Loss of audio issues with Sonar X1b and RME Firerface UFX

Hi,
I've been having this issue since upgrading to X1a and to the Fireface UFX months ago.  Now that X1b has been released and stability concerns seem to have reduced, I thought I'd raise this issue again.
 
I'm experiencing loss of audio intermittently in the following ways:
1. When arming a track to record, I have no record signal level in Sonar, so nothing records - yet the signal shows fine in RME's totalmix software.
2. When opening a project recorded at a different bit depth / sample rate than the previously loaded project or different from the default Sonar's set to, I have no audio during playback, record, etc.. nothing.  I receive an error message "RME - this MIDI / Audio device has been disconnected from your system.... etc".  In both cases - rebooting the PC and RME UFX unit restores audio (with no other settings changed)
3. I also get a "MIDI connection error" occassionally on my Roland V Drums as well, but haven't tested this enough to isolate the symptoms yet, however I assume it's related. 
 
I've placed support tickets with both Cakewalk and RME.  RME users with other DAWs aren't having these issues, so RME feels it's a Cakewalk issue & Cakewalk said they feel it's an RME issue (ugh). I'm continuing to work with both - however is anybody else experiencing similar issues?
 
Specs: RME Fireface UFX running via Firewire w/ latest firmware and newest production driver.  (The symptoms above also occur using the latest driver currently released for beta testing.)  Sonar X1b 64 (I haven't installed the quickfix) on Win 7 SP1 64 on a Dell Precision T7400 w/ dual quad-core Xeon CPUs @ 3.2Ghz, 8 Gbyte RAM, 3 hard drives, Nvidia Quadro & UAD-1 PCI. 
 
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks
Russ
 
 
 
 

to the OP:karma1959 - what was your system/hardware OS and software configuration when everything did work properly? If you want help with this we need much more info to try and reproduce this problem and help find a solution

dj traillmixxx - It's best if you start your own post as it will make it easier to define who the help is being offered to. If you want help with this we need much more info to try and reproduce this problem and help find a solution.

trying to help 2 people in the one thread gets confusing as folks often don't quote the post to which they reply and everyone gets lost. Often, once the problem gets described clearly there are minor variations that makes it difficult to keep track of where we're all at.

DJtrailmixx -  you're saying that disarming and rearming a track resolves the issue when it's not receiving recording signal?  Unfortunately that doesn't work for me - only a reboot seems to do the trick.

-If it is a bad take and I undo the recording or its a good take and I save, I will usually have to disarm and re-arm those tracks in order to see signal again.

 
A similar problem - I haven't tracked down the exact circumstances of when it occurs yet - but often have to disarm and rearm a track for record to see the input meter move. You're right, it's a pain but I usually have bigger fish to fry... ;-)
 
I use a TC Electronic StudioKonnekt 48 so you might want to focus on Sonar more than RME for the solution.

The problem that I have is a little different, but similar. I too have x1b and a fireface 800. I use sonar for live theatrical productions. I use the playlist to fire cues. It is very intermittent. But for some unknown reason in the middle of a live show, I will try to start the next song on the playlist and nothing will happen. It will just sit there for about ten seconds and then I'll see the line start to scroll, but there will be no audio. Its a real show stopper! The only remedy is a reboot to bring things back. The fun part is that you never know when it's going to happen. Anyway it definitely has to do with the combo of X1b and RME Fireface.

The problem with this bug is that it is so random that I can't figure out how to re-create it. Someone would have to sit with a playlist full of songs and play them one after the other for hours before the weirdness would occur. And it doesn't happen with any particular song. I've even built a brand new computer in hopes of solving this. And still I get the exact same thing. I had no problems with sonar and the fireface 800 before I updated to windows 7 64 and installed the new fireface driver recommended for windows 7. I know that a new driver is in beta for the firewire series at RME. I hope that it fixes this issue.

Hi Karma,
 
I have the Babyface... and don't have this issue (connected via USB).
Are you running a TI chipset Firewire controller?  If not, that's the first thing I'd try.

All,
After lots of use this weekend, I found the USB driver for the RME UFX to be much more stable than the Firewire driver. 
 
As above, the delay in arming tracks is longer with the USB driver, however I didn't have audio loss issues as I did with the firewire driver.  I did experience no record level in Sonar's meters once or twice, however audio and MIDI data still recorded properly despite showing no record levels. 
 
Additionally, toggling the echo and arm to record buttons restored the record signal in Sonar's meters sometimes as well. 
 
Hope that helps.
Russ