Curious if anyone else has experienced this

There has been several times when working on a project where the tabs in the multidock disappear.  I have two 28" monitors and usually have my TV on one monitor and PRV and CV in the multidock on the other monitor.

I will usually have at least two or three tabs...usually the CV and a couple of track PRV's.  Then all of a sudden I look and all of the tabs along the top of the multidock are gone...just a white background where they were, making it impossible to switch between the views.

The only way to fix it is to save the project...close Sonar...and reopen it.  Then the tabs re-appear.

Anyone else seen this before?

Thanks Sam....it has been a few months since I checked for an updated video driver.  I'll also try the shortcuts and see if that brings them back...!

Also be sure you have Aero on. Its important. You have the graphics horsepower to handle it.

What is Aero?  I'm not familiar with it...

New graphics features in Win 7, http://windows.microsoft....products/features/aero

Ahhhhh.....learned something new :) .  My DAW is strictly a work machine...ONLY for audio and video work.  I use Sony Vegas Pro 11 for my video work and switched over to Sonar X1 back in January for audio stuff.  So I could care less about what things look like as far as eye candy goes in the OS.

If Aero is something that Sonar "needs" that's one thing.  Otherwise...I'd rather not have it using any resources.

I nearly forgot. I also found a clean install of X1 to d (expanded) resolved a lot of glitchy weird behavior including disappearing Control bar, Multidock tabs and the like.

mudgel


In Win 7 and Vista, Aero is important for allowing the OS graphics engine to offload to the GpU. If you turn it off then the CPU has to handle all graphics throughput adding a burden that's not necessary.

In SONAR X1 I think it was Seth who said that a 1 Gig graphics card was recommended even though it is only a 2D application. From my personal experience lve found that leaving Aero on, my DAW performs better than with it turned off.

If you don't use Aero then their are no advanced graphics that are "straining" the CPU.

If you leave Aero turned off Your GPU still acts like a GPU... and in fact it doesn't have to "strain" to provide all the silly Aero eye candy.

That's why Microsoft only describes Aero as a visual enhancement and that is why no one can ever produce any official Microsoft documentation that explains how Aero is required for, or enhances, performance.

I've been waiting for years, for someone who explains that Aero is a performance enhancement, to produce a link to a Microsoft document that substantiates the claim.

The system isn't *strained* by the graphic requirements until you turn on the multiple layers of transparency. That's why Microsoft partnered with Nvidia to find a way to provide the entertainment value of fancy graphics while making sure a GPU was tweaked for it.

There are lots of features on GPUs that 99% of the apps on a Microsoft system don't use.

It's a case of a justifying a justification... it's a zero sum system... it's a luke warm attempt to copy some features from the Mac OS gui.




You can safely leave Aero off and it will not hurt your system.


best regards,
mike

I read all that stuff the last time you pretended that you did.

:-)

Good boy.

 Define "good"?

 For example; On my win64 Laptop with 18.5 diagonal screen the graphics memory isn't any where near the GPU, and the highly efficient yet tiny GPU it does have runs cool and uses very little power.

 I call that "good".

 
 Thanks for not using one of your more often used direct insults or frequent suggestions that I seek out mental health counseling.

 That was nice for a change.

 best regards,
mike

Teds_Studio


There has been several times when working on a project where the tabs in the multidock disappear.  I have two 28" monitors and usually have my TV on one monitor and PRV and CV in the multidock on the other monitor.

I will usually have at least two or three tabs...usually the CV and a couple of track PRV's.  Then all of a sudden I look and all of the tabs along the top of the multidock are gone...just a white background where they were, making it impossible to switch between the views.

The only way to fix it is to save the project...close Sonar...and reopen it.  Then the tabs re-appear.

Anyone else seen this before?

Had a similar issue in the past, with a plug in or soft synth... I would get a blank space where there was usually some adjustment knobs or some such... I found that in this case, it was as easy as minimizing the window then restoring it and all was as it should be, maybe giving a glitchy graphics driver the chance to redraw. Anyway, you might try just minimizing the SONAR window and restoring it.


Best,
Rob


ps... very interested in the Aero discussion. I have no issues with stressed CPU, but maybe in the future this might prove to be useful info.

I can make this easy. Here is a link to Microsoft's official website where Microsoft officially advises you that you may turn off Aero to improve performance.

http://windows.microsoft....to-improve-performance

How simple is that?


best regards,
mike

I'll agree to the extent that there are many other considerations, but I feel it nullifies broad based 3rd party warnings that turning Aero off somehow increases the strain on your over all system.

For example; John has told me many times that turning off Aero "hurts" our system... but it not true... and it's never been substantiated by any official Microsoft document that he's linked to.

What I infer, is that Microsoft doesn't warn us that turning Aero off "hurts" your computer performance. Instead they repeatedly, in numerous documents, point out that turning off Aero results in Aero being turned off.

H.P. the largest single desktop and laptop vendor on the planet advises people to turn off Aero when they wish to increase performance. You can easily find the links in their support area... I don't have them at hand. I think that further that suggests that it can't "hurt" that bad.

best regards,
mike

I did update my video card driver to their latest driver dated just a few days ago.  But...I opened up a project today and right off the bat....my tabs disappeared on the multidock.  I tried minimizing it and reopening it...but to no avail.  The only way the tabs will come back is to close Sonar and open it back up.

But then again....the tabs only disappeared the one time right after I started this morning....everything worked OK the rest of the day.

I will try turning off Aero when it happens again and see if that will make a difference.  With having a 1 gig video card I'm sure it has plenty of GPU power.  It's just that it might not like playing nicely with Sonar for some reason.

Some say that ATI graphics work best with Sonar.  I have an Nvidia card, and most say in the Sony Vegas forum (which I also use Sony Vegas) that Nvidia cards work best with Vegas.

So far the graphics with the tabs on the multidock is the only problem I've had with Sonar.