rusty, you are a literal fountain of ideas.
Regarding machine restarts, I have been doing them on a semi-regular basis during this troubleshooting effort.

Yeah, my "JBL" thought was not my best. I agree it's a long shot.

I put my machine in Airplane Mode and switched the Tascam from a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port to a USB 2.0 with Smart Power port, returned my buffer size back to the default 256 samples, did a re-start, played a song in Studio One and with fingers crossed after one play thru the glitch happened.

My thinking on the USB port is that the 3.2 standard is newer than the Tascam and hence may not be fully compatible. But, no dice. But I wonder if the USB 2.0 with Smart Power is still too advanced for my "ancient" interface. This will be a question for Tascam if I can reach someone on Monday. Maybe it needs dumb power. And I understand that USB 4.0 is coming.

https://www.kingston.com/en/usb-flash-drives/usb-30

I'm going to hold off installing any more 3rd party software. Dell contacted me and wants to talk again. They are willing to supply me with a new machine but I think that is premature. I think there is still more troubleshooting for them, Tascam and me to do. I don't want to recieve another machine and still have this problem.

I'm beginning to think about the Realtek sound card.


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For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
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It's a long thread, but have you eliminated a bad USB cable?
Intermittent USB issues can cause all of the symptoms mentioned.
I had this issue when I first got my 18i20, and it was because I used an inferior cable.


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'USB port is that the 3.2 standard is newer than the Tascam and hence may not be fully compatible."
Highly unlikely.


You can press Alt+Ctl+Del, open task manager> Performance and just see if graph "spikes" when glitch happens.

I have seen strange behavior when interface older driver is being updated by a newer driver. The solution I found was to remove the driver all together and install fresh, going with the newest. Sometimes a "factory reset" of the interface (if there is one) solves issues.

If Marty is close by, you can try bribing him with a beer or a cake and ask him to bring his interface, that way you will have a better idea if it's the computer or interface issue.

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Originally Posted By: rharv
It's a long thread, but have you eliminated a bad USB cable?
Intermittent USB issues can cause all of the symptoms mentioned.
I had this issue when I first got my 18i20, and it was because I used an inferior cable.

Yes, this is a long thread. Intermittent problems are often complex.
Good idea, I have not elimitated a bad USB cable, although the cable worked fine in my older machine.

It's a USB Type B and I can cannabilize one from my printer to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the idea.

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FWIW - I had a similar Intermittent Crackle and Noise problem with my music computer a year ago. I did a ton of investigations, gave up and took it to a computer store. They had it for three weeks looking for the problem. Finally they happened to stumble on it. While they were testing it the problem happened. It turned out to be an intermittent problem with the power supply. They said that just happened to me at the right place at the right time.

Just thought that I would pass this on.

Intermittent problems, especially those that happen far apart from each other, at very hard to pin point.

PS - they said that every time they tested the power supply all was well.


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Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
'USB port is that the 3.2 standard is newer than the Tascam and hence may not be fully compatible."
Highly unlikely.


You can press Alt+Ctl+Del, open task manager> Performance and just see if graph "spikes" when glitch happens.

I have seen strange behavior when interface older driver is being updated by a newer driver. The solution I found was to remove the driver all together and install fresh, going with the newest. Sometimes a "factory reset" of the interface (if there is one) solves issues.

If Marty is close by, you can try bribing him with a beer or a cake and ask him to bring his interface, that way you will have a better idea if it's the computer or interface issue.

More good ideas. I don't see a factory reset on the interface but I can do a Ctrl-Alt-Del and look for spikes with my printer USB cable.

I had an idea on my treadmill this morning. Bypass USB, JBL, XLR and Tascam altogether and use headphones directly. So for the last hour or so that's what I've done. And so far no glitch. With each glitch-free song I'm slowly exonerating the sound card.

One thing is sure . . . there is a root cause(s) at play.


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Originally Posted By: MarioD
FWIW - I had a similar Intermittent Crackle and Noise problem with my music computer a year ago. I did a ton of investigations, gave up and took it to a computer store. They had it for three weeks looking for the problem. Finally they happened to stumble on it. While they were testing it the problem happened. It turned out to be an intermittent problem with the power supply. They said that just happened to me at the right place at the right time.

Just thought that I would pass this on.

Intermittent problems, especially those that happen far apart from each other, at very hard to pin point.

PS - they said that every time they tested the power supply all was well.

Thanks for joining "the party" Mario smile

It very well could be the power supply but so far my "headphone test" is showing no glitches which is exonerating the PS. If this good behaivor continues I think the problem is with either the USB cable, the USB ports, the Tascam or possibly the XLR cables or the JBLs or incompatibility somewhere. I know, the list is long.

