Here's the towel....im ready to throw it in....need advice before next step

bigboi, I feel your pain. It must have been demoralizing for you to be in that situation. Well, for what it's worth...I think you stated your case very thoroughly with honesty and with loyalty. A very well delivered message. Because of that, I'd be willing to bet someone like Noel or Brandon just may reply here and try to help you. Of course there's always guys like us that will help too...so I'll give you my take for what it's worth.

That's a slamming box you have there. It shouldn't even be showing you a blue screen. I have nearly the same machine as you only with more RAM and I've yet to ever see a blue screen on here with anything. The blue screen tells me something is not right somewhere and it's probably not related to Sonar. What I'd really do if I were you?

Method 1: I'd visit www.studiocat.com and pay a small consultation fee to Jim Roseberry to set you up completely. The dude is a genius at dealing with pc and Sonar issues. He'll walk you through everything step at a time man. He has the patience of Job and will definitely help you out on this.

Method 2: I'm not a fan of Sonar X1 unfortunately. However, crashing is not and never has been my issue with it. I simply don't like working in it because I'm too set in my ways with 8.5. So if I were you, I'd go back to 8.5 if you have tried everything to configure X1 correctly and still fall short.

64 vs 32 bit Sonar....in my opinion if you are not using loads of plugs and VSTi's that are true 64 bit plugs, it's not a necessity. I've had weird crashes with 64 bit Sonar and I'm sure some of it is due to bit bridge and 3rd party plugs as I have never had an issue with the Sonar onboard 64 plugs. It's always something 3rd party that gets me in 64. You have such a fast box dude, you shouldn't really need 64. Mine is a i7 730 and I've never had to freeze a track in 32 bit Sonar. I usually don't use more than 5 softsynths at a time, but that's pretty good along with about 100 plugs for 32 bit. LOL!

As for your OS being 64, no I'd not touch that as I don't believe that is the problem. I've had no issues with all the boxes I have here running Win 7 x64 with Sonar or anything else. The only issue I've had was running Wave Lab which I upgraded to version 6 and it fixed my problem.

As for Logic and the MAC, killer systems but I'll tell you, you're in for a rough ride for quite a bit before you'll be able to dance around on them like you do Sonar 8.5. Logic has one of the steepest learning curves of any DAW I have ever used. When your pc is configured correctly with the right tweaks or by someone like Jim Roseberry, I promise you it will hang right with any MAC. Cubase is pretty good and would be a nice alternative...but I don't know that I'd sell off the V-gear and move to it. I personally think your issues here just need to be placed in the right hands of people that know about this stuff. I know you're in a bad place right now, but try to stay calm and see what this thread you started brings to the table. Definitely talk to Jim if you can...but in the meantime, see who responds to this thread that may offer assistance.

Be ready to state all the problems you've encountered because I know a few guys are going to ask you to go in depth about some of this stuff. It's sad that there is so much that we need to do at times to make things work. That's one of the drawbacks of pc's verses a mac in my opinion. It's not that mac's don't have problems too....they just seem to need less set up *most* times.

Another thing to keep in mind is the unfortunate lesson you learned from all of this. X1 remained my "fun testing DAW" since it was released. I've only started to really work in it since the 245 patch because there were a few little bugs that annoyed me. Now that most of my bugs are gone, the big bug is I just don't like it unfortunately. But I have never felt comfortable or confident enough with it to use on a client and spend too much time trying to find things all the time. I've only been this frustrated with a DAW one other time...and that was...you guessed it, Logic! LOL!

My heart belongs to 8.5 for what I do here and I made up my mind about a week or so ago that I was done with X1 unless someone sends me a bundle file where it was used. I happened to get the itch to open it about an hour ago to mess with something...it took me 20 minutes to try and find out how to select multiple midi outs and send them all to a single synth. You know how you can do an "all selected outs" for audio tracks? I used to be able to do that with midi outs in 8.5 using tracks/properties/outputs. In X1, I haven't a fricken' clue where it is....I got mad, shut it down and did what I wanted to do in 8.5. I'm just tired of playing with X1. It's cool software, it's just not for me....so my immediate response to you is "go back to 8.5 if it works well for you and you have a business to run."

Good luck to you, and I'm really sorry you're having problems. I'm sure someone will sort you out on here if you have the patience to go through everything with them. Let's hope for the best. :)

Sorry to hear of your problems.  I assume by what you indicated that you have been using X1 for some time now without any major problems.  Danny has given some good advice above. 

