Stuntpickle
I see posts where people complain about Sonar being buggy and replies from others who claim to have no problems. My guess is that the people with no problems are using relatively few tracks or samples as I, myself, have no problems in similar situations.
...
I'm using quite a few samples from East West, but my computer is nowhere near taxed. It seldom reaches over 60% cpu.

I am with you with an impression that Sonar is crashing a lot. I had more crashes in Sonar then in any other program I was using in my life (may be because I have never used DAWs before). But most of these crashes was not in Sonar itself. That is hard to realize since Sonar while "hosting" tons of third party programs has no internal problem tracer (feature request?). That is the same as at MS DOS time, when program crash was equal to the system crash even when there was nothing wrong with the system.
 
If your workflow is the same when working with small number of tracks and you have no crashes, the probability that the reason is some bottleneck in resources is hight. 60% CPU (mean value) does not mean you have no problem here. Small example: on old Atom based computer I get glitches with under 1024 buffer size once I see CPU is used more then 20%. CPU/system should manage to process things in semi Real Time when working with audio, that means once the time comes, it should make it in time. Does not matter either is stay idle 90% of physical time or is doing something. All that is hard to explain without going too deep into underlying technology.
 
Components involved are: Sonar itself (with its settings), Audio driver (with its settings), Windows (with auto updates enabled it is doing fancy things several times per day, as was already mentioned before), all (!) devices and there drivers attached to the computer, even your mighty HDD (recently we had a situation when one faulty hi-speed SSD has managed to slow down the whole RAID controller, with many parallel sets of disks attached).
 
Back from the theory to practice. Try to find out how to reproduce the crash fast. Put all settings as pessimistic as allowed (1024-2048 buffer size, other audio device, in case possible no audio device at all, no windows update, no other programs running). Every time you can reproduce the problem without some component, you know the problem is somewhere else. Till the problem is in some part you can not exclude (power line, power supply, motherboard), you normally can localize it is reasonable time.

Karyn

mudgel
Audio from the graphics card. what is that?

If you connect a TV or monitor with HDMI it can get an audio feed through the HDMI cable.  This is connected to your graphics card,  the card has drivers loaded that route audio through the graphics card for the purpose of feeding the HDMI link.  The intended use is for large screen TVs.  All of us use dedicated audio interfaces and professional quality studio monitors so this particular function is never (or rarely) used.
 
It has been demonstrated that removing these drivers can improve Sonars performance.   It is unlikely to be the cause of the issues in this thread, but it would not hurt to try.

I have one of my monitors connected via HDMI, but the sound card is not the source of the sound, the HDMI connector passes video and audio. The audio is passed through from the onboard sound chip.all perfectly stable on my system.

slartabartfast

John
Your graphics card can be the source of trouble. Mr. Anderton pointed out awhile back that disabling any audio from the graphics card can solve a lot of strange problems. 

I am sure it can, but changing MIDI data because the HDMI driver for the video card is active requires a truly gargantuan leap of imagination.

I will give you an example what can happened, and you decide either you can imagine that
 
Mr. Anderton pointed that this graphics card audio driver (just installed, not in use, from his tests not even completely enabled!) can course  significant increase of generic system latency. After he has removed/completely disabled it, he could decrease the buffer size from 128 to 64 even for relatively big projects (if I remember correctly, it was working for small projects without changes).
 
And in case your overall "fixed" latency (coming from VSTi, some of them have huge, they are thought for mixing/mastering only when that does not matter) is close to your current settings, there could be "no time" to process something else correctly (like MIDI data). For example, a chain of FXes need 18ms of data to work (not CPU dependent, they just "consume" that amount of audio data for the algorithm before they produce any output)  and you want 20ms input->output time, many things should happened exactly during the last 2ms. And in case during that time some driver (like HDMI audio) block the complete system for 2ms, close to everything can glitch.
 
Note, I am not pretending that it works that way. I have never seen Sonar core engine source code. But I mean that I can imagine such dependency...

slartabartfast
I am sure it can, but changing MIDI data because the HDMI driver for the video card is active requires a truly gargantuan leap of imagination.

