im guessing along with your audiocard drivers, check the plug ins, open in safe mode and try your tests, test memory, test cpu, exc.
also I believe unless all tracks are bounced to clips, all those clips remain in memory.
 
so dragging and pasting a 1 beat section 10 times is almost like adding the whole wave file 10 more times.
bounce to clips, clean the audio folder.

From a practical perspective, Kevin's approach is one to "become one" with. For tracks you have not adjusted to any extent, you can also bounce to track(s) which will bake in FX, then archive the original. This will make that new track a "simple audio stream" to the CPU, but be sure to archive the original - this removes it from CPU overhead and allows you to go back to it later (if needed). Do not be afraid to commit plugins and only leave ones necessary for final mixing.

mettelus Do not be afraid to commit plugins and only leave ones necessary for final mixing.

 
great point.
 

hi all!
 
first of all i would like to thank everyone for the feedback and suggestions.
 
then i would like to mention that initially i was curious rather about RAM and CPU usage
than drop out causes.
 
so as it looks right now large memory usage is not a bug but is a feature.
also it looks the same for audio engine running all the time no matter what
you do in Sonar.
 
while i now understand that it is "as designed", i would anyway like to have ability
to not run Audio engine forever and to run it only when i press Play button
(btw, playing with "Alays Sream Audio Through FX" option didn't help in any way).

so now the only unclear thing for me is why opening project takes that much of time.
is there any way to speed it up?


current update:
* uninstalled ASIO4ALL
* set 512 samples of latency on sound card's Asio panel
* updated to 2016.06

what i can tell is that with 2016.06 update playing starts much faster (without large delay)
and overall work seem to run more smooth so i'm quite happy with that.

so as i said before now the only thing that i do not like is time that Sonar takes to load projects
 

biozel
 i would anyway like to have ability to not run Audio engine forever and to run it only when i press Play button

It is possible to turn the engine off whenever desired in the transport module. The button is L in the image below

It is also possible to create a keyboard shortcut to toggle the audio engine.
 
 
To speed up load time, reduce the number of plug-ins in the project. Use the QCEQ when possible. The Pro-Q2 is a nice EQ but not always necessary. Freezing tracks is another way to reduce plug-in count.
 

scook
It is possible to turn the engine off whenever desired in the transport module. The button is L in the image below
It is also possible to create a keyboard shortcut to toggle the audio engine.

 
yes but most likely i will forget to do it just each time i stop transport 
 

scook
To speed up load time, reduce the number of plug-ins in the project.

this is general workaround but it won't work as a solution.
i have project (not the finished one i initially wrote about) that has no plugin in FX bin
and it also is loaded slow (30 sec and more). btw, interesting thing is that
when loading project Sonar does not use much CPU - just 2-5% 
 

Use the QCEQ when possible. The Pro-Q2 is a nice EQ but not always necessary.

lets say i won't use QCEQ just for fast loading purpose :)
 
 

Freezing tracks is another way to reduce plug-in count.

 True, but again - freezing tracks just for fast loading is wrong approach on my opinion 

biozel
i have project (not the finished one i initially wrote about) that has no plugin in FX bin
and it also is loaded slow (30 sec and more). btw, interesting thing is that
when loading project Sonar does not use much CPU - just 2-5% 

All audio, no MIDI? How many tracks? Is a virus scanner enabled on the PC? What else is running while SONAR is loading?

scook
All audio, no MIDI? How many tracks? Is a virus scanner enabled on the PC? What else is running while SONAR is loading?

will answer later today.
in general project consists of audio tracks, synth tracks and couple Kontakt tracks

biozel

scook
All audio, no MIDI? How many tracks? Is a virus scanner enabled on the PC? What else is running while SONAR is loading?

will answer later today.
in general project consists of audio tracks, synth tracks and couple Kontakt tracks

The delay is likely in the loading of the synths and samples for Kontakt.
 
Regards,
Dan

To the OP... This type of back and forth with the forum *might* result in fixing your problems, but it will take a lot of time, and trial and error on everyone's parts.  For the non-techie, especially, this could easily take days or weeks -- and that assumes you stay doggedly with it.  Even then, there's no guarantee you will eventually get there.
 
It would be A LOT easier if someone with DAW setup/ PC knowledge could just sit down at your system and go through all of your settings.
 
To that end, I strongly suggest you contact Jim Roseberry (DAW builder and tech consultant), buy some consulting time, and have Jim dial in remotely and check/tweak your settings. 
 
Time is money they say.  How much is your time worth?