Trying to set up Zoom R24 as interface

[ecaggiani]

Hey guys,

I'm going to need some help here as well. I just got a Zoom R24 and am having a heck of a time trying to get it to work in Mixcraft 7. When I connect it to my computer and set it up as my PC's playback and recording audio interface, I can hear all my computer sounds through it, as well as any instruments I have plugged in. So far so good.

But when I launch Mixcraft and select the Zoom's ASIO driver, there are no inputs or outputs showing up under the playback or recording dropdowns. Everything is set to 44.1, and I have the latest drivers and firmware for the Zoom.

I've tried multiple USB ports, ASIO4ALL driver, uninstalling/reinstalling. No joy.

I am running Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 64-bit (also tried 32 bit with same results). My computer runs an Intel Core i7-6600U CPU with 16GB of RAM.

I just bought this Zoom to replace my Behringer mixer, and I'm not sure I did the right thing if I can't get this to work.

If there is ANYONE out there who has successfully gotten the R24 to work with Mixcraft, please walk me through it. It's now 5am and I've spent hours on this and am having huge buyer's remorse

Thanks in advance!

[ecaggiani]

Update: I decided to try setting it all up from scratch on a different computer, so I installed Mixcraft, installed the R24 drivers, plugged in the R24 and put it in interface mode (Windows 10 recognized it and it became the default audio device). I launched Mixcraft and went to the devices setup, chose the R24 ASIO driver, and...... Still nothing. Same as on my laptop. No inputs or outputs available. I made sure everything was set to 44.1 and that's what the Zoom screen was showing.

I have come to the conclusion that the Zoom drivers are just crap at this point. What I bought it for will not be possible for me to do right now. So now I have to decide whether to sell it, or use it in standalone mode and feed the output into my current mixer. At least that way I can use the effects, sequencer, drums, and other features. Just not sure it's worth it for just that.

Another thought is whether I can still use it in USB mode as a control interface but not as an audio interface. Not sure that's possible, but will try.

I would still love to hear from anyone who actually has it working and compare notes.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

A couple of things to try:

1. You could install 32-bit Mixcraft and see if that works better for you. Some 64-bit audio drivers are buggy.
2. If you've got Windows 10, you could try running Mixcraft in Windows 8 compatibility mode.

Greg

[ecaggiani]

I've tried the 32 bit Mixcraft when the same results. I think the Zoom drivers come with both the 32 and 64 bit versions in one package and not sure you can choose which to install, but I'll double check on that. I believe I tried windows 8 compatibility mode already, but worth another shot. Thanks for the suggestions.

[ecaggiani]

UPDATE:

Well, I finally got it working. I'm not sure which of these actions fixed it, but here's what I did. First, after installing the Zoom drivers, I would NOT set up the Zoom as my Windows audio interface (I would keep my previous interface as the default). I then launched Mixcraft as an administrator (don't think this really does anything). And lastly, I would turn on the Zoom in audio interface mode AFTER launching Mixcraft and wait for Mixcraft to say it detected new devices. Once that would happen, I could go into ASIO in Mixcraft and select the Zoom driver and I would see inputs and outputs, and the Mackie control would work.

The only big issue now is the instability this causes. Many times, when closing Mixcraft after doing this, it would crash and I'd have to kill the Mixcraft process. Also, sometimes when I was playing around changing the devices from Core Audio to ASIO to WAV, etc., all audio devices would suddenly become unusable, with Mixcraft complaining that it couldn't open any device for playback. I would need a complete laptop reboot for it to work again.

So although I got it working and could record through the Zoom and use it as a control surface, the instability of the whole situation is still having me question whether I want to keep the Zoom or not. It's really not buying me anything besides Mackie control (which I already have with my Roland A300 keyboard controller), and the ability to use the Zoom effects when I record (which are nice, but I have lots of other options for effects). My original reason for getting the Zoom was to completely replace my Behringer mixer/audio interface, but honestly, my little Q802USB Behringer has been super stable and sounds great as an interface.

Bottom line: I will probably still sell the Zoom R24. Anyone interested?

[ecaggiani]

Just posted the following in the Zoom forums...


I'm posting this to help anyone who has gone through the nightmare I had trying to get the Zoom R24 working in Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 on a 64-bit Windows 10 machine. Mixcraft is my DAW of choice, but I also noticed this issue in Reaper and Audacity, so this might fix those issues as well.

Installing the Zoom drivers and connecting the Zoom R24 to my Windows 10 machine worked fine. It became my default audio interface and I could hear all of my Windows sounds through the Zoom.

THE PROBLEM:
With the Zoom in USB audio interface mode, I would launch my DAW and go to device setup. I would select ASIO and select the R24 driver. This is where the issue would appear: No inputs or outputs would show up with the R24 driver selected. They were just blank.



I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers countless times. I tried Reaper and Audacity with similar results. I tried the 32-bit version of Mixcraft to no avail. The most frustrating part was that there were SOME people that use Mixcraft saying the Zoom worked fine for them, but I was unable to get any of them to walk me through how they set it up (though most would say it just worked).

THE FIX:
Finally, last night, I tried again and actually got it working. Here's how.

• Do not set up the Zoom R24 as your default Windows device (use anything else)
• Do not put the Zoom R24 into USB audio interface mode before launching your DAW
• Launch Mixcraft (or your DAW)
• Once your DAW is loaded, THEN put the Zoom R24 into audio interface mode. Mixcraft will detect the change in the number of audio devices and alert you.
• NOW you can go to devices, ASIO, and select the Zoom R24 driver. Inputs and outputs should be listed!

