I've been contemplating purchasing the Roland TR-8 (or maybe stretch to the TR-8S). However, I'm a tad concerned about the Audio over USB behaviour and looking for clarity.

I know they have audio and MIDI over USB, but am worried they behave the same as the TR-6S. With the TR-6S the Audio over USB relies on changing the audio interface in DAW to the TR-6S, which is a pointless way to implement as this would disconnect my monitor speakers and headphones that are connected to my Audient ID14 MkII interface.

Therefore, with the TR-8 and TR-8S, does the audio over USB work into a DAW as audio inputs using the driver without needing to take over the Audio interface duties in totality?

This is a key point for me as, due to being a virtual analog ACB device, the digital USB signal should be identical to the analog audio out signal, so it seems pointless to have to introduce cable. Clutter where there is no need for it, and reducing clutter is my current mindset and principle in the studio.

Anyone with one of these able to comment as can't find the answer in the Roland documentation nor the multitude of videos I've watched in the hope of a mention?

 

That's not Roland's fault but Billie's. Windows allows only one interface, so you'd need to patch any audio gear into Audient's inputs.

 

I'm sure that's not possible, Win or Mac. You would need a VST or AU plugin communicating with the hardware via USB, synchronizing the clock of the hardware to your DAWs main audio interface and send and receive midi and audio data.

Many years ago Access tried it with the Virus TI, I never got mine to work without problems and sold it back then.

 

AFAIK, Mackies can use more than one interface simultaneously, so on these it should work.

 

Now, it was a long ago and is foggy but I remember I tried to use at the same time the laptop internal interface and another external usb (disabling multiclient check?) and using the network feature of ASIO Link Pro and I did something, but it was not really satisfying, I'll try to replicate.

 

On macOS, you can create an "aggregate device" to combine multiple audio interfaces, but usually these are not synchronized by word clock and some kind of sample rate conversion or sample skipping is taking place so they don't drift apart. This is more of a workaround and may come in handy for speech or streaming purposes. But I never would rely on it for serious audio work.

 

Pretty sure ASIO4ALL drivers let's you use multiple interfaces simultaneously. Have a look at this video:

 

Hi, I'm a TR-8S user on the Windows platform, as No Avenger wrote, on MAC it's possible to aggregate multiple sound cards with low latency in a way similar to Jack audio on Linux, but on Windows, you can only use one ASIO sound card per DAW, but there is some workaround that I used when I needed to record the TR-8S direct outputs without A/D conversion.
The workaround that allowed me to use both TR-8S ASIO and my other ASIO interface at the same time is by using Reaper with Rearoute virtual ASIO driver installed on the system and Virtual DJ software.
Reaper has been set to use the main ASIO driver (the RME one in my case), then Virtual Dj has the capability to use multiple ASIO drivers at the same time and even if its primary use is for DJing, it can be tricked into a sort of digital patch bay as it follows:

the first thing to do in Virtual Dj is to use a skin that allows to use several decks (the equivalent of an audio track on a DAW), for example, I used 6 decks to match the TR-8S direct outputs that I wanted to record .

the second thing to do is to go into Virtual Dj audio options and use "Separate Decks" layout, then enable "Line Input" option, then add one input for each TR-8S channel (they should appear as TR-8S ASIO from the dropdown, then there is another dropdown for the TR-8S channel name).

the third step is to set up the outputs in Virtual Dj audio options, this time it must be set a direct output for each of the decks and each output must use a dedicated Rearoute ASIO output.

Once the setup in Virtual Dj has been done, there is a final step in Virtual Dj to be done on the main program view, on each deck it must be enabled the Line in, so that when the TR-8S is playing, the audio will be received by each virtual Dj deck.

Then go into Reaper and add one track for each corresponding Rearoute output, enable record and monitoring, set the corresponding Rearoute channel and you are ready to record.

With this set up, I usually set the TR-8S to sync with the DAW midi clock.


Another simpler solution is to use a dedicated DAW for the TR-8S, for example a very lightweight DAW such as EnergyXt 64 which is in beta stage and totally free to use at the moment, but any DAW can work, just set it up to use the TR-8S ASIO driver and record the direct outputs, then import the audio files in your main DAW, it can also be Synced with your main DAW, for example using one SMPTE audio file and slaving the main DAW to it.

Of course you can use ASIO4 all by aggregating non ASIO sources, but I don't know how well will the latency be and also the quality.