Clicks and pops, and audible noise from track faders (x3e)

It sounds like you're pushing a constraint like IO (input output for reading the hard drive) or processor. In such a case, random things will cause crackling. When IO is at a limit, minor changes in processing can interrupt critical IO. Check the file size you are writing. Make sure you are recording 24 bit waves, not 32... find this in preferences.
 
You've been in the forum since 2005, but I'll mention LatencyMon anyway.
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
 
This is always a good tool to use to check your Deferred procedure call latency.

Although the way you describe some of the symptoms make it sound like the noise is coming from SONAR, I have to wonder if this might be an analog issue like low frequencies vibrating a loose connection to your monitors or possibly a component going bad in the analog section of your interface. Do you get the same noise monitoring with headphones? You might also try a demo or freeware version of another audio app to check whether it might be a firmware/hardware/system problem outside of SONAR. And can you reproduce the problem in a new project not using any 3rd-party plugins?
 
 
 
 
 
 

I doubt this will make a difference, it can't hurt to try and I would definitely do it before a re-install; force a full re-personalization by holding CTRL and SHIFT while starting SONAR. This process resets the user directory config files and some registry settings back to factory defaults.
 
Make sure all drivers (not just audio) and the OS are up to date.

Yeah everything is up to date, I'm a power user with a high-end gaming pc. My new card is a GTX 770, used to have a 580. Ctrl+shift start didn't work, nor did deleting aud.ini and ttsseq.ini. Recorded fader automation does not create the noise, only physically moving it with the mouse or a midi controller during playback does. Still clicks and pops in any case, though.

Spencer
 Nothing happened in my system except a new video card, which can't possibly be related to this.

Why not?

Just for "fun" I re-installed the same driver I used to have with my 580, version 320.18, same problem. In any case I'm quite simply unable to believe that either a video card or a mouse driver (the fader itself is being problematic, mouse or midi controller) could somehow interfere with a professional daw. Especially when the rest of the audio software works fine (and the daw itself used to perform as intended). Yes I meant recorded automation, I edited the post, sorry about that. During the recording of the automation, there is indeed the noise. Speaking of which, I used my X-Fi's What U Hear feature to record the fader noise, for those who are curious. Not sure where the odd ringing comes from, possibly the X-Fi's rather crappy recorder, but you can still clearly hear, in succession, the volume fader, the pan fader and then the gain fader. Bonus: a click upon pressing Stop, despite having a long enough Fade Out on Stop to normally avoid this.
Here it is on soundcloud: http://bit.ly/1lqFBl5
 
This guy here http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-Faders-Make-Noise-When-Using-SPDIF-and-Analog-outs-m2437639.aspx had a similar problem, it would seem. He probably went on to keep using DAWs that don't have such highly illogical and apparently unsolvable issues. I'm rather tempted myself.

Spencer
 
This guy here http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-Faders-Make-Noise-When-Using-SPDIF-and-Analog-outs-m2437639.aspx had a similar problem, it would seem. He probably went on to keep using DAWs that don't have such highly illogical and apparently unsolvable issues. I'm rather tempted myself.

Snarky and unfounded. The gentlemen's most recent post discussed using X3. Not sure how that helps your cause but you know best.
 
Good luck

Spencer,
If you are on Win 7, try turning on the Aero interface. This is supposed to offload graphics chores to the GPU rather than the CPU. This helped with crackles and pops on my system although I am sure you have a much beefier setup than I do. You don't need all the snazzy Aero features, I turned off everything but smooth screen fonts so it looks exactly the same as non-Aero.
Also there was a thread within the last two months describing a high end Nvidia card switching power modes. This caused problems similar to yours. There was a registry or GPU control panel option to keep the GPU in one power mode. I tried to find this thread but could not. Maybe someone here can direct you to it.
Michael
 

