Interfacing Linux: US-TASCAM 16X08

The TASCAM 16X08 is one of the few Linux compatible audio interfaces with onboard DSP. Let’s plug it in and see how it performs.

Hardware: TASCAM 16X08
Software: TASCAM DSP Mixer

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Drivers

Plug it in. You’re done. 

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ALSA

You can control the TASCAM 16X08 directly with alsamixer.

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Jack

In Cadence/QjackCtl select the ALSA driver to connect your TASCAM 16X08 to the Jack server. 

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Pulseaudio

The TASCAM 16X08 will function like any other sound device in pavucontrol.

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TASCAM DSP Mixer

The Tascam US-16×08 DSP mixer allows you to control the 280 elements available in the DSP.

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Install dependencies

Debian

sudo apt install build-essential git libgtkmm-3.0-dev libxml++2.6-dev liblo-dev libasound2-dev

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Arch

sudo pacman -S base-devel git gtkmm3 libxml++2.6 liblo alsa-lib

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Clone the github repository

git clone https://github.com/onkelDead/tascam-gtk.git

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Change into the tascam-gtk directory and build the project

cd tascam-gtk
autoreconf 
./configure 
make 

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You will now have a tascamgtk binary that can be launched from the directory.

./tascamgtk

If you want to install tascamgtk system wide run the following

sudo make install

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Round-trip Latency

While many kinds of audio latency metrics exist, one useful and well-understood metric is round-trip latency; the time it takes for an audio signal to enter the input of a device, get processed, and exit the output.

The following measurements were taken using jack_iodelay.

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Testing setup

CPU	AMD Ryzen 5600G
RAM	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO
GPU	NA
SSD	Samsung 840
PSU:	EVGA 600 B1
Firewire:	Syba SY-PEX30016
Network:	Intel i350-T4
OS:	Debian Testing
Kernel:	6.0 RT
Desktop:	XFCE 4.16

Final thoughts

The Tascam US-16×08 is a deal if you’re looking for a Linux compatible audio interface with 16 physical inputs. It’s a no-frills block of metal designed to get sh*t done. I’m a fan of that.