CI1 USB Soundcard vs. Sonar 5 Producer edition - Not recognized

Hello again,

I've had continous problems recording, and decided to use an external soundcard. I got the CI1 but I cannot seem to get it connected.
I don't want to use the recording software that came with it, as I prefer my Sonar 5. However, on my main PC at the moment that's not even a possibility, as the PC freezes every few seconds if the CD-Rom drive is enabled. Yes, it needs to be fixed, but there is more stuff going wrong, and I want some sort of confirmation that something is actually going to work before deciding which way to go (fix, replace, etc).
I tried just with the driver from the tools CD but while the PC knows the card, Sonar doesn't offer it in the Options - Audio menu, only the M-Audio card and driver is shown.
Do I really need to disable / remove the M-Audio card first?

I tried running this on my laptop instead, where I did install the Sequel LE thing. That made a folder called Asio in a Steinberg folder, but the exe files in that don't run by themselves. Since it's only a driver, I don't know why it should be impossible to download it. Anyway, it would be fine tu use my laptop for recording, but that has it's own issues (apart from dying randomly and especially when video is playing, Sequel actually refused to switch to the Asio driver stating that there wasn't enough CPU power available...)

The problem for me is complicated by the fact that I cannot reach any support pages on steinberg.net - I keep getting 404 File Not Found errors, be that for Registration (is that just for Sequel by the way, or for the CI1 too?), any Driver downloads, or indeed the Support Request Form.

I realize that this would be a better question for a CI1 Forum if there is such a thing, but does anyone have any ideas?
Also, yes, both my computers aren't working well, but I need to figure out what is actually working and what isn't, I don't want to, say, get a new PC and then have the same issue with the CI1 not connecting, or being chained to a program I don't want to use.


Thank you in advance :)

First, you need to get your PC running, Sonar is very demanding and you cannot expect to run software like Sonar on a crippled machine. A PC needs to be optimized, healthy Hard drives, lots of Memory and no internet weirdness.
And what is this about an M Audio card? Is it an ASIO PCI card or another USB interface? You can only have one interface installed if you use ASIO. If it is a PCI card you might even have to remove it if it keeps conflicting.
And speaking of ASIO why are you using ASIO4all? That's a good way to mess things up. Use the ASIO drivers that came with the interface, better yet go to there web site and download the latest version double checking to match your OS.
If your programs are freezing up then you need to either house keeping or a better PC. Software is not the issue. SOnar 5 is getting so old that you will soon not be able to use it . I doubt if it would load into Windows 7 64 bit. Sorry none of this is good news but I think if you wish to carry on with the hobbie might be time for a few well deserved ugrades.

@Cactus Music & @daveny5: Thank you for your replies :)

The desktop I'm using now is running Windows XP and runs well enough for the moment - I've had Sonar itself running on it perfectly fine before, with an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, so that wasn't another USB interface. I needed to use an ASIO4ALL driver with that, otherwise it would not run. I don't know why. Anyway, I ran it through a mixer, and the setup was too messy for me, plus the recording volume was too low and no amount of fiddling made it better, while other sound playback on my computer suddenly became hard to manage with conflicting volume controls, most useless, a few ultra-sensitive. I just wanted a simple set-up, hence I got a USB interface.
The one my desktop can't do at the moment is use it's CD-ROM drive, so I thought maybe when I just lifted the driver from the CD that came with the CI1 on the laptop and then moved it onto the desktop, that I hadn't got a right installation. A friend got in touch with the Customer Support and on his PC he could download their latest driver. I've got that now, but Sonar gives the same error.
I've disabled the M-Audio card, but it doesn't help.

Sonar gives this error on startup:

"Audio Driver Error
The following driver(S) either do not support the current audio format, or are in use by another application.

Please choose whether you want to disable them or use them anyway"

I click to use it and in my project I can select it as output, but not input. It's listed, but is lacking a Left / Right assignment. I don't know how to explain it properly, but basically under Input for each track is this CI1 and clicking it should open up a menu with the inputs, it has the arrowhead icon next to it. But nothing is filled in.

So, in essence Sonar 5 is still not recognizing the card correctly, and it is not due to the driver being old or upgradeable anyway, or the M-Audio card causing issues, as it's disabled (and I was assured in the shop I would not need to do that actually). Additionally, ASIO4ALL has been removed, as was the old driver I got from the CI1 disc (via the laptop).

I've cleaned up and checked my PC as much as I can, and apart from the CD-ROM issue everything is working OK now.
A very simple reason that I am not going to move to a new OS, Computer, Recording Software, or indeed a mac, as most people tend to advise me to: I can't afford it, and I don't even think it needs to happen that way. The CI1 uses a USB connection. Certainly USB interfaces were around when Sonar 5 came out? Not this one, but still. XP was out. Incidnetally, Vista ran Sonar 5 for me, and Vista is a piece of ¤%"¤# in my book :D 7 might be better, but I haven't got that on my own PC.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone knew how I could tweak Sonar, but it's looking pretty grim. Upgrading anything, incidentally, has never solved any issues for me :| I recorded perfectly on a tiny sound card, with a desktop mic, Sonar 3, and Windows 98 - that was only a few years ago. Unfortunately the harddisc was damaged, and since then I've been upgrading this and that and the next thing, but it never works.


 

Ok I had to look up what a CI1 was,,, never heard of it, It is made for Cubase It comes with free recording software. you might want to give that a try first to rule out Sonar being to blame.

First make dead sure you download the exact driver. There is a 64 bit and a 32 bit. .

Then make sure your select ASIO driver mode in Sonar. It does not default to this all the time.
You often have to totally remove PCI sound cards to stop them from interfering. <