Stability with Sonar Platinum

Hi
I'm knocked out with the monthly updates - fantastic stuff - but since it's been this way, Sonar on my computer has been much more prone to crashes than ever before. About every 4 - 5 sessions, I'll change a setting, might be open Melodyne, or select record on a track, or change a midi channel - little things .. and Sonar crashes. There's nothing consistent happening like the same VST instrument causing it, the things triggering the crashes could be anything.
 
Has anybody else noticed this? I'm certainly open to the fact it is my machine rather than Sonar, just wondered if I'm the only one.
Cheers Dave

You're not the only one but by and large there are more with stable setups reporting gradual improvement in Sonar.
There are some known bugs and always something that gets by testing but also very quick response with fixes, usually in a matter of days.

If you're a bit more specific about what's happening when the symptoms occur and a bit about your computer and sound card will help us help you to trouble shoot with you.

stable as a horse
 

By any chance, are you using any 3rd-party plugins in a 64-bit Sonar?  Many folks have moved away from using 3rd-party plugins (either completely or as far as they can), because of recurring stability issues, both in BitBridge and with JBridge.  (Those are bridging applications that Sonar uses to allow 32-bit plugins to run in 64-bit Sonar.  BitBridge comes with Sonar, and JBridge can be purchased for around $20 off the web).
 
Anyways, take a project where you have had multiple crashes, make a backup copy of the whole folder, then you can experiment safely to see if your plugins are problematic, first by figuring out which 32-bit plugins are present in that project, and then look to see if there are either 64-bit versions available (many companies offer free updates to purchased 32-bit plugins, to make them 64-bit).  If so, swap out the 32-bit ones for their 64-bit replacements, and see if that takes care of it.  For the 32-bit plugins left in the project, I would suggest you find some 64-bit equivalent that gets you close, and then see if your stability issues go away.
 
Perhaps there is a better way to do the above - it's late in the wee hours and my brain went to sleep several hours ago.
 
In any case - I hope things become stable for you.  Moving forward, I highly recommend moving completely away from using 32-bit plugins in 64-bit Sonar projects.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks for all those suggestions Bob. I only have one 32bit VST which I am now going to uninstall and rescan just the 64 bit ones. Your suggestions for the ASIO drivers are interesting. I use the ASIO drivers with a Delta Audiophile 2496 soundcard, so I'll look at rearranging the Windows audio device as you suggested. Bottom line though, I suppose, is that with the existing setup, drivers, VST's, Sonar was a very stable program. It is only in the last 6 months that I have experienced problems. I'm certainly not laying them at the feet of Cakewalk - there are so many areas of a system that can cause problems. Thank you for your help.
Cheers
Dave

Very stable for me. I can't remember the last time I had a crash. Though there are lots of things in Sonar that I don't use. I record audio with MIDI drums - Superior Drummer, and one keyboard track, usually NI Vintage Keys B3 organ and that's about it.

http://axiology.bandcamp.com

Detwoen
I'm going to start logging what I'm doing when it happens and see if I can see any pattern developing. I haven't done anything different to my system since the problem started happening so it's something already in my machine.

Really try to see if you can find a pattern - it may not be obvious and easy to find, though ...
 
For me Sonar is rock solid when working audio only (i.e. recording sessions, VSTs frozen) ... but I was suffering from a similar "random like crash situation" for a long time (and it actually just recently surfaced again), but it's very specific to MY system (in short: Octa-Capture drivers + several instances of multi-out Kontakt + low ASIO buffers) ... there's no cure for that unless NI or Roland improve their code, but I'm aware of it and can live with it ...

I'm having the same problems except Platinum crashes almost every time work with it!  I was using Sonar X2 Producer until I recently upgraded to Platinum Producer about a month ago.  I love some of the new features and plugins that came with Platinum but other than that it has been a big disappointment.  I ended up having to go back to X2 because poor stability when using Platinum was ruining my creative energy and almost caused one of my projects to miss a deadline.
 
