Audio Interface Upgrade: Tascam 16x08

[Minerman]

So after 8 or 9 years using a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6, I've finally made the jump to another interface...There were some other interfaces I'd considered, like the Roland Studio Capture, Focusrite 18i20, Behringer UMC1820, & even a Behringer XR18, but I decided to go with the Tascam 16x08...I wanted something with enough mic pre's to eventually record real drums, so this is a step in that direction...

I've only had it for a few days, but so far it seems to be doing what it should, the mic pre's seem decent, with a bit more gain than my old interface...I haven't had any issues like Jdude did with the recorded tracks not being in sync...I'm guessing the Tascam had issues with his OS, but not sure...I was actually pretty concerned that I might have the same issues, but so far, so good...

Everything was pretty much plug-n-play after installing the Tascam driver, monitors connected to Line Out 1/Line Out 2, re-amp box connected to Line Out 3, etc...No problems at all in Reaper, as usual I had to go into Reaper's control panel & activate all the inputs/outputs, but that's to be expected...

I've left the ASIO setting on the lowest buffer size, 64, & haven't had any problems with crackles, pops, or drop-outs, even with a pretty big load of vst effects & a pretty big Superior Drummer 3 template...

Even though using real drums are a long way off, it's still really nice to have enough inputs to leave a few things set up/plugged in, & be able to just hit record without jumping through hoops to do so...I can leave my 2 ISO cab mics, di box, re-amp box & whatever else connected all the time now, which is nice because I basically just plug-n-play...

So far, no issues at all, & it seems to be a pretty good interface...Hopefully this interface will last like the KA6, but only time will tell...

[Greg_L]

I like mine. Mine gets abused and keeps on keeping on.

[Minerman]

I like mine. Mine gets abused and keeps on keeping on.

You're a big factor in my gear purchases dude, whether you know it or not...I was kinda "iffy" because Jdude had a bad experience, but it has a warranty, so if it shits the bed, I'll get something else, but so far so good...

I gotta say it is pretty nice to leave this shit connected, with the pre-amp gain already set for something I've been working on, & not have to twist knobs to get where they were...

The bang for your buck with this thing seems pretty good to me, it's actually pretty cheap for the number of mic pre's it has...Plus I can get more pre-amps & expand my inputs if I wanna...

Again, so far so good...

[Greg_L]

You're a big factor in my gear purchases dude, whether you know it or not...I was kinda "iffy" because Jdude had a bad experience, but it has a warranty, so if it shits the bed, I'll get something else, but so far so good...

I gotta say it is pretty nice to leave this shit connected, with the pre-amp gain already set for something I've been working on, & not have to twist knobs to get where they were...

The bang for your buck with this thing seems pretty good to me, it's actually pretty cheap for the number of mic pre's it has...Plus I can get more pre-amps & expand my inputs if I wanna...

Again, so far so good...

Yeah my drum mics are permanently connected to my Tascam. That uses up all of it's pres. For the rest of my stuff I use the ol Firepod for it's preamps and run that into the line ins on the Tascam. It all works out.

[JD01]

Cool. I think you'll be fine, miner. I just had some weird compatability thing that I couldn't resolve which seems to be common on that unit. If you've got it working, likely it'll stay working.

[Minerman]

Yeah my drum mics are permanently connected to my Tascam. That uses up all of it's pres. For the rest of my stuff I use the ol Firepod for it's preamps and run that into the line ins on the Tascam. It all works out.

That's pretty much the plan here too dude, just leave everything connected so I don't have to dick around running cables & setting pre-amp levels...If/when I ever do get a set of drums I'll worry about more pre-amps, but for now I'm more than good...

Cool. I think you'll be fine, miner. I just had some weird compatability thing that I couldn't resolve which seems to be common on that unit. If you've got it working, likely it'll stay working.

