static on recording

I guess this is a new topic, though it is still part of my adjustment to my newcomputer, as from the "New computer fast, but..." thread.
I now find that when I record an audio track from my already recorded MIDI data, I am getting terrible distortion on my audio track. I have even started to record at a  much lower amplitute, so that the peaks do not even touch the top of the meters. I still get this distortion, which is very prominent. I have even copied the MIDI track, then opened up a new project, and tried to copy to audio in that new track. However, the distortion continues. I have then moved my buffer bar a little to the right, thinking that this might help, but it doesn't.
One clue I may have is that when I go to options\audio, and I hit the Audio hardware profiler, I see that--after it does it's profiling action--it says "Audio hardware profiled," but that 176400 Hz and 192000Hz are each not available. It is a Delta 66 M-Audio card, and I have a new pretty fast computer (Intel i5, 3.2 Ghz processor, with 6 GB of RAM.)
Any suggestions. The distortion is as loud as the recording, so it's not something I can ignore.
Thanks.
LarryN

I should add that the distortion is worst around the chords that are highest in pitch. That is why I thought that the fact that the 2 higher freq bands that the profiler said were not available might be a clue.

Ok, I got that info. My music computer is 2 floors down.
My sampling rate is 44,000 (or did I write 44,100?).
The audio bit driver depth is 16. I do NOT have the box near 64 (bit?) engine checked, since I've heard it's not needed if I only have 6 kHz of RAM.
Buffer is all the way to the left (it says "fast", with an effective latency at 5.8 (or 5.6.) My writing is pretty bad.
Dim solo gain is -12dB.
Thanks for your interest
LarryN

LNovik


I should add that the distortion is worst around the chords that are highest in pitch. That is why I thought that the fact that the 2 higher freq bands that the profiler said were not available might be a clue.

Those aren't frequency bands, those are sample rates. If your Sonar sample rate is 44.1 kHz then you don't have to worry about that.

If your soundcard has LINE level inputs, you should use those for your synth. But even Inputs designed for guitars, basses and microphones will work if you adjust the incoming signal to match their sensitivity.

Remember, the signal going INTO your soundcard isn't necessarily the reason you can't hear it. Your soundcard has Input adjustments and Output adjustments. You have to check each one of those in your soundcard's mixer software. If the Output of the mixer is too low, then the volume will be low no matter how high you turn up the synth's volume.

You have to check every link in the chain to make sure all the signal levels are matched. First the Input to your Soundcard, then the output of the soundcard into Sonar for recording. Once you have the output of the synth matched to the Input of the soundcard, DON'T fiddle with the synth's output unless you're using a very quiet, or very loud patch. You want to keep that synth to soundcard signal strength setting constant and at optimum levels. The signal shouldn't get close to the top of the meter. About 3/4 of the way to the top of the meter is a good ballpark place to start.

When setting up for recording, if the track's recording meter is too low... turn up the output of your soundcard, NOT the synth. If the signal is driving the Sonar meter into the red zone, turn down the soundcard's output... NOT the synth.

I suggest you become more familiar with your soundcard's mixer software and keep it open when recording so you can make sure the incoming audio from your synth isn't overdriving the soundcard input, and so you can adjust the signal going into Sonar when recording.

Oh... and don't plug your synth into any plug that says "Monitor".