[Jim Paradise]

I bought a Tascam US-122 two days ago, and I'm having problems with the 1/4 phones line-out getting stereo sound. I currently have a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter to hook up my speakers to the Tascam mixer, but when using GarageBand, if I decide to only use the right audio channel, I get no sound except for a bit of sound somewhere way off in the background. However, if I have my speakers plugged into my Powerbook and use the internal line-out, I get perfect left and right audio, and can fade it left or right without any problems.

Now you ask why don't I just use the Powerbook's internal line-out to hear what I'm recording? Well, the problem is that for some reason I can only record for about one to two minutes before the sound cuts out. I can still record, but I can't hear what I'm recording until I stop it for a moment then hit play, hit stop, then hit play again. So to get stereo recording done, I have the 1/4 to 1/8 adapter running out from the Tascam's phones line-out and it allows me all the recording time I need without randomly stopping.

I'm running 10.3.5 on a gigahertz Tibook. I've tried the latest and the second lastest versions of the drivers but still no luck. Could this possibly be a hardware problem? I'm certain I had it working earlier in the day then it just stopped working. I could try doing a complete reinstall of the system or GarageBand (but that will be a pain to backup all my saved plug-in settings) or a reinstall of the OS. Beyond the Audio Midi Setup (I don't have any MIDI devices running), Tascam's US-122 Manager, and the System Preferences, are there any other applications I can use to sort out perhaps some of these sounds problems?

*edit* It seems as though the audio is coming out through both speakers when it is faded to the left, and there is no audio minus that faint distant ghostly sound when faded to the right. Oddly enough, the system alert sound (when you hit the volume up/down keys) goes through the right channel.

[Spheric Harlot]

two brief questions:

Do you have ANY audio kernel extensions (Detour, various menu extras, etc.) installed?
Detour in particular has been known to cause problems.


What exactly are you doing when you "decide to only use the right audio channel"?

-s*

[Jim Paradise]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
two brief questions:

Do you have ANY audio kernel extensions (Detour, various menu extras, etc.) installed?
Detour in particular has been known to cause problems.


What exactly are you doing when you "decide to only use the right audio channel"?

-s*

Um, I don't think I have Detour installed? How would I go about checking that? I've only GarageBand and the drivers for the Tascam mixer installed. *edited* I checked the Extensions in System Profiler, and didn't see any Detour extensions installed.

I've just faded the music to the right channel only just to see what the problem is with me not getting sound, but that's not only where I'm having problems. I'm having problems with audio coming out only from the right channel from the system alerts and iTunes which barely plays the audio from the left channel of the songs I'll be listening to.

[Jim Paradise]

I did a reinstall of my system and even a reinstall of GarageBand. With 10.3 I'm still having the same problems. So either it's a problem with the drivers for the mixer or there's a hardware problem. Pardon my ignorance if this isn't the case, but usually phones/headphones lines-out that don't use a 1/8 input (such as on the Powerbook), use a 1/4 input, correct? My 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch adapter fits the phones line-out on the mixer but is there some other input that I'm unaware of?

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
I did a reinstall of my system and even a reinstall of GarageBand. With 10.3 I'm still having the same problems. So either it's a problem with the drivers for the mixer or there's a hardware problem. Pardon my ignorance if this isn't the case, but usually phones/headphones lines-out that don't use a 1/8 input (such as on the Powerbook), use a 1/4 input, correct? My 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch adapter fits the phones line-out on the mixer but is there some other input that I'm unaware of?

Are you certain that the 1/4"-1/8" adapter is *stereo* ?

If you look at the plug, it should have a tip (L), a ring (R), and the sleeve (gnd).

[Jim Paradise]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:
Are you certain that the 1/4"-1/8" adapter is *stereo* ?

If you look at the plug, it should have a tip (L), a ring (R), and the sleeve (gnd).

Yeah, that turned out to be the case. Thankfully my friend had a couple of stereo to stereo 1/8 to 1/4 adapters lying around. I checked the box on the one I had and it was a stereo 1/8 to a mono 1/4.

I feel capitally embarassed that the problem was only that!

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
I feel capitally embarassed that the problem was only that!

Just be thankful you didn't blow one of the headphone channel amps - that happened to me once with a mono plug.

-s*

[Jim Paradise]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:


Just be thankful you didn't blow one of the headphone channel amps - that happened to me once with a mono plug.

-s*

That doesn't sound particularly on the good score at all!

But it's great that this issue has been resolved as this is the perfect little mixer for my needs. I would have hated to had to return it.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
That doesn't sound particularly on the good score at all!

But it's great that this issue has been resolved as this is the perfect little mixer for my needs. I would have hated to had to return it.

I have the US-428.

[Jim Paradise]

Originally posted by Spheric Harlot:


I have the US-428.

Now that's definitely a capital little mixer.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally posted by Jim Paradise:
Now that's definitely a capital little mixer.

needs motorized faders.

Working over 28 channels of audio and 6 busses is no fun without motorized faders (might as well not bother with faders at all, really).