Thanks Jdude, I gotta admit, I was quite leery of this because of the trouble you had, but I rolled the dice & it seems to be ok...I still use W7 & will do so until I positively, absolutely have to change to another OS...From what I can gather, most folks who had problems with this thing were on W8/W10...


I've still got my KA6 interface & I've been reading up about a program that lets you use more than 1 interface at a time, chained together...Mac users already have this ability...So if that works, I've already got a couple more mic pre's with the KA6...If it doesn't, it's no biggie, I can get more mic pre's down the road...I don't see myself needing more than the Tascam for quite a while though...

[liv_rong]

Nice Miner, congrats on your new gear!

[Minerman]

Well, I'd been on the fence about flipping the Tascam 16x08 because of a couple issues, the main one being I couldn't listen to 2 sources at once (IE: Reaper & YouTube simultaneously), when I never had this issue with the Komplete Audio 6...

The other thing is sometimes, but not every time I'd adjust a plugin in Reaper, I'd have to reset the buffer level (IE: from 64 samples to 128, then back to 64), otherwise I'd have latency...Again, this never happened with the KA6 over the span of several years...

So, low & behold, a pop-up for an update appeared on the screen when I fired up the Tascam a day or two ago, so I ran the update...Guess what, the Tascam works like it should now...

I think this update just happened a few days ago because I hadn't seen it before, but of course I could be wrong...I do know I've been to the Tascam site oodles of times looking for a fix but couldn't find anything, so go figure...

Pretty happy this is sorted now, even if it took 6 months...I was actually thinking pretty hard about getting rid of it to get another interface, but looks like I won't have to do that now...

Yippee!!!!!!

[rayc]

YAY, good purchase.

[Minerman]

YAY, good purchase.

Thanks Ray...I was seriously beginning to wonder if was a good choice or not & had been looking at other interfaces like the Focusrite Jdude has...While I could (and had been) dealing with those 2 little issues, it's nice to have things like they were for several years with the KA6...

[Greg_L]

Well, I'd been on the fence about flipping the Tascam 16x08 because of a couple issues, the main one being I couldn't listen to 2 sources at once (IE: Reaper & YouTube simultaneously), when I never had this issue with the Komplete Audio 6...

The other thing is sometimes, but not every time I'd adjust a plugin in Reaper, I'd have to reset the buffer level (IE: from 64 samples to 128, then back to 64), otherwise I'd have latency...Again, this never happened with the KA6 over the span of several years...

So, low & behold, a pop-up for an update appeared on the screen when I fired up the Tascam a day or two ago, so I ran the update...Guess what, the Tascam works like it should now...

I think this update just happened a few days ago because I hadn't seen it before, but of course I could be wrong...I do know I've been to the Tascam site oodles of times looking for a fix but couldn't find anything, so go figure...

Pretty happy this is sorted now, even if it took 6 months...I was actually thinking pretty hard about getting rid of it to get another interface, but looks like I won't have to do that now...

Yippee!!!!!!

[WhiskeyJack]

Well, I'd been on the fence about flipping the Tascam 16x08 because of a couple issues, the main one being I couldn't listen to 2 sources at once (IE: Reaper & YouTube simultaneously), when I never had this issue with the Komplete Audio 6...

The other thing is sometimes, but not every time I'd adjust a plugin in Reaper, I'd have to reset the buffer level (IE: from 64 samples to 128, then back to 64), otherwise I'd have latency...Again, this never happened with the KA6 over the span of several years...

So, low & behold, a pop-up for an update appeared on the screen when I fired up the Tascam a day or two ago, so I ran the update...Guess what, the Tascam works like it should now...

I think this update just happened a few days ago because I hadn't seen it before, but of course I could be wrong...I do know I've been to the Tascam site oodles of times looking for a fix but couldn't find anything, so go figure...

Pretty happy this is sorted now, even if it took 6 months...I was actually thinking pretty hard about getting rid of it to get another interface, but looks like I won't have to do that now...

