Cakewalk by Bandlab is not compatible with Dante PCIe sound cards i.e. Focusrite Rednet

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jimoliver
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2018/04/06 05:50:35 (permalink)
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Cakewalk by Bandlab is not compatible with Dante PCIe sound cards i.e. Focusrite Rednet

I have been struggling with Sonar for over a year now since my studio made the switch to Dante Rednet Networked Audio. Its by far the best protocol I've used and it provides equal or better performance to Thunderbolt 2 and its much much more expandable and flexible. I have used it on other daws including Reaper, protools, cubase, studio one, audition, Live and more! Sonar, now cakewalk by Bandlab, is the only one that can't deal with the PCIE card properly. The issue is that the CPU usage skyrockets to a dangerous level immediately after launching Cakewalk. It will reach levels between 40 and 100 percent! The PCIE card must then be removed or disabled fully in order to use Cakewalk at all, even with a different audio interface (USB, TB, firewire, DVS). If the card isn't disabled Cakewalk will cause HIGH CPU and the computer will overheat quickly. At one point there was a confirmed walk around by using a driver wrapper made by Odeus. Unfortunately the websites security was compromised and is now shut down leaving no possibility of purchasing the driver wrapper. All the same, a workaround is not what we should be aiming for. It is seemingly a driver issue with Cakewalk. Again this has been tested thoroughly with many high grade machines and also confirmed by both Audinate (the maker of the pcie cards) and Focusrite. Lots of different preference configurations in both the focusrite card and Cakewalk have been tested like turning off 64 bit precision engine and plugin load balancing. Nothing helps.  I have personally tried this on a healthy windows 7 machine and also on a brand new state of the art Studio Cat desktop running a professionally configured, for audio use, install of windows 10 pro 64 bit.This issue has prevented the possibility of using of Sonar/Cakewalk in a professional, networked environment. I would love to see this seemingly basic problem resolved. After all, Dante is the choice of many many top professionals and Cakewalk deserves to join the rest of the DAWS in utilizing this advanced and time-tested technology. 
 
Much love to bandlab for their wisdom and vision in bringing back such a well developed creative audio platform that in my opinion surpasses other DAWS... just not when using Dante Network. I am happy to help as much as i am able to get Cakewalk on track in this regard. - Jacy Oliver (jim's son)
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    nickeson
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    Re: Cakewalk by Bandlab is not compatible with Dante PCIe sound cards i.e. Focusrite Redne 2018/07/03 05:32:59 (permalink)
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    I would like to 2nd this post.  I have had a near identical experience to Jim. 
     
    I have been able to use CbB or Sonar Platinum with my Rednet PCIeR based system, but only with the use of ASIO Link Pro, a 3rd Party ASIO wrapper that integrates Windows audio into the mix.  It's amazing software, unfortunately its developer died last year and his family were never able to get the registration server/website/business back online and the software appears to be dead. 
     
    With direct usage of Rednet PCIeR in Sonar/CbB, my system fully locks up (requiring a hard reboot) the moment I record-enable or input-monitoring enable a track: Sonar/CbB immediately pegs the system CPU @ 100% and locks up the system.  If I use the ASIO Link Pro software, I am able to run full sessions at incredibly low latency (< 2ms) in full HD.  However, my system still runs at appx. 93% CPU usage (though this software somehow solves the lockup issue). 
     
    It appears that the 3rd party wrapper is somehow reading the Rednet PCIeR ASIO driver slightly differently than how CbB/Sonar reads that driver, or possibly presents itself to Sonar/CbB differently than Rednet PCIeR presents to CbB.  Either way, ASIO Link Pro solves the lockups on my system, but is still using way too much CPU to be useful. 
     
    Additionally, if I don't change to WASAPI or WDM driver modes first, any changes I make in settings cause the system to crash (likely an issue with ASIO Link Pro).  So to make a change in CbB, I have to change to WASAPI, apply, then change whatever setting I actually wanted to change, apply, then change back to ASIO, apply.  This seems to work and avoid lockups, but again, it's a terrible workaround and is cooking my CPU to use this combo.
     
    I'm more than willing to help troubleshoot however possible, and I've been in close contact with Focusrite development, who appear to be interested in solving the issue now that Bandlab has bought out Cakewalk.  
     
    I'm also happy to donate and/or pay for a fix.  It's really important to me and my business to get this working.
     
    Rednet PCIeR works great with Protools/Cubase/Harrison Mixbus on my system.  Sonar works with all manner of ASIO hardware I've tried (MOTU/RME/UAD/Realtek).  I've never had a problem with either Sonar/CbB or Rednet, but somehow the Rednet/CbB combination has issues.  I don't know if it's Cakewalk's issue or Focusrite's issue.  I don't really care.  I just need a fix!
     
    Also, I've verified Dante Virtual Soundcard works fine with CbB/Sonar.  This can be used instead of Focusrite's PCIeR card (though at unacceptable latency for pro/realtime work) to interface with Dante/Rednet gear.  So it may indeed be an issue with Focusrite's PCIeR drivers, but they don't seem to be able to resolve it without contact with CbB/Sonar's developers.  We need your help!  I know there are a few other users that had the same issues, from my past research into the issue.
     
    Please...help out a 20+ year Cakewalk veteran (I've owned all versions since Pro Audio 9)?!?
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    scook
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    Re: Cakewalk by Bandlab is not compatible with Dante PCIe sound cards i.e. Focusrite Redne 2018/07/03 05:51:27 (permalink)
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    http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3754373
     
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