DM-3200 USB/Win7 Mysticism

[BKNolan]

Hi all,
Put simply I'm having a heck of a time getting my DM3200 to talk to my computer. I know this has been covered elsewhere in the forum but the only solution I found somewhat specific to my gear was an individual who "reinstalled windows and it worked perfectly" to me that's a last resort/nuclear option and would put our studio into a week long downward spiral so I'm posting in hopes someone else has experienced the issue I'm having.

The mixer is not recognized by the TMCompanion, Windows does a search for the DM-3200 drivers and cannot find one on Windows Update (after talking with Tascam I confirmed it's supposed to be plug and play/platform independent etc) Then remains as an unknown device lacking drivers. Does anyone know of the or a proprietary driver that handles the basic communications for the DM-3200? I use Cubase 6 and only the IF/FWDM kII MIDI shows in the mackie control MIDI in window, considering it's supposed to be controlled by USB but the options for DM-3200 ports 5 and 6 are required for DAW control and don't exist.

I have:
1. Downloaded and installed all current tascam peripheral software (i.e. the IF/FWDM kII driver v 1.21 and the TMCompanion 1.51, DM-3200 firmware is 1.70
2. Uninstalled all tascam related products, cleaned registry and program files and reinstalled.
3. Attempted to the use the legacy 1394 driver as instructed elsewhere in this forum (although I know the midi and basic information sent from the DM is via usb was worth a try)
4. Changed USB cables (4 total)
5. Tried different USB ports (8 total)
6. Plugged into a windows XP computer to confirm the USB is working per Tascam's suggestion, it was and was recognized by the TMCompanion on that computer.
7. Edited my registry's default MIDI out device then restored my registry.
8. Modified computer startup items via msconfig to determine and confirm nothing is pre-implementing my midi in case another program may be taking over the MIDI port on startup?

My overall impression is that Win7 doesn't know how to categorize the DM-3200 into the sound, video, game controllers and therefore can't apply a driver appropriately, but with it being plug and play why not and how would one go about manually applying a driver and category?
Thanks in advance for any help you all may be able to offer, my sanity along with the future of our studio hangs in the balance and is now in your all's hands!

 

[Arjan P]

Hi, and welcome! I see your IF/FW driver is v1.21. If you check in the Windows 10 topic on top of this forum, you'll find info on getting v1.30f9. This is the latest driver that was also functional in Windows 7. Another thing, that you do not mention is the IF/FW firmware version. This should be 1.10. Hope this helps.

 

[BKNolan]

"Another thing, that you do not mention is the IF/FW firmware version. This should be 1.10"

Thanks for the response, I'm trying to understand so forgive my verifying but I need a firmware for the IF/FW in addition to the beta drivers mentioned on the Win10 topic? Not doubting but I'm wondering how the firmware for the IF/FW would determine the communications for USB Midi from the DM if it's a separate pipeline of communication. I will test the v1.3of9 and determine the firmware version for the IF/FW but I believe (not entirely sure) the control panel for the IF/FW said it was highter than 1.10, so if so, I should downgrade correct?

 

[Arjan P]

No, don't get me wrong, if you're higher than 1.10 that's fine (I'm not aware of a higher version though). And you're right, the IF/FW firmware and driver both have no influence on TMC and USB-communication - but as you mention it, it might as well be at the highest versions..

I just checked and see my mixer firmware (DM itself) is at 1.72b3. Can't remember if it changed anything, but all these drivers and firmware versions for me stayed the same as I went from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and everything worked under Windows 7.

 

[cmaffia]

Windows 7 does categorize the DM3200 USB device correctly. Sounds like you have driver conflicts on an old Windows 7 install. Try this procedure to show all the hidden unused device drivers in device manager. Once unhidden, delete all drivers that are ghosted (unused) and reboot.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/315539

 

[BKNolan]

Here's an update, ultimately, my desktop Windows 7 installation wasn't recognizing the DM3200 regardless of what I tried. So I plugged it into my Win7 laptop and Bam! it installed immediately. After downloading 3 or 4 shady freeware "upgrade to solve your problem" utilities in attempts to export and save the working driver for transfer to my desktop, I finally remembered that Glary's Utilities had a driver backup module. Here's what i did.

1. Plugged the DM3200 into my laptop
2. Used Glary's Driver Manager to backup the working "generic usb audio" driver to a folder on an external flash drive.
3. Plugged DM3200 into my desktop
4. Opened Device Manager
5. Located the DM3200 under "unknown devices"
6. Right click>Properties>Driver>Update Driver>Browse my computer for driver software
7. Clicked "Browse..." button next to the "Search for driver software in this location" prompt.
8. Navigated to the external flash drive now plugged into my desktop and chose the folder labeled "Tascam DM-3200"
8. Hit okay on the popup warning about the driver not being digitally signed, driver installed
9. Opened up TMCompanion to confirm communication to the DM3200
10. It now is recognized by the computer and TMC !

Hope this helps someone out there who might run into the same issue. (unlikely I'm sure but you never know) Thank you all for your help. I look forward to being a part of this online community.

 

[cmaffia]

Glad it works finally. Personally I would have preferred resolving the issue with the procedure I outlined. Another thing that raised my eyebrow was why Windows complained about the replacement driver not being digitally signed? If it were me, I would still blow out the unused drivers as I'm pretty confident a driver conflict caused your initial problem.

