Dropouts and other production-stopping behavior

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tvolhein
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2011/02/06 16:57:33 (permalink)

Dropouts and other production-stopping behavior

Software
- Sonar 6.2.1
- Windows XP sp3

Computer
- Systemax™ Venture™ Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX
- VX2 Intel®Core™2 Duo E6700 2.67GHz, 4MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB
- 2GB DDR2
- 1 500 GB Seagate SATA [C: Drive]
- 1 1000GB Seagate SATA [Cakewalk projects]
- 1 300GB  Seagate SATA [data]
Displays
- 22″ ViewSonic LCD (2)
Sound Card
- FireFace 800 with the latest firmware and drivers

Problem and Solutions tried so far:
At first, I was just getting dropouts and Cakewalk support told me to increase the latency. I increased the latency to 512 in Sonar and on the sound card.  For a few days that took care of the problem.  Then I started getting the following problems regardless of the latency settings.
Here are the symptoms:
- Sonar starts very slowly
- Project starts very slowly
- The project hangs
- Dropouts
- Now Time (audio) is very slow to start when I press space (5 to 10 seconds)
- Now Time will move, but no readings in the meters and no sound
- The entire Sonar window will turn white
- Sonar goes into “Not Responding”

I did a check disk and found some errors on the raid drive(s).  I cleaned them up and Sonar ran through about two projects without a problem.  Then the above symptoms started again.  I did another check disk and there was another error.

I installed a new C: Drive (Seagate 7200 rpm) and installed Windows XP with just the most necessary programs.  I then installed the latest sound card drivers and firmware.

Then I installed Sonar 6.0, then 6.2, then 6.2.1.  Now Sonar is the only program on the C: Drive.  The problems persisted.  I tried moving a project to another internal data disk, and the problems persisted.

I have been using Sonar since 6.xx was released with no problems.  This problem started about a month ago.  I cannot think of anything that has changed on the computer, or with Sonar settings.

I am in the middle of a client project and I would appreciate any support I can get.

Thank you in advance,

Tom



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    talonslash
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    Re:Dropouts and other production-stopping behavior 2011/02/06 20:43:55 (permalink)
    I'm actually in the middle of a similar issue as far as latency/dropouts, but I managed to clear that up by boosting the ASIO buffer to 1024.  Not the ideal setting for MIDI tracking but does ok for mxing.  Still a work in progress on figuring why I can't lower the buffer anymore than though.

    If you installed a new hard drive along with a fresh install of Windows and Sonar then you've covered that end fairly well.  Did you install the latest drivers prior to Sonar starting to produce problems, may try  reverting back to the older drivers if possible.  Did the problems start after a windows update?  On this fresh install did it do any updates?  That could be something.  Also, is your new hard drive plugged into the same SATA port as your old one?  May try a different port in case that port is on the fritz.  Also you may run a memtest to see if maybe your memory is going bad.  I'm thinking more along the lines of hardware since it ran fine and then just up and stopped working right, even on a fresh install.

    Also, have you tried a different sound interface?  That's one thing I did, had a buddy bring over his to see if I had the same problems, turned out his ran fine, yet mine didn't, but mine works on another DAW.  You may also try a demo version of a different DAW to see if you get the same results.

    Anyway, there's a few ideas to try anyhow.  Hope this helps, and good luck!

    Edirol PCR 800
    Sonar X1 PE
    Windows 7 Pro x64
    AMD Phenom II 945 BE
    1TB SATA boot drive
    x2 500gig SATA drives striped
    8GIG Corsair dual channel RAM
    ECS BLACK SERIES GF8200A
    Echo Layla 3G PCI
    #2
    daveny5
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    Re:Dropouts and other production-stopping behavior 2011/02/06 22:31:53 (permalink)
    2 GB of memory is pretty skimpy. 

    Check the Windows Task Manager and see what else is running that might be stealing cycles from your CPU. 

    Dave
    Computer: Intel i7, ASROCK H170M, 16GB/5TB+, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Sonar Platinum, TASCAM US-16x08, Cakewalk UM-3G MIDI I/F
    Instruments: SL-880 Keyboard controller, Korg 05R/W, Korg N1R, KORG Wavestation EX
    Axes: Fender Stratocaster, Line6 Variax 300, Ovation Acoustic, Takamine Nylon Acoustic, Behringer GX212 amp, Shure SM-58 mic, Rode NT1 condenser mic.
    Outboard: Mackie 1402-VLZ mixer, TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, Digitech Vocalist WS EX, PODXTLive, various stompboxes and stuff. 
    Controllers: Korg nanoKONTROL, Wacom Bamboo Touchpad
    #3
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