OldDog


A couple of things, if you are running a discontinued OS like XP you may run into problems, if your machine is underpowered or has minimal RAM you may have problems, if your machine is also your internet browsing machine you might have problems.
Harry

Harry:

1. Windows XP is still one of the Operating Systems recommended by Sonar
2. My machine is a Quad Core, definitely not under powered
3. I have 4Gb of RAM installed
4. This macihne has never been and never will be, interent enabled

So what, is causing Sonar X1a to crash, seeminghly at random? And I mean a hard crash - right back to the desktop without even doing anything remotely stressful with the system?
 
All previous versions of Sonar have been increasingly stable with this machine - 8.5.3 being absolutely rock solid with whatever I threw at it.

I cannot complete a song with Sonar X1 without the bugs getting in the way and ruining my project. I have tried several times.

Also, I cannot sell my copy used to anyone on Craigslist because that would be selling them something which is broken and I feel unethical selling it to someone.

Read that last sentence again.

You will have the 'Sonar Damage Control Team' out to lie about the product having no issues, but if you open the box, do NOT say I didn't warn you as you are truly setting yourself up for a disappointment.

Cakewalk NEEDS you to return your product to the store in order to get the bugs (they are much more than bugs actually) fixed. Please don't fall for the SDCT's attempts to get you to push the red button. Don't do it.

Bristol_Jonesey

OldDog


A couple of things, if you are running a discontinued OS like XP you may run into problems, if your machine is underpowered or has minimal RAM you may have problems, if your machine is also your internet browsing machine you might have problems.
Harry

Harry:

1. Windows XP is still one of the Operating Systems recommended by Sonar
2. My machine is a Quad Core, definitely not under powered
3. I have 4Gb of RAM installed
4. This macihne has never been and never will be, interent enabled

So what, is causing Sonar X1a to crash, seeminghly at random? And I mean a hard crash - right back to the desktop without even doing anything remotely stressful with the system?
 
All previous versions of Sonar have been increasingly stable with this machine - 8.5.3 being absolutely rock solid with whatever I threw at it.

Jonesy,
 
I think the bigger question is why is my machine stable, yet yours is not?  If everyone was crashing then certainly it would be Cakewalk's fault, the fact that some are and others are not indicates variances in our machines.  My DAW has Cakewalk, Sony Vegas, and Komplete 7 on it, plus a handful of small support apps.  And the only crashes are what I described earlier. 
 
The plot thickens..........

Bristol_Jonesey,

Run Memtest86  (http://memtest86.com/)

If you can afford it or 'get your hands on it' , run spinrite (http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm)

Make sure you are not running any of that junk software that comes with those WD external drives, even though its backup function is nice, that software is the devil. Manual backups my friend.

Update your Bios

What is your DPC latency like?

Your power supply might be the culprit as well, look into a Seasonic, calculate you PS needs here: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

DBerriman


Thanks to everyone who responded.
 
I installed the Sapphire Pro 24, then the Sonar X1.  It took some doing (driver and software updates galore), but I got everything working now.
 
The program itself is overwhelming.  They make it look so smooth and easy on the videos.  "With the new Sonar Skylight, everything is at your fingertips...."  Yeah, if you knew where to look / how to use them.  This is not a complaint, just an observation.  There must be 300 features "at your fingertips" at any given moment in X1.  Nice to have them nearby, sure, but they are no clearer or easier to work with than anything else I've encountered. This will take a LOT of time for newbies such as myself to get anywhere near up to speed for even basic recording, arranging, production.  For example, I recorded a simple audio / midi track using the built-in Piano soft-synth and simply want to "export" this audio into an Mp3 track so that I could upload it to my website, or to Facebook.  How to do this?  Well, I'll have to figure that out yet.  I see a "burn to CD" option, but don't see a "create MP3" tab.   I know this is probably VERY quick and easy to do, but darned if I could find it.  And there is NO Owner's Manual to speak of within the BOX.  I paid extra for the box (rather than the download) because I wanted a comprehensive manual at my side.  BUT, it does NOT come with one.  It comes with one small "outline" / starter manual a few pages long, and one foldout with shortcuts.  So much for the "comprehensive" manual I had expected!
 
