3.5 Notes on USB interfacing
The USB protocol is an extremely versatile one, and much has been made of the possibility of using multiple (over 100) devices on a single bus. While this is certainly a possibility, we recommend using as few other USB devices as possible in a system equipped with the US-224. The demands placed on the USB bus by passing multiple tracks of audio through it are considerable, and adding additional devices will risk reducing that bandwidth.
NOTE: The drivers of many other USB devices, especially CD burners, scanners, printers, and cameras, are written to poll the USB buss on a regular basis (usually once every millisecond). This can lead to dropouts, clicks, pops and other artifacts in your audio. We strongly suggest unplugging any non-essential USB devices while recording with the US-224. (USB keyboards and mice are the notable exceptions – in most cases they are passive devices with very minor bandwidth requirements.)
Another well-documented advantage of USB is the ability to “hot-plug” devices (that is, plug them in and out without powering the computer down). While this applies to the US-224 as well, we recommend against plugging or unplugging, or powering the unit on or off, while running your audio application. Doing so can result in audible pops, or even hanging or crashing the program.
You’ll find a listing of web links and resources on hard disk recording on our website at www.tascam.com.
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