I'm also having some compatibility issues with "Cuba" - one of my plugins from NI Komplete 10 Ultimate.  When I would export my project all of the percussion from Cuba would be out of sync.  However when I would open the same project in X2 and exported everything was as it should be.  This was very frustrating because in my project I was using plugins that came with Sonar Platinum but I couldn't use these plugins in X2 because they were only "registered to be used with the Platinum version". 
 
I'm running Windows 7 64 sp1 everything up to date with an M-Audio ProFire 2626 w/latest drivers, i7 3770k, 16g ram with an Intel mobo.  The only plugins I use are NI Komplete 10 Ultimate,  all of the Spectrasonics line, and some of the plugins that come with Sonar.  I don't use any 32bit plugins.  My computer is totally stable with all my other applications.  
 
I guess I'll just wait for the next update from Command Center and give it another try. 

Has to be a plugin or a driver... Sonar is pretty good.. Have you gone through the standard plugin procedures?
More or less covered above...
Latest Sonar is stable.

Dave,
 
I didn't see your specs of your system/interface listed. Please list them so the forum can help you.
 
I will say it took a bit of a curve for me personally to get Sonar rock solid years ago. I've learned to have a DAW only machine with quality components and a higher end audio interface.

Bye then

I will also be with cakewalk in the future, I just like what they have done with the product, its been solid as a rock.
I've have not had 1 crash/ new pc that I build 2 months ago using sonar every day.
it all depends on your set up. don't get me wrong, there will always be an instance or two of sonar crashing because of something to do with the software (bad plug in, compatibility, exc).
but this... "sonar crashed all the time..but it doesn't crash at all on studio one"
im not buying it. its not sonar, its more then likely your hardware or a bad plug in "Steinberg Halion"
how can so many other have success with sonar, but it crashes all the time with JUST sonar ?
 

Just noting that DwayneM, who has made a grand total of 5 posts on the forum, has resurrected a post from practically a year ago, to tell us that he's fed up with Sonar and is off to Studio One.  Could be true, but my radar is screaming "troll!".

 



while i myself converted over to studio one, i must say that it wasn't because of stability, i always found sonar (x3 onwards) to be solid as a rock for me on my systems, as i find is studio one. i know there are people who do have stability issues with sonar, but it is the same with studio one or just about any other daw, you will always find some who have issues that most/a lot whatever others do not have. computers having many possible combinations of parts and software, and daws themselves being complex things, seems to me to make it inevitable that these things will happen to some. i continue to follow even if i don't use much any longer, and i must say the recent events are rather exciting, and the lifetime deal seems to be quite awesomely inviting, so much so that i will be laying down the money to stay onboard and keep following into the future.




 
I purchased Studio One as well and bounce back and forth between Sonar Plat and Studio One.  Sonar's routing is really excellent with the addition of patch points and aux tracks......Hope they round it off with VCA's like the Studio One implementation. That would be excellent! I also really want to see more pro-channel 3rd party support!
It's turning out like 3d TV at this point......:-(  
 
   Studio One is very fast and the workflow is very smart. It's not as deep as Sonar on features but it is like a little Ferarri....... I hope Sonar Plat takes some of the Studio One workflow enhancements and runs with them.
 
    My main beef with Sonar Plat at this point is what forum member "aslow" mentioned in a recent post .....the 3/4 second global hiccup that Sonar Plat has especially frustrating with the transport controls when you get a larger project loaded.
 
   The only other thing that really gets under my skin is not having a mouse wheel controllable scroll with the pop up menus.... example adding patch point or aux tracks adding or deleting sends and having to click on the down arrow to get to your selection. This is a super pain in the butt when you have many busses and aux tracks to pass over to arrive at your selection!
 
     As the updates keep coming in with Sonar I find my self using it more than Studio One at this point now that the Honeymoon with Studio One has faded..... but Cake really needs to fix some 
of these simple workflow issues and the 3/4 sec. hiccup. I have faith that they will..... but in the words of Varuka Salt....... I want it now!! ;-)
 
 
Craig