An initial approach is to maybe go over what you you did to see if you can find the cause of the problem when you are not under the gun.  Things to consider would be; had you updated any software/drivers/windows etc that you hadn't test driven that were being used in the project.   Did you try something you had not attempted before?   With the blue screen,  are you developing some hardware issues?(I recently had 2 hard drives failing at the same time.  I went through the process of deactivating one thing at a time and could not find the cause.  I changed power supply, heat sink, reset cards all to no avail.  Then one of the drives finally showed an error.  I disconnected the drive and it seemed to help but not totally, and then the next day I got errors on the  other drive, disconnected it and problem went away.  Replaced the drives and all was well) 

The problem may very well be related to Sonar but if it had been working well for you for sometime then I would be looking at what else could be the cause. 

I keep 8.5 installed as well as X1(and I still have all the other versions installed as well)  It takes up only a very limited amount of additional space but is definitely nice to have a back up plan available that you can switch to. 

If you can get past the initial anger/disappointment of the failed opportunity and do the analysis on what went wrong it may end up being something simple that was overlooked and brought on by being a touch nervous about the session. 

im sorry to hear..i imagine the only reason you used this software with this artist is because youve had it working well..otherwise you wouldnt have been trying to record using it..is there anything thats changed?..and what happen prior to the blue screens..maybe we can help you get this worked out.
and are you going to keep us in suspense?..who was this artist that won the grammy?..
i cant say why it would hurt to mention any names?its not like we know where you are?..lol
hang in there.and in cases like this you should just use your back up daw after the first blue screen.i can imagine it was embarressing.good luck

Blue screens suck!  They seem to happen just at the wrong time.  All I can say is I've run Sonar X1 with little trouble.  The others gave as good advise as you can get.  I'd just point out that if you think Blue Screens do not happen with Macs you will be very dissappointed.

So,  I was under the impression that loading Sonar 8.5 AND X1 at the same time either would not work, or was just a bad idea.  Can I load both of these?  Anyone else using them both?

You can load both but on my computer I can only play which one I opened first. Due to Sound Driver issues.   I am surprised that you are having these problems because I have the same specs and audio system as you and have never had a blue screen.  Is your DAW connected to the internet while working on it?  Maybe it is something else going on??
Maybe some plugin issues?

I would keep the v system as it works with mac as a controller and interface.   

I mentioned Cakewalk, and he mentioned that Sonar will be Coded for Mac, sooner than later, who know's if this dude was full of it or not. But he was adamant about it... <----Just a side Note thought I'ed share...Myself I would change in heart beat , and be gone with Microsoft Windows, Asio and wdm...

 
Mac = no problems???
You need to read the Logic support forums. 
Mac is no less (or more) prone to stability issues.
It's all down to who's configuring the DAW.
 
You can literally choose parts that are component for component better than what Apple uses in a Mac Pro.
 
If the OP is having BSOD issues, I guarantee there's an underlying reason why... and Windows 7x64 isn't the culprit.
The answer isn't to get a Mac, the answer is to resolve the problem.  
That may mean swapping out a defective component, a clean OS install, etc.
 
If I were Bigboi, I'd get the issue resolved... and I'd give Grammy Award winner a call.
All is not necessarily lost...
 

bigboi.. that is a horror story. I hope you can get things going right then ask the artist, if they have time, to stop by again. I am sure they know how things can just all go wrong sometimes... if he was interested before, he will still be interested. Get things going right and get him back in there.
 
That is what I would do. Yout might even send a file or something to tweak him again but get it working right and get him back in your studio.
 
I think I have heard your name around... are you familiar with 404audio? Ever know a girl dj named b:rok in ATL?
 
Julien

Hi
Sorry to hear about your issues - sounds like a really frustrating situation. 

I'm likely reiterating some of what's been written above.  IMO, BSODs are usually the result of a driver API call, etc.  Before taking a comprehensive approach of buying new hardware or switching OSs or DAW - I'd try to understand what's changed since your system was stable. 
- Has any hardware changed?
- Have any device drivers or firmware been updated?  
- Have you run hardware diagnostics to ensure a hardware component isn't on its' way out? 
- Have you deinstalled / reinstalled tons of software over the years, or running on a clean OS install?

Win 7 x64 on its' own is VERY stable.  Stability issues are usualy the result of device drivers or other software.  I would agree emphatically with Jim's comment above that both Windows and Mac OS are both susceptible to issues - the grass isn't always greener.