I can't imagine it either, but the OP has enough problems that it makes sense to eliminate all possible sources. Craig Anderton's post yielded a long thread of speculation about this issue. Here it is: 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3103263

So basically something is writing data on it's own.  IS this midi data?  Add another track, record but don't input anything and see what happens.  What version of Play are you using?  Play was recently updated.

Pragi
Agreed,
your problems in the first place aren´t Sonar specific (sure this software isn´t perfect),
it´s the person sitting in front of stuntpickle´s monitor.
 
Sorry , but this has to be said cause of the thread title which obviously has to be changed.

Wait. When you say "problem" are you referring to the one the Cakewalk staff member confirmed was a problem? I only ask because we seem to be having communication issues, such as when you interpret my statement that I have a Foscusrite audio interface and an on-board sound card to mean that I have both Presonus and Focusrite audio interfaces.
 
I have provided information, photos and video documenting this problem -- which, as far as I can tell, is fairly extraordinary relative to the other threads of this nature on this forum. That, having seen all this, you remain stumped yet utterly convinced I am personally the cause is hilarious, ludicrous and utterly inexplicable.

Not so surprisingly, I posted this thread precisely because I had hoped I was the problem, which I could then personally remedy. Unfortunately, I am beginning to doubt it.
 
Oh, and I can't imagine why the name of this thread would so offend you that you think it must be changed. Cakewalk is as free to change it as I am to fire Cakewalk.
 
I can only remember encountering such a gratuitous defense of something when the defender was trying to copulate with the defended. Are you working on Sonar Jr.?

Anderton
It would be interesting to find out why some people with large projects run into problems while others with large projects don't. I regularly run 100+ tracks, all with plug-ins, when doing loop or sample library development but those don't require large orchestra libraries.
 
I have noticed a lot of the people having problems use the East-West libraries. Not sure if that's a clue or not, but if there was a recent update, that might be significant.

 
There was a recent play update; however, I have since investigated other iterations of the project within Sonar and discovered small traces of the problem. As crazy as it sounds, it seems like it may have been present throughout and only become noticeable following some period of exponential compounding. When I called support, I was having problems on one track. Now, it's every track.

More than Play, I have suspected TenCrazy's channel switcher. I was thinking (or intuiting) that because Sonar (as far as I'm aware) doesn't natively support the functionality that maybe midi data from different channels is getting layered. Was just a thought. Are you familiar with the plugin?

Not sure if this applies to your SSD or not but Samsung has had serious problems with SSD's using TLC NAND technology. It is up in the air as to whether they have fixed this issue. Essentally the read performance of the SSD degrades to HDD speeds as the stored data ages. 
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/199673-second-patch-for-ongoing-840-evo-ssd-performance-issues-being-prepped-by-samsung
 

yikes.   this is such a typical thread.   fwiw, I don't think your video card audio, or your hardware, or "connected wandering midi", is the problem.    One thing to track down is the midi channel associated with each midi event in your tracks:    unfortunately, the way PRV works, events in multiple channels ( a valid midi thing ) in multiple tracks (a valid Sonar thing) get created very very easily.    I use the following CAL program, set to a single-character key-command in keyboard shortcuts, to re-re-re-re-rechange the controller per event to ONE channel.
 
(do
 (int new_chan 1)
 (int i 0)  ; counter, not needed if you don't care
 (getInt new_chan "New Midi Channel: " 1 16 )
  (-= new_chan 1)
 (forEachEvent
     (do
      (= Event.Chan new_chan )
     (++ i )       ; count it, delete if you don't care
     ) ; end do
  )  ; end forEachEvent
   (pause "Adjusted " i " channel events. " )   ; tell how many, delete if you don't care
)

Stuntpickle

Pragi
Agreed,
your problems in the first place aren´t Sonar specific (sure this software isn´t perfect),
it´s the person sitting in front of stuntpickle´s monitor.
 
Sorry , but this has to be said cause of the thread title which obviously has to be changed.

Wait. When you say "problem" are you referring to the one the Cakewalk staff member confirmed was a problem? 
 

No.
Simply the thread title is offending Cakewalk
That´s how you started .
You are offending cakewalk and now me , 
the one who starts has to be ready to get offended either, you are not, or?
 
And to finish your joke,
I´m working with Sonar Platinum jr and you 
with 3 Audio interfaces (the Presonus Audiobox, Focusrite Solo and the one of the video card)
and surprisingly having issues, right?
 
