Notes On Usb Interfacing - Tascam US-224 Owner's Manual

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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