Yippee!!!!!!

i love that feeling when you struggle with a pos then all of a sudden it works for whatever reason. Pretty awesome Miner! Congrats.

[JD01]

Well done, mate. I was totally stumped with it

[Minerman]

I had ignored the pop-up for the update for a few days because it mentioned Windows 10, & I'm still on W7, but I'm really happy this thing finally works like my other interface does...

[Minerman]

Update on the Tascam interface, it crapped out about 30 days past it's warranty, so I'm on the hunt for another interface...I most likely will go with another brand this time, this makes 2 Tascam interfaces that had computer connectivity problems...I'd actually forgotten about the US 122-L I had & it's problems until this happened...I could shut down the daw, re-connect the US 122-L & it'd work for a while, but eventually did the same thing again...

A couple/few days ago, Reaper crashed on me a couple times, which was odd...That'd never happened with this computer before, ever, so I suspect whatever happened to the Tascam started with that...I've tried to un-install/re-install drivers & such, but no luck, my computer won't recognize the unit...I tried several different usb cables with no luck, but they all work with my old KA6 interface, so it's definitely the Tascam...

Honestly, the 16x08 did ok performance-wise with low-latency settings, but it was a bit quirky at times, so I suspect there may have been an issue with this unit from the day I got it...

On the upside, I can still use the 16x08's mic pre's & run them into another interface, so this may be a blessing in disguise...I think the last thing I posted about this thing was an update finally allowed me to listen to several sources at once (IE: YouTube & Reaper at the same time)...

So I'm on the hunt for another interface now,...Thankfully I still have the little Komplete Audio 6 so I can still record, I just don't have the luxury of leaving everything connected all the time, but that's ok too...

[Tadpui]

I actually just got the mkII version of the KA6, and I really like it. I was actually kind if put off by them for the longest time but after I demoed the KA2, I was so impressed by it that I got the 6x6 version for recording audio for my videos.

If I were in the market for something with 8 preamps, I think that the Scarlett 18i20 would probably be at the top of my list. That, or one of the desktop models with ADAT connectivity from Audient, RME, UA and the like. You'd spend a chunk on the interface, but it'd only be another $200 for an ADA8200 when it comes time to add another 8 inputs and 8 outputs to record drums. It'd almost be like an installment plan. Kind of. Sort of.

[Minerman]

I actually just got the mkII version of the KA6, and I really like it. I was actually kind if put off by them for the longest time but after I demoed the KA2, I was so impressed by it that I got the 6x6 version for recording audio for my videos.

If I were in the market for something with 8 preamps, I think that the Scarlett 18i20 would probably be at the top of my list. That, or one of the desktop models with ADAT connectivity from Audient, RME, UA and the like. You'd spend a chunk on the interface, but it'd only be another $200 for an ADA8200 when it comes time to add another 8 inputs and 8 outputs to record drums. It'd almost be like an installment plan. Kind of. Sort of.

My KA6 has been & still is a solid little interface...I wish NI made an interface with the ability to use 8 or more inputs at a time, I'd buy it in a heartbeat...I've had the KA6 for about 7-8 years now (maybe longer), & it's still going strong...

I can still use the Tascam 16x08's 8 mic pre's, it acts as a stand-alone pre-amp unit when not connected to usb, so it's not a total loss...The next interface I choose will just need to have 8 line inputs to use the 16x08...

I'm in no hurry though because I can still record 4 inputs at once, which is more than enough for what I do at the moment...This is just a slight setback on my way to using real drums...I thought I had a jump on that, but this may be a blessing in disguise...

[JD01]

I've had no issues with my Scarlett 18i20 - still working fine.

[Minerman]

I'm not even gonna worry about replacing the Tascam for a while...I'm running a couple of it's mic pre's into the KA6, & going this route seems to work just fine, so this'll work for now...

The Tascam shitting the bed on usb connectivity does suck, but it could always be worse...