xabiton

Do you use soft synths? I do. when recording audio and using Sonar's internal stuff it works perfectly but when running plug ins and rewire I have had the most trouble and since all of my music is based around soft synths Sonar is just a bad fit. I was really angry about it last night but I have calmed down some now though     

Savagery

Lanceindastudio


I browse my butt off and I have quite a stable X1d Expanded, equally if not most stable SONAR for me as of yet.

Lance

I'm sure many people have this experience, and I say, good for you. I think a lot of the bugs in X1 only come up for people who work a certain way, or have a certain version of the program with certain add ons. I have problems with the PC2A leveler. I have problems with Envelopes (particularly snapshots). I have problems with Perfect Space in 64 Bit, the z3ta soft synth, the metronome, the GUI sometimes scrolling to the bottom when I open track folders, tempo changes and drawing errors, realtime bounce.... the list goes on. I believe they are all bugs, and most reproducible.
 
But I'm sure there are many people who don't have the PC2A, don't use perfect space, snapshots, or z3ta, run in 32 bit, and don't use many tempo changes. They wouldn't run into any of these bugs. They DO exist though... hell, I had NEVER had a problem with the metronome randomly dying until a month ago, when it just quit working. Came back after a restart of SONAR and hasn't misbehaved since. I read so many posts about that and thought "well not me", but here I am, adding it to my list now.
 
I guess what I am saying is, either you are just lucky, or your specific workflow isn't affected. But I have been using various versions of Cakewalk almost daily since Pro Audio 7, and have never had this many frustrating bugs, and my workflow hasn't changed much at all.
 
FWIW, IMHO, of course.
 

noynekker


xabiton . . . it's taking you a long time to leave, perhaps you don't really want to go ?

Hopefully you'll find some help here on the forum, or at Cakewalk tech support.
While your computer specs are pretty savvy, obviously something on your system is not working well with Sonar. Seems like the audio interface, and rewire issues on your system are causing too many problems.

You're mentioning troubles with soft synths, rewire, Reason, hopefully you've read the manuals for these to know what will work, and what won't work in Sonar.

My system is much older (Win XP 32 bit), and I have no (okay, very few) troubles running Sonar X1d Expanded. Also, my M-Audio soundcard has always talked very well with Sonar.

I've seen on this forum that the stability of Sonar, depends on the system hardware, as well as how you use the software, especially the plugins you use. Cakewalk Tech support, are understaffed, but they have always come through for me, just takes some time.

Anderton


For what it's worth...

Because of my gig, I run everything. I have Sonar, Cubase, Pro Tools, Reason, Acid, Mixcraft, Ableton, Traktor, Studio One, Audition, Torq, Vegas, Wavelab, Sound Forge, and Virtual DJ all installed on my computer. And probably a few I'm forgetting :)

I don't use every program every day but I use them all a lot. I've been in a similar situation for years, so I've had quite a lot of opportunities to compare one program vis a vis another.

Unfortunately, I've found hardware has a profound influence, and it seems sort of random. Program A, C. and D might work perfectly and B gives me problems, but then I change a graphics card and then B and D work perfectly and A and C give problems. Sometimes it's not so much the hardware as to whether its driver is enabled or not. You all know about the perils of having wi-fi enabled, but things like internal cameras can gum up the works with some programs and not with others.

Then there are the computers that just seem cursed. I was doing a pro review on an interface over at Harmony Central that had gones on for months. After a while when someone came into the thread and said "I can't get it working," the first question was "Are you using a Toshiba Satellite?" It seemed no matter what you did, that laptop would never work with the interface.

This is one reason why people like Macs. Although the raw performance is arguably not as good and there are not as many applications, it's a tightly-controlled hardware environment. A program that works on one Mac and OS will almost certainly work on another Mac running the same OS.

What has solved the problem for me is computers integrated by people who know what they're doing. Jim, Rane. ADK, etc. make great machines. I've settled down with PC Audio Labs machines the past few years because a) they make great computers, and b) their computers are incredible for video as well as audio, which really matters to me. ALL the programs listed above are currently running smooth as silk, and that most definitely includes Sonar.

Hopefully people can track down what hardware or drivers or whatever are the "poison pills" for various pieces of software. Probably the most discouraging thing is the variability. As the OP says, "everything works except Sonar." But then you could get a new computer and find that everything works except Pro Tools, and Sonar is stable. Or certain plug-ins that used to work don't work any more.

