Understood. My troubleshooting idea was to swap the cables as a 1st step to see if the problem followed the cable swap, and it did; see item 21.
My next move is to order a new cable.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
For USB 3.x best make them not longer than about 8 feet.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
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.
Some new developments. I was able to capture the glitch as you suggested using Task Manager. Normally the CPU utilization ranges from 1 to 2% when playing music. The glitch caused it to spike to 40%.
Now one question is what does this mean?
PS> See item 20 in the Exoneration Table.
PPS> Any interest in starting the Rusty Thumper Institute for Advanced Troubleshooting and Audio Excellence? We could have branch offices in Paris, Berlin, NY, London and Sydney
Last edited by Bass Thumper; 04/16/2310:56 AM.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
... Absent a special shielding of some kind I see no remedy to this.
It's actually easy. Make sure no audio cables run parallel to power cables. You can bundle the audio cables, and you can separately bundle the power cables, but if they must be in the same location, make them cross perpendicular to each other. I have to add, though, that this is not likely to be your problem here.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
item #20 on your list - JBL speakers. They are a "one way" street game, I don't believe they could send signal back to PC causing spike at the time of glitch.
Please confirm that you don't have funny stuff happening in headphones plugged to Tascam. If you don't... that is the strangest piece of the puzzle.
item #20 on your list - JBL speakers. They are a "one way" street game, I don't believe they could send signal back to PC causing spike at the time of glitch.
Please confirm that you don't have funny stuff happening in headphones plugged to Tascam. If you don't... that is the strangest piece of the puzzle.
In the latest Exoneration Table dated 4/16/23 Item #20 is "CPU Problem". Be sure to refer to the latest table posted as this is a dynamic spreadsheet and updated as new info is developed.
Item #10 talks about the headphones. So far, I have observed no glitches using headphones plugged into the computer. The Tascam has 2 headphone jacks which I have not yet investigated.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
For USB 3.x best make them not longer than about 8 feet.
I only need about 3 feet.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
"So far, I have observed no glitches using headphones plugged into the computer. The Tascam has 2 headphone jacks which I have not yet investigated."
Two items come to mind:
You should test headphones on Tascam, which would eliminate "speaker" issues if the glitch is heard.
I am just guessing here... You can hear audio from computer headphone jack while Tascam is connected and powered on? Running both Tascam and internal Realtek at the same time, or you are unplugging Tascam to listen from computer headphones jack?
I noticed your Dell (I assume a model XPS) has an internal sound card, the Realtek. Can you confirm that the audio conversion rate is set at 44.1K on this device also?
Don't want to be a broken record, but I have owned several Dell XPS machines for music making and the potential for mismatch was always possible. Also keep in mind that Windows updates can and will change these setting at times. So I am very familar with cracking audio noise when these are mismatched.
I run Win 11 on my current non-Dell machine with both external MOTU sound device (all things music making) connected to my audio monitors and an internal Realtek sound card to external PC speakers (just for Youtube and SoundCloud and other PC apps). The conversion rate can be different across different device pairs but must match within the same device pair.
I noticed your Dell (I assume a model XPS) has an internal sound card, the Realtek. Can you confirm that the audio conversion rate is set at 44.1K on this device also?
Dan, yes, it is an XPS and yes with a Realtek sound card.
The audio conversion rates (as I understand them) are shown in post# 761832 and post# 761838. I don't know how to give you any other conversion rates.
If this is not what you are asking please advise the specific steps needed to get you what you are asking for and I will follow those steps.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
"So far, I have observed no glitches using headphones plugged into the computer. The Tascam has 2 headphone jacks which I have not yet investigated."
Two items come to mind:
You should test headphones on Tascam, which would eliminate "speaker" issues if the glitch is heard.
I am just guessing here... You can hear audio from computer headphone jack while Tascam is connected and powered on? Running both Tascam and internal Realtek at the same time, or you are unplugging Tascam to listen from computer headphones jack?
