Hello all!

I am new to this forum and i recently bought Sonar X1 Studio.

My problem is, that whenever i open Sonar, other programs stop giving any sound. I'm using ASIO drivers for Sonar. So i don't get any sound from browser or if i try to play something with BSPlayer.

I went straight and bought Sonar because i have some experience with it before (version 8). I did also try Sonar X1 trial before and i didn't have this problem. I've updated Sonar to latest patch D.

I have checked the option for Sonar to share drivers with other programs too. Might anyone have a solution for this or could someone using same soundcard as i am, give me information on how they set-up their computer.

My setting:

MB:        ASUS P6T Deluxe v2
CPU:      Intel i7 920
RAM:      6Gb OCZ 1333Mhz DDR3 Tri-Channel
SOUND: ESP ESI1010e
OS:        Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Thanks in advance! :)

Making my own bumb for this, so it wouldn't get lost :)

Hey there!

I have no knowledge about the ESI but I can try to guess...

ASIO drivers are fast and stable so good choice, but they can only be used by one program at a time. I suppose that Sonar is the only software you have that use ASIO? However, if your hardware drivers can only run one driver mode at any time then I would guess ASIO takes priority when a software is set up to use them. If this is the case, your other applications will simply not see the audio interface as long as Sonar is running or they will be playing into something that doesn't make sound. Another factor could be that Sonar is set up to run at 48KHz and when you launch Sonar the audio drivers will be set to that. In that case, Windows will either not make a sound or will route the windows sounds and the sound from software set to use Windows sound mapper to your onboard soundcard, if you have that, or to nothing at all for example.

The share drivers seting - If I'm not mistaken - should have Sonar drop the hold of the audio interface when minimized or moved to the background, but don't quote me on that. I've never checked it out. What you are experiencing is a pickle, but it's actually somewhat to be expected

Thanks for reply ProjectM!

I agree, ASIO drivers give almost to none ltency with my current soundcard. And yes, i don't think any of "Windows" programs are using ASIO drivers. I did try to use 44100Khz on both, the soundcard and Sonar but it didn't help. And i don't have onboard audio enabled from BIOS. Only audio connections Windows sees are those coming from my ESP1010e, digital and analog. And neither one of those could get any signal from Windows programs.

And it doesn't help if i close Sonar, sounds aren't coming back. Before, when i've used Sonar with this soundcard, it has indeed stopped playing from Sonar for as long as some other program has been focused. But suddenly it isn't working anymore.

Maybe something has changed with Windows, in the way it handles drivers. Best solution so far is what you suggested, that Windows tries to route the audio signal to some path that isn't actually in use.

I do like pickles, but not when they are the main meal! :D

He he, I agree about the pickles

It sound a bit weird since you've actually had this working before. I'm no guru with these things. Perhaps ESI knows what's going on?

I send e-mail to both, Cakewalk and ESI. Still waiting for a reply.

And yes, it's really weird that things used to work. Hmm, i think it was soon a year ago and then i had a trial of Producer edition. But i've understood that they should be the same, on core level? Still using same Motherboard, only things that have changed are my PSU and instead of HDD i now have SSD. Those two shouldn't have such an impact.

One solution i'm going to try now, is to enable onboard soundcard and then use Windows programs with that and only use my PCIe card for Sonar and Amplitube and for some video editing software i'm currently trying. Trying desperately to find which of those would perform as Pro versions, just with a more narrow selection of tools. But that's another discussion :)

Things are working as i hoped they would, after i enabled onboard audio.

Now Sonar is the only program using ASIO on my PCIe soundcard and onboard audio handles Windows and other programs. Of course in the long run, this method is pushing me to buy another set of speakers. So maybe not the best option there is.

I will update more after i get response from Cakewalk. Hope this helps someone having similar issues! :)

In windows 7 you can choose the wdm driver to handle windows audio. So you should set it to the wdm driver of the ESI.

just a quick tip with your current sollution - I have my stuff set up the same way. All audio and video apps are using my Audio interface's ASIO drivers. But windows are routed to my onboard soundcard (yeah I'm breaking some rules - but I don't care, it works). To hear it through my speakers, I have a cheap mini-jack to two phono plugs straight into an open input pair that I rarely use on my MOTU Ultralite so I can hear the sounds from my browser etc through the studio speakers. It integrates flawlessly and I don't even think of it being on a separate soundcard.

Save your money for good brew and do that instead if the ESI have an internal mixer that will playback external inputs without drama - or some software in between

@ProjectM

Very good tip indeed! :)
I will try something like that. I'll my tools out of the closet and fix a cord with neccessary ins and outs. I do have the option to plug my internal soundcard to ESI, just need to make it for two channels to hear it stereo. I just stopeed thinking of these possibilities after i found this two soundcards solution :D

So far no response from Cakewalk, i think i have to contact them again. ESI did answer and asked for more information which i provided for them. Still waiting for reply...

Today i'm getting my printed version of the Reference Guide. 1850 pages ready read and underlined and what ever possible you can do to aa book when you study it. Throw it to a bin? ;)