Of course as a semi-last resort, I could re-connect my i5 computer and verify that that configuration still works fine. My i5 setup worked perfect last month.


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Once everything is working right, PLEASE mark this thread as "Resolved" using the button in the first post.

This thread is a gold mine of ideas for people experiencing similar issues.


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I just read this thread and made notes as I was reading. Almost everything in my notes has already been suggested, but here's my list:

Run Latency Monitor or DPC Latency Checker
Switch left and right monitors
Lubricate cable ends with DeOxit
Switch out cables one by one to rule out bad cables (since you just moved and reconnected them all)
USB cable not longer than 15'
Sound settings in Windows: make sure it is 44.1 and 16 bit
Check power supply
Sample rates must match in the Windows Audio settings
New computer = new OS, new crapware?
Run Tascam in USB 2 port, not 3

Preliminary Conclusions based on progress so far:
Do the simple checks for bad connections, above, and lubricate all cable ends.
Tell us what happens in the latency checking software
128 is too low a buffer for PLAYBACK on most machines! You can use it for recording, but bump it up to 256 or 512 for playback.




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are any of your cables crossing or too close? i get an intermittent buzz when my speaker cables get close to the router ppower cables

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Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
I just read this thread and made notes as I was reading. Almost everything in my notes has already been suggested, but here's my list:

Run Latency Monitor or DPC Latency Checker
Switch left and right monitors
Lubricate cable ends with DeOxit
Switch out cables one by one to rule out bad cables (since you just moved and reconnected them all)
USB cable not longer than 15'
Sound settings in Windows: make sure it is 44.1 and 16 bit
Check power supply
Sample rates must match in the Windows Audio settings
New computer = new OS, new crapware?
Run Tascam in USB 2 port, not 3

Preliminary Conclusions based on progress so far:
Do the simple checks for bad connections, above, and lubricate all cable ends.
Tell us what happens in the latency checking software
128 is too low a buffer for PLAYBACK on most machines! You can use it for recording, but bump it up to 256 or 512 for playback.

Thanks Matt,
I haven't had a chance to address or even capture in the Exoneration Table all of yours and others suggestions.
With all the input it's been like drinking from a fire hose (which is a good thing).
But the table below tries to capture the progress made over the past few days.
If nothing else, this thread (and the embedded thinking in it) may be of use to others in the future.

As always, comments about this table are always welcome.

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Originally Posted By: Bob Calver
are any of your cables crossing or too close? i get an intermittent buzz when my speaker cables get close to the router ppower cables

Good suggestion Bob.
The short answer is yes. My "studio" is small and I've got cables wire-tied in neat bundles. I'm relying on the insulation that is designed into the cables for shielding. Absent a special shielding of some kind I see no remedy to this.

Plus, I had no audio glitches with my "old" i5 setup and the cable layout hasn't changed.


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Quote:
It's a USB Type B and I can cannabilize one from my printer to see if that makes a difference.

FWIW, that's how I got into trouble in the first place; trying to use an old cable I had laying around .. a new (quality) 15' USB cable solved all my issues.
I told my best friend to do the same when he upgraded his interface .. get a new quality USB cable at the same time.

Focusrite (for all their good points) only includes a 3' USB cable .. that worked great, but I needed the interface further away and other old cables I had handy introduced the dreaded pops and distortion.
A new cable made my nightmare go away.




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BT.
"my "headphone test" is showing no glitches"

That is very odd. So no funny stuff in headphones connected to Tascam?
Sure, sure?


Best move now would be to test it with i5 machine. If there are no issues, you will eliminate Tascam unit (cable and power supply) out of equation in finding the boogie man.
---------------------------

Something that might relate to you (or might not) . Last time I fought similar issues was because of Nvidea chipset. I have Thinkpad (Lenovo) and they, as Dell are pretty good in maintaining drivers, BUT that specific driver was not up to date on their site. Once I updated that specific driver, things became much more stable. So check if you have Nvidea or other graphics card.

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The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!

2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!

With your version 2026 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!

These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!

This Free Bonus PAK includes:

  • The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK: -For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles. -For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles. -For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
  • MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
  • MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
  • Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
  • Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
  • Playable RealTracks Set 5
  • RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
  • SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
  • iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
  • 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
  • FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
  • MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
  • MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
  • Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
  • Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
  • RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
  • SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)

Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!

XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!

All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!

It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® offer a wide range of genres designed to fit seamlessly into your projects. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.

What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?

XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!

Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!

The XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs are not included in any Band-in-a-Box® package.

The XPro Styles PAKs 1-10 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.

The Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the Xtra Styles PAK Bundle for only $199 (reg. $349)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.

Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.

The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version as they require the RealTracks included in the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.

Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!

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