 

[BKNolan]

I did attempt to use the process you linked to but it didn't find any ghosted devices apart from an extra FireWire port that had not previously shown (although it had been working). Even if it had found it I'm not sure how I would have applied the findings to the problem as the procedure basically ended with "when you finish troubleshooting close the window" which, although helpful and appreciated , didn't remedy the unrecognized device, just confirmed it but I may have missed a step.

 

[cmaffia]

Only one firewire port? It sounds like you missed a step but not sure what you did so can't advise. The process is typically used in situations like yours and also is good practice for general maintenance of your OS. Drivers accumulate over time and sometimes create conflicts (especially USB devices) where new devices are not recognized. The process is a last ditch effort before taking the route of doing a fresh installation. Anyway you got it working.

 

[BKNolan]

I see what you mean, I did the Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 in an elevated user command prompt (that was the step I missed) and there were a lot of greyed out devices, mostly unknown, m-audio, and avid/digidesign mbox stuff, there were probably 50 unknown usb devices. I took out anything that wasn't microsoft and that was related to usb audio/ midi just in case. Nice tip by the way, thanks again.

 

[HiFiDavid]

My case is now similar with USB midi problems after upgrading to a new CPU and mobo. I uninstalled all drivers and removed all USB devices, including the DM USB connection. Cleared all the ghost drivers (A great tip btw!!) My first step was set up the USB and midi connection before going to the FW card.

In looking at all the posts on the board, and with this thread, it appears the Win7-64 system will find the correct driver plug n play. Is that correct? or do I need to locate a special driver for USB midi support for my DM3200?

If so, I've tried this several times and it loads a "USB Audio Device" driver which does show up in devices. I can run TMC and it works, and backs up the DM. I can also see the ports in my DAW (Sonar). It all "seems" normal until I try and set up automation so my DM can talk to Sonar. (btw, I've done this many times before and had it working on my older Win7 box so I don't mean to waste your time by pointing me to the stickies and pdfs.. I've reviewed them again and again for the last 5 days with no success)

There is something else going on with the USB so I thought maybe I needed special drivers from the FTP site? If not, and I should be good I can revisit the midi configuration on my DM and/or Sonar...

 

[HiFiDavid]

Update: Just did it again to start from the beginning. The driver it found for USB came up not as a USB Audio Device but a TASCAM DM-3200 device. It lists still as a MS generic driver (6.1.76 7/12/2013) Curious if anyone has a working automation system and what driver they are using for Win7?

 

[cmaffia]

There is no 3rd party/Tascam USB driver for the Dm3200 or 4800. It automatically detects the connections and installs the standard USB class windows driver. It names the device to the respective console (for you-DM-3200). I am using the 3.0 USB port on my Asus motherboard without issue whether I boot to Windows 7 or 10.

 

[HiFiDavid]

Update: Solved!
Here are the steps to insure your core connectivity is operating prior to adding Sonar machine automation for the DM3200 and audio. (Should work for any DAW I would think)
1. Unplug all your USB devices except for mouse and keyboard.
2. Follow the instructions to remove ALL ghost drivers. Remember, you have unplugged everything so delete any ghost drivers you see. Including any Microsoft or anything. Use this guide as a step by step:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/315539

3. Now you have a perfectly clean booting system and you have cleaned out any legacy junk.
4. Find your USB cable going to the DM3200. Pick a USB port you like on your computer (you will be keeping it there forever). Plug it in and Windows 7 will find the device and install the generic Microsoft driver for the Tascam DM. It will show as a friendly named TASCAM DM-3200 in device manager. If you look at the details of the driver, you will see it lists still as a MS generic driver ( mine was version 6.1.76 dated: 7/12/2013). This means you have basic connectivity.
5. Test it with TMC. You should see the midi ports in the pull down menu and be able to run a backup and restore for a project from the DM
6. Note: You should not plug any other usb or audio devices in yet. Run Sonar (you may get no audio device warnings from Sonar but ignore for now, we are only working on basic midi connectivity) and setup your DM midi automation as documented. Arm all the Tascam midi ports in the midi device section. Setup automation using Mackie control and midi ports 5 and 6 as normal.
7. Create some tracks in Sonar and Test. Faders should be working. Yea!
8. Now reboot and start to install audio devices. If you have a Firewire card now is the time to install the latest software and drivers. (look in the stickies).
9. Now plug in or setup any other USB or audio devices one at a time. Test after each device to insure it does not break what you have. If so, that is the issue! Find a new driver or throw that device in your parts box.

Hope this helps get you started. I had to mess a lot with Sonar Platinum but it was not hard. I'm going to update the Sonar Setup guide PDF, it's ancient, and will post later.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[cmaffia]

Glad its working but not sure your installation steps are universal. Clearing out ghost drives is a troubleshooting method and maintenance but not necessarily required. I can plug into alternate usb ports on my system all day long and every just works as they should. Not sure why on a new build you'd experience such stubbornness but strange things happen from system to system.

 

[HiFiDavid]

Yes! You are absolutely correct that this is a troubleshooting method only. Normally you can just move USB devices around and they work just fine. I had been doing this for years without any issues. Stubbornness and strange things were happening when I upgraded the motherboard, cpu, etc., without a clean OS install too. Years of old device drivers were haunting me. I should have just got a new disk drive and did a new Windows 10 build for a sweet dual-boot system!

 

[cmaffia]

So wait... you didn't do a fresh install of your OS when you replaced the motherboard? You just swapped and booted? That makes more sense now if that is the case.