Issues with Sonar Home Studio

Hi all
 
Since updating from Sonar 8LE to HS , installing a new SSD and updating to Win 10 I've had a few issues which have started to make me wish I hadn't bothered - though I do like the newer interface and features! I've sorted out previous issues I've mentioned on here related to Sampletank 2 based instruments by importing the libraries to ST3 - really glad that is now an option as I used Miroslav a fair bit.
 
I've been running through my library of VSTi's (mostly free or cheap ones it has to be said) and finding out which will work ok and which won't. I've removed those that don't appear to work at all (all 32 bit I think). I've done this testing partly by loading VSTi's into a test project which was working fine until yesterday. When I opened it I got a really loud awful noise so I turned off my speakers and noticed that the level meter was maxing out. After restarting the PC and the same thing happening I decided to delete this project. Any ideas why this may have happened? I use ASIO4All if that helps
 
I have two other issues:
Firstly some synths say they have not been installed correctly when I try to open them in one project but open fine in another. An example of this is Tone 2 Firebird which I was going to delete from my VSTi folder but then noticed I had loaded it successfully in an earlier test folder
 
Perhaps the most frustrating issue is that some synths do not seem to accept midi notes from my Roland A- Pro controller but will play if I use the synths own keyboard GUI or programme notes. Independence Free and Air Xpand2 seem to do this - though the latter did work for a while! Other synths work fine!  
 
If anyone can help me with the above I'd be very grateful. I can accept that some things won't work in HS but it is the inconsistency that really has me scratching my head!!

Thanks - I don't have an Audio Interface - just using the PC onboard sound which has been ok for me up to now with ASIO as I am purely a hobbyist

Thanks I'll look at that. Is it something that is built into HS?

Windows 10 made major changes to WASAPI Windows API in April of 2017.
It is supposed to be better than ASIO4ALL. Not by much though. I haven't seen any loop back tests made within the last 7 months.
So if it were up to me, I would use WASAPI. It will prevent you from hunting down an ASIO wrapper and installing it when in reality you can use what it already there.
 
In Windows 10 using WASAPI in Sonar - The latency has been reduced to 1.3ms.

I'll try Wasapi as well. Presumably that'll be in the audio settings menu. Preume there will be no problems swapping between the two?

Cheers!!

Thanks - that could be a future step though it's unlikely I'll need audio in as I work with midi exclusively at the moment. To be honest I've had very little time in the last few years until recently to compose music due to moving house and other music related activities but hopefully I'll get into it again and be able justify better equipment and VSTi's :-)

Time for an update - thanks for the help up to now!
 
I tried WASAPI and couldn't get any sound out at all so went back to ASIO4All - maybe I had the wrong settings in the audio setting dialogue but tried a few and gave up
 
I've found a workround based on Johnny V's diagram above. Rather than trying to play my controller keyboard directly in the VSTi track I have set up a midi track which is output to the Air Xpand track. That works as does another midi track output to Independence Free with which I had the same problem. I can happily live with this arrangement but the question remains - why don't these two synths receive midi from the keyboard on their own tracks as do all my other synths? Still puzzling me that one -especially as for a while Air Xpand did work ok!
 
So the other question that remains is why some projects say that certain synths eg Tone 2 Firebird are not installed correctly whilst others have no problem loading them. Now that is bizarre!
 
Thanks again all
 
 

Thanks that sounds useful! I agree that setting up the midi track to provide the input to the VSTi is probably a better way to do things :-)
 

JoeGBradford
I tried WASAPI and couldn't get any sound out at all so went back to ASIO4All - maybe I had the wrong settings in the audio setting dialogue but tried a few and gave up
 

You need to fully and entirely uninstall ASIO4ALL and reboot before you try other drivers, it's likely to conflict.

Not a fan at all of ASIO4ALL !

Well it is one step forward two steps back - Sampletank 3 Free has decided not to open at all in standalone or HS now after being fine since I installed it and loaded legacy sounds from ST2 & Philharmonik into it. Sent a support request to IK though I suspect I'll have to reinstall and load all the sounds in again :-(
 

JoeGBradford
Well it is one step forward two steps back - Sampletank 3 Free has decided not to open at all in standalone or HS now after being fine since I installed it and loaded legacy sounds from ST2 & Philharmonik into it. Sent a support request to IK though I suspect I'll have to reinstall and load all the sounds in again :-(
 

Before you hit the panic button, have you tried the Sonar preferences > VST Settings > Scan options > 'Reset'?
 
This can clear the VST cache, and you can force a clean rescan of your plugins.  Worth a try before you re-install everything!

Thanks I'll try that though as it won't even open in standalone I am thinking it's probably something more fundamental. Thanks for the other advice too and, yeah, Firebird isn't a bad synth! I've got a few other 32 bit synths that I got mainly through Computer Music mag that are worth keeping and fortunately most of them seem to work ok - so far anyway!

JoeGBradford
Thanks Johnny - I may just have to live without TTS1 :-)

You certainly can if you don't use GM midi files. I only use it as I said above to listen to a download file. The only sound I might use are the brushes. They cut through in a mix. 

Cactus Music
I doubt that was the issue. I just switched to WASAPI and back to asio4all and both work for me. Chuck means well and is a super helpful person but on this I beg to differ :) 

? That does not rule it out.
People's environments will differ. Results may vary.
He should definitely try uninstalling ASIO4ALL for all and reboot to see if it works before jumping to conclusions either way.