Still I hope, you can fix the issues.
 
best regards
Pragi



 
 

Vastman
I think Pragi makes valid points, Stuntpickle... everyone here is trying to help you through this frustrating situation despite the way you started.  I have had moments in the distant past where everything was blowing up for me also... but I never began a quest for help by first insulting the bakers and well, just coming off like I'd been wounded by the program or it's designers. 100 problems???

Oh, really? I was under the impression that the validity of any "point" depended upon its coherence -- something sorely lacking in the relevant post.
 
Just a hint: my own post started with a joke -- one made at my own expense. Consider: how rational would it be to incinerate someone ten times? Since each subsequent incineration beyond the first would be entirely gratuitous, the answer is "not very." However, that's precisely the sort of thing a petty person would do in a fit of angry frustration. The joke was a tacit acknowledgement of my frustration. The title of the thread was obviously jocular, but jokes tend to molder under this sort of scrutiny. Had you read my posts, you'd have noticed that I actually defended Cakewalk support -- not something typical of an outraged person.
 
Are you under the impression that the bit about the button was a literal threat? Consider for a moment that the statement conveys virtually nothing about Cakewalk staff, but rather focuses entirely on my frustration, which it renders as cartoonish and absurd. It was a figurative and self-deprecating explanation of my own unwarranted irritation. But some persons, often the objects of humor, grow to hate it as a mule does a whip.
 
I'm beginning to get the feeling I have inadvertently stumbled into one of those internet hive minds populated by some persons whose collective self worth is entirely constituted in the object of their association. Thus, any perceived criticism of the object must be met with hysterical exculpation. I mean, a surprising number of people showed up here to state -- for some implausible record -- that Sonar works flawlessly and I am personally the problem. Do they understand why I am experiencing the difficulty? No, yet they are certain I am the cause -- two disparate contentions anyone acquainted with logic would find difficult to square.
 
I am sorry if I offended you with the title of this post since I never intended to. However, I will not change the title since I cannot be compelled to action by persons who make a habit of being offended and who differ from more conventional bullies only in their timidity. At that, feel free to take offense.
 
So is this all my fault? Sure. Is Sonar entirely blameless? Sure. If there's anything else you require in order to reflect upon this issue, I concede it freely. Do you know how to fix my problem? No?
 
Then kindly stop hammering your gavel. I get it. You're a righteous do-gooder. Consider me and the world straightened out. All hail Sonar, the one true DAW!
 
 
 
 

However when I swapped mt midi controller keybaord and USB cable the problem went away so I don't think it was a sonar problem.  I'd try swapping your USB cable on the keyboard and make sure it is plugged into a USB2 port not USB3 as that causes problems too

P-Theory
I'd try swapping your USB cable on the keyboard and make sure it is plugged into a USB2 port not USB3 as that causes problems too

 I was not at all aware of this. I was quite sure I was plugged into a USB3 port since I have like ten of them, so with some optimism I checked the port only to find I was plugged into a USB2 port in the front of the machine. Looks like my sloth trumped my ignorance this time.

It sounds like a midi routing issue to me. Sonar has had some issues in the past with plugins that generate midi. Several significant issues have since been fixed but I haven't really kept track as it doesn't come up in my workflow very often. I'm wondering if this "channel swapper" thing could have something to do with it. What does it do and why can't you live without it?

williamcopper
Another piece of data re audio output from display adapter:   sonar's audio configuration (Preferences -- Audio--Output Drivers)  showed no clue that it knew about the video-card's audio drivers to the audio-capable monitors.  However, when just in case I disabled sound for the video card and monitors,  Sonar popped up a dialog and asked if it should re-route audio from the video card to other outputs!  
 

The drivers that Sonar sees is determined by the selection of driver type, ASIO, MME, WDM/KS etc.
So until a driver type other than ASIO is selected Sonar won't see any outputs to do with a graphics card that is passing audio out though it's HDMI port. Usually a High Definition Audio driver of some sorts connected to an onboard sound chip.
When you switch from ASIO to any other driver type Sonar will ask to profile your system for sound devices. It then enumerates the various non ASIO drivers available and the bit rate and sample rates those drivers can be set to. Hope that helps. Lots more no on this subject but I don't have the time to go into too much detail now.