Hey there.
I have been using Cakewalk, Pro Audio, and Sonar for many years, but stopped when the X1, X2, and X3 releases kept giving me unacceptable issues. I gave up on Sonar, and the PC in general, and got into the Apple Macintosh land (iMac) and Apple's Logic Pro (which has worked perfectly for me.)
However, with the release and supposedly better reliability of Windows 10 x64 Prof., I was willing to give Windows/PC and Sonar another chance. To make a long story short, Windows 10 has been great to me so far. Everything works wonderfully that I've tried so far. However, Sonar X3e is the only software giving me a hard time. I've concluded, due to all the issues I had with Sonar X(x) over recent years, that Sonar X3 (& X2 & X1) is the culprit, not Windows....
What issues am I having, you may wonder? Namely, when I load any VST instrument, I get the whole "stuck notes" issue as I try to play a soft-synth. Doesn't matter who the VST instrument is by, or what it does, I consistently get stuck notes. Stopping the audio-engine with that button does stop the notes temporarily, but merely mutes them - when I re-engage the audio engine, the stuck notes still sound. Hitting the MIDI Reset button does nothing to resolve this, either. I did try increasing latency on my ASIO audio interface (and kept Sample Rate at 44.1kHz/16-bit in the project), but that did nothing to help, either.
I did read on the site here somewhere that Cakewalk is bettering/rebuilding the Sonar "engine". Can I trust, as I plan to try & buy Sonar Platinum, that all this "garbage" I got on previous versions of Sonar will be fixed and laid to rest???
You may also be wondering why I am even bothering, given the success I've had with the iMac and Logic Pro.... My musical brother has relocated near me, and we plan on working on music together some more. He is using Windows XP with Pro Audio 7, and he rarely has any issues. I'd like to be able to work in some Cakewalk product with him, thus, my attempt on the Windows machine. I am seriously considering installing a "Pro Audio" product, and forgetting about Sonar products for the time being.
 
What are your guys thoughts?????
 
My system (main pieces worth mentioning): AMD FX 4350 CPU Quad-core @ 4.2/4.3GHz, Asus motherboard and video card (with 2GB video RAM), 16GB RAM, 240GB SSD (SATA3)
Audio interfaces: Asus Xonar U7 Surround, and (default) Tascam US-144 MkII audio & MIDI interface. (The motherboard audio is disabled in BIOS...)
M-Audio Oxygen 61 USB keyboard controller (worth noting this is an older USB 1.1 device, and it seems to work fine everywhere else, except Sonar.)
All the latest available drivers for each piece of gear is successfully installed, so, I'm assuming that isn't the issue????
 
Thanks, everyone.
JT

 
Welcome JT.  Why not download the current Sonar demo and see for yourself ?
 
If stuck notes were a problem (or had been on X3) people would be screaming all day long here.  You can probably get that issue resolved with some help from fellow members and stay on X3 if you want.  The only time I've ever gotten stuck notes is when I use a software midi keyboard and click controls on a soft synth, which takes focus away from the virutal keyboard between note on and offs.  I'm sure there are other ways notes can get stuck, but they're not common.
 

Hello.  Sorry to hear about your difficulties.
 
If you want, I could tell you a nightmare horror story about instabilities in Sonar X2.
 
However, it sounds like you do NOT have a stability problem, but do have a problem with VST instruments, MIDI, and stuck notes.  And you are saying this happens will ALL VST instruments you try, which is an important piece of information.  So I don't see this as a problem of Sonar stability, but rather a pervasive problem involving MIDI and VST instruments in your system.  I can tell you that I do not have a problem with stuck notes using Sonar Platinum on my computer.
 
I think this problem is very fixable, so I suggest you write a new forum post specifically about this problem.  In the meantime, look thru the manual for your MIDI keyboard to see what they say about stuck notes, and check the M-Audio forum for similar stuff.  You might also try to record a few MIDI notes onto a MIDI track, and then send the output of that track to your VST instrument (try to bypass your MIDI interface).

Thanks, you guys so far.
Also worth mentioning:
- The Oxygen USB keyboard controller only gives me issues in Sonar, nothing else. (The "else" being Logic Pro on Mac, and Cubase 5 and FruityLoops Producer 12 on PC.) So, I'm doubting it is the problem.
- I have done the MIDI tracks -to-VST tracks thing, and, still, stuck notes.
 
I'll see what further tips I get before I end-up trying Sonar Platinum....

I would point my finger at your audio interface. Tascam did upgrade the drivers for many of it's older interfaces a year ago, make sure you look for yours, but generally the older interface drivers where terrible. 
In my 16 or so years of using Cakewalk, stuck notes were never the fault of the software, they were more to do with my system and interfaces. 
Also it is a standard practice to increase the default midi buffer size, I set mine at 800, the default is way too low. 

Are you inserting VSTi's in track FX bins?
 
This is a known cause of stuck notes for some VSTis. Using the FX bin as an input to the track for VSTi's is sort of a legacy routing method that SONAR still supports for backward compatibility. But inserting soft synth in the Synth Rack and bringing their output into the audio track via its Input is the preferred routing and should solve you stuck notes issue if that's the cause.
 
I'm not aware of any others that don't involve MIDI interface/controller issues.
 
 

I just had a look at the available drivers for your Tascam US-144 MkII, and it does not look like they have released any drivers for Windows 10, and since this interface is discontinued, it would not appear likely that there will ever be Windows 10 drivers released for it.
 
I don't know if that plays any part of your issues - but thought it worth mentioning.  (They DO seem to support up to Windows 8.1 64-bit, which is good, and the interface seems to be meant for use with USB 2.0 ports)
 
Bob Bone
 

Cactus Music
Also it is a standard practice to increase the default midi buffer size, I set mine at 800, the default is way too low.

This is indeed important, and you may want more than 800. It doesn't affect timing or anything. I've recommended to Cakewalk that they increase this default going forward as it is the #1 case of "I have stuck notes with MIDI" issues.
 
I will say that Platinum cleans up a lot of loose ends, and is the first full release under new management. But the suggestion to download the demo is the simplest way to find out if it works for you.
 
BTW although SONAR is my main DAW I have Logic on the Mac, and find both programs quite similar so have little difficulty when I need to work on something that originated in Logic.

Note the OP wrote: "I get the whole "stuck notes" issue as I try to play a soft-synth." I took that to mean playing live from a controller, and MIDI buffering isn't applicable to real-time MIDI input. Also, I don't recall that the MIDI Prepare Using buffer has ever been implicated in stuck notes (i.e. dropped Note Offs), only dropped Note Ons, though I suppose it's possible.
 
That said, I would recommend setting the MIDI Prepare Using buffer to the old default of 500ms as a starting point.

brundlefly
Note the OP wrote: "I get the whole "stuck notes" issue as I try to play a soft-synth." I took that to mean playing live from a controller.

I took that to mean "play" by clicking on the transport play button. Guess we'll just have to wait for more data.