Long-time question about SONAR

I suppose this falls into the "idle curiosity" category, since I enjoy working with SONAR and I have no intention of jumping ship.

From SONAR 1 until 7.x, I've had lots of crashes - sometimes several a day, but I'm used to it and I no longer see it as a huge problem. It usually happens during adjustments of virtual synths during playback of fast sequences, but sometimes it happens for no reason I can deduce. This has been the norm across multiple PCs/sound cards and SONAR versions. AUTOSAVE rescues work every few minutes and I save incrementally and often between that, so aside from the minute it takes to reboot, nothing is lost. I gotta say SONAR is the least stable app I use (well, at least since LIGHTWAVE 6), and I have a huge suite of audiovisual programs, most of which have never crashed at all.

My question is: What is so huge about SONAR's hooks into the system that a crash requires rebooting before any audio will work again? When SONAR goes down, a simple re-start will not bring back SONAR audio, and quite often even WINAMP and SOUND FORGE and ACID can't play audio until rebooting. When other audio programs crash, simply restarting them restores audio, and no other programs are affected. What is SONAR doing in there that's so dangerous? Are other MIDI apps equally crazy?

Dropouts maybe but crashes no, I don't generally get these and I have used Sonar on a range of computers (laptops and desktops) and with a number of different soundcards (Yamaha, Echo and Edirol).

Hell, I'm even using totally out of date audio hardware and it still works ok!

Perhaps if you post some specs and tell us what kind of set up you have (ie is it a dedicated DAW or do you use it for internet as well etc etc) then maybe we can help free you of the crashing curse.

Child

I too share your experiences and sentiments, and misery loves company. I also have had periodic crashes across more than one machine and operating system and have learned to live with them for the sole reason that I like the Sonar App. They are frustrating. I suspect they must have something to do with drivers, and I could spend hours and hours trying to figure out which one and how (or if) it can be fixed. It seems easier to just learn to accept it and move on with my work. But certainly a more robust Sonar program would be nice. Someday... This however, is a big part of the reason I am reluctant to upgrade to S8PE from S6PE. I have for the most part figured out the pitfalls of S6. Why would I want to have to learn this all over again for a handful of upgrades that may not impact my studio all that much. For now, I'll live with 6.

msr

To the OP: what are you sys specs?? SONAR never crashed for me EVER!!

ORIGINAL: karim82

To the OP: what are you sys specs?? SONAR never crashed for me EVER!!

I had a crash here and there over the tears, but who hasnt???? Its ususlaly due to somethnig else causing it also. I think you just have had some bad luck picking sound cards and pc's. Ive has sonar 6,7, and 8 and experience nothing of what your saying....
How about listing your hardware and config settings. List something
Cj

This problem has persisted over multiple configurations of PCs - about five altogether. The lineup includes everything from Win98SE Celeron boxes with on-board sound up to my current music box, which is:
Windows XP 32-bit SP2
P4 3ghz
2 gigs RAM
Asus 775i65GV mobo
On-board video, screen res 1024 X 768 (high enough - I don't keep a lot of windows open)
Echo MIA (without MIDI)

I use other computers for online activities and 3D animation and graphics.

I use no MIDI controllers. I'm a mouse-click composer. About 90% of my sounds come from Livesynth Pro (a very old version) and a large collection of soundfonts, with effects such as chorus and vibrato added during mixing in VEGAS. I like Livesynth because it's friendlier and easier to use than other soundfont players. My virtual synths include those installed with SONAR, FM7 and Pro 53 and some free VSTs. Post-processing makes the synth roster sound bigger and more powerful. Nothing I do in SONAR really taxes the CPU. Mixing in VEGAS is a much more pleasant process than mixing in SONAR. I output individual dry tracks from SONAR. VEGAS has never crashed on me during six or more years of use, except when saving a file to an external drive that got switched off. Using ACID's limited MIDI/VST capabilities has never caused a crash. Composing drum loops with the tracker MED has never caused a crash in twelve years. I used to use Cakewalk and MED with a MIDI interface and an external CM-64 synth and neither app crashed with that setup.

As far as SONAR troubleshooting, I tried years ago, but when the identical issues persisted across multiple hardware setups, I decided to just live with it because I like the interface better than that of other MIDI apps. I tried other soundfont players in case Livesynth was causing crashes, but there was no difference in behavior. I run MEMCHECK on all my systems to check for RAM errors.

Really, I'm just curious as to why, of all the apps I use, SONAR is the only frequent crasher, and the absolutely only app which requires rebooting to restore audio. It's like a beloved houseguest you keep inviting back, even though she breaks something and barfs on the couch during every visit. In some deep-in-the-guts way, SONAR must be very different than other apps I use. I'm guessing it's the virtual synth connection.

ORIGINAL: lazarous

About 90% of my sounds come from Livesynth Pro (a very old version)

Just a thought... I wonder if this is the common thread between all of your different computer configurations?

+1

P4 3ghz
2 gigs RAM
Asus 775i65GV mobo
On-board video, screen res 1024 X 768 (high enough - I don't keep a lot of windows open)
Echo MIA (without MIDI)

I use other computers for online activities and 3D animation and graphics.

I use no MIDI controllers. I'm a mouse-click composer. About 90% of my sounds come from Livesynth Pro (a very old version) and a large collection of soundfonts, with effects such as chorus and vibrato added during mixing in VEGAS. I like Livesynth because it's friendlier and easier to use than other soundfont players. My virtual synths include those installed with SONAR, FM7 and Pro 53 and some free VSTs. Post-processing makes the synth roster sound bigger and more powerful. Nothing I do in SONAR really taxes the CPU.

You can only do so much with a single core pc, in my opinion. Im not just lucky that my sonar doesnt do what yours supposedly does. If you use a sinlge core pc, you need to start being smart about it and start freezing and/or rendering your soft synths. soem projects are over 80 tracks with just as many plugins and i do not crash or drop out. Yu need to really look into your set up. We all have the same Version of sonar.
Cj

Hm. Maybe Sound Forge adds some DX plugs. Don't have the audio PC switched on at the moment to check....