Audio Droputs w/Guitar Rig 5

Love my X3d Producer! I've recorded a bunch of song ideas. However, I've hit a bump.
 
I have found many threads with audio dropout help, but I'm still havin' trouble.
 
I'm sure it's user error!
 
My audio engine stops every time I add multiple audio guitar tracks.
 
I start by opening audio & midi tracks for Addictive Drums and put in a drum pattern for maybe 2-3 mins length. Then I open a new audio track and lay down a rhythm guitar take with Guitar Rig 5. So far, no probs. 
 
Then I open a new track for lead guitar to lay down my lame shredding ideas. It's usually at this number of tracks where I can't record anymore because the project stops and a window pops up: "The audio engine has been stopped unexpectedly."
 
From the "Select Hardware/Controller Surface" I have the Sync & Caching tab open: Playback I/O and Record I/O buffer size at 1024
 
Maybe I need to open my settings in the Guitar Rig 5 Controller and adjust from there, as well?
 
Or maybe the computer setup I have for SONAR is too inefficient or slow:
 
Dell Inspirion i660
Windows 8
Processor: Intel Pentium CPU G645 @ 2.90 GHz
Installed Memory: 4.0 GB
System Type: 64-bit Operating System
Interface: Native Instruments Komplete Audio Kontrol 1
 
I downloaded the LatencyMon from resplendence.com as suggested in another thread. The results say the problem may be related to "power management, disable CPU throttling settings..." That's a new one on me. Not sure how to attempt that...
 
So, how do you guys optimize your computer's settings for recording?
 
Thanks!! 
 
 
 

Actually, that processor is a dual core processor.  It is still fairly primitive.
 
To add to Sanderxpander's question - what is the CPU usage of Guitar rig in each instance?
 
Also, a work around that might help you a little (might get you a few more tracks) is to freeze the Rhythm Guitar track when you go to record your lead guitar track.
 
One other thing you can do is make sure that you are not running any programs in the background (i.e. virus scanner, web browser, etc.)
 

Ah I just googled it, yeah definitely not the same Pentium series as before. Still, on a benchmark (only good for very general indications) it scores 2.5 times slower than my two year old laptop. It only scores marginally higher too than the minimum system requirements listed CPU for Sonar.
I suspect unfortunately this really is the limit of your system. As dwardzala said, you can try freezing anything you're not playing live, that may help some, as may playing with less complex GR5 presets, then later switching them out for the heavier presets and freezing the track/bin.

Upgrading your processor really depends on your motherboard.  Given how old the processor is, though, you probably won't get much of a performance bump as you are probably limited to dual core processors on that mother board.
 
Also, Guitar rig is really taxing your system if the CPU is 65% when running it.  I have tried most of the patches and I don't think I have ever seen more than 25%.

Please respond with the following info:
 
1.  Sonar Driver Mode
2.  Sonar Sample Rate
3.  Sonar-reported latency values (input/output/total round-trip)
4.  Sonar Record Bit Depth (16/24?)
5.  Audio interface Sample Rate
 
Also, if LatencyMon is indicating an issue with streaming, then something outside of Sonar is going on with at least an initial cause of latency within Sonar.  And, this would be in addition to whatever your settings and usage of GR5 in Sonar are adding to that.
 
I would think addressing performance OUTSIDE of Sonar would be first up.  
 
Generally, any antivirus software is a pretty good performance 'hit', and while running Sonar sessions, I would suggest temporarily suspending it.  I would try suspending it and seeing what the improvement is by running LatencyMon again.
 
I run with the High-Performance Windows Power Plan, and further adjust it to:
 
 Set Minimum and Maximum Processor State values to 100%.  (Under Advanced Options - Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings, then click on Change Advanced Power Settings, then expand Processor Power Management and you should see the Minimum Processor State and Maximum Processor State - expand each of those and make sure to set those to 100%.  Please note that some folks have reported not having those settings show up - though that has never happened on any system I have built.
 
 - I also expand the USB Settings and then go into USB Selective Suspend setting and set that to 'disable'. I do this because by default, Windows will essentially disconnect USB devices after some period of idle time, so since my midi controllers may sit for long periods, disabling the suspend leaves them 'active' and available to Sonar.
 
You may have to end up going through the exercise of changing what Windows Services are running in the background, as these may be pushing you over the edge and causing dropouts.  Things like Printer Spooler, and those wonderful stupid programs that run all the time just to check for updates to Adobe and such, all chew up a little bit of performance, so on a system with limited memory and horsepower, this can be something that must be gone into.
 
I would suggest getting your system outside of Sonar stable and getting LatencyMon to be happy with your system handling streaming audio, then try the following settings:
 
Audio interface - Sample Rate of 44.1 k or 48 k, ASIO Buffer Size of 128.
 