Following those steps above, I was able to record my Zoom output into Mixcraft, and Mixcraft could see all 8 of the Zoom's channels. I could also use the Zoom as a control surface at this point as well.

THE CAVEATS:
With all of this working, you would think I would be jumping for joy and want to keep my Zoom R24 as a part of my home recording setup. However, there are a couple of big gotchas that make me consider selling the Zoom.

First and foremost, even though it now works, it creates an inherent instability in my system. Mixcraft would crash on exit if I kept the Zoom selected as the device. Switching drivers in Mixcraft away from the Zoom (sometimes I need to record from other sources) would also sometimes crash Mixcraft. If it wouldn't crash, it would sometimes render every audio device on my system as unusable, requiring an entire reboot of my machine.

Secondly, since my fix requires the Zoom to NOT be the default Windows device, I can't use it as my main Windows "mixer" like I do with my current audio interface (a Behringer Q802USB mixer). In other words, the Zoom is relegated to being simply a recording interface and control surface for my DAW, but not the main Windows audio interface. I believe this might be part of the instability issues since I now have two audio interfaces installed on my machine. Having the Zoom as the main Windows interface is problematic because of the method of having to turn on the Zoom AFTER launching my DAW. Whenever the Zoom was connected and used as an audio interface before launching my DAW, I would get zero inputs and outputs, and nothing would work.

CONCLUSION:
Though I love the Zoom R24 in concept, the buggy drivers are problematic enough for me to consider selling it and just keeping my Behringer. I don't really need the standalone multitrack features of the Zoom since I record everything in my DAW, and I already have a Roland A300 controller I can use as a control surface (though it's not quite as elegant as the R24 for controlling Mixcraft, but it does the job and has a keyboard to boot).

If the drivers were updated to allow me to keep the Zoom as my main audio device, connected all the time in audio interface mode, and not have to turn it off, launch my DAW, then turn it back on, I would consider keeping it. But alas, I think the Zoom drivers need a rewrite, at least for 64-bit Windows 10.

Since I was having the same issues in Reaper and Audacity, I do not believe it is the DAW having the main issue, but rather the Zoom drivers themselves.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I just hope this post can help anyone having similar issues. And Zoom, if you're listening, please consider having another look at your 2.0 drivers for Windows. I'm not the only one with this issue!

Thank you for listening

-Ed

[Rolling Estonian]

Thanks for the thorough updates! Though I'm not a Zoom user, I'm sure that this info will be well received by folks that it could help out.

This is the kind of stuff that makes this forum great, people taking the time to post their experiences in hopes of helping others.

Thanks again,

M

[ecaggiani]

Anytime! I was so frustrated with my Zoom experience because I really could not find any answers anywhere online. There were a few attempts, but nothing that really helped. So when I finally got it working, I figured I'd pay it forward for the next guy who pulls all his hair out because of this issue.

Unfortunately for me, this was a pricey lesson. Good thing I bought this on Craigslist and didn't pay the $500 price of a new unit. But still, I doubt I'll be using it (unless they fix their drivers ASAP) so I will be selling it.

[mandofrog]

Update: Zoom has finally updated their driver for Windows 10 (version 2.10). This might resolve the problem I had/have. Unfortunately, I'm away from my studio for several months (long story) so I won't be able to try it out for a while. But also, I found an interesting tidbit on Audacity's forum concerning audio drivers on Windows 10 which has been updated from previous Windows (mine is updated from Win7). Drivers on computers that come with Win10 installed seem to work well, but Win7 or Win8 computers that are upgraded to Win10 sometimes have problems. Here's the Audacity page: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_10_OS. I'm shopping for a new system which will have Win10 out of the box, and along with the updated Zoom driver, I may yet get my project back to work. Hope springs eternal.

[chiefpotpipe]

Zoom R24+Mixcraft=headache! Ran both 32 and 64 bit MC7 installed latest driver for Zoom R24. White screen of death when opening and closing MC7. Swapped usb ports bought new cables. Uninstalled Zoom driver and reinstalled. Clean Win 7 Intel laptop. Any Zoom users with any tips? I already read all of the forum posts.

[chiefpotpipe]

Zoom R24+Mixcraft=headache! Ran both 32 and 64 bit MC7 installed latest driver for Zoom R24. White screen of death when opening and closing MC7. Swapped usb ports bought new cables. Uninstalled Zoom driver and reinstalled. Clean Win 7 Intel laptop. Any Zoom users with any tips? I already read all of the forum posts.Thanks. My POD HD 500X seems to work but I wanted to use the Zoom for a control surface.

[AHornsby]

Drivers on computers that come with Win10 installed seem to work well, but Win7 or Win8 computers that are upgraded to Win10 sometimes have problems.

I've heard that some motherboards need drivers too so, if it's possible, check with your manufacturer for the update to WIN10.

-h

[chiefpotpipe]

Thanks for the advice. I'm using Win 7 Pro 64 bit. I will do some digging.

[Acoustica Greg]

Zoom R24+Mixcraft=headache! Ran both 32 and 64 bit MC7 installed latest driver for Zoom R24. White screen of death when opening and closing MC7. Swapped usb ports bought new cables. Uninstalled Zoom driver and reinstalled. Clean Win 7 Intel laptop. Any Zoom users with any tips? I already read all of the forum posts.Thanks. My POD HD 500X seems to work but I wanted to use the Zoom for a control surface.

Hi,

Some Zoom audio drivers seem to have a problem with Windows 10. You can try running Mixcraft in Windows 8 compatibility mode.

1. Right-click on Mixcraft's icon and select Properties.
2. On the Compatibility tab, select Windows 8 and click OK.
3. Start up Mixcraft and see if the problem is fixed.

Greg