Now, having said all of that, I'll say this.  X1 hasn't crashed, clicked, gliched, frozen or ANYTHING of the sort.  Not once, which is a BIG relief.  It has been ROCK-SOLID.  I have found that I can even leave email and Internet windows open without any drag or effect on my Sonar project whatsoever.  It is stable and the sound coming from the Saffire Pro is sweetness.  The "True Piano" is incredible. 
 
It's just a bit of a shame to me that technology is so damned complicated these days that making music / getting creative tends to take a backseat to fiddling with knobs, buttons, sliders, parameters, tools and dozens and dozens of other "features" in order to get what you want.  What happened to the days when a band would show up at a studio, and 10 hours later would have a complete album, mixed and ready for print?

HI,
I am not at my DAW now, but creating a MP3 is pretty easy to do in Sonar X1. Go to File - Export - Audio and set everything to your liking and you are done.
Check out all the options you have in the export dialog window. 
You can try using Help menu instead of the non-existing printed manual. Or you can download PDF version of the complete manual here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2168001

Good luck.

Btw, I like X1 but I am  impatiently waiting for the upcoming bug-fixes. Snap to grid changing randomly, audio metronome output changing randomly, narrow console view "mess", stuttering audio when changing loop points or inserting  FXs or turning FXs on/off, audio snap broken.

This is not a bug but I wish CW would change this behavior back to what we have in 8.5: 

- in PRV view, right-clicking a note will delete it. In 8.5 an additional options menu for the note would appear. In X1 we have to hold CTRL while right-clicking a note to get that menu. I deleted so many notes unintentionally because of this :) I am using the menu far more often than deleting notes, so it would be more comfortable to have it right under the right-click. 

Hi there,

I posted a thread today called X1: crashing like crazy. I was about ready to give up on X1. I even went out and bought a copy of Pro Tools 9. X1 is pretty buggy and unstable, but a lot of people seem to be able to run it without issue.  Not sure if you paid for a full version or an upgrade, but I'd say give it a go. You might be one of the lucky ones.
Come check out my thread if you have any issues. There are some pretty smart users around there today.

Good Luck.

D

The new computer is capable...i3, 1.5T, 4G, Windows 7 64 bit, and an old pair of speakers from my first computer. They still sound great, btw. You'll note that I haven't purchased a proper sound card / audio interface yet because my "old" one, an M--Audio Delta Audiophile 2496, was said to be not compatible with this machine The tech said that it crashed the new system every time he tried to install it, nor could he find drivers for it. So I'm also open to thoughts on sound cards. I'm leaning toward an external hub like the Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, or something similar.

 
The new computer is capable of 32 bit operation. 4G on a 64 bit machine? That doesn't sound right. Most of the 64 bit machines have at least 8G. I haven't read the whole thread, but that is the obvious first thing to look at. At some point you're going to realize that DAW recording is bigger than the off the shelf computer makers acknowledge and it takes a dedicated machine to do it right. X1 is much larger than Sonar 4, much more complicated, and you're going to have to learn it. It's all up to you.

buik

buik
if the industry jumped off a bridge, would they? 
 
 
buik
 
 its almost as bad as killing jesus.  its certainly worse than killing a regular baby
 
 
buik

 a daw that doesnt snap to grid?  anyone defends that is a dam fool.  its just wrong.

LMFAO ! Best quotes ever!
 

Some responses:

Buik - I have X1, still use Sonar 8.5 because I almost loathe X1, but I prefer things to be accurately reported and/or commented on.  "... put out a daw that doesnt snap to grid?..."  I don't know who did.  X1 snaps to grid just fine if you know what you're doing.

There - I said something-Again, in defense of X1.  I want it to look better, to work better, and so it's just sitting there on my machine unused in case it's ever fixed, but I still like things said about it to be accurate.

Crg - "...4G on a 64 bit machine? That doesn't sound right. Most of the 64 bit machines have at least 8G..."  I'm on a 64 machine with 4 gigs of ram.  Such set ups do exist.  It's a laptop spec - I'm on an HP Pavilion, the sort of computer that can have those kind of perhaps unlikely specs.

Back to Buik - a side note-- even That baby was "regular"--pretty sure.

Randy B.