In Sonar - Driver Mode = ASIO, Sample Rate 44.1 k or 48 k, (must match settings of audio interface), you are shooting for a total round trip latency of 10 milliseconds or just a little less, as a reasonable starting point.
 
Bob Bone
 

robert_e_bone
Please respond with the following info:
 
1.  Sonar Driver Mode
2.  Sonar Sample Rate
3.  Sonar-reported latency values (input/output/total round-trip)
4.  Sonar Record Bit Depth (16/24?)
5.  Audio interface Sample Rate
 
Also, if LatencyMon is indicating an issue with streaming, then something outside of Sonar is going on with at least an initial cause of latency within Sonar.  And, this would be in addition to whatever your settings and usage of GR5 in Sonar are adding to that.
 
I would think addressing performance OUTSIDE of Sonar would be first up.  
 
Generally, any antivirus software is a pretty good performance 'hit', and while running Sonar sessions, I would suggest temporarily suspending it.  I would try suspending it and seeing what the improvement is by running LatencyMon again.
 
I run with the High-Performance Windows Power Plan, and further adjust it to:
 
 Set Minimum and Maximum Processor State values to 100%.  (Under Advanced Options - Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings, then click on Change Advanced Power Settings, then expand Processor Power Management and you should see the Minimum Processor State and Maximum Processor State - expand each of those and make sure to set those to 100%.  Please note that some folks have reported not having those settings show up - though that has never happened on any system I have built.
 
 - I also expand the USB Settings and then go into USB Selective Suspend setting and set that to 'disable'. I do this because by default, Windows will essentially disconnect USB devices after some period of idle time, so since my midi controllers may sit for long periods, disabling the suspend leaves them 'active' and available to Sonar.
 
You may have to end up going through the exercise of changing what Windows Services are running in the background, as these may be pushing you over the edge and causing dropouts.  Things like Printer Spooler, and those wonderful stupid programs that run all the time just to check for updates to Adobe and such, all chew up a little bit of performance, so on a system with limited memory and horsepower, this can be something that must be gone into.
 
I would suggest getting your system outside of Sonar stable and getting LatencyMon to be happy with your system handling streaming audio, then try the following settings:
 
Audio interface - Sample Rate of 44.1 k or 48 k, ASIO Buffer Size of 128.
 
In Sonar - Driver Mode = ASIO, Sample Rate 44.1 k or 48 k, (must match settings of audio interface), you are shooting for a total round trip latency of 10 milliseconds or just a little less, as a reasonable starting point.
 
Bob Bone
 

 
Bob thank you so much. I will run through your 1-5 questions and post the answers. Thanks as well for the other suggestions and settings. (I have seen your posts help many a member here!)

Anderton
This is all good advice. My previous computer was a dual-core and I had to be real careful about how many plug-ins and virtual instruments I used. Also when you do get a new computer, it's well worth getting more than 4GB RAM (sorry). This is especially important with instruments that load their samples into RAM. Just doubling RAM to 8GB can make a big difference. I upgraded to 32GB of RAM a while back...thought it was extravagant at the time, but quickly realized how much it helped performance when using lots of virtual instruments. That's probably more than most people need for audio, but I do a lot of video work and it really helps for that.

Thanks, Anderton! Yes, I was concerned about my low level of RAM. I will upgrade...

Thatsastrat
Something that I have found when using GR5 is I try to stay away from presets and just use amps and cabs while still in the recording process. When I have what I think I need as far as tracks and it is time to start mixing, I will then open up the latency on my sound card and can then start to add effects from GR5. I have put GR5 on a bus as well and have routed guitar tracks that I am recording to use that buss, just to get the guitar tracks recorded (which will be dry on the track) only using the 1 instance of GR5 (less drain on the CPU) to get the job done until time to mix.

Thanks, strat! Never thought of that, I am always using the presets which have all those effects going on. I'll give it a shot with just the amp & cab for laying down the beds.

I'm getting the occasional dropout also when using just a couple instances of GR5 with only a couple modules loaded. I have 16 gigs of ram. I think this is a glitch in GR5.
 

Not to mention the amount of RAM has practically nothing to do with it.

More RAM is nice, but there's a thread going on here right now of a guy going from 3 to 7 GB RAM and noticing zero performance difference on his 44 track project. VST fx and audio tracks in general really don't need much RAM. The CPU speed is usually the bottleneck for FX. I would say 4GB of RAM is enough until you start to load a lot of sample based sounds. Which depends completely on your workflow. If you're 100 percent audio tracking or use only analog modeling synths you still won't need that much RAM.
Start loading a bunch of piano, strings or drums libraries and it can go quickly.