Beginners help

DavidA23
Hi
Is there a troubleshooting guide available for beginners? I'm new to all of this and cannot get any sense out of it but plenty of frustration and horrible static/white noise through the speakers. I've been in and out of Edit/Preferences several hundred times but (probably due to complete idiocy and confusion) nothing seems to work.
 
Also, how do I set my spec list as part of my forum signature?
 
Software: Sonar Artist. Windows 7(64bit)
PC: Dell i5-2320 CPU. 3GHz. 8 Gb Ram
Video: Nvidia GeForce GT 350
Displays: Dell U2312HM, DVIBenQ E2200HD D-SUB
Audio Interface: Creative SB X-Fi Surround 5.1
Midi input: Novation Xio 49 Synth/MIDI Controller
 

Hi Dave,
You'll likely have may audio issues using that Creative SB card as that's not really upto the demands of what Sonar requires. You may have some 'luck' in using ASIO4All drivers on that Creative card, but it can go either way.
 
I'd suggest looking for a good audio interface (depending on how manyin/outs and features you need) which will solve a lot of these issues you're having.
 
I can highly recommend Focusrite products (my Scarlett 2i4 is excellent) as they make very good ASIO drivers and their support is also very good. Not sure wwh it's going for now, but I got it for under $150. There's also a lower end model 2i2 (if that's all you need).... 
http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i4

DavidA23
Yes, I am looking around for a different sound card mainly because there's no ASIO drivers for my current one which means there's unacceptable latency using the keyboard controller.
I had this set up working fine the other day for simply creating midi files using Staff view (forgoing using the keyboard until I get a better sound card) but then I tried to a play a few midi files I had from a few years ago using Sonar 7.
Whatever I did to get them to play properly has messed up something in Preferences that I can't undo.
There's a whole host of other problems I also have which the Help files fail to solve so I guess I really need a Complete Idiot's Troubleshooting Guide.
Oh well, since I'm only renting Artist at present I haven't lost a lot if/when I ditch it.

You don't have to ditch it as Sonar is proven to be an excellent product. Don't get discouraged.........your current soundcard will more than likely cause many different issues that you'll need to troubleshoot and will frustrate you. Hang in there and just get a decent interface to eliminate a LOT of these issues......your PC/other hardware seems to ok as well to use for a DAW.
 
A possible quick fix (until you get another interface) might be to try out different driver modes: http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Dialogs2.053.html
ASIO is the most popluar where latency/stability is concerned.....so when chosing an audio interface, make sure their support for (Win 7 or higher) is very good.  
 
Have you also checked the Knowledge Base section? http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Browse?product=SONAR+Artist&type=all  

That's likely so but until I can get something out of this, investment in a new audio int. seems pointless.
Is there a way to completely re-install Sonar as I think I've broken it. The only sound I can get out it now after 2 days of frustrating preference editing is horrible white noise.

Thanks, but there's a serious issue with my installation so now an audio interface is way down the list.
See my posts at:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-Artist-problems-m3190979.aspx
and
http://forum.cakewalk.com...truments-m3190980.aspx

Go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager ... look under audio ... how many sound cards do you see?  My Toshiba, for some unknown reason, had 2 sound card drivers.  I disabled one, and now it plays OK.  I don't say "fine" because my laptop is a piece of junk ... but it works.  I just use it when I am travelling.
 
In Sonar, change whatever device interface you have to something else, and at some point the WaveProfiler will pop up and run, test your soundcard, and make the appropriate settings.  I used to use a SoundBlaster and I got it to work.  It actually had a nice little synth on it.
 
In conclusion, as far as frustration goes ... do you ever stop to think how complicated the software must be to function as a DAW?  Blows my mind that any of them even work at all!  So if you run into a glitch, you should expect a glitch.  You are on a STEEP learning curve - the Sonar Platinum manual is over 2000 pages.  Its like when you start learning to play guitar, all frustration and bleeding fingers ... but once you get over the hump, its still all frustration and bleeding fingers.  Nothing in life worth doing well is easy.  And nothing in music is ever easy.

Thanks Bob. I did a thorough search and I'm pretty certain ASIO is not supported.
Greg. There's three sound drivers: Nvidia (from the video card), Conexant (motherboard) and SB X-fi Surround 5.1.
All but the X-fi are disabled.
Sonar has wave profiled the X-fi at least thirty times.
I do realize how complicated the software must be and I expected a steep learning curve but then I used to use Sonar 7 several years ago and that worked OK.
As far as the manual goes it would've helped enormously if I could see the pictures it refers to. They appear to be PNG's & although I can view PNGs elsewhere on my system they're just not visible in the manual. I'm betting that it was written on a Mac as I've noticed the problem before when Mac users have sent me PNG photos. I don't know what it is but I think the Mac does something odd when saving PNG files that makes them un-viewable on a Windows machine.
And music, yes I went through the bleeding fingers scenario years ago when learning guitar.
I just have this feeling that something went slightly screwy during Sonar's installation. Normally I would un-install and re-install in that situation but (& this is significant) there's no un-install file which means that Sonar doesn't appear in the 'un-install a program' list.
 
Thank you all for your help
 
David

Depending on your needs there are many very affordable solutions from the likes of Roland, Lexicon, Steinberg, IK Multimedia etc.

David
 
The SI instruments are actually very nice.  They are more than capable of being used for "I only intend to use soft synths, staff and keyboard controller."  These should play as pristinely clean sounds.  It is unusual that you are getting 'burbling' sounds on top of the instruments.  Something is interfering with the sound, and it isn't necessarily Sonar.
 
While I can only guess at what 'burbling' sounds like, you may want to think about the path that sound has to take to get from the soft synth to your speakers.  It is quite possible that somewhere you have a setting that is causing problems for the sound signal.  Some common things that can happen to mess with the signal are:
 
1) having the sound loop back onto itself (like feedback?).  Do you have a feature on your sound card set to play the input on the output speakers?
 
2) There is a clock signal that keeps the timing for the sound signal synchronized.  You may what to check to see that in preferences, you have the audio timing master set to the same device you are outputting sound to.
 
3) you may be forcing bit depth and sample rate conversions while playing projects.  To prevent this, check that your device is set up in windows with the same bit depth and sample rate that your project settings and preferences are set to.  This one can be tricky because other applications may change the sound card settings on you without letting you know.
 
4) The output volume from one stage of the sound chain may be set so high that it is overloading another stage.  To see if this is happening, turn the track volume and the bus volume down and see if the sound cleans up.  Usually this is more clicking and popping sounds instead of 'burbling' though.
 
5)Your 'sound card' has features to 'improve the sound' like a loudness control, internal equalizer to 'optimize' your sound for movies, etc.  You will want to make sure that any of these features are disabled so that you are actually listening to the signal that you are producing.  Otherwise your signal will be 'perfected' by some software idiot who knows better than you what you should hear.
 
Sonar Artist will do what you are after.  Don't throw out the baby because you have one checkbox set wrong in a silly configuration box.
 
 
 
 

Nicely done David!