Sonar and Tascam US-224

Using Sonar with Tascam US-224

• PC - Power up PC without Tascam US-224 pluged in ( or plug-in, but not powered on).  If you have a dedicated PC to recording you can leave the Tascam US-224 connected to the PC.
• NOTE:  With the DELL Inspiron 9300 audio coming in will not be routed to the output buses.  Because of this, I purchased a separate mixer to mix the output of the PC with the line output of the Tascam US-224.
• PC's Headphone Out - plug into 2 channels (left/right) of the mixer.
• Tascam US-224 Line Out - plug into 2 channels (left/right) of the mixer.
• Headphones - plug into a separate Mixer designed just for listening to the mix. 
• Tascam US-224 - Hardware
  • Headphones - DO NOT plug into the Tascam US-224
  • Input A -> Plug in your audio source. (If stereo, Left channel.)
  • Input B -> Plug in your audio source. (If stereo, Right channel.)
  • Master Control (Red Knob) - set to 10.
  • A Trim button - set mid way (directly up)
  • B Trim button - set mid way (directly up)
  • Notes:
    You can adjust these later.
    Line Out - plugged into 2 mixers channels (left/right)
    Phones Level - not used (unless you are debugging a problem)
    With Sonar, the other controls do not integrate with the Sonar software. (Note: I only use audio and no midi.)
• Tascam US-224 - software.  Assuming you have already downloaded and installed the software in the past.
  • Plug in USB Port and make sure it is powered on. If you don't see any green lights, then power on the Tascam US-224 (Power button is on the left side towards the back.)
  • Software Driver Install:
    WARNING: If you are prompted for a Hardware Install, you may go through 1 to 3 Hardware Wizard Installs (not just 1). I'm not sure why sometimes you don't have to install at all, sometimes just 1 (ex: WDM driver), or sometimes all 3.
    
    1st Popup "Found New Hardware Wizard",
    (Hardware: Tascam US-224)
    Check "Yes, this time only", Click NEXT
    Check "Install software automatically", Click NEXT
    Wizard will look for Tascam US-224 firmware.
    Popup - Hardware Installation - "Tascam US-224 has not passed Windows Logo testing….."
    Press "Continue Anyway"
    Click "Finish".
    Check - You should see a screen that indicates the install is finished.
    Click "Finish"
    
    2nd Popup (Appears to be Identical) "Found New Hardware Wizard"
    (Hardware: Tascam US-224)
    (Follow the same steps as the 1st Popup)
    
    3rd Popup (Appears to be Identical) "Found New Hardware Wizard"
    (Tascam US-224 WDM Interface)
    (Follow the same steps as the 1st Popup)
• Sonar
  • start up Sonar.
  • Load the Song you want to work with.
  • "Master" output - DO NOT use "US-224 Output" or you'll have latency problems when recording.
  • Each tracks "Input" should be "US-224 Input"
  • Track Test - set up a track to record "R" and see if you hear sound in the headphones (from the Tascam US-224).
  • Tascam US-224 - you should see the green light lite (Signal) and adjust the trim so you don't see Red (OL) light.
• WARNING:  DELL computers
  • DELL Inspiron 9300 - the input audio doesn't make it's way to the audio output.  (Note: I've had other computers that do not have this same issue!)
    So, I take the lineout/headphones output of the Computer and the lineout output of the Tascam US-224 into a small 4 channel mixer so I can hear the playback and recording in my headphones.

Other Notes

• PC & Audio