I of all people understand how frustrating it is to have things that don't work, and it's even worse when you find out that it's one stupid check box in one stupid corner on the fourth tab of the sixth page of a program that comes with a piece of hardware. So I just left things to the experts, and wow, did that ever make all the difference in the world.

big way I am again hoping someone has had this issue too and can come in and help but I am not seeing many people who are having the same problem as me with many solutions even with the threads I have created on the

vintagevibe

Anderton



Hopefully people can track down what hardware or drivers or whatever are the "poison pills" for various pieces of software. Probably the most discouraging thing is the variability. As the OP says, "everything works except Sonar." But then you could get a new computer and find that everything works except Pro Tools, and Sonar is stable. Or certain plug-ins that used to work don't work any more.

I of all people understand how frustrating it is to have things that don't work, and it's even worse when you find out that it's one stupid check box in one stupid corner on the fourth tab of the sixth page of a program that comes with a piece of hardware. So I just left things to the experts, and wow, did that ever make all the difference in the world.

The most frustrating for me thing is when everything is working great and you upgrade you're DAW and then the problems start.

Jim Roseberry

big way I am again hoping someone has had this issue too and can come in and help but I am not seeing many people who are having the same problem as me with many solutions even with the threads I have created on the

 
The first thing I'd do is start with an audio interface that's known to be absolutely rock-solid.
ie:  They're not inexpensive, but RME units are particularly robust.
 
Also, when comparing the stability of Rewire, are you comparing 64Bit Rewire in all cases?
Obviously 32Bit Rewire is much older and more mature (less prone to bugs/issues).

Jim Roseberry

 
Also, when comparing the stability of Rewire, are you comparing 64Bit Rewire in all cases?
Obviously 32Bit Rewire is much older and more mature (less prone to bugs/issues).

jsg


Remember when a defective product was called a "lemon"?   After trying out Sonar X1 for 6 months I became convinced this product is a defective "lemon".   Color choices that do nothing.   Bugs in the staff view that have been there for version after version, with X1 adding new bugs to the staff view.   Frequent crashes for many users, automation issues, screensets that are far clunkier and less elegant than layouts in earlier versions, snap functions that work "sometimes", the list goes on.  I guess computer programmers are like musicians, some much more talented than others.   I don't know how much of the issue with X1 is sloppy programming, and how much is just rushing a product out the door long before it is ready because of "market pressures".  The thing is, with X1d, Cakewalk has had plenty of time to fix the issues that many users have voiced complaint about for years.  X1 is the last purchase I make from this company unless Cakewalk does some real soul-searching and develops the focus, commitment and ability to create professional-level software.   100% bug-free is not realistic, but after years of customers complaining about the same long-standing bugs, you would think these would be addressed before the software becomes bloated with new features on top of those that don't work correctly in the first place.  Why would a company not remove the color choices if they don't work?  There is no excuse for this other than a company that, like so many companies in the rotten economic system we live in that feels compelled by "the marketplace"  to put profit above everything else of value, including making software that could be so much better if only people cared and had the time to make it right.   A properly run company would fix the known bugs before wasting precious resources on adding new features. 
 
JG
www.jerrygerber.com

jsg


Remember when a defective product was called a "lemon"?   After trying out Sonar X1 for 6 months I became convinced this product is a defective "lemon".   Color choices that do nothing.   Bugs in the staff view that have been there for version after version, with X1 adding new bugs to the staff view.   Frequent crashes for many users, automation issues, screensets that are far clunkier and less elegant than layouts in earlier versions, snap functions that work "sometimes", the list goes on.  I guess computer programmers are like musicians, some much more talented than others.   I don't know how much of the issue with X1 is sloppy programming, and how much is just rushing a product out the door long before it is ready because of "market pressures".  The thing is, with X1d, Cakewalk has had plenty of time to fix the issues that many users have voiced complaint about for years.  X1 is the last purchase I make from this company unless Cakewalk does some real soul-searching and develops the focus, commitment and ability to create professional-level software.   100% bug-free is not realistic, but after years of customers complaining about the same long-standing bugs, you would think these would be addressed before the software becomes bloated with new features on top of those that don't work correctly in the first place.  Why would a company not remove the color choices if they don't work?  There is no excuse for this other than a company that, like so many companies in the rotten economic system we live in that feels compelled by "the marketplace"  to put profit above everything else of value, including making software that could be so much better if only people cared and had the time to make it right.   A properly run company would fix the known bugs before wasting precious resources on adding new features. 
 
JG
www.jerrygerber.com