robert_e_bone
1.  What is the ASIO Buffer Size set to for your audio interface?
-192
2.  In Sonar, what is the Driver Mode set to, and what does Sonar report your Total Roundtrip Latency to be?
-ASIO, 44.1KHz, 24bit, 10.1ms roundtrip
3.  Does this noise happen in ALL projects, some projects, or just 1 project?
-All projects, old and new.
4.  Have you tried starting a new project and recording, with NO effects loaded at all, and then tested to see if the noise is still present?
-Yes. As long as there is any discernable low frequency content, be it a synth or sample, it will click and pop and the fader will make the noise when moved. There's nothing else at all in the project. Not related to PDC either.
5.  IF your audio interface is connected to your computer through a USB port, is it connected through a USB 3 port, or through a USB 2 port?
-My sound card is Firewire. Focusrite Saffire Pro24dsp.
6.  Is ASIO4ALL installed on your system, even if it there but not used?
-No. Never installed that.
 

I did the PCie tweak, hopeful it would help, and I guess it kind of does since the clicks do seem less numerous, but they're still there, and the fader still makes noise when moved. To be truthful I hate nVidia's drivers, their software team is full of completely hopeless dweebs and they always break important stuff (their latest work of art is messing up texture filter clamping), however in this case, if my new card really is the culprit, which would leave me truly dumbfounded, IMHO it's on Cakewalk's end since nothing else in my vast list of audio software is affected by it. Really, sometimes I think it's just too bad that every single other daw's interface is abysmal compared to Sonar. Certainly would save me some headaches otherwise. What a finnicky, annoying audio engine.
 
Tried disabling aero, didn't help, instead left me traumatized. Good lord. Never again.
My specs are i5 2500k 4.4ghz, asus p8z68v/gen3, 2x4gb g.skill 1600mhz ddr3, zotac gtx770 4gb, crucial m4 ssd 128gb, assortment of 5-6TB worth of secondary drives, good old Novation X-Station 49 with the upper octave not working so well anymore, 800w mushkin PSU, vestigial 5.25" bay hard drive cooler from 10 years ago with a non-connected 150gb Raptor drive in it, but more importantly it has a still functional scrolling LED display which says "Apple Sucks!!". Ties the box together like nothing else.

Unfortunately that's not a possible workaround. I'll chuck sonar long before I chuck my graphics card. Other daws don't have such non-sensical problems.
 
@John I tried, didn't help.

Spencer
To be truthful I hate nVidia's drivers, their software team is full of completely hopeless dweebs and they always break important stuff (their latest work of art is messing up texture filter clamping), however in this case, if my new card really is the culprit, which would leave me truly dumbfounded, IMHO it's on Cakewalk's end since nothing else in my vast list of audio software is affected by it.

 
I'm not sure what the vast list of software includes, but Sonar ties in with Windows at a very fundamental level...more so than most other programs, which is a major reason why Sonar X3 needs to limit its official support to Windows 7 and 8. While this tight integration promotes better performance with Sonar, it is more dependent on its host machine.
 
I have often experienced graphics card issues that affect one piece of software but not another. One issue affected anything from M-Audio but nothing from Cakewalk. I reviewed a Focusrite interface that was non-functional until I downloaded updated graphics drivers. Intuitively, it would seem that a high-end gaming machine would be ideal for audio because the emphasis is on performance. However, the performance prioritizes incredibly fast frame rates from games rather than passing audio over buses. Gamers don't really care if the audio is delayed by 50ms; Sonar users do. Some high-end graphics cards grab the PCI bus and won't let go.
 
I've always had my computers integrated by companies that specialized in machines for audio. They generally recommend very basic graphic cards. When I swapped out an nVidia for a fanless ATI, it helped performance as well as noise levels. When I had the nVidia card, I always set a system restore point after downloading drivers, and would exercise the drivers thoroughly. I didn't have to restore often, but when I did, I was very glad I set that restore point.
 
It took me quite a while to accept that graphics cards and drivers could have such a major effect on pro audio. It just didn't seem to make sense. But over the years, I've learned that graphics capabilities of Windows computers can make a huge difference with audio-related programs.

Spencer
Checked out demos for Studio One, Reaper, Fl Studio. None of them have the problem

 
To my point, they're all cross-platform.
 