Re: X1 vs. 8.5.3 - While many people are using X1 without issues, stability is likely affected by how you're using your DAW (e.g. are you using lots of VSIs & 32 bit plugins, etc.), so in my opinion, it's tough to simply say definitively whether X1 or 8.5.3 is more stable.  I would go out on a limb and say X1 hasn't reached 8.5.3 stability levels yet, but I'm sure people may disagree with this and I have no quantifiable objective evidence to support this claim - I'm just going on how many problems I've had with it.  So - ultimately I'd say load each one individually (I haven't run both simultaneously, so can't comment on concerns with that) and see which one works better for you, with whatever plugins and VSIs you're using, as they may be the root cause of some stability issues as well.

If you're not using lots of plugins or virtual instruments, maybe going 32 bit DAW would remove the potential bitbridge concern.  Alternatively you could ensure you're only using 64 bit native plugins if running 64 bit DAW, but I would focus on
device drivers first for a BSOD personally.

Hope this helps.
Russ

You should definitely install 8.5 just as a backup plan. Then send your crash dump to CW to find out why it crashed. You might discover that it has nothing directly to do with X1 and might instead be a driver or a plugin, in which case backrevving might not be the solution.

BSOD is normally a driver issue, not X1 nor Windows for that matter.

Tried updating all drivers ? (video, sound device, MB and associated drivers, midi devices etc) ?

Cheers,
Jerry

That sux.

Tho, just to be the wet blanket, if you're having BSOD issues it's definitely not the time to invite an artist over. Get your rig all susses out before having in-house meetings. Or, have plenty of distractions and a puppet show ready to confuddle them whilst you fix it. :-)

That said, you're looking at driver or hardware issues I'd bet. Time to put on a headlamp and crawl under the desk.

Just to clarify a couple of things:

I did not have the luxury of telling the writer I could not let him visit the studio until I get Sonar working correctly.  You really only have a few chances like this when you own a studio, so you just simply have to cross your fingers.  To put off a person that has written a grammy winning song is just not something I can do.  Like I said, it was sink or swim....and I sank.

I am not blaming the bsod on Sonar....it is probably a driver of some sort.  However, I NEVER got a blue screen of death while using 8.5-luck I guess.  I AM however, blaming Sonar on switching my midi inputs MULTIPLE times while we were working on a track, and then not even allowing me to select the correct one (for instance, I would select my novation sl mk as the input, and Sonar would jump up and select my Virus after I clicked.  It would then stay locked on the Virus, not allowing any other midi input device). 

I can list FOR DAYS little things like this that have plagued me with X1, but what is the point?  Like I said, I am kind of beyond trying to work with my current setup.  I want input on where to go from here.  Again.....as always through the years, this forum is delivering some serious input. If I do jump ship, I will miss the forum AS  MUCH as the software.

For those that are curious, I really don't want to name the writer.  I can tell you a couple of things:  -EVERYONE reading this thread has heard the song MULTIPLE times...guaranteed.
It was Number 1 on US Billboard hot 100, Adult Contemporary, Adult Pop songs, and Pop songs charts. No. 1 on Billboard UK Singles, Netherlands, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, and Ireland.  It went Gold, Platinum and multiplatinum in 9 countries.

In other words....he did very well with the song.  Sorry for the secrecy (not that anyone cares anyway), I just really don't want to name this person without permission.  Sometimes people can get really touchy over this kind of stuff.
US Billboard Hot 100[46] 1 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[47] 1 US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)[48] 1 US Pop Songs (Billboard)[49] 1

Wow...I saw that coming.  Finished with Studio One.  I just did not know it well enough to impress.

As far as naming the person, he was asking me if I would be interested in ghost writing with him.  I am SURE you don't know the writer, never said you did.  Just said you would know his songs.  However, it simply is easier for me not to have to worry about it.  FWIW- someone else was asking for the name.  I just did not want other posters to think I was ignoring them.  Sorry if I came off sounding arrogant or something.  Obviously I have nothing to be arrogant about...I blew it.  LOL

The last BSOD I got was with XP right before a HD crash... before that is was a regular thing with Windows ME pffffft.
If I had a BSOD problem I would be making sure everything is backed up before I worried about what was causing it. I have always heard that in the world of computer files... they don't exist until they are backed up twice... and I have come to believe it. I learn everything the hard way.
Bigboi, I asked about b:rok because she is my daughter. She was in the Atlanta DnB scene about 7 or 8 years ago with 404audio. Since your name sounds familiar I thought you might know her.

Man, I hope you get all this worked out. If I were you I'd be talking to Jim Roseberry about it.

Keep us posted on what the problem turns out to be, I will be interested to know.

Julien