Completely new to digital recording and sonar 8... clueless.

SO have you run the dpclat meter to see if you have set your computer to use as a DAW. Most computers need to be tweaked , no wireless and laptops often need the battery management disabled. You need the latest drivers for your interface, ASIO mode, DAW recording is a dream come true for those of us who used to spend thousand of dollars for the same capabilities with hardware. But it is by no means as easy to use as those old stand alone units. It more than worth your time because of the higher quality results and it's all there. , but that's the key, it takes a lot of patience and time. It has taken me a year and I'm by no means all the way there yet. Hang in there and read and ask questions. welcome to the forum too..

sorry- totally understand the frustrations! Right on suggestion (!) IS the dpclat latency checker- that's square one for sure! Also what is your settings for buffer, latency, etc? If you're having trouble, a good first guess would be to increase the buffer or latency. Have you tried that? 
Also that Tascam is not the most up-to-date device on earth, I think. Some of the issues could be usb and windows 7 related, and also tascam device related. Have you tried Cake phone support in this year? If you just give them some time on hold, they are fantastic in my experience.  

I think you may find that your problems are not internal to the Sonar software, but they may be hardware-related... just a guess? I would try looking there first, and try cake phone support- just wait on hold... it's the secret...

The advice is free! Priced right, eh?!

Hey, I'm old enough to get (and well remember) what you mean. Musician, recordist first, and the Digital Audio Workstation transition was  ..interesting. I admire seeing kids' take to this stuff like nothing to it. Coming from tape and ADATS, Sona.. oops, ProAudio8 alone was a curve.
Here comes some 'it depends. You might do some searches- there's bound to be some references out there to help on configuring the PC. Maybe consider looking in your area for some tech help for hire?
Myself, I'm ok enough with the systems to maintain and understand, but as for a rig I can rely on.. I took the purpose built 'cut to the chase route and concentrate on music and recordings.
Per my sig at the bottom there..

Thanks for your help!
I am so excited to be getting any advice from experienced users after trying to figure this one out alone for a year with no manual.
 
1. Dpclat latency checker from thesycon has been run and stayed completely green the entire time that sonar was operating. I played back one of the stock recordings that  came with sonar and it still dropped out numerous times while dpclat registered very low green the whole time.  A few spikes here and there but always low green and seemingly unrelated to the dropouts.
2. Adjusted the tascam sound card settings per setup instructions found on the cakewalk website (they were already set correctly)
3. Wave profiler has been run
4. Adjusted the buffer and latency settings multiple times per the sonar 8 help instuctions  
 
and the results.... no change still drops out mulitiple times during playback.  I haven't set up to record in a long time, and I almost threw my computer across the room in wall-eyed frustration last time. };(
 
Again thanks for your help.
 
rp
 
I don't really expect this tascam product to work flawlessly (given the price)but others have commented that it works beautifully for them. 
I would not like to throw money at the problem without some understanding of the workings of the hardware
 

purdumr


Thanks for your help!
I am so excited to be getting any advice from experienced users after trying to figure this one out alone for a year with no manual.
 
 
 

There's a 1500 page manual on your SONAR DVD, but you sure have tried lots of things already. There's a recent post here somewhere in which the OP says he got rid of the clicks and pops on his 64 bit/8G RAM system with taking half of the RAM out. No disturbance with 4 G of RAM.
Memory stick problems naturally are more likely when you got  memory...

Are you using ASIO driver mode? Options-Audio-Advanced.