Like, wtf. How can the faders even possibly make noise, and one single bass track all on its own generate clicks&pops on a powerhouse computer. Something is definitely awry on a fundamental level in the audio engine, and I am the lucky winner who gets to witness it. Can't wrap my head around it at all.

If it was a problem solely with the audio engine, somebody else would be experiencing it. That's not to say there isn't a potential problem in the audio engine that manifests under particular circumstances, but given that it worked before a new graphics card and didn't work properly after a new graphics card, then it seems like the issue is either something in the graphics card drivers or the way the audio engine interacts with those particular drivers.
 
Humor me: try using the most plain vanilla USB mouse you can find and see if that makes a difference. Maybe the new graphics card drivers have special accommodations for high-performance gaming mice? These are known to cause audio performance issues, and not just with Sonar.

Spencer
Better still: no mouse plugged in at all, the problems persists. Adjusting the faders with my midi controller makes the same noise. By now, with the problem happening with no video card or mouse plugged in, it can be assumed my gaming gear isn't related.

 
But the drivers are still installed. I've had problems with some audio interface drivers with ASIO4ALL installed, even when using the native drivers and ASIO4ALL is just sitting there. Those nVidia driver packages are what, over 100MB? They put a lot of files into your system.
 

 Same with the Saffire which performs flawlessly in all other asio software I can throw at it. In any case, this is certainly eye-opening: cross-platform software isn't necessarily worse than windows exclusive.

My point about cross-platform is that by being Windows-only, Sonar can take advantage of esoteric Windows features that are less likely to be used by cross-platform software. The same holds for Logic on the Mac. This is also a reason why you won't see a Mac port of Sonar any time soon; it's too intertwined with the Windows OS. Separating them would be a Heculean task. But this also means that if Windows sneezes, Sonar catches a cold.
 
What I'm saying is:
 
1. If it was a universally-applicable audio engine problem, you wouldn't be the only person experiencing it. I've logged major hours in these forums and never saw a post that moving faders caused issues. This isn't to say I might have missed it, but what you're describing is at best extremely rare.
2. It seems logical that the issues are the result of the audio engine interacting with...something. But we don't know what, So a re-install won't help, because it won't change the nature of the interaction.
3. No one else has been able to offer a solution, presumably because the people reading this thread haven't experienced it.
4. The issue of installing a graphics card and having problems appear makes something involving the graphics card suspect. But, it could also be coincidence.
 
One last-ditch thought: You mentioned Kontakt. I had some very strange crackling problems related to mouse movements in the track view (not console view, interestingly enough) that happened only in projects that had instances of Kontakt. After I updated Kontakt, the problem went away. Are you on the latest updates of the software that you're using in this particular project?

Well, yeah, I did say that the only thing that changed was a new graphics card, but it might very well have been before or after that the problem started occurring. I just didn't take notice of it before a few days back, at first I erroneously attributed the problem to the hard drive my samples are on (confirmed to be unrelated). I mean, I have always had a nVidia driver installed. That's nothing new for my system. I even re-installed the one I had when I know for sure Sonar used to work fine. This, combined with knowing that the problem occurs even with the card sitting on my desk, to me is enough to rule out the possibility. Same with the mouse. Again the issue couldn't possibly have anything less to do with the mouse, which has always worked perfectly before and still does, since midi control does the same thing when the mouse isn't plugged in at all.
 
It's not related to Kontakt or any instrument. Stand-alone kontakt has no issues. It can be a raw sine wave from z3ta+, an audio track with 808 kicks in it, or anything at all as long as it has bass frequencies and it will click/pop and the fader will make noise, otherwise no. If I take my zeta sine, play a low note, then high-pass the bass, no fader noise. Sonar has just decided for me that I have too much bass in my projects, which sadly won't get me anywhere since I produce urban/dance music. I'd gladly switch for non-working high freqs if I could!
 
I'll re-install again tomorrow as per these instructions, see if it helps. Hopefully I'll be in contact with support by then as well.

Yes, same problem irregardless of levels. Don't worry, I'm militant about clipping, nothing is ever in the red over here. So, no, it doesn't discriminate about levels. Speaking of which, the bus/master faders make noise as well. Not only the audio tracks.