Dropout...Yes, another dropout thread...

Hey folks -

Out of nowhere I'm having dropout issues, both recording AND playback. Doesn't seem to be a problem in any other project, just this particular one. Once I get it going, I'm trying to do EQ mixes, then that's all she wrote. Just drops out and I cannot get it to play at all. Here are specs:

HP Desktop w/Windows XP SP2
M-Audio Profire 610 Firewire interface
4 Gig memory
Sonar Home Studio v. 6.2

Just downloaded the current drivers for the M-Audio and that seemed to do the trick...until I started messing with EQ on the tracks. I'm using Sonitus EQ to mix. Dropped out the second I started to Eq.

Any clue as to what I'm missing? I've adjusted the i/o buffer until I'm blue in the face. Doesn't seem to make a difference.  Can't adjust he latency - it's greyed out so I don't have access. Not sure why that is. It's set for "fast".

Thanks everyone.

TKT

Any clue as to what I'm missing? I've adjusted the i/o buffer until I'm blue in the face. Doesn't seem to make a difference.  Can't adjust he latency - it's greyed out so I don't have access. Not sure why that is. It's set for "fast".

if you're in WDM driver mode then you adjust the latency buffers by moving the latency slider in OPTIONS>AUDIO.  if you're in ASIO driver mode, then you adjust the latency buffers in the m-audio's control panel and it shouldn't be greyed out if you're in asio mode.

OK  I'm in the same boat.  Slugbaby replied
"I've had to drag all the audio and midi clips into a fresh project and rebuild it, deleting the old project file. "

How do I do this?  Is it really just as simple as Dragging them to a new file?

So I create a new file and just drag them?

Daveny5
 
I'm new to this, so excuse this really dumb question.  How do I "drop them in"?
 
Could you walk me through it?
 
I create a new project and then.....?

Thanks Beagle  now you have me on a hunt.  You stated
"be certain that this is your problem before continuing.  dropout shouldn't NORMALLY occur because of a corrupt project.  that doesn't happen that often.  dropout is normally caused by your soundcard and its buffer settings in sonar.  I see you have a UA-25EX, so it should be able to handle the projects without dropout as long as your settings are correct and you're not trying to use it and the onboard soundcard at the same time."



And as usual you were right.    I changed my Playback I/O and Record I/O buffers from 128 to 256.  No dropouts.   YEAH!!!!


I also made sure my "Sounds and Audio Device" under control panel all point to the UA-25EX.


So the next thing that caught my eye was my Disk Meter goes as high as 69.   Should I be concerned?  
The CPU stays at 10%.   The project files go to the External drive which is 98% empty.   I have defragged  both the internal and external drives.  I ran the DPC Latency checker and I am all green good to go.

Another question is my Record Bit and Render Bit are both 16.   Import Bit is original         Are these good settings?

I'm sampling at 44.1  should I go to 48?

Beagle,
 
The WD external is 5400  (I know, I know), It is not Green though.
 
I am set up as OPTIONS>GLOBAL>PROJECT FOLDERS.  Should anything else go there?
 

The driver mode i'm in is MME (32-bit) and i'm having the same problems. Any ideas?
 
Thanks :)