Problem using Cakewalk and Tascam US 16x08 under Windows 11

[Dav51]

Hello, I am having a problem using my US-16x08 with Bandlab's Cakewalk software.

When I open the settings panel and am not using Cakewalk, i.e., when I am only using it to get sound out of the speakers connected to my sound card, which is itself connected to the PC (to listen to YouTube, for example), there is no problem.

However, as soon as I open Cakewalk, instability occurs. The settings panel randomly displays “USB Disconnected” (see attached image 1). As a result, in Cakewalk, I can't assign any of my microphones connected to the front of the US-16X08, as I assume that the Cakewalk software interprets that nothing is connected. There is also audible crackling and popping. In short, I have to shut everything down and start over, hoping that it will work (which happens about one time out of three, and when it does, it's very slow).

I am running Windows Professional 11H24. 16GB of RAM and an I5-3470 processor at 3.20GHz. 64-bit

Also, in the sample rate  of the Tascam US 16x08 settings panel, sometimes I'm at 48.0kHz, sometimes at 44.1 kHz (which is the sample rate I set in my CakeWalk), but it also changes completely randomly...

Could you help me, because this same Tascam US-16x08 has been installed and used with Cakewalk on two computers running Windows 10 without any problems... (in fact, it was installed on the computer I'm currently having problems with when it was running Windows 10, and it worked perfectly—the problem definitely comes from Windows 11!)

Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

[Bass Guitar]

First you don't mention is you are using ASIO? 

It looks like you have the latest driver Version 4 which Tascam claims supports W11 24H2 

But the message is implying either a bad connection or that a USB port has gone to sleep. Sometimes if that happens while Sonar is running then you get that message and you might have to restart Sonar or even your computer. 

1 hour ago, Dav51 said:

I am only using it to get sound out of the speakers connected to my sound card, which is itself connected to the PC (to listen to YouTube, for example), there is no problem.

This is confusing because it is not clear what you mean? 

Normally we use our Audio interface for all sound and the studio monitors are connected to the interface. Are you using both?  Most people totally disable the on board audio card when using a proper interface. You don't need it. You interface will connect with Windows audio system and play all sound. In the case of Sonar you have to be carful about setting everything to use the same sample rate. I use only 48 because Videos are 48. 

Every audio interface is a little different when it comes to handling multiple apps  playing audio. I've never had an issue with Sonar if I use 48. But other Daw's I have barf on that and stop running. 

[Dav51]

Hello; first of all, thank you for your quick response.
I didn't express myself clearly:
-Yes, I disabled the computer's on board audio card via the BIOS. As a result, all sounds are processed via my US-16X08, regardless of whether the settings panel is turned on or off (this was my mistake; I thought that the settings panel had to be launched for sound output).
I don't encounter any problems with everyday use (YouTube, VLC, etc.); the problems only occur when a Cakewalk project is launched.
-I installed the settings panel and drivers directly from the Tascam website. I think the drivers in Cakewalk are called US-16x08ASIO, but I'm not sure as I'm not at my computer right now. I'll confirm this tomorrow.

The worst part is that when the PC on which I have my Tascam and Cakewalk was running Windows 10, it worked like a charm. And now that it's running 11, it doesn't work properly anymore. The problem definitely comes from W11.
I understand that this could be due to Realtek drivers. Does that ring a bell? Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

[57Gregy]

3 hours ago, Dav51 said:

Hello; first of all, thank you for your quick response.
I didn't express myself clearly:
-Yes, I disabled the computer's on board audio card via the BIOS. As a result, all sounds are processed via my US-16X08, regardless of whether the settings panel is turned on or off (this was my mistake; I thought that the settings panel had to be launched for sound output).
I don't encounter any problems with everyday use (YouTube, VLC, etc.); the problems only occur when a Cakewalk project is launched.
-I installed the settings panel and drivers directly from the Tascam website. I think the drivers in Cakewalk are called US-16x08ASIO, but I'm not sure as I'm not at my computer right now. I'll confirm this tomorrow.

The worst part is that when the PC on which I have my Tascam and Cakewalk was running Windows 10, it worked like a charm. And now that it's running 11, it doesn't work properly anymore. The problem definitely comes from W11.
I understand that this could be due to Realtek drivers. Does that ring a bell? Thank you in advance and have a nice day.

