Tascam Model 12 + Linux? (USB issues)

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rdtsc
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Tascam Model 12 + Linux? (USB issues)

Post by rdtsc »

Hi, trying to get these two working properly together. I'm close, but having some unusual USB troubles so hope that someone has seen similar and can save the day. The trouble is specifically USB (or at least appears to be.)

First, what we're dealing with:

  • The PC is newly built, a Gigabyte Z790 UD AC mainboard with 13th-gen Intel CPU. Required to set IBT=OFF in the kernel boot parameters. Had a GeForce GTX 750 TI in it, but upgraded to an RTX 3060: zero change in audio behavior.

  • The operating system is Mabox Linux, which is Manjaro, which is Arch. Great pains were taken to study relevant info for setting up as an audio workstation, and -nothing- has made any difference in USB issues. Even tried RT kernel; rtcqs_gui looks good (no IRQ conflicts, running in realtime, etc.)

  • The mixer/interface is a Tascam Model 12, featuring 12 inputs and 10 outputs at up to 48kHz/24-bit. (48k x 24bit x 10ch x 12ch = 138.24Mb/s = 17.28MB/s ignoring overhead.) Does NOT have a Macintosh driver, so appears to be USB Class Compliant. Interesting aside - Windows users complain that stereo output to the Model 12 uses tracks 1 and 2 exclusively, but in Linux/Jack you can route stereo out to 9/10 no problem, leaving 1-8 free for inputs (need to figure out how to route this automatically.)

  • Software I'm attempting to use is Jack2/QJackCtl and Reaper. Alsa and PulseAudio were preinstalled. I set Reaper to suspend PulseAudio.

So here's the issue. Initially I bought a cheap, thin, 10ft USB-A to USB-C cable, plugged it in to the USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, and the suffering began:

  • Frequent clicks, pops, static, etc. (Note, zero X-Runs were ever reported in QJackCtl. It did not matter if I had two channels routed in Jack or all 22, but did seem to be slightly worse with more channels.)

  • Frequent "deaths", where Reaper would be playing and instantly there was zero sound output. This happened anywhere from 1 second to 30 minutes later. Track meters would still show sound levels changing but nothing was heard. Both Reaper and Jack were unaware that anything happened, and would continue "playing" like this indefinitely. Nothing in QJackCtl log. Having effects windows open seemed to exacerbate the issue. The only way to fix it once it "died", was to close Reaper, stop and restart Jack, and re-open Reaper. What a headache!

After much troubleshooting of OS, thought maybe the problem was the cheap USB cable. So as a first test, I picked up this cable and routed it far away from any other cable. Lo and behold, this DRASTICALLY improved performance. I could now listen to a mix with almost no clicks/pops/static and it doesn't "die" frequently anymore. So maybe the cheap cable is picking up electrical noise from something else; good to know.

But it still does click every once-in-a-while, and now I'm seeing an occasional X-RUN. Okay, so the cable is the issue. First thing I tried was plugging this into a USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0 port. Linux wouldn't even see the Model 12 in these ports. Okay, well this motherboard has a USB-C 3.2 2x2 (20Gbps) port; that has to be best, right? So I bought a quality 10ft USB-C to USB-C cable, plugged that in and - WOW, MUCH WORSE! Totally unusable!

I'm out of ports to try, and a much better cable actually made things worse. Does anybody have any ideas for what to try next? Thanks much.

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Re: Tascam Model 12 + Linux? (USB issues)

Post by rdtsc »

After much debugging with various cables and dmesg error code details, the issue ended up being the cable.

For the next person to try the Model 12 in Linux, make sure you have a high-quality "SuperSpeed" USB-A to USB-C cable. And a USB 3.x port (2.x will work, but isn't fast enough to run many channels simultaneously.)

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Re: Tascam Model 12 + Linux? (USB issues)

Post by jakeway »

hey @rdtsc, been running into similar cable issues. Could you post exactly what cable you ended up going with? Thank you!

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Re: Tascam Model 12 + Linux? (USB issues)

Post by erlkönig »

rdtsc wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 9:23 pm

Okay, well this motherboard has a USB-C 3.2 2x2 (20Gbps) port; that has to be best, right? So I bought a quality 10ft USB-C to USB-C cable, plugged that in and - WOW, MUCH WORSE! Totally unusable!

IIRC, there's still no support for audio in usb3 under Linux and for usb3, there is a limit of length of the cable at 10ft. Maybe a shorter cable will give better results.

rdtsc wrote: Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:09 pm

(2.x will work, but isn't fast enough to run many channels simultaneously.)

USB2 has a theoretical bandwith of 480mb/s, so for 48kHz@32bit:
480000000/48000/32=312CH, theoretical maximum. I ran 32x32 channels without troubles on usb2

I'm very interested in this device!

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