[Solved] shared drivers not working all the time

Here's a weird question. I have both Home Studio 6 and X3 (brand new).
I have "share drivers" checked in both programs. 
When either program is running, if I play an mp3 thru either Windows Media Player or another player called Foobar, the SONAR connection to the audio driver crashes. SONAR wont play. Same thing happens when I'm at Lynda.com and watching one of the tutorial movies there.
However, I can use an older version of Nero Wave editor to listen to mp3s, all day long, and SONAR has no problem with that. Both programs can be running at the same time. I cant find anything in the Nero preferences or system that would explain this.
 
I dont know if this is the issue, but, my soundcard isnt great. Its a Soundblaster, it did not come with actual ASIO drivers, so I'm having to use this third party interface thing called ASIO4ALL. Maybe some of you are familiar with it. Even if I got a better soundcard, with real ASIO drivers, I still dont know if this shared drivers issue would clear up.
 
Any other suggestions? Any help would be appreciated.

I think the problem is that ASIO really doesn't like to share its drivers. A dedicated (pro audio) soundcard will definitely benefit you when it comes to recording and mixing.  Any of the non dedicated soundcards will most likely give you a lot of headaches/frustrations. You can get a fairly good audio interface for around $100 (check the Focusrite products.....excellent driver support).
 
You can try using the WDM driver when playing multiple formats of audio and see if that works.

As said above,...When one opens sonar, and then another prog using same driver...one prog using one samlpe rate set to record and playback, and the other a different one may open a file of a differing sample rate...You will get a issue with conflicting sample rates, and if Sonar will loose that connection for its sample rate and use there of of that device, as the driver will change the sample rate to play the other file, if it is not locked, and sharing unlocks it..I believe...The Sonar project will not have things set right for that driver, when the change occurs....if that occurs....
 
My solution is to get a audio device with a few ins and outs...say four or more....And use that driver for sonar ....the onboard driver for windows...and run a stereo line out of the computers on board audio device, into one stereo pairing of the Newly added audio card....and when you want to listen to something outside of Sonar...it uses the on board audio chip and outs..into the external new audio device..And plays back through, in Sonar...So you loose no driver, or share no device or driver.
 
 
Might have to tweak the system devices. ons and offs, of redundant devices, to get no shared IRQs, or as few shared devices as possible on Irq's///to reduce clicks and pops that sort of sharing IRQ thing causes...
 
 
 
 
Works here.

roddey_phipps
WDM didnt work for me. Same problem, video tutorial starts, X3 loses connection to audio output device.
 
I think a simpler workaround thats free, for me, is to keep using NEro Wave Editor to preview and chop up exported wavs from sonar, and play mp3s etc, while X3 is running, because that works
 
and if I want to watch the lynda.com tutorials, I'll drap my laptop over and put it on the table next to me and watch on there.
 
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions, but, I'm not buyng a 500 dollar interface just yet. MAybe one day.
 

 
$150 will get you TASCAM's US-2x2 2 in/2 out interface with excellent audio quality, MIDI I/O, and well-written drivers. The Focusrite 2i2 is similar in performance and price (although it doesn't have MIDI I/O). However, I just tried what you're trying to do with Windows' MME drivers, and had no problem playing music from SONAR, Windows Media Player, and listening to videos on YouTube...although I will say the combination wasn't a particularly great mashup 
 
WDM/KS is a whole different thing. Not all laptops and soundcards support it by any means. MME is universal, but requires higher latency settings to work properly.
 
ASIO delivers the highest performance, but its preferred mode is to work with a single program and interface. ASIO4ALL is not ASIO. It is a "wrapper" for the Windows driver that fools a program into thinking it's seeing an ASIO interface. Also, it's important to understand that the share drivers option allows other software to access device drivers only when SONAR is not the focus of Windows.
 

Glad MME worked for you! Sometimes the lowest common denominator is the answer 
 
Disclaimer: Like Cakewalk, TASCAM is a Gibson Brand so if I can recommend their products based on personal evaluation, I will. Although TASCAM's 16x08 isn't available yet, it has 8 line ins and 8 mics ins, internal DSP, and will cost around $300. I cannot vouch for the performance as I have not tried it yet, but I am very happy with TASCAM's US-4x4. I replaced my existing high-quality interface with the 4x4 because the 4x4 sounds better and is more stable - due to the Gibson Brands connection, TASCAM tests their gear thoroughly with SONAR.

MME gets a bad rap at times, but I have had the best success helping friends install SONAR on laptops (no audio interface) using MME.

JoseC.
@Craig I will be on the market for a new interface soon, and I am considering the Tascam 16x08, so I hope that you let us know your feedback as soon as you have one available. In the meantime, I have one question: do you know whether the drivers and DSP mixer will be able to support more than one unit?

I don't know yet, sorry.