Well, I was hoping to have you be able to point Windows to use ANY other audio drivers than your Edirol, so that it would prevent any conflict over access/control of the ASIO drivers of the Edirol in Sonar.
So, that was why I had posted the steps to change the Windows Default Audio Device. So, if you have speakers available to be set to the default, go ahead and do that. Unless you are literally going to record into Windows using the microphone input jack on the computer, INSTEAD of Sonar, don't bother with the Recording tab for Manage Audio Devices - just get the PLAYBACK tab's default audio device to be anything other than your Edirol.
I do not at all understand why you have disconnected the Edirol, as it is THIS device that you want to use in Sonar, so please reconnect it - and make sure Sonar is set to a Driver Mode of ASIO and using the Edirol as Sonar's audio interface. At this point, you should also NOT have Windows itself set to use the Edirol as its default audio device.
At this point, you will want to make sure your Edirol ASIO drivers are set to an ASIO Buffer Size that is appropriate for the Sonar project you will be working with. What I mean is that when you are in the process of recording tracks, or editing, you need an ASIO Buffer Size that is pretty small, to keep latency low, so that you don't have any noticeable lag when triggering midi notes and such. During the recording phase of working on a project, you need to be careful about the effects you load into that project, because SOME of your effects plugins are really only meant to be used during MIXING and NOT during recording. This is because they require a very large ASIO Buffer Size to do what they do, so plugins that use things like 'Look-Ahead Processing' or lots of CPU, should not get loaded into the project until you are completely done with recording and have moved on to the mixing stage, where low latency is not at all needed - since you are not trying to record over a bunch of lag.
When I am recording, I almost always use an ASIO Buffer Size of 128, and I always use a Sample Rate of 48 K.
When I finish recording and editing, and move to the mixing phase of a project, I change my ASIO Buffer Size to be either 1024 or 2048 - most of the time I use 2048. It is at THIS point that I can effectively load up my project with the more consumptive effects, such as convoluted reverbs or Boost 11, or other ones meant for use in mixing.
For the rest of time, I will be switching between a low ASIO Buffer Size of 128 - for recording - and then 2048 when mixing/mastering. It's just the way it works best for me.
I hope the above makes some sense - but I suggest you start with a very very simple plan:
1) Change Windows Default Audio Device to anything other than the Edirol. Whatever issues with Windows audio that remain can be dealt with AFTER getting Sonar squared away using the Edirol.
2) Make sure Edirol is properly connected to the computer, and shows up as working normally when viewed in Windows Device Manager.
3) IF the Edirol allows settings changes outside of a host program (like Sonar), then open up the Edirol's user interface and get it set to whatever Sample Rate you wish to use in Sonar (I happen to use 48 k - sometimes listed as 48000). In addition, set the ASIO Buffer Size to 128 as a reasonable starting point. Please note that some audio interfaces use a different way of adjusting the ASIO Buffer's size - perhaps with either a vertical or horizontal slider, and further, may use simplistic terms like Smaller/Larger. If that is the case, then set it to perhaps just a little larger than its smallest size setting. (if set too low, you can also have problems, so for example my interface will go as small as 32 for ASIO Buffer Size, but that is a bit too iffy, so I just use 128, which is a couple of settings larger than the smallest setting of 32).
4) IF instead, your Edirol does NOT have a separate little program to use to change its settings, than you can do it from within Sonar, once you tell Sonar to use the Edirol and get the Sample Rate in Sonar to be what you want to use - make the Edirol Sample Rate match what you have Sonar set to use, and also get the Edirol ASIO Buffer Size set to 128, or the equivalent setting on the slider or whatever alternative mechanism for adjusting the buffer size it offers.
5), It is generally recommended that you power cycle your audio interface after changing either sample rate or ASIO Buffer Size, or if that is not feasible (like if the audio interface is on an expansion card internal to the computer), than reboot once you have made the changes and have clicked on Apply.
6) OK, so now after all the changes are made and you have either powered off/on the interface or rebooted, launch Sonar and before even loading up a project, I would ask you to go into the Sonar Preferences and post back to this thread the Sonar-reported latency values. If things were set properly for a recording session in Sonar, your Total Roundtrip Latency should be reported in Sonar to be somewhere around 10-13 milliseconds (ms), or a little less.
7) So load up either a new project, or one that doesn't have a bunch of effects loaded into the project. Now try to do some simple recording without effects, and post back here in the thread as to whether or not you are able to record without a lot of latency/lag.
So, let's try the above and I'll circle back to look for additional posts from you once you perform the above steps. It took longer to type all of this than it should to actually DO the steps. Sorry for all the typing. :)
Bob Bone