If you're using the ASIO from RealTek and not TASCAM's, it could be a problem.
Welcome to the forum.

[Bass Guitar]

1 hour ago, 57Gregy said:

If you're using the ASIO from RealTek and not TASCAM's, it could be a problem.
Welcome to the forum.

Yes definitely. The Cakewalk staff have said that this is to be expected and best to totally remove the Real tel Asio driver from your computer. 
 

What might have happened is W11 re- installed the Realtek driver. 
 

Remove it using the Register Editor. Look under Software/ AsIO

[Dav51]

Hello 57Gregy, thank you for the welcome. Hello Bass Guitar.

What reassures me is that you both agree with what I found in my own research:
There is a problem with the Realtek drivers.
I did indeed find a way to disable them in the registry. (However, if you have a link to a method that you know works, I'd be happy to try that too ^^)

If I understand correctly:
When installing the settings panel and Tascam drivers, the executable file installed the correct TASCAM drivers, but Windows reinstalled the Realtek drivers when the PC was restarted or shut down for the first time, which explains why my Cakewalk was buggy?

[Dav51]

I'm not sure what to disable, so when in doubt, I'd rather have your advice. Here are my drivers on Cakewalk.

[Bass Guitar]

Looks good. Seems like you found the right place in the Reg Edit app. That’s what it should look like when all you have is one interface. And Sonar looks correct as well. 
You should be good to go.
Tascam has always been a first class company and made a lot of great products for us home studio folks. 

I have the predecessor of yours I bought in 2008. The us1641. It has recorded a million projects. It still works as good as new but uses W7. 

[Dav51]

Hello Bass Guitar, please note that I haven't touched anything in the registry yet.

At the moment, when I go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ASIO, I only have (par défaut), which means default, so before deleting anything, I wanted to make sure that these are the Realtek ASIO drivers.

When I go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ASIO/US-16X08 ASIO DRIVE, I have two other registry values whose names I can't remember, in addition to one also called default. I'll take a screenshot for you later.

Do you think that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ASIO/(par défaut) are the Realtek drivers that I can delete?

[Dav51]

Here's what I have in the registry editor under the SOFTWARE/ASIO/US-16X08 ASIO DRIVER section.

I noticed that I also have NVIDIA audio drivers. Could that be the source of the problem? I tried disabling them via Device Manager, but nothing changed...

I got a response from Bandlab support telling me to switch to SONAR... Great, but I want to stay with Cakewalk.

[57Gregy]

1 hour ago, Dav51 said:

Here's what I have in the registry editor under the SOFTWARE/ASIO/US-16X08 ASIO DRIVER section.

I noticed that I also have NVIDIA audio drivers. Could that be the source of the problem? I tried disabling them via Device Manager, but nothing changed...

I got a response from Bandlab support telling me to switch to SONAR... Great, but I want to stay with Cakewalk.

You won't be able to stay with Cakewalk by Bandlab much longer. It's unsupported and eventually you won't be able to reactivate it at all.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

1 hour ago, Dav51 said:

I got a response from Bandlab support telling me to switch to SONAR... Great, but I want to stay with Cakewalk.

Tough luck. You're on borrowed time as it is.  You don't have much time left before reactivation will no longer be possible.

[Starship Krupa]

12 hours ago, Dav51 said:

I want to stay with Cakewalk

You are not alone in that, but unfortunately, it's unsustainable.

In about 2 weeks, you'll either have to switch to Sonar or find another DAW.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

You are not alone in that, but unfortunately, it's unsustainable.

In about 2 weeks, you'll either have to switch to Sonar or find another DAW.

Or revert to a previous version, such as Platinum or X3 etc.

But it you've never owned a previous version, then that option is also out.

[Bass Guitar]

Sorry if we side tracked you with the Real tek issue. You don’t have it. At least I don’t see it listed in Cakewalk or the Register. 
 

It was just one of the possibilities. So forget that one. 
Your screenshot of Sonars  in / out list shows that you have everything set up correctly. 

What isn’t working correctly right now? Just the distortion? 