The plot is thickening and progress is being made.
See Items 10, 11 and 15 for short computer headphone jack tests.
See Items 20 and 21 for Tascam headphone jack tests.
Side Note: As more items are added to the Exoneration Table the font size decreases, hopefully you can screen magnify on your end.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
BT, you didn't say if you are able to hear sound through computer headphone jack while Tascam is plugged and powered on.
To eliminate any sound driver/ hardware routing conflicts between two devices (Realtek and Tascam) I would temperarely disable Realtek from device manager to see if it makes any difference with glitching. -------
Also...My interface would sometimes misbehave when plugged in "hot". Meaning, plugged to computer, when computer is already running. So what solves for me is turning interface On first and then powering up computer.
BT, you didn't say if you are able to hear sound through computer headphone jack while Tascam is plugged and powered on. Yes I did, see Item 15.
To eliminate any sound driver/ hardware routing conflicts between two devices (Realtek and Tascam) I would temperarely disable Realtek from device manager to see if it makes any difference with glitching. Hmmm, with my relative lack of computer skills this suggestion makes me a bit nervous. Do you have a simple/safe procedure for doing this? I don't want to make my troubles any worse. -------
Also...My interface would sometimes misbehave when plugged in "hot". Meaning, plugged to computer, when computer is already running. So what solves for me is turning interface On first and then powering up computer. OK, you prefer booting up the PC last. I'll give that a shot.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
In your Windows search bar, start typing Device Manager, icon should come up.
OK, I'm learning good things in this effort. I disabled the Realtek sound card and am now playing a track in Studio One via the Tascam. After 10 or so minutes a glitch happened.
I would never have thought I'd get any sound at all with the Realtek disabled. The Tascam must have its own "sound card" built into it?
And were you able to see Item 15?
--Steve
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
When I record I have to disable everything running in the background because as I add more tracks and/or effects I will get glitches. I disable my Ethernet card, anti-virus, anti-malware, VPN, Nvidia control panel, and cCleaner.
Have you tried disabling everything that runs in the background?
Also have you tried messing with your buffers? When I start recording I have my Audio Interface buffer set at 32 samples. As I add more tracks and/or effects I have to raise that, sometimes up to 256 samples. During mixing I increase it to 2048 samples. If I don't I can get glitches.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia. She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Looking at the CPU spike...... Go to the Processes tab in Task Manager and sort by the CPU column (largest on top). Next time a glitch happens, the culprit should be at the top of the list.
Steve, is anything running in the background? Short answer is yes. Longer answer is Web browser, email tool, anti-virus, this forums webpage, my spreadsheet and I'm sure many system apps and processes. But keep in mind, I had all this running on my i5 machine and recording at the same time with no snaps, crackles or pops. This i9 is much more capable.
When I record I have to disable everything running in the background because as I add more tracks and/or effects I will get glitches. I disable my Ethernet card, anti-virus, anti-malware, VPN, Nvidia control panel, and cCleaner. I'm not recording during this troubleshooting effort, only playback. And the Dell engineer diabled NVIDIA.
Have you tried disabling everything that runs in the background? No, but I could put that on the do list. Based on the evidence captured in the Exoneration Table, I don't think background applications is the root cause. The "arrows" are increasingly pointing to Tascam hardware and/or Tascam software.
Also have you tried messing with your buffers? When I start recording I have my Audio Interface buffer set at 32 samples. As I add more tracks and/or effects I have to raise that, sometimes up to 256 samples. During mixing I increase it to 2048 samples. If I don't I can get glitches. Yes. Buffers has been raised on this thread by Matt Finley and others. See Item 14 in the latest Exoneration Table posted.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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.
Looking at the CPU spike...... Go to the Processes tab in Task Manager and sort by the CPU column (largest on top). Next time a glitch happens, the culprit should be at the top of the list.
This could be a very important step. I will attempt.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows 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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