There’s been a few reports on other music forums about W11 distortion issues with name brand audio interfaces. 
I myself have a similar problem with a Motu M4. If I leave the computer on for a few hours I get distortion in all my Daw’s but not Windows app like Media player. 
So it’s something going on with W11 and the ASIO drivers. 
 

To test this try another Daw. Waveform is free. Make sure and choose ASIO mode. 
 

You can also try Cakewalk Next. It’s not designed like Cakewalk but it’s pretty easy to use. 
 

And you just might be the last person on earth using Cakewalk still. 
You need to take some time and read the announcements posted at the top of the forum. Starting 2 years ago it all changed. 
 

I have submitted a ticket to Motu about my issue, you might want to do the same. But they will ask you to try another Daw to test. 
I’ve seen reports of RME, Focusrite, Motu and now Tascam where there is distortion of the audio. 
One person reported that they found out W11 was running in 44.1 mode in the background. Even though they had it set to 48 in settings. They used some sort of tool to detect this. I can’t find the thread now. I think it was on Gear Space. 

Edited October 19 by Bass Guitar

[Dav51]

Hello everyone, thank you for your comments.  

In response to 57Gregy, Bristol_Jonesey, and Starship Krupa: why not switch to Sonar, but does it offer the same features as Cakewalk while remaining free? Because if I have to pay for free features that were available on Cakewalk, that's a real shame (I only use this software to record my drums and work on tracks with a few effects).

In response to BassGuitar, the problem is as follows: I launch Cakewalk and then open a 4-track project (I have one snare drum mic, one bass drum mic, and two overhead mics).
Once I'm on the 4-track interface, it's already running very slowly, with the blue Windows loading circle spinning for several minutes even though I haven't clicked on anything. Then I try to assign a microphone to each input (INT 1 for the first track, etc.). When I manage to do one, that's already pretty good, but it takes forever to validate the process. I try the second one, and that's usually when it crashes. The Tascam message telling me that the sound card is disconnected appears, and it's all over.

[Amberwolf]

25 minutes ago, Dav51 said:

In response to 57Gregy, Bristol_Jonesey, and Starship Krupa: why not switch to Sonar, but does it offer the same features as Cakewalk while remaining free? Because if I have to pay for free features that were available on Cakewalk, that's a real shame (I only use this software to record my drums and work on tracks with a few effects).

If what you are using is the Cakewalk by Bandlab (CbB), shortly it won't matter, as you won't have access to it when it ceases to activate / function after the final timeout.   (there are a number of threads and posts, official and not, discussing that if you need more info).   

But you can continue to use it until then.   After that, you'll have to use something else.  Sonar has a free tier, whose limitations are listed in the official threads for that, but at least it will still open your project files (whereas a completely differnet DAW software will probably not). 

 

 

25 minutes ago, Dav51 said:

In response to BassGuitar, the problem is as follows: I launch Cakewalk and then open a 4-track project (I have one snare drum mic, one bass drum mic, and two overhead mics).
Once I'm on the 4-track interface, it's already running very slowly, with the blue Windows loading circle spinning for several minutes even though I haven't clicked on anything. Then I try to assign a microphone to each input (INT 1 for the first track, etc.). When I manage to do one, that's already pretty good, but it takes forever to validate the process. I try the second one, and that's usually when it crashes. The Tascam message telling me that the sound card is disconnected appears, and it's all over.

I would suggest a test:

Disconnect hte audio interface completely, and restart the computer to be sure Windows doens't thik it's still connected for whtever reason.   Then start Cakewalk, and change the audio interface to whatever's built into the computer, temporarily.  (this may automatically happen; if not, manually do it).   Then open your project, and see if the problem still happens. 

If it still happens, it's not the tascam or it's drivers, at least.  That would leave something systemwide, with windows or the computer's hardware. 

 

If it stops happening, then the most likely problem is a bad cable to the tascam, or a driver issue, or the tascam hardware itself having a problem. 

If the cable and hardware work on a different computer, and worked fine on this computer with the previous OS, then it's probably a driver issue for Win11, and you'll need to resolve that with Tascam. 

